SHAKE IT OFF

How often does the feeling of utter doom creep up on you? We’re all victims of that doom, question is where does it come from and how does it have the power to totally paralyze us? I’m talking about anxiety. It seems that no matter what status, wealth, background, color, race, orientation or gender, we are all suffering from varying degrees of anxiety. I know I’ve felt anxiety ridden almost my whole life!

Anxiety is an intrusive feeling of worry or concern that has the ability to catch us off guard and completely consume us! Some of us have completely surrendered in the face of anxiety and accepted it as part of our lives. Why is it that we feel like something just has to go wrong?

Let’s break it down..

Our health is not only based on what we eat but also what we think and say (you may refer to my earlier blog entry “Holistic Health” for more information.) But let’s tackle the former for now. Right now, is your opportunity to grab a pen and paper and finally admit to yourself if you’ve been abusing any anxiety induced habits. This includes smoking, caffeine, drugs, alcohol and even fast food. Remember that we cannot begin to fix a problem before we identify it.

We seem to underestimate the power of replacing even just one small old habit with new one. We feel like we need radical solutions to our problems. We overcomplicate our lives, because we presume that the solution just cannot be that simple. Keep in mind that this perception is simply not true, it is nothing more than another layer of false beliefs. When I shifted my bed time from 3am to 11pm, I can honestly say my life changed! I felt way more energetic and peaceful. I wondered why I resisted such a minor change for so long and realized that I was just too suspicious and pessimistic towards the simplicity of this solution! With time, I quit smoking and significantly reduced my alcohol intake and experienced even bigger improvements in the way I felt. Nobody is expecting you to wake up one morning and suddenly change all of the above. Make only small but believable changes, and test out your own levels of anxiety. Don’t take my word for it! See for yourself!

Why do we resist dropping our addictions so much? Intellectually, we know they are holding us back. Yet, emotionally we can’t seem to shake them. This indicates that we are emotionally driven in our behavior. After accepting our addictions as escapism, we must find a way to make positive neuro-associations to change. That is, mentally associating change with pleasure and positive outcomes. Picture yourself overcoming your addiction and living a fuller life! Choose creative replacements to your habits and visualize them flourishing into talents or productivity.

Anxiety, although a feeling, must’ve stemmed from some kind of thought process to begin with, also known as a belief system. Reality, as we know is based on our perception. Be it conscious or subconscious, our thoughts are what direct our feelings and create our realities. We can say, that overthinking, specifically about the past or future, is synonymous with anxiety.

Now that we’ve broken it down, we can begin to self-heal and break free. The first and most important step to gaining freedom from anxiety, is by gaining awareness. This means recognizing your anxiety as nothing more than a feeling driven by thought. By recognizing your anxiety for what it is from the view of a witness, rather than a victim, you are able to unidentify. You can even say out loud “I recognize my anxiety for what is it. I am not my anxiety. This too shall pass.” Here we are choosing to accept our feelings by coming to terms with them, instead of resorting to further escapism through drugs or other addictions.

After gaining awareness we can begin to bring ourselves back into spiritual alignment. It is extremely vital to start cultivating kindness towards yourself. This takes place in the form of empowering and kind self dialogue. We’ve already spent way too much energy diving into never ending cycles of self judgmental, and we know for sure that hasn’t helped. So a little positive self talk can be worse than what we’ve been doing thus far. You can even say out aloud “I witness my anxiety as a byproduct of fear, and honor my power by choosing self-love. I ask the universe/god/higher power to guide me.” Here you are expanding your consciousness and inviting a feeling of instant relief by giving it up!

You can then, move on to either of the below techniques. I encourage you to experiment with either of them and see which works for you!

1. EFT – Emotional Freedom Tapping

EFT is a self-help technique in which you use your finger tips to tap on the above points which are identified in traditional acupuncture as energy pathways of the body known as meridians. As soon as you feel your anxiety kicking in, start tapping each meridian 4-5 times and say: “Even though I feel this anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

The order of tapping is as follows:

1. Karate chop (outer side of the hand)
2. Top of the head (crown of the head)
3. Eyebrow (where eyebrow starts)
4. Side of the eye
5. Under eye
6. Under nose
7. Between lower lip and chin
8. Start of collar bone
9. Under arm where bra strap usually goes.

