Abundance

3 Tips to Start Your Day

Published on by Lyn Bailey
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Deciding The Best Way for You to Start Your Day Positively

You have decided to start your days with morning gratitude and/or positive thinking. That is great. Now you have to decide how to do it. You have nearly endless options to choose from. Here are some tips for deciding what to choose.

1. It Works For You

Not every option works for everyone. That is normal and to be expected. Everyone is different, after all. Try a few of the options and see what works for you. If something does not seem to work for you, do not feel bad, and definitely do not try to force yourself to keep doing it.

There are many options out there and you will find something that resonates with your soul if you keep looking. Do not settle on the first thing you try unless it grabs you and refuses to let go. Try different options. Experiment.

2. You Can Do It Consistently

Consider your schedule when weighing options. Some methods take more commitment than others, even if that is only a few minutes longer. How much time do you have in the morning? Not just some mornings, either, but every morning.

If you only have a few minutes most days, making a gratitude list in your head is probably a better idea than trying to fit in 30 (or even 10) minutes of yoga. That is not to say that you cannot do more than one thing. Perhaps you can do your gratitude lists every morning and do yoga as well on the weekends.

Remember that whatever you choose must be something you can do each and every day, or at least on 90 percent of them. Life does happen, after all.

3. You Like It (So You Will Do It)

Do you know the number one reason people fail at starting a gym routine? It is not a lack of time or commitment. It is simply that they do not like what they are doing. Humans are strange creatures who are not likely to continue doing something they do not like, at least not unless they have an overwhelmingly good reason to do so.

The same thing applies to trying to create other new habits too. If you do not like something, you probably will not keep it up. Likewise, it is hard to stop bad habits because on some level you like them, and your brain goes – Quit? Why?

This is slightly different than the first tip (something must work for you) because they are two different things. Ninety minutes a day on a treadmill will work to make anyone fit, but few people like that enough to do it!

I find a Gratitude morning ritual is very simple, quick and easy. As soon as I wake up, I take about 3 minutes to ponder on 3 things I have to be grateful for today. This morning it was another day on this earth, my physical health and my 4 amazing children, who are also my four best friends. It’s a wonderful way to start each day.

If you need help developing a morning ritual to start your day with Gratitude, download my FREE “I am Grateful for….” Worksheet .

DOWNLOAD HERE

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5 Benefits to Starting Your Day with Gratitude

Published on by Lyn Bailey

Why Start Your Day With Gratitude and Positive Thinking?

Did you know that starting your day with positivity is one of the best things you can do to improve your life? It has an immediate, powerful impact on your life. The benefits are numerous, and you start experiencing them from the first day you deliberately begin your day being positive and grateful.

These are the top five benefits you gain from a positive start to your day.

Better Mood

Starting your day with positivity increases your mood and helps you have a better day. Being positive brings you inner peace, lowers your stress levels, increases your optimism, and makes you feel good. All of these benefits combine to put you in a better mood.

Taking time out to inject positivity and gratitude into your day improves your mood at all times of the day but it is especially effective first thing in the morning.

Increased Health

Positive people are healthier than their peers. This is partly due to the lower stress levels experienced by those who practice positivity, but there is more to it than that and scientists are still working to understand it. Positive people are healthier on every level and tend to live longer as well!

Starting your day with gratitude and positive thinking sets the tone for your entire day and will lead you to be more positive throughout everything in life.

More Success

Being positive and grateful first thing in the morning helps clear your mind and allows you to focus more on your tasks for the day. This leads directly to having more success every day and over the long term. Positive people, as a whole, are much more successful than others. This is true in every aspect of life, from careers to relationships.

Happiness

Not only does starting your day with gratitude and positive thinking increase your mood, but it makes you happier. It boosts all of the “feel-good” hormones in the brain that make you happy. This isn’t a transitory effect, either; it lasts all day and over the long term increases your overall, permanent level of happiness.

Improved Relationships

When you start your day with positivity, you clear your brain and are in a much better space to relate to the people you care about most. This makes it easier to maintain healthy, caring relationships. This improvement starts almost immediately and lasts over the long run.

