Forest Bathing is way cool. In Japan, shinrin-yoku or Forest Bathing is a valuable tool for anyone wanting to improve their quality of life. All you do is go to a natural environment, and walk in a calm and leisurely manner. It is so simple, and like most simple things, it is highly effective. The benefits include, reduced stress, boosted immune system, improved focus, increased energy level, improved recovery time, and lowered blood pressure. Benefits that others have observed include a higher connection to the environment, a deeper connection to their intuition, and an increase in happiness among many other benefits. How cool is that? Just simply getting outside to a natural environment and just simply walking around can have such huge benefits!
I like to use a few essential oils in my diffuser to get a similar effect from the natural compounds that the trees give off.
Eucalyptus
Pine
Cyprus
Cedarwood
Douglas Fir
Frankincense
Oils that I like to pair with these include,
Lavender (for relaxation)
Rosemary (for focus)
Peppermint (for energy)
Cinnamon and clove (during cold and flu season)
Lemon (for a sense of freshness)
I hope this quick post inspired you to go out and explore your environment or to at least take a quick walk around the block! See you next week!
To get new posts directly to your email subscribe in the subscription box over on the side ->
I like goals, lists, and and writing things down. What I don't like is setting a goal and feeling like I absolutely must do it right away, or start on it right now, which even if I don't set an immediate deadline, I'm still going to feel like it needs to get done right away because that's the only thing on my list, or just one of a few things on that list. For some reason when I have a big list I don't feel as pressured to do everything. Probably because it gives me options to choose what I want to do. When I set goals in this way it helps me to stay motivated and able to get more things done without getting distracted from my list since I have so many options.
I've got another video for you so as always, Click HERE to go directly to the video on youtube or watch it below.
How I do this is every year for my birthday I take the age that I am (or just turned) and I set that many goals to get done by the time my next birthday comes around. I set easy goals and harder goals so that I am able to do the easy ones when I need motivation to do the harder/bigger goals. Setting my goals in this way helps me to stay motivated and to not get stressed and give up. I put them on paper and pin them up so that I can see what I've done and so that I don't forget what else I want to do. Sometimes Life just gets in the way so I use this method to stay focused. I like to set things like "exercise every day" because even though I'm not going to exercise in the "workout for 45 min at a time" way every day it reminds me to at least do something, even if its just running around chasing my son I still get my heart rate up. Sometimes I just need to have some wiggle room for a lot of fun.
I like to not have my goals in much of any order, other than maybe if my goals go together. Like say I want to finish painting my house, I'll put that with all indoor house kinds of things, this includes decluttering, getting 6 cross stitches done, etc. Some of you might find it less stressful and easier to do if everything is organized from easiest to hardest, or all in categories, or whatever, just make sure you know what kinds of goals work well for you and what keeps you on track. You can even start small with monthly goal lists to figure out what keeps you the most motivated and the least distracted from your goals. This works for some daily and weekly goals too. But only some. Things like cleaning lists, or sometimes project lists, but of course not things that deserve immediate attention.
I like to write my list down a couple of times, refining it and really getting a list of goals that will work for me. Sometimes I wright things that are just filler because I haven't thought of anything better yet, but once I get to a list that really aligns to my needs I organize them just a little so that they are a bit easier to find, and then I put them on a bigger piece of paper that I can see easily on my pin board.
I like to mark things off as I go, a highlighter usually looks best for me because I can easily see what I've done and because sometimes I will mark out a goal with a pen and add something different to my list. that way I can tell the difference between things I've added and things that no longer align with my life.
Make a list of all the things you want done
Don't just put boring lame things, maybe one or two of those if its the only way to motivate you to do them, but put mostly things that will enrich your life and bring you joy.
Take the number of the age that you are and set that many goals to accomplish by your next birthday
Make sure you have easy and harder to achieve goals
Pin them up somewhere that you look often so that you are reminded to work on your goals
Don't forget to tell yourself how awesome you are when you get something done.
I post a video and a blog every week, if you want new posts emailed to you then don't forget to subscribe over on the side -> You can also subscribe to my youtube channel by clicking the red play button in the subscribe area or by clicking HERE.