The goal is to continue repeating the circuit until you feel like your problem moves from a rating of 10 to 0. You may even feel silly while doing it, but wouldn’t you rather laugh at yourself? 🙂

2. Breath-Awareness Meditation

This type of meditation has the ability to recenter your thoughts and alter your frequency of vibrations by bringing you back to a place of deep peace and silence.

The meditation is simple an is as follows:

1. Breathe in for three counts if you’re a beginner, or 4 counts if you are familiar with meditation.
2. Hold your breath for three counts.
3. Exhale for three.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Tee, give me a REAL solution!” The truth is that we’ve managed to overcomplicate the solutions in our minds. Breathing is the ultimate tool for changing our vibrations. Heres why, when we feel anxious or terrified we take small rapid breaths from the top of our lungs. By altering your breathing rate and pattern, and by taking long deep breaths you have the power to calm your mind and body. Ultimately you are changing the rhythm of your breathing to change the rhythm of your vibrations.

Go for this meditation as many time as you can during the day for how ever length of time you require to feel better!

3. Journaling

Most of us take time and practice to develop positive self-talk and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Journaling on a daily basis and writing your feelings down is whats iv’e called many time before “the 3$ therapy.” Writing is therapeutic because there is a sense of release when we see your emotions  out on the paper in front of us. You can even resort to writing, to dig deep and learn the source of negative emotions.

Write until you feel better. Continue writing your way into happiness. At the start of my journey, whenever I felt major frustrations my hand writing was rugged and angry. Sometimes I was so angry I wrote right through my paper! Yes, I ripped holes right through my page! My words were met with so much resistance, but as I continued I felt better and better.

4. Mindfulness

Mindfulness techniques, like meditation, allow us to get out of our minds and into the present moment. Below is a mindfulness technique you can use to bring peace and presence into your life:

1. Start by identifying 5 things you can see within your surroundings
2. 4 things you can hear
3. 3 things you can feel (shoes, clothes, accessories, breath)
4. 2 things you can smell
5. 1 thing you can taste

Shifting your focus to your sense has the ability to interrupt anxious thoughts and ground you in the present moment.

I truly hope this entry helps you with any degree of anxiety you may be feeling, just keep in mind that peace is a cultivated process. To maintain peace as your lifestyle and philosophy embrace the 3 Cs of practice: Commitment, Consistency, and Connection.

Remain committed to your practice and healing. By being here, you’ve already accomplished that! Consistent practice results in thicker neurological pathways which strengthens your new habits into your new lifestyle. Finally, embrace your connection to the divine energy around you which is at your disposal at all times.

With loving energy,

Tee

Meditation Simplified

WHAT

Meditation is most definitely a personal choice. It is similar to smoking in the sense that nobody can get you to stop smoking except you! But of-course it is opposite to smoking in terms of cultivating self-love and care.

The very essence of meditation has been complicated to unimaginable degrees, specifically in western cultures. It is made out to be some mysterious practice that is difficult to attain when in reality, if you can breathe, then you can meditate. YES IT IS THAT SIMPLE. Like most things in life, our mind tends to overcomplicate our lives through overthinking and overanalyzing rather than listening to our intuition. The power of meditation is just that: Peace of mind and expanded consciousness.

Don’t confuse meditation with concentrating or controlling your thoughts. The mind wanders, and that is perfectly normal! The key is to cultivate awareness of your thoughts and then letting them go. Praise yourself every time you catch your mind in wandering action.

I suggest that you treat your mind in the same way that your treat your body at the gym. Somehow, we can accept that we have to build up to physical stamina, yet very few have the patience to build mental stamina. Don’t be hard on yourself and put unrealistic standards for yourself! Frequency of meditation is more vital that length.

Last but not least, SMILE! Find a way to make meditation fun! NLP expert Tony Robbins explains how we are more likely to stay committed to a practice if we find a way to make it pleasurable. Behaviorally speaking, we would much rather avoid short term pain at the expense of long term gain. Smiling through your meditation will allow you to lift your vibrations even higher!

WHY

• Relief from stress and anxiety through reduction of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Relief also brought about from a shift of brain waves from a beta state to alpha and theta states.
• Decreased blood pressure and hypertension.
• Lower cholesterol levels.
• Cell rejuvenation through proper oxygenating.
• Increased production of the anti-aging hormone DHEA.
• Restfulness

Meditation has the ability to teach you philosophies in life that have the ability to change your approach and build a new lifestyle:

• Letting go – letting go of thoughts.
• Patience – cultivating consciousness.
• Awareness – gaining awareness of unhealthy inner dialogue.
• Self mastery – practice makes the master.