These are just a few of the benefits you can get from deliberately beginning each day with gratitude and positive thinking. You will experience many more if you make it a habit!

 

 

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5 Ways Gratitude Can Turn Your Bad Situation Around

Published on by Lyn Bailey

5 Ways Gratitude Can Turn Your Bad Situation Around

Gratitude has the power to get you through difficult times and turn your life around. It can motivate you to keep reaching for your goals by constantly placing what you have already accomplished right in front of you. This is why you are always told to learn to master thankfulness and nurture a grateful mindset.

Eighteen years ago, my marriage of 34 years broke down and ended in divorce. I was devastated. How could I manage on my own? How could I support myself? How could I ever be happy again? I felt so many emotions – guilt, shame, rejection, overwhelm, fear – just to name a few. How could I ever get out of this black hole? I didn’t know where to begin.

So, one day a few months later, I was meditating, a practice I have been doing daily for many, many years, when this thought popped into my mind. “There is so much to be thankful for. You have 4 amazing children, 2 beautiful granddaughters, your health, a roof over your head, a great career as a midwife, food on your table, wonderful friends, just for starters. There is a way out of this. You will try and figure it out.” I started to feel a sense of relief. “I may have lost my marriage but I still have the strength to work and rebuild a new life,” Just like that, I broke free from the chains that were holding me in the past, looked to what I wanted in the future, and started to live my life in the present, knowing this is the only moment I have complete control over. Gratitude became my new way of life, as I started to see the new doors that were opening in front of me.

One thing that enabled me to turn this bad situation around was creating an attitude of gratitude, shifting my focus from the pain of my marriage breakup to future I was free to create just for me.

Thankfulness turns your unfortunate situation around by:

  1. Shifting your focus.

   The worst thing about hard times is erasing them from your mind or finding ways of concentrating on something else. You can’t help but focus on how horrible your situation is and unintentionally think about how everything went wrong. Nonetheless, shifting your focus is possible if you maintain gratitude in trying times. Phrases like “I am still standing” “I have survived the worst” and “I still have so and so or such and such” will get you through tough times.

  1. Encouraging positive emotions.

    Gratitude gives birth to positive thoughts. Positive thinking is the key to positive emotions because what you think determines how you act, react, respond, or feel. Mastering thankfulness gives birth to positive emotions which keep you focused on “I am strong enough” and “I can fix that.” Therefore, understand that turning your situation around is possible only when you feel you can.

  1. Eliminating your fears.

   Gratefulness encourages you to concentrate on your ability to turn things around thereby eliminating your fears. Appreciating what you have accomplished and what you can still accomplish helps you notice that you have the chance to turn things around. So, use gratitude to overcome your fears.

  1. Emphasizing your strong points.

   Paying attention to what you can do when you are in a crisis is the only way of seeing things from a different perspective and changing what you don’t like. If you focus on “I am good at ABC” and “I can use this skill to effect change” you will move your life in the right direction and see the changes you are longing for.

  1. Imparting a strong sense of worth.

    One thing that makes you realize your sense of worth is having someone show you how much they value you when you are at your lowest point. To have someone do the unexpected for you reminds you that there are people out there who care about your welfare and that alone gets you going.

Appreciating that your life is not what it used to be because of something that someone did for you when you weren’t expecting or when you were not deserving fixes your mind on a thousand things to be grateful for.

Anything is possible when thankfulness becomes the center of your life. For instance, overcoming negative thoughts, controlling your emotions, getting back up, as well as turning your life around.

If you want help seeing life differently and developing an attitude of gratitude, download my FREE Gratitude Tool HERE

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Are You Ready to Move Forward with Your Life?

Published on by Lyn Bailey

Are You Ready to Move Forward with Your Life?  

Every day of your life is a new opportunity. Whether you’re going through an upheaval, merely surviving, or you’re just bored, moving forward with your life is much more satisfying than simply “moving on.” So, if you’re ready to move forward with your life, follow these steps.

Stop Expecting Easy

You may have heard the saying, “If it were easy, everyone would do it.” Unfortunately, many things in life are daunting. Self-development is one of those things. This is because there is a learning curve and there may be challenges concerning maintaining a steady progress, especially if you’re just getting started.

