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Relax and Be Present With This Simple Ritual

2014-11-24 By Monica 19 Comments

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea. ~Bernard-Paul Heroux

Last week I had the Monday of all Mondays. The kind of day that gives Mondays a bad name; when everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

First, my car wouldn’t start. I had to take it to the shop, which caused me to forget I had scheduled coffee with a friend. My phone died, so I wasn’t able to work at the repair shop. Then I spent the day trying to catch up, feeling frantic and frenzied. We’ve all had one of these days. [Read more…] about Relax and Be Present With This Simple Ritual

Filed Under: Celebration, Love Your Life Tagged With: being present, celebration, happiness, joy, luxury, present, relax, ritual, stress, tea

Simple Ways to Bring More Joy to Your Holiday Season

2013-12-21 By Monica 11 Comments

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller Quote

The holiday season can be hectic, and at times, even stressful. If you want to take some of the stress out of your holiday and replace it with joy, here are 18 simple ideas and tips for gift giving, meaningful traditions, and caring for yourself. [Read more…] about Simple Ways to Bring More Joy to Your Holiday Season

Filed Under: Celebration Tagged With: Christmas, gifts, giving, gratitude, happiness, holidays, joy, meditation, nurture, present, self care, silence, simplify, stress

50 Ways to Nurture Yourself (Includes a Printable Download)

2013-10-28 By Monica 12 Comments

self compassion

In honor of LifeOhm’s 50th post, I am giving you, my amazing readers, a free printable download to help you remember to nurture yourself. Click here to download the free printable and go on to read more about the 50 Ways to Nurture Yourself.

The Importance of Nurturing Yourself

At one time or another, we all feel stressed or pressured by our busy schedules. During busy times, especially, it is so important to nurture ourselves. As the flight attendants wisely point out, you have to put on your own oxygen mask before trying to help others. The same thing goes for caring for yourself: if you don’t take the time to nurture and care for yourself before helping others, you will quickly become fatigued and end up having less to give.

“If you feel ‘burnout’ setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective.” ~ Dalai Lama

When you take the time to nurture and care for yourself, it’s easier to have a happy, upbeat mindset. You feel better about your life in general and it’s easier to get through challenging work tasks. This in turn allows you to have more to give to family and loved ones.

[Read more…] about 50 Ways to Nurture Yourself (Includes a Printable Download)

Filed Under: Love Your Life, Wellness Tagged With: craft, declutter, exercise, friend, goals, gratitude, happiness, health, hug, inspiration, joy, massage, meditation, mornings, music, nature, nurture, nurturing, personal development, pet, play, self care, sing, stress, technology, visualize, walk, yoga, yourself

How to Finally Eliminate Clutter from Your Life

2013-08-19 By Monica 1 Comment

clutter and simplicity

Have you ever thought about how your clutter might be holding you back? We all have “stuff” but clutter keeps you from moving forward in your life, leaves you feeling guilty, and makes you feel overwhelmed.

Clutter includes:

  • Boxes of things you packed away because you don’t want to deal with them,
  • Items you only keep because they were a gift, inherited, or because you feel you “have to”,
  • Clothes in your closet that still have the tags, don’t fit, or that you never wear,
  • Items stored out of fear you may one day need them again, although you haven’t used them in more than a year,
  • Electronic clutter such as an overflowing inbox, and
  • Multiples of the same item.

The list could go on and on but what it comes down to is that clutter includes any item that doesn’t bring you joy or enhance your life in some way. Clutter takes up space in our lives and our homes creating unnecessary stress and chaos, and makes it more difficult for us to take care of ourselves and the people we care about.

[Read more…] about How to Finally Eliminate Clutter from Your Life

Filed Under: Love Your Life Tagged With: bless, clutter, decluttering, destress, happiness, home, joy, peaceful, simplify, stress

A Simple Secret to Adding More Time to Your Day

2013-05-13 By Monica 4 Comments

Watching Less TV

Do you feel like you don’t have time to do the things you’d like to do?

Do you wish you had more time to exercise or take up that hobby you’ve always been interested in?

Do you wish you had more quality time with the people you care about?

The answer to these dilemmas may be in the middle of your living room. After work and sleep, TV viewing is the most commonly reported activity in the U.S., taking up just over half of all leisure time. In the U.S., people average about five hours of TV time each day. TV Watching:

  • Increases the liklihood of gaining weight, becoming overweight or obese,
  • Increases the risk of weight-related disease including heart disease, diabetes, and early death (1),
  • Leads to lower attention and poor brain development in children.

Need more reasons to stop watching television? Check out Kill Your TV.