HOW

WHERE

The beauty of meditation is that your body is your temple! There is no need to seek any particular place to meditate, however if you are a beginner, you may want to pick a quiet space, perhaps in your bed room. Don’t let external thoughts frustrate you, as a matter of fact, if you are able to tune in to all sounds around you, then you are being mindful!

WHEN

There are no rules! Perhaps you’d rather meditate at night to launch yourself into a positive morning or you’d prefer to meditate in the morning to settle your thoughts. Afternoon meditation sessions have the power to reenergize you after a hectic day. Some people choose to meditate in the heat of the moment to regain alignment. Do what feels good for you!

There are many types of meditations out there from breath awareness, body scan, transcendental meditation, kundalini and many more. Find the meditation that works for you! I personally enjoy a combination of breath awareness and body scan. I also use solfeggio frequencies to aid me along with bells on an app called Insight Timer. The use of bells serve as a reminder for me to step out of my mind and into my meditation.

Remember that there is no such thing as a bad meditation and to be always be gentle with yourself!

With loving energy,

Tee

Self-love is the new Activism

“Yesterday I was clever and tried to change the world. Today I am wise and try to change myself.” – Rumi 

Empathy and compassion are what make us human. They are not qualities that need to be taught. In fact, they have been there deep within us the whole time! We’ve just buried them in a deep dark place because, at one point or another, we’ve allowed feelings of betrayal to consume us.

Those who appear to be the most reckless towards others, are in fact the most reckless towards themselves, but when we choose to listen and understand someone, rather than judge them, we become aware of the underlying question of “why?” Perhaps recklessness was taught or perhaps a combination of trauma and lack of forgiveness has planted a seed of anger and wrath. Whatever the narrative, when we feel broken inside and lack self-awareness, we cannot even begin to be there for someone else, at least not in the right way.

After my awakening, I was able to reconnect with my authentic self, but before that, I couldn’t say that I was doing very much to make the world a better place, let alone my life! I had expectations and judgement towards corporations, yet there I was supporting them by buying the products that they were selling. I was so oblivious to the fact that I was a part of the money making machine, ploughing everything in its way for a quick a buck. My biggest concern was the environment. I was posting pretty pictures of nature, but consuming single use plastics at the same time.

The fact that we feel so demotivated and uninspired to do anything about some of the things we are unhappy about is, because we feel too small. What’s a drop in the ocean to do? We feel that we are completely powerless in the face of society and multi-million dollar corporations. If your opinion never mattered as a child, then you especially feel like you don’t matter, I know exactly what that feels like. If you’re out there I feel you.

Another reason we feel powerless is because we feel the need to fight.  This turns us into angry peace-makers which drains our energy. The non-violent approach of Gandhi can prove to us that you cannot fight war with war. It is like saying “I will lose weight by eating fast food.”  For example, a few months ago I was so fed up at this particular restaurant chain in my country and so I decided to do something about it. To give you some context, my country, known for its lush nature, has been devastated by an ongoing garbage crisis that has made our seas and land nothing more than toxic disease incubators.

I was deliberately taking to social media the irresponsibility of this restaurant chain regarding their wasteful packaging. I even called them out when they continuously sent me plastic cutlery when I specifically asked them not to. I never used any foul or indecent language, and I stated that I was only trying to point out the problem and encourage healthy dialogue between consumers and suppliers. But at the end of the day, I just didn’t feel good! I felt mean and angry. My energy was spent and above all..nothing changed.

I never gave up, but I did realize that my approach just wasn’t going to work. I simply decided to spend my money at restaurants that are taking a green initiative. Instead of singling anyone out I used my platform to educate whoever was listening. I chose to share information on the dangers of single use plastics. I dropped my plastic consumption by at least 80% and participated in beach clean ups.  I was able to sleep better at night, knowing I was keeping my body healthy and our world a little cleaner. By choosing responsibility rather than reactivity I felt better! The point is that we perform our best when we feel good.

Fighting violence with violence  doesn’t make us any different and it doesn’t change much. It turns into what I call “the battle of the egos,” because we start to lose sight of the issue at hand. It also leaves us feeling powerless. Going off on a rant is easy. Maintaining grace is where true power lies. Just imagine that you were on the receiving end of any rant..You wouldn’t listen to you! In fact you would feel offended and decide to be uncooperative.