It’s not always easy to get to know who you are. Examine past traumas and experiences. Weed through your inner conflicts, and fight to become who you want to be. While this is not easy, it is a straightforward process that can lead you to succeed.

Stop Living in The Past

While you want to understand why you think and do certain things, avoid living in the past. Address the past by accepting that it happened. Work through your past by getting treatment for things that negatively affect your current situations. However, don’t allow yourself to live in the past because the contentment you seek is in the here and now.

When you focus on the present and learn from the past, you ensure that you’re well cared for. And when you do that, your future is almost certainly taken care of too. After all, the actions you take today informs your future. All you can get from the past is a list of actions you took that worked versus actions you took that did not. Let the rest go.

Stop Waiting for Perfection

If you’ve heard yourself described as a perfectionist, don’t take it as a compliment. It’s not. The best time to begin your next goal is now. There is no perfect outcome even if you follow your plans to a T. There is no time like now for getting started on anything you want to do.

Instead of thinking thoughts like, “I’ll be happy when I reach my weight loss goal.” Or “I’ll start my business when my child is older.” Anytime you start a thought with “I’ll do this when…” stop yourself because most of the time, there is no real reason for putting your goals off.

Stop Doubting

One way to squash doubt is to do your due diligence regarding research for all your goals. Here’s the thing, if it’s possible for someone, it’s probably also possible for you. There are very few cases where only one person can do something. You can learn anything you want to learn and do whatever you want to do or at least something close to it.

Start Planning and Doing

Once you let go of the fact that life can be hard, and the past harmed you, and perfection, and release yourself from doubt, you can start planning by learning how to set goals in a way that leaves you with an innovative action plan that gets results. Then, use that plan to start the most critical thing in your life, the doing. Doing will move you forward more than anything else.

After you let go of expectations and stop focusing on the impossible, you’ll see success. Once you create specific goals and follow your plan, you’ll finally start experiencing success. But don’t skip the very last step. You really must “do” to move forward in your life

 if you want to find out how you can start moving forward, then click HERE to book a strategy session for just $49.00!

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7 Steps to Focus

Published on by Lyn Bailey

7 Steps to Focus

How do you get the most out of your day?
Where do you find the extra hours you want to pursue your passion or live your life to the fullest?
What is the secret to unlocking that extra time to do what you love to do, instead of what you think you have to do?
Women are very capable of multitasking. As mothers, we are even more capable of it. Employers encourage it. Unfortunately, statistics show that multitasking decreases our productivity, no matter what we are doing.
“About 2.5% of subjects can multitask without performing worse at either task, in controlled studies. These are being dubbed “supertaskers.””
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 5/2010
While many people aspire to be “supertaskers”, only 2.5% succeed. For the rest of us, that means that we decrease our focus and attention on each of the tasks we are tackling at any given time. How do we change this, I hear you ask. The answer is simple – FOCUS.

7 Steps to Focus
1. Have Goals – know what you want. Set clear, concise goals so that you know what you want and when you want it.
2. Avoid Multitasking – multitasking is not the best use of your time. Block out 1-2 hour blocks to focus on your goal.
3. Take Regular Breaks – give yourself a short 5 minute break every hour to keep yourself rested and hydrated.
4. Identify Distractions – identify your 3 greatest distractions and take steps to eliminate them.
5. To Do list – this will keep you on track as you will always know what the next step is.
6. Keep Your Eyes and Mind on the Prize –Focus on the end result until you achieve it. This will keep you motivated and moving forward towards your goal.
7. Reward Yourself – Decide at the outcome how you will reward yourself when you achieve your goal, then reward yourself on completion. You deserve it!
Go for it now. Start to give yourself time to see the Power of Focus as you incorporate it into your day and your life.

If you need  help in changing OR any of these in your life right now, book  a FREE 30 minute Strategy Session HERE.

 

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Obstacles that Keep You from Being Present

Published on by Lyn Bailey

Obstacles that Keep You from Being Present

When you want to live in the now, there are obstacles that can get in the way and stop you from being fully present.

