Wellbeing

Wellbeing is the essence of a happy life.  Be healthy, happy, strong, and at peace with yourself and the world.  Mindfulness, yoga, exercise, diet,  personal growth and positivity are all explored here.

My physical therapist told me, “Pilates are easier than you think.” I did not believe him – I came home and looked at pilates videos – easier than you think – ha! I watched cute limber girls and women raise their legs higher in the air than I imagined possible. “Lift one vertebrae at a time…exhale…inhale…”, the instructions were complex, the moves not anything that this body could accomplish. I envy anyone that can do the various exercises in Pilates for Beginners videos – but none of them seemed viable for me. Getting down on the floor is an exercise in and of itself!

I was fortunate enough to find a great water aerobics instructor in Portugal when we were visiting a while back – George was fantastic – he was a slave driver but water aerobics made a difference – I could walk further, stay awake longer and the pain was reduced – eventually ;). But since the onset of the Coronavirus, I can’t practice water aerobics anymore at the local pool or even at the beach. I can’t see my therapist either. So back to Youtube…(needless to say there are no Pilate classes at this period in time either).

I decided to try a new search “standing pilates” – because I am not going to risk getting down on the floor and struggling to get up again. Amazingly, the first video I found on this search was Standing Pilates for Seniors from Rachel, The girl with the pilates mat…cute name isn’t it?

Rachel is easy to listen to, and easy to follow – she even does the exercises so you can follow them while watching her really easily.

Standing Pilates for Seniors

I really enjoy these videos and they actually help with the back pain – I see a difference already. They are pleasant, fun, and easy exercises – the first few days I was a little sore but doing the routine 3 or 4 times a week is has really helped. I now actually believe that pilates are easier than I thought!

Yoga is not as mystical or difficult as you may think, there are plenty of videos teaching yoga for beginners as well as seniors. Suffering from back problems as well as not being the most limber or graceful person in the world, I searched for “exercises for back pain”, “yoga for back pain” and several other back pain related searches. It was rather discouraging – some of the exercises were what I call “pretzel” exercises – “Geez, I wouldn’t even be able to get in that position in the first place,” I thought. It’s true – I wouldn’t even try!

There are great yoga resources on line, beautiful settings, good instructors, Youtube is full of them. You can find instruction at all levels, for all types of bodies and all ages. I had a tough time, though, finding one that suited me. First, I am a klutz, I cannot chew gum and walk at the same time so trying to listen to someone and watch someone who is moving more than two body parts at the same time and telling me to breath in and out confuses me. So I had to find someone that made it easy as easy as possible for me to follow along. Second, I do not like instructors that are too bouncy or watching a class of people doing exercises – that also confuses and distracts me. Third, I don’t respond well to people that are too preachy or seem like they are overdoing the spiritualism. That’s just me. It’s good that I was picky, though, and kept searching.

Eureka! I found Yoga with Adriene, she offers various free 30 day yoga programs, individual videos of different lengths and she is pleasant, easy to understand, and sweet. I like her. I even enjoy listening to her. She makes it easy. My daughter, who is much more fit than me is doing one of the 30 day programs. I am working up to that, but Yoga For Seniors is easy enough even for me. I also like the chair yoga – which is great for me because there are times I don’t have the energy to get out of my chair ;).

Senior Yoga and Chair Yoga – My Favorites

I intend to start one of Adriene’s 30 day programs one day – just not yet. Do you have any recommendations? If so please leave them, along with your comments below.

Namaste!!!

It is not always easy to be optimistic. It requires perserverance and foresight. Additionally it requires a mindset that is positive and dynamic. If you a “glass half empty kind of person” it is harder to be optimistic than if you are of “the glass half full” persuasion. The good news is that you can train yourself to be more optimistic.

Train yourself to be optimistic by taiking the following steps:

  1. Be grateful. Practice being grateful for the people, places, and things in your life. It is hard to be pessimistic, almost impossible, in fact, when you are being grateful.
  2. Be mindful. Practice mindfulness on a daily basis. This is a very easy way to increase your chances of being an optimistic person. The myth is that being mindful takes a lot of work. Actually, it doesn’t require any work at all. Once you have decided to be mindful, you will see that your outlook on life changes dramatically.
  3. Smile. Smiling is another easy way to increase your optimism quotient. The health and wellbeing effects of smiling are proven time and time again. Additionally, smiling makes you more beautiful. What’s to lose by smiling more?
  4. Surround yourself with positive people. It is hard to be optimistic when everyone around you is negative. If you have negative people in your life, either learn to disregard what they say or minimize your contact with them. We all have auras, positive, negative, kind, evil, good, bad…work on keeping your aura positive and protect yourself from naysayers.
  5. Believe in yourself. Realize how special you are and that you can do whatever you want to do if you set your mind to it and be persistent.
  6. Use affirmations to boost your self-confidence and self-esteem.
  7. Keep a journal that includes things you are grateful for, your affirmations, goals, acts of kindness, accomplishments, prevalent thoughts, activities, general mood, progress toward life goal, people and  places, and general notes on the day.
  8. Exercise – exercise releases endorphins, contributes to your mental and physical well-being and can increase happiness and self-esteem.
  9. Do something nice for someone else, even if it is something small – every little thing counts!
  10. Do something special for yourself each day – whether it is reading, writing, drawing, giving yourself a facial, eating some fruit…try to make an effort to make each day a bit special by doing something you love for yourself.

There will always be times that it is harder to be optimistic than others. World events can have a negative impact just as personal events do. As the song says, “Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders,” sometimes you just have to turn off the news and turn down the noise. You are ultimately the only person that can decide your fate and only your fate. Everyone else has to make their own choices and determine their own fate as well. Love yourself, love the people around you and be grateful for who you are and the people, places and things you have in your life. Awww, come on, give yourself a hug, give your loved ones a hug, and order a pizza with everything on it…

“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.” – Mark Twain

It is often not easy to squash low self-esteem. Your self-esteem stems from things that have happened to you in your life and your own feelings about whether or not you are good enough. There are many ways to improve your self esteem, but the first thing you need to do is discover where your self esteem is low. News flash – nothing is as easy as it first may seem. Low self esteem is a like cancer, it can eat away at you and immobilize you. …

Is Low Self Esteem Holding You Back? Say No to Low!Read More »

I often feel quite uninteresting, sometimes to the point of being dull beyond belief.  I spend a lot of time writing, which, by its very nature, is alone time.  Then after I have written something, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make people interested in it.  Unfortunately, not everyone is interested in what I have to say.  In fact, most of what I have to say matters to me, but not to the rest of the world.  So I was lucky to find this video from Sam Horn that inspired and motivated me.  My catch phrase is “See Be Do – See it! Be it! Do it!” – works for me, what works for you?

Sam Horn is the author of  Got Your Attention?: How to Create Intrigue and Connect with Anyone, which provides great insights into how to be intriguing in life and business. Some of the key ideas she puts forth include: Ask  questions based on pertinent facts

Did you know…? People like to hear interesting facts – it not only provides them with information but it makes you appear well-educated and informed.

Make what you say memorable and repeatable. Do you have a catch-phrase, a favourite quote, story or fact?  Use it –make your talk viral.

Show and ask.  Don’t show and tell.  Make sure people relate.  Make a proposal, provide a solution, describe a problem and ask how the other person relates to it. A

Ask lots of questions. Engage others by asking questions – Has this ever happened to you? Did you ever…? Have you experienced..?  

Keep abreast of current trends, news, and stories New information is good information.  Be hip.  Be amusing. Be interesting.

Keeping a journal is good for heart, mind and soul.  Journaling helps you explore your past and present and plan your future.  Your journal can be a tool to improve your life, discover your strengths and weaknesses and explore your creativity.

Journaling in one form or another has always been a part of my life. Recently as I was getting ready to move house,  I found more than 30 journals spanning  about ten years – the older ones are in boxes somewhere.  I keep everything in my journals, daily notes, appointments, book ideas, thoughts, poems, stories, goals, dreams, and a heck of a lot of scribbling and doodling. I used to write in my journals when I was traveling on trains or planes – I filled up quite a few pages this way. But as a matter of course, journaling for me is a way to clarify my thoughts, get my things in order for the coming days. Writing in a journal is a great practice. Rather than simply talking to oneself, once you start journaling, you are able to get a grip on feelings, see patterns, and organize your thoughts better.