Maintain your grace and wake up to the fact that YOU MATTER! How can you not? You are paying these corporations to survive and even strive! Without your money and demand they would be forced to take a different approach that suits the planet and not just their pockets. They would even be forced to shut down! Companies are making billions off our lack of self-love! But don’t let that drive you crazy.  Shift your focus to self-love and everything will fall into place.

Nobody is expecting you to wake up one morning and completely shift your lifestyle at the switch of a button. Start to cultivate self-love because you matter! You deserve to breathe clean air, eat healthy food and feel amazing! By changing yourself, you WILL make the world a better place. Remember that you cannot pour from an empty cup so go ahead and fill your cup with love.

With loving energy,

Tee

 

 

What really matters

I want to start off by expressing how much the human mind just fascinates me! It is such an important part of our body, yet up until now, it hasn’t been fully understood. What blows my mind even more (see what I did there?), is that the human brain is actually attempting to understand itself! In fact, it was a brain that has named our brains, “brain.” But I wasn’t always fascinated by my own mind, truth is, my mind was something I barely understood, and since I was identified with my mind, I barely understood myself. Furthermore, my brain was a toxic place to be, before I gained a little awareness.

60,0000 is the number of thoughts the average brain has in one day. 60,000! Clearly, the human mind is extremely busy. Calculating, evaluating, judging, predicting, reminiscing, analyzing, scheming, and planning are just some of its tasks which begs the question: How are you choosing to use your brain?

There was a point in my life, when I didn’t even know I had a choice. I had no idea that I was even able to choose my thoughts. For the longest time ever I was trapped in what felt like a never ending tornado of negativity swirling around in my mind. My thoughts consisted of self judgement, negative self-talk, judgement towards others, entitlement and greed that manifested through feelings of victimization, until one day I became the witness of my thoughts.

It was a hot summer’s night in Milan, Italy, when the air conditioning overheated and started a fire in my apartment. My apartment was made of wooden walls and old classic wooden furniture, the perfect fuel for fire. I was fast asleep. As the fire raged on, I began to feel a tightness in my chest. I then started going in and out of consciousness as thick black fumes engulfed my apartment. I eventually woke up and realized what was happening. I ran out of my apartment, in the nude and then waited for help to arrive. A few moments later, it hit me..I could’ve easily slept through that fire and died!

That was the first time I took a good hard look at myself. It was like a part of me was able to elevate and look down at the mess that I’ve created. After intense catharsis, I suddenly felt grateful for the life I had, but I also realized that it was me, and nobody else, that was bringing misfortune into my life, and that life just simply cannot be 70, 80 or x amount of years, from birth to death, of utter misery.

“There must be something that I am doing to attract so much negativity in my life!” 

It was time to start unlearning all the negativity that I was taught. I dropped the blame I had toward others in my life immediately and took full responsibility. I suddenly lost total interest in the fashion industry which I had set out to conquer, in one of the largest fashion capitals of the world, because I lost interest in stuff. I refused to spend another minute of my life being the cause of my own suffering. I awakened to the fact that our stuff and bad habits are just distractions from ourselves! I also no longer wanted to be part of any industry bringing further devastation to our planet. My monstrous ego was shattered and my inner wounded child was suddenly exposed and I had to make a choice.

I am sharing this story because I hope to reach out to someone who feels like a prisoner to their own mind. If you’re out there..I feel you. I want to comfort you into knowing that there is a way out and the way out is in. You aren’t a victim to this life, and life didn’t just happen to you. You’ve just been sending out the wrong signals which have been coming right back to you. Some of us aren’t even aware of karma. We hear about it, but we don’t imagine our thoughts have anything to do it. It’s not your fault, its not like our schools are teaching us this stuff.

We don’t need to wait for disaster to strike before we realize how short life is. My experience taught me that I’ve been spending my life focusing on what’s wrong rather than what’s right. It taught me that life is a gift and it is our perspectives that determine whether it will be a fun ride or not.

Stop taking life so seriously 🙂 Who says you can’t enjoy life and it’s lessons? Your mother? Your father? Your girlfriend? I know exactly what that’s like. But other people’s views are just views. They are reflections of themselves, not you. You can have your own visions and focus on them. No one can tell you what to think and feel except you. YOU are the commander of your thoughts. Choose to empower yourself, it cannot be worse that all the self-berating you’ve been doing all this time.

Remember that you are not a victim. You are here because the universe wants you to be here and joy is your birthright!

Just ask yourself: If today was my last day, would any of this really matter?