Distractions are one of these. You can set a goal to be more present then it seems like one thing after another happens to get in the way of that goal. Sometimes these distractions can be problems at home or work. They could also be thoughts or habits that keep cropping up.

Closely linked to the problem of distractions is stress. When you’re under stress, it can be hard to keep your mind’s focus where you want it to be. That’s because your brain is busy trying to solve the current crisis.

Your body starts to react to stress in ways that aren’t conducive to living in the present. When your breathing and your body aren’t calm, it’s much harder to soothe your mind and focus your thoughts.

Too many demands on you physically can also be an obstacle to keep you from being mindful. When you reach the end of your physical strength, it can be hard to find the mental strength that you need.

If you’re not feeling well, you’re tired, or you’re under stress, your mind will have a harder time keeping the focus where it needs to be.

Any time that a physical need is present, it can be an obstacle. If you’re thirsty, your mind might want to focus on that only. If you’re hungry, your mind might not be able to focus on anything but food.

When a physical need nags at the back of your subconscious mind, you can have a lot of trouble centreing your mind on anything else. When you want to practice living in the present, you need to be sure that no physical needs are distracting you from reaching the level of awareness.

If you have a cold or other health ailment, that can be an obstacle. If you have a headache, toothache or are hurting anywhere in your body, those can make it difficult to achieve a state of focus for being present. It could be that all you can think about is how bad you’re feeling or how much pain you’re in. Any physical issues that are going on should be dealt with first.

Having a time crunch is another roadblock to mindfulness. If your life is so packed with activities and responsibilities that fitting one more thing in it seems overwhelming, you’ll have difficulty obtaining the awareness needed for living in the present.

Your own thoughts can get in the way, too. Thinking that you’re not good enough or that you can’t keep your focus is a common obstacle. Many people make the mistake of thinking that living in the present is something they can do just by wanting it.

However, it’s something that takes both effort and consistency. If you gently bring your focus back around each time you lose it, then you will eventually be able to live in the present for longer periods.

When it’s difficult is when many people give up. They want instant results and being mindful isn’t something that happens overnight. You need to work at it even when it’s not as easy as you’d like it to be.

Whatever you’re doing right now, try to stop a moment and pause. Take a breath and refocus. This is a simple way that you can calm your racing mind and body so that you can be fully present.

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Why It’s So Hard to Be Present

Published on by Lyn Bailey

Why It’s So Hard to Be Present

Being present can be difficult to achieve because doing so can trigger feelings of discomfort. The discomfort comes from thinking you must be completely within the present without slipping up.

 

When something does happen to shake your focus, it can make you feel like you’ve failed to achieve living in the now. However, being present isn’t something that has a success or failure scorecard. It’s simply learning how to pick up on the situations when you’re not practicing living in the moment and gently course correcting.

 

It can be hard to be in the present because you might get caught up in the mundane. There’s nothing peaceful about the stresses of life. When the dishwasher floods or the car breaks down, it can be easy to start daydreaming, rather than focusing on what’s currently going on in your life.

 

Living in the present is something that can take practice. It’s easy to fall back into bad habits. You can find yourself handling life the way you’ve always done. Your habits are your “go-to” response and your brain can automatically fall back into those thought processes.

 

When this happens and you realize that your mind and your reactions are opposite of living in the now, you can always hit reset. Just because you think you blew it doesn’t mean that you did.

 

Everyone will have times when they forget to focus, especially when life gets hectic. However, as soon as you’re aware that’s happening, you can pause and start fresh.

 

It can be hard to be present when you’re in the middle of something that’s stressing you out or making you angry or sad. This is totally normal. It’s common to have difficulty concentrating or focusing when you’re in the middle of a crisis.

 

 

That’s why you want to focus on learning to “live in the now” even if your life seems peaceful and calm at this moment. Then when difficult things happen, you’ll be able to maintain your peacefulness because you’ve spent time practicing.

 

Some people struggle to be present because they fear living in the moment means they’re going to be handing over control. Sometimes, it’s easier to think that if you worry about something or fret over it; you can prevent bad things from happening simply because you pre-worried.