There are some great benefits to writing in a journal on a regular basis :

1. Be aware of feelings and events, review experiences objectively

2. Set written goals and objectives and track whether or not they are being achieved

3. Consequently think about and write things you are grateful for, gratitude journaling is a great way to keep in the moment and uplift your spirits

4. Know the major thoughts and feelings for that day, evaluate them, instill new behaviours to reduce negative thinking and responses

5. Be in tune with yourself, know yourself better, what motivates you and what impacts you on a daily basis

6. Track productivity and results, are you achieving what you want to achieve or are you in a rut?

7. Record ideas and insights so you remember them and can use them later

8. Ask key questions about life, your own life, philosophy, your future, record them and give yourself the opportunity to answer them

9. Write down special events and things you have learned, this is particularly rewarding 10. Keep track of your affirmations

There are hundreds of different journals available, blank books, notebooks, journals with quotes.  I have created a journal in the form of a PDF that includes all the things you should think of when journaling on each page as well as a motivational quote for each day.  You are free to download it here.

  • My long term goal
  • My short term goals and objectives
  • I am grateful for
  • My positive affirmations
  • My emotions and thoughts today
  • Negative
  • Positive
  • My accomplishments today
  • Who I saw today
  • What I did today
  • My plans for tomorrow
  • My creative ideas

Keeping a journal is a great way to keep in touch with yourself, to keep growing as a person, and to track whether or not you are achieving your goals.  I highly recommend it!

Emotional triggers play a significant role in our lives, in how we feel, how we respond, and ultimately in our successes or failures in life. Once you know what your triggers are, you can determine how you respond to them and understand your ingrained patterns and habits. Triggers result in the creation of habits and patterns, we learn to become unconsciously competent. Triggers stimulate actions and may change emotional states. …

Stop Emotional Triggers from Stopping YouRead More »

The brain is still pretty much a mystery to us all – how it works, the power it has, the ability to actually change your brain are all topics that are studied by scientists worldwide.  The mind and brain are fascinating subjects and learning how they work is the subject of countless studies.  There are some great documentaries and videos on the brain and mind that can help you learn about some of the mysteries of the mind.  I have compiled a few here that are enlightening and interesting.  If you have ever wondered about the power or workings of the brain here are 25 interesting facts about the brain.

  1. 25% of the body’s cholesterol resides within the brain. Cholesterol is an integral part of every brain cell. Without adequate cholesterol, brain cells die.
  2. A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses all communicating with each other.
  3. All brain cells are not alike. There are as many as 10,000 specific types of neurons in the brain.
  4. Although pain is processed in your brain, your brain has no pain receptors and feels no pain. This explains how brain surgery can be performed while the patient is awake with no pain or discomfort.
  5. Babies have big heads to hold rapidly growing brains. A 2-year-old’s brain is 80% of adult size.
  6. Brain information moves at an impressive 260 miles per hour. This is faster than Formula 1 race cars which top out at 240 mph.
  7. Having high total cholesterol is not bad for your brain. In fact it actually reduces your risk of dementia.
  8. Each neuron connects with, on average, 40,000 synapses.
  9. There are approximately 400 miles of blood vessels in the brain
  10. Memories are shockingly unreliable. Emotions, motivation, cues, context and frequency of use can all affect how accurately you remember something.
  1. Memory is more of an activity than a place. Any given memory is deconstructed and distributed in different parts of the brain. Then, for the memory to be recalled, it gets reconstructed from the individual fragments.
  2. More than 100,000 chemicals reactions take place in your brain every second.
  3. Multitasking makes you less productive. Your brain jumps between tasks resulting in decreases in attention span, learning, performance, and short-term memory.
  4. Neanderthal brains were 10% larger than our homo sapiens brains.
  5. No one knows for sure, but the latest estimate is that our brains contain roughly 86 billion brain cells.
  6. Only 5 minutes without oxygen can cause brain damage.
  7. Over 140 proteins in the brain are negatively impacted by exposure to electromagnetic frequencies — the kind emitted by your cell phone, electronics, and other electrical devices.
  8. The average brain has around 50,000 thoughts per day and 70% of them are believed to be negative.
  9. The brain in your head isn’t your only brain. There’s a “second brain” in your intestines that contains 100,000 neurons. Gut bacteria are responsible for making over 30 neurotransmitters including the “happy” molecule serotonin.
  10. The human brain is not solid. It’s soft and squishy similar to the consistency of soft tofu or soft gelatin. And it’s very fragile.
  11. The typical brain is about 2% of a body’s weight but uses 20% of its total energy and oxygen intake.
  12. There is no such thing as a left-brain or right-brain personality type. We are not left-brained or right-brained; we are “whole brained.”
  13. 95% of decisions take place in the subconscious mind.
  14. Your brain is 73% water. It takes only 2% dehydration to affect your attention, memory and other cognitive skills.
  15. Your brain’s storage capacity is considered virtually unlimited. It doesn’t get “used up” like RAM in your computer.