With loving energy,

Tee

There is no formula

Up until recently, my blog entries have been somewhat organized and planned. This one is different. I consider myself quite old fashioned for a 27 year old woman. I always preferred the old pen and paper. I miss the days my friends had to call me to my house phone and awkwardly speak with my mother, to speak to me. I still prefer to read, write and draw on paper. I’ve been making a conscious effort to embrace the digital age and use it as productively as possible. Having done that, this blog has come together and I now realize what a gift it is to have the internet right at our fingertips. Thank you Nikola Tesla.

The internet gives us the ability to communicate instantly and maybe just maybe shine a ray of light on someone’s darkness half way across the world. This is why I decided to start this blog. I’ve been a seeker of truth my whole life. I’ve always searched for the formula of happiness. I still don’t have it all figured out but I’ve realized that there is no “one size fits all.” Our narratives in life are incomparable in terms of intensity. We can most certainly empathize and energy is contagious. But even pain is relative. So how can we begin to write a formula for 7.6 billion people?

So far, I’ve haven’t found an absolute formula. Everyone has an obstacle course of their own. But what I can say for sure is that there are ways to make the journey a little more colorful, and a colorful journey is certainly more preferable that one in black and white.

A few things that have helped me:

Acceptance.

Acceptance is often misunderstood as surrendering. The inner wounded child wants nothing to do with that, because its endured enough, so we resist acceptance so that it doesn’t hurt our ego. We sometimes ignore the feeling of great relief that comes with acceptance! Thats because most of us have been trained to ignore our feelings. Acceptance feels good! It’s like a heavy weight that is miraculously lifted off our shoulders. And wouldn’t you rather feel better? Start embracing acceptance, start feeling good and then you will start to transcend your current situation. By accepting you’re also eliminating any possible resistance to change, then you are able to flow. Just like my acceptance of the digital age.

Mindset.

With one single thought you have the power to bring yourself down or lift your spirit up. Replace your “I cant’s” with “I can’s.” Replace your “what ifs” with “I went for it!” Stick positive sticky notes all over your room and mirrors to get you to snap out of unkind  and judgmental self talk and right into empowering self dialogue. It just feels better! Empowering words have the ability to make you the best version of yourself. It also allows you to shift your attention to what’s right with the world rather than what’s wrong with the world. Write up gratitude lists on the daily. Gratitude, not only trains you to think positive, its also helps replace feelings of lack with feelings of abundance.

When you focus on the good, the good gets better.

Authenticity.

Comparing and competing is a waste of energy. Why waste energy focusing on another person’s next move when you could’ve been investing in yourself? The only person you can be is yourself! Uniqueness is your secret power! From the minute we enter school and into the workforce we are trained to compete to get ahead. As a twin I’ve been compared my whole life. Most of us, including myself, spend years trying to be like somebody else or gain someone’s approval. We lose ourselves in the process. Bask in your uniqueness. Invest in yourself first. Proving somebody wrong should never be your goal. Your passion is your goal. Focus only being authentically you. Knowing yourself is being yourself.

Joy.

Fear is contagious. But you know what else is? Joy. Remember to have fun in the process! Your journey doesn’t have to be so serious all the time! Get out of your head and into the present moment. Start practicing mindfulness. Some days I go through the morning realizing I hadn’t smiled all morning! So I consciously practice smiling throughout the day. When you feel joy, you can also spread joy. Nothing out there feels better than compassion and giving. It’s just the way we’re wired. We feel a special kind of feeling when we help other people, even if they can’t give us anything back.

With loving energy,

Tee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holistic Health

I think it is safe to say that we all have our bad days. We sometimes seem to forget that even the most spiritual of people also have their bad days. Life happens and the truth is that we’re all in it together. However, most of us feel completely powerless and alone. I lived a good chunk of my life feeling like an absolute victim to the mishaps and misfortunes of life. The usual outcome of this mentality is pure reactivity rather than responsibility, which kept me trapped in a never ending loop of “why me?!” I later learnt that it was my thoughts and lifestyle that kept me stuck in a three dimensional world. Why am I telling you this? Because although we can’t control what happens in our life, what we can do, is control our input and perception.

What was so vital to outgrowing my hamster-wheel of negativity was learning that we are made out of human elements just as much as non human elements. Allow me to explain.