 

However, living fully in the moment isn’t about giving up control. It’s about focusing your awareness so that you don’t waste valuable energy worrying about what has happened or what might happen. Instead, you’re experiencing fullness of life exactly where you are.

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12 Reasons to Live in the NOW!

Published on by Lyn Bailey

12 Reasons to Live in the Now

There are many reasons to live in the now. Doing so can improve every area of your life. You’ll live happier and in greater freedom from things that would normally weigh you down or hold you back. Here are the reasons why you need to live in the now…

Reason #1: You’ll feel better emotionally.

When you live in the now, your focus is on what you have, not what you lost, what was, or what will be. You won’t waste your precious hours dwelling on anything. You won’t live in discontentment and focus on what’s going to be.

You’ll simply be open to life as it’s happening to you. When you do this, you’ll find that your joy in life is magnified. You’ll smile more often and you won’t have that feeling that the world is sitting on your shoulders. You won’t feel like you’re burning the candle at both ends. Instead of just existing, you’ll be living life to the fullest.

Reason #2: Your mental energy won’t be wasted.

It can be exhausting having your thoughts jump through the hoops of “what if…” or “if only I had…” which in turn leads to physical fatigue. When you guide your thoughts to living in the now, you’ll discover that you don’t waste energy dwelling on things that don’t matter. You’ll gain freedom from pressure and worry.

Reason #3: Living in the now can rid your life of chaos.

You won’t find yourself reacting to things anxiously or fearfully. You’ll have a sense of peace and well-being even during the times that something is going wrong. You’ll feel this way because you’ll understand that living in the moment means that whatever is going on is current and doesn’t mean it’s always going to be that way. You’ll know that chaos is transient and doesn’t have the power to steal your peace of mind unless you give it control.

Reason #4: When you live in the now, it boosts your self-esteem.

You’ll have self-assurance and understand that you’re fully capable of handling your life. The way that you approach situations and others will change. You’ll be aware of your strength and wisdom and you’ll know that you’re prepared to deal with each thing as it arises.

Reason #5: Your understanding will increase.

 When you live in the now, you’ll have a deeper understanding of what’s right and which direction to go when you need to make a decision. Many decisions are made out of fear of what might happen in the future rather than weighing the truth of the options at hand.

Reason #6: Being present alters who you are.

You won’t be stressed out or worrying all the time. You’ll take things moment by moment. Your reactions will be formed out of living in what is. Because of this, you’ll discover that other people will be drawn to you. They will be drawn to your positivity, your calm outlook on life. They’ll see your peace. The people that are drawn to you will be ones that support you and give back rather than people that act as emotional drainers.

Reason #7: You’ll accept the forks in the road.

When change occurs, whether unexpected or planned, you’ll know that everything is going to work out. You won’t waste time or mental energy feeling like you didn’t get what you deserved.

You won’t go through life expecting things because you’ll be focused on what you have with a positive, thankful attitude. If something does go wrong, you’ll be able to take it in stride. It won’t shake your belief in yourself or in the goodness of your life.

Reason #8: You’ll stop trying to be perfect.

When you stop trying to orchestrate what happens to you or what unfolds in your life, you’ll realize that the now is what you have before you. You’ll stop being focused on planning your life to perfection.

When you live in the now, you won’t worry if something goes on that you didn’t plan. Every time life throws you a curveball, you’ll be able to accept it and still live happy, rather than getting caught up in what “should have” been.

Reason #9: Living in the now can add years to your life.

That’s because you don’t let stress ruin your life. You don’t allow the negatives and things you can’t control to become a roadblock. Stress tends crops up when you don’t focus on the moment. Perfectionism when planning the future is an example of this.

Many people want to erase bumps, roadblocks, and distractions from their goal planning because they want the perfect future. This strategy doesn’t allow for changes or failures. When it happens, they start to worry about what it means to their future and how they’re going to fix things.

When you start focusing on the future whether things have gone wrong or not, gently bring your thoughts back to the present. Being aware of the current moment keeps you from stressing on the moments that haven’t even happened.

Reason #10: Practicing living in the now because it gives you a positive outlook.