About three years ago, I made the commitment to stop watching television, and for the most part, have been able to stick to that.  For almost a year, I didn’t even own a television. While I will still occasionally watch a movie or catch a short clip of The Daily Show on my iPad, I no longer spend my evenings or weekends in front of the television. Not watching television has allowed me to focus more energy on:

  • Learning yoga and starting a yoga practice,
  • Going to the gym and working out on a regular basis,
  • Working on completing my Master’s degree,
  • Starting my own businesses and blogs,
  • Planting and working on my garden,
  • Learning photography and offering my photos for sale on two photo websites,
  • And perhaps most importantly, meeting and marrying my husband!

Enjoy Replacement Activities – What things would you love to have more of in your life? These may include:

  • Exercise – start a new activity, get a gym membership, train for a 5k, or just enjoy an evening walk.
  • Improve your relationships – spend time with friends and family members.
  • Start a new hobby or learn new skills– learn how to knit, sew, make candles, garden, or cook.
  • Go back to school – finish your degree, start a master’s program, or learn new skills such as graphic design, photography, massage therapy.
  • Organizing and decluttering your home or office – to simplify your life.
  • Start a blog and share your knowledge with others.
  • Join a Meetup Group – where you can learn salsa dancing, wine tasting, public speaking, computer skills, or just meet new friends.
  • Develop a spiritual practice – visit a new church, learn meditation, or practice gratitude.

What are your thoughts? Share below.

 

 

(1) Harvard School of Public Health Article

Filed Under: Do More in Less Time Tagged With: balance, exercise, health, hobby, more time, organizing, relationships, spiritual, stress, time, time management, TV

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity

2013-04-06 By Monica 11 Comments

Happiness Quote - Anne Frank

The field of positive psychology has been growing in popularity as people begin to recognize the correlation between happiness, productivity, and success. Developed by Martin Seligman in his book Authentic Happiness in 1998, positive psychologists seek “to find and nurture genius and talent” and “to make normal life more fulfilling”.

Seligman’s research concluded that happier people get better performance evaluations and higher pay. Other studies have shown that happy people are more positive, creative, tolerant, constructive, generous and non-defensive. They also have lower medical costs and less absenteeism.

While this seems obvious to many of us, finding that happiness can be a challenge in our society. In his popular Ted talk, The happy secret to better work, Shawn Acor says our culture has taught us that, “If I work harder, then I will be successful. If I’m successful, then I will be happier.”  Putting happiness on the other side of success creates a moving target and your brain never gets there.

According to Acor, “If you can raise levels of positivity in the present, the brain experiences what is called the happiness advantage. When the brain is positive, it performs significantly better than when it’s negative, neutral, or stressed. When you’re positive, dopamine floods into your system which not only makes you happier, but it also turns on learning centers in your brain, allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.”

Acor goes on to say, “It’s not reality that shapes us, it’s the lens through which you view the world. If you can change the lens, not only can you change your happiness, you can change your world.”

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity:

Acor also provides a formula for increasing your happiness and productivity in 21 days, the length of time it takes to create a new habit. Most of them only take a few minutes but the combination has been proven to be very effective. Over time, the brain retains the new pattern, allowing you to work more optimistically and successfully.

Take LifeOhm’s Happiness Challenge and commit to doing the following things for the next 21 days:

  • Write three new things you are grateful for – This helps train your brain to scan the world for the positive things first, rather than focusing on the negative things. Gratitude has long been linked to increased happiness and it’s surprising how quickly your life can improve with this simple practice.
  • Journal about one positive thing that has happened in the past 24 hours, this process allows your brain to relive the positive experience. There are many options for journaling, online with sites such as Penzu or a hand-written journal. Writing by hand, rather than digitally, has been shown to increase learning, which might be helpful when you’re trying to change thought patterns.
  • Exercise for at least 15 minutes –  exercise increases your levels of dopamine, energy, and helps improve your overall sense of well being.
  • Meditation – There are many documented benefits to meditation including reducing the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. According to Acor, meditation also allows us to get over our cultural ADHD, that has us focusing on more than one thing at once. It allows the mind to quiet and opens us up to new possibilities.
  • Random acts of kindness – In Acor’s study, he had participants write one positive email that praised someone in their social network, but there are many ways to perform random acts of kindness. Get creative and have fun, you will not only make someone else’s day, but it will improve your own.

What helps you improve your happiness and productivity? Are you participating in this challenge? Share your thoughts below.

Filed Under: Do More in Less Time Tagged With: Acor, challenge, energy, exercise, gratitude, happiness, journaling, meditation, productivity, stress, success, Ted talk

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I’m Monica, owner and founder of LifeOhm, LLC. LifeOhm was created to help individuals, just like you, optimize their health and wellness, while also creating more joy and happiness in their life. Read more.

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