The brain is truly amazing – just think about it. 🙂 I’ve assembled several brain expanding or mind blowing videos that you can see below. Enjoy!

It is common advice to suggest that if you have worries, you should ask yourself “What is the worst that could happen?”  This may work for some, but I suggest that if you can’t do anything about it, simply stop worrying about it, ruminating over the worst that could happen might make it worse; it might give you even more to worry about.  If you start thinking about the worst that could happen, you are bound to come up with worst case scenarios that create their own worries. If you can’t do anything about it, if you have no control over it, throw out the worry.  Don’t waste any more time on it.  If you can’t control it you have no right to worry about it!

  1. Worrying is not a virtue, it doesn’t make me a better or more caring person.
  2. I only have the right to worry about things over which I have control.
  3. If I have control over something, I have the right to change it.
  4. If I have a worry I can change, I have the responsibility to either change it or decide that it isn’t worth the effort to change.
  5. If a problem isn’t worth the effort to change, it isn’t worth worrying about.
  6. If a problem deserves changing and I can change it, I need to determine what the solution to the problem is.
  7. If the solution is in my power to accomplish, I need to solve the problem.
  8. If the solution is not in my power, then it is not my problem and I don’t have the right to that worry.
  9. I cannot worry about things in the past. Unless I can rectify or change something that happened, I have no right to worry about it.
  10. I can only worry about things in the future if I have control over them.
  11. If I have control over something, I don’t need to worry about it, I only need to exercise my control, come up with a solution and work the solution.
  12. If the solution to my problem does not work, I can only worry about my problems insofar as I can come up with another solution. If there is no solution, I have no right to worry.
  13. I have the right to do things that are productive, to keep myself busy and engaged in productive and positive activities and to stop worrying.
  14. I do not have the right to devote time that could be productive to worrying about things I cannot control or change
  15. I have the right to share my worries, to speak about them with friends and families.
  16. If I am afraid to share my worries with others, I have no right to keep those worries.

The worry that cannot be spoken, that cannot be shared, turns to guilt, or even greater worries and fears.  The worry that cannot be given up turns to sickness, depression, and other nasty things that create even more worries and fears.  If you are unwilling to share your worries with someone else because you are embarrassed or uncomfortable about sharing your worries, then it stands to reason that you should probably dispense with the worry.  If it is too embarrassing to talk about, then it is not worth holding onto.

As I was growing up my mother used to tell me, “Idle hands are the devil’s playground,” and she would give me some task to do so I would stop moping or pouting.  Keeping busy may be an antidote to worrying.  If you are busy doing something your focus is on the task at home and it is difficult to concentrate on two things at once.  The problem with busying yourself is that the minute you stop busying yourself you start worrying again unless you are willing to truly let go of your worries.

One of the basic tenets of the Law of Attraction is that you are what you think.  If you are what you think and what you think about is all your worries, oops, that really sucks.  You don’t want to be a train wreck, do you?  So stop worrying.  Now you are probably worrying about worrying.  It is a vicious cycle.  But no worries… 🙂  You can overcome worrying too much by keeping the above principles in mind.  Live in the moment, enjoy life and “don’t worry, be happy”.

We all need an attitude adjustment now and then – sometimes it may be as easy as changing your perspective or simply doing something fun but there are some very easy ways to change your attitude that can be incorporated into your daily routines.  Here is a list of ten easy things to do to have a more positive attitude on a daily basis. [su_quote cite=”Winston Churchill”]Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.[/su_quote] …

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your AttitudeRead More »

How do you stop yourself from negative thinking?  Is it possible to change negative thoughts into positive thoughts?  Can you actually stop making negative statements either to yourself or others?  It is possible to stop the habit of negative thinking but it takes work.  Using the Eight Steps to Stop Negative Thinking, you can do it.  It is easy to beat yourself up, sometimes it becomes a habit, a reflex, getting up in the morning, looking in the mirror, saying something negative to yourself. Perhaps you feel guilty about something, inadequate in some way, perhaps you feel insecure in the way others feel about you.  Negative thoughts and emotions are often rooted in the past and very much ingrained, but they can and do come up on a daily basis based on situations we are confronted with. …

Stop Negative Thinking With Eight StepsRead More »

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