When you have a positive outlook, you have a stronger tendency to see life as good and you expect good. When you expect good, your emotions follow suit. Your thoughts can change the emotional landscape of your life.

Reason #11: Living in the now brings balance to your life.

You’ll discover that you can go through life trustfully knowing on a conscious level that what your life is as it should be. In addition, you’ll develop a faith that your present moment is exactly where you’re supposed to be.

When your life is in balance, it means that what’s important to you will be able to be center stage. You won’t miss the opportunities life gives you.

These opportunities may show up in hundreds of different ways. Such as paying full attention to the conversation of a child, picking up the nonverbal cues given to you by your partner or being in tune to your own needs or the needs of someone else

.Reason #12: You’ll stop using a subconscious script when you live in the now.

Too many people overanalyze their lives and waste their moments trying to decide what’s really going on. Living in the moment allows you take things and people at face value. You won’t second-guess their actions or motive

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Guilt!

Published on by Lyn Bailey

The Most Overrated Emotion: Guilt

 

Guilt is an emotion people experience when they do something wrong (or think they did something wrong) whether they did it on purpose or not. Guilt is frequently an emotion people express when they fail at something or don’t accomplish something they worked hard toward. Guilt can be positive but more times than not, guilt is harmful and can be an overrated emotion.

 

Guilt is a Distraction

 

Guilt is more of a distraction than a useful emotion. Guilt distracts and detaches you from reality while you feel hopeless and sad about what you did. Instead, that time could be used to solve the actual problem or to forgive yourself or the person that may have caused that feeling in the first place.

 

Guilt is a distraction from the lesson to be learned. We often dwell on failing instead of why we experienced the failure, which distracts from learning from your mistakes. Instead, take the failure as a sign that you need to learn something. What did you miss? Discover it and realize it was a lesson, and eventually, you will overcome the obstacle if you don’t let guilt win first.

 

All Effort is Lost

 

Guilt makes you forget about all the effort you already put into it, which ultimately wastes even more of your time. Why did you also put in any effort if you were going to waste it by feeling guilty? Be proud of the hard work that you did even if you ultimately make a mistake or you didn’t succeed at a level that you thought you would.

 

Used for Control

 

Guilt is sometimes used to control large groups of people. Cults will use guilt to make their followers feel bad about themselves. Parents, teachers and bosses use it to get others to do what they want them to. Guilt is a potent tool to control you because your desire to want to feel better now relies on them.

 

Guilt is Unhealthy

 

The feeling of guilt is ultimately very unhealthy, both physically and mentally. It can cause high blood pressure, stress, and many other mental illnesses that can show up right on your body. This includes baggy eyes, weight gain, or even nausea and vomiting in severe cases.

 

Letting go of guilt will give you the freedom to learn and grow. Even when you make a mistake that doesn’t mean you are dumb or a bad person. The actions that you take next is what will determine that. Instead of dwelling on the mistakes you made, learn from them. Use that time to learn about yourself, so you avoid repeating the same actions. In time you will genuinely understand how useless and overrated guilt is.

 

So, next time you find yourself feeling guilty, as yourself “What can I do in this moment to change the way I feel?” Then take one small action in that direction.

Click here to Book a 1 hour Discovery Coaching Session to heal your guilt for just $77 NOW!
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5 Benefits of Self Care

Published on by Lyn Bailey

Top 5 Benefits Of Self-Care

Self-Care Isn’t Selfish – It’s Necessary

Contrary to what you may have heard, self-care isn’t selfish. It’s necessary. When you’ve got commitments, responsibilities and obligations pulling at you from all angles, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you can’t afford the time or resources to care for yourself.

The fact of the matter is that you can’t afford not to.

Click Here to Join the FREE 5 Day CHOOSE YOU Challenge 

Here are five reasons why self-care should be at the very top of your list of priorities.

Top 5 Benefits Of Self-Care

1-    Improves Your Self-Esteem

First, engaging in regular self-care practices improves your self-esteem, both in obvious – and not so obvious – ways.

On the surface, sure if you take time to care for your physical body by exercising, eating well, maintaining proper hygiene, and having a beauty regimen you’ll look and feel great on the outside. But caring for your mental and emotional health improves your self-esteem from the inside, too.