I decided to do a cleans. Well, actually not necessarily a cleans and much as a body reset. I have bean eating way to much sugar and grains lately and I do not need to get addicted to them. I decided to go on an Ancestral diet, with no grains, no fruit except for berries, lemons, and limes, a bit more meat but only organic or grass fed and not unclean meats such as shellfish and pork. Also I have bean eating a lot of greens and fermented foods like kefer. I am doing The Makers Diet 40 day program thing, and so far it has actually bean really easy. You can find the list of foods that I will be eating Here. I do not think that we should not eat grains at all, seeing as how even ancient humans ate grains. In fact the whole thing of not eating grains because our hunter gatherer ancestors didn't eat them is completely baseless. The remains of humans from way back thousands of years ago have bean found with grains still in their teeth. However I do think that the processed way that we eat grains is unhealthy. The ancient Egyptian ruling class suffered from many of the healthy problems such as osteoporosis heart disease, arthritis and cancer! that we face today, where as the lower class did not. I prefer sprouted, fermented (sourdough), and freshly ground grains. They are more easily digested when eaten this way. But I still don't think it is best to have a diet that consists mainly of grains, and since my body dose not do very well if I eat to many grains that basically turn into sugar I feel like I need to cut down on my grain and sugar consumption. I have bean focusing on getting lots of greens and eating a bit more meat. I know that it sounds a bit backwards to eat more meat on a cleanse, but like I said, I'm not really doing a cleans per-say but more of a body reset. I have bean finding more of what my body dose best with, and it seam to actually do really well on more meat. I have also been drinking apple cider vinegar in warm water in the morning, and drinking kombucha during the day and much more water. I have been eating only raw cheese and Goat milk Kefer for my dairy. I can't have any beans until the first two weeks are up, but I have bean using lentils instead. After the First two weeks are up, I can incorporate corn, sweet potatoes, yams, all other kinds of dairy (that is still a whole food) and more types of beans. I also can only have certain types of nuts and seeds right now, but I will be able to add more as the weeks progress. I can of course have any types of veggies except for the ones that I will be adding in a week and white potato. I highly suggest trying out a more primitive diet with lots of whole foods, and fermented foods as well. People who eat primitive diets have way less health problems than people with processed foods diet have. Like, way, way, WAY less. Basically everything that causes the most deaths in the US, are non existent to them, and they have no need for braces on their teeth which like everyone gets anymore It's really sad actually how much our diets are killing us. Any hoo, I have bean feeling so supper amazing! I feel like I'm back to my old self. I will post some recipes soon. Have a great Wednesday!
Well, I'm a year older and guess what... Theirs no diffidence from being 18 to 19! Whoa! Who knew? You know how people generally will ask you if you feel any different and you never do? Perhaps you might think that maybe you should feel different but you just don't and therefore you are an exception. Well, your not. I am pretty sure that this is how EVERYONE feels. I used to think that when I was 10 it would be this profound experience, but, no...Nothing Happened. Then 15 (I was never really much into the whole "license thing" for a marker on age) But still NOTHING! And of course 18 was no different. I'm not going on a rant caused by me being annoyed by people asking me if I feel any different. In all honesty, no one asked. I'm actually not ranting at all, I have just bean thinking about how profound experiences, and life changing moments don't ever seam to be caused by age. Yes, your mental maturity, but not your physical maturity, and I think that that is the really exciting part about these times in our lives. Some can be predictable to a degree, if perhaps a life altering moment of you life was when you were married or had children, the usual things that will change a persons life. But, their are so many other moments that influence the choices that we make, and the ideas that we have. These little things, the infinitely small moments that affect us at just the right time to change us and possibly our whole perspective on life, I think are really incredible.
It's time for something a bit more fun. Anyone care for a cream filled sugar cookie cup?
For our last little book swap we had a rose and wildflower tea with heart shaped tomatoes, chia seed crackers, cheese, chocolate mouse, and those yummy sugar cookie things pictured above.
For the crackers simply take one part chia seeds to 2 parts water and a pinch of salt. Mix in a bow and let it sit of a couple of minutes. Now that the mixture is all jellified spread it on one of those silicone dehydrator sheets and put in a dehydrator on about 100 or 115. After 1 hrs flip the crackers to face the other side and leave until dry. about another 2 hrs.
For the strawberry sugar cookie cups. (also known as tassies)
preheat oven to 350. Take a batch of sugar cookie dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Place in a mini muffin tin and push against the sides. bake for 12 min . when golden take out and press against the sides of the tins again and let cool. remove from tins.
The filling
1/2 package of cream cheese softened
1/2 cup of sour cream or kefir
2 tsp of strawberry flavoring, or usestrawberry yogurt or kefir in place of the sour cream.
1 cup of powdered sugar
12 strawberries cut in half. Cut a V at the top and round the corners to make hearts.
Blend the ingredients except for the strawberries and put into the sugar cookie cups. Top with the strawberry hearts.
.JPG)