A quick example is with a problem that so many people have in common – putting others first.

If you tend to say “yes” to others a little more often than you’d like, sacrifice some of your own needs to make others happy, or riddle yourself with guilt for saying “no”, caring for your emotional health by slowing down, considering what it is you really want and need, and making authentic choices on how to spend your time and money would benefit you.

While it may not seem like it on the surface, people-pleasing is a huge sign of low self-worth. Why do you feel like your wants and needs aren’t valid or important?

Journaling your true feeling, taking time before accepting or denying requests from others, and blocking off personal time in your calendar are just a few examples of simple self-care activities that can help you boost your self-esteem from the inside out.

2-    You Have More To Give To Others

Second, while you may assume taking time to care for yourself means less time and energy you can spend on others, the reverse is true.

If you happen to play a role in life where you care for others (for example a parent, work in healthcare or customer service, care for aging parents), it’s all too easy to spend all your time and energy attending to the needs of others.

But what about you?

Who takes care of you and makes sure that you are okay?

Have you ever heard that saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup”?

Chances are that nobody cares for you the way you care for others, so your cup is probably running low. You’ll have to care for yourself or risk total and complete burnout – at which point you’re no good for anyone.

Prioritizing your personal wellbeing is good for everyone. You’ll have so much more to give if you put yourself first at least some of the time.

Click Here to Join the FREE 5 Day CHOOSE YOU Challenge 

3-    Increased Productivity

Third, one of the most important self-care practices you can get started on right away is making sure you get enough sleep. The average adult requires 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Running on less than this has potential adverse effects that you may not have considered, such as weight gain, inflammation and poor mental health.

But, one of the strongest benefits of getting enough rest is a boost in concentration and productivity.

Imagine having a high-pressure meeting or presentation at work, or an important exam to take at school. Do you think you’d perform better if you stay up all night drinking coffee and cramming, or after a good night of rest?

The answer is obvious.

If you think you can’t get more sleep because your life is just too hectic and busy, start small! Start by setting a strict cutoff for when you’ll turn off your phone or laptop and go to bed. Then, try going to bed just ten minutes earlier for a while. Even if you don’t fall asleep right away, you’ll be training your body and mind to get into sleep mode.

Once you get used to that, you can slowly add more time. It really works!

4-    Get To Know Yourself Better

We humans are constantly changing, evolving and growing. And if you’re reading this right now, chances are personal growth is high on your list of priorities. So, it’s important to you.

Well, if you don’t regularly spend quality time with yourself, evaluating different aspects of your life, setting goals, tracking progress, and examining yourself, how do you stay familiar with who you are once you’ve changed?

Unless you intentionally work on this, you don’t.

It’s not possible to outgrow the perception you have of yourself unless you establish a self-care practice that supports self-understanding.

Some ideas for self-care that will help you explore who you are include journaling (specifically reviewing old journal entries to compare your progress over time), meditation, and pursuing hobbies that involve creativity (making art, writing literature, playing instruments).

5-    Healthy Management Of Emotions

Someone who doesn’t have a strong self-care regimen is highly likely to crumble under stress, anger or disappointment. This doesn’t have to be you.

Even the luckiest people on the planet have bad days. We lose loved ones, suffer broken hearts, don’t achieve goals we set out to conquer…

Without a solid self-care toolbox, it’s so easy to turn to unhealthy habits such as drinking to excess, seeking comfort by overindulging in food or shopping, or even becoming avoidant – neglecting our responsibilities completely. These only make bad situations even worse.

When you have great coping mechanisms for when you’re sad, angry, stressed or hurt, you’re able to deal with negative events in much healthier ways.

You’ll still feel the negative emotions – mind you – but you’ll be able to manage them. And that makes a world of difference in your overall life experience.

Click Here to Join the FREE 5 Day CHOOSE YOU Challenge 

Final Thoughts

While it may seem on the surface that you don’t have time or money to prioritize your personal wellbeing, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Self-care doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. In fact, you can find subtle ways to integrate it into your daily life so that you can experience all the peace, positivity and progress you deserve.

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