Human elements include chemicals that makeup the human body “with the most abundant being oxygen (65% by mass), carbon (18%), hydrogen (10%), nitrogen (3%), calcium (1.4%) and phosphorous (1.1%),” We are basically made up of a whole bunch of cells and bacteria carrying sophisticated DNA and information, that help each cell carry out it’s job without us having to worry too much about it. It’s pretty magical in fact. We are also made up of plenty of water and space between each of our nuclei in which our electrons whiz about.

Our non-human elements include all the things we absorb from our surroundings through our senses. This includes our most basic of inputs such as food. Quite often when I’m feeling down, the first thing I assess is the food the I’ve been putting into my body. Foods bursting with color and freshness have the ability to make us feel lighter and happier, while other sugary artificial foods have the ability to make us feel sluggish and down. Other non-human elements include what we say, what we think, what we’ve been listening to, who we’ve been around or what we’ve been watching. Our non-human elements play a huge role in our wellbeing and the good news is that we have the power to choose our inputs. Below are some suggestions to help you assess your inputs.

1. The research is out there. I consider myself lucky to live in a world where I can instantly look up the nutritional content and benefits of what I eat. When you consciously feed your body organic fruits and vegetables, bursting with life, then you will feel full of life and energy. Foods such as chips and coca-cola are loaded in things that just simply don’t grow. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients then you probably shouldn’t be eating them either. Just follow your gut. Your gut will tell you everything you need to know. Pay attention to how you feel after consuming anything.
2. 75% of our bodies are made up of water. I think thats enough to suggest that we need to be drinking enough water to function everyday. How much is enough? Outdated sources suggested 8 cups a day,  however more recent research suggests  11-15 glasses a day. Again, we can count on our bodies to direct us. Dehydration leaves us feeling low on energy. It also causes headaches and depression.
3. What we consume with our eyes has a huge impact on how we feel. I made a conscious decision to limit my social media usage and significantly reduce my telly time which helped me feel well.. freer! Consistently consuming negative news and violence, leaves imprints on us. Try to expose yourself to positive news only even if you have to go out of your way to seek it. Otherwise rid yourself of negative and competitive content. Be aware that negativity sells. It also has the ability to spread fear and judgment. Reducing my telly time also allowed me to get my hands dirty with art and volunteer work, so get excited about finally kick starting that project you’ve been thinking about!
4. Just like seeing negativity, hearing it has the same affect. Pay attention to the lyrics you’re listening to, the conversations you’re having and conversations other people are having around you. Quite often I find myself caught up in a group discussion of everything that’s wrong with the world. When I witness myself, I immediately remove myself from the conversation and take a walk. Negative conversations like these leave us feeling absolutely drained. Start with awareness. Catch yourself tolerating and contributing to negative topics and then quite simply, remove yourself from the context and turn your attention to something beautiful. Remember that there is beauty in everything. This doesn’t mean that you’re choosing to be denial. There’s a big difference between being aware of something that could use some improvement and dwelling on a subject matter without taking action.
5. What we think plays one of the biggest roles in our wellbeing. Our emotions follow our thoughts. If we think negative then we will feel negative. If we’ve been empowering ourselves then we will feel empowered. It’s a lot easier to continue having negative thoughts about ourselves if that’s how we’ve been trained, than to unlearn negative thinking and replant seeds of positivity. The latter keeps us alive, while the former starts to fire away at our immune system. Start by having more empowering thoughts. Drop judgement towards yourself, others and situations immediately. If you can’t change something, change your perception of it. Acceptance brings relief.  You can even incorporate meditation or yoga in your life to help you let go of your thoughts and be more present.

Self-love should not be confused with face masks and manicures, which have their place and time. Self-love is a deeper form of respecting your body and mental health, thus feeding your self with positivity only. It is also about forgiving yourself for not knowing the things you now know. Remember that you are not powerless to your health state and wellbeing and that you have the power and right to choose healthier options. You have the power and right to live up to your highest potential. You don’t have to change overnight, and nobody is expecting you to, but you can definitely start listening to your body and harboring self-awareness. The below wheel will give you more suggestions to live a holistically healthy life. 

Welcome to holistic health.

With loving energy,

Tee.

Man in the Mirror

Michael Jackson once sang:

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
(If you want to make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change.

I later understood the powerful message in this verse, which suggests that the world we experience, is a reflection of ourselves. Allow me to expand, as this realization helped me begin my journey to inner peace.

We often get triggered by people or by certain qualities in certain people. We mistakenly see these triggers as energy drainers and enemies of our egos. For example, my father’s impatience and short temper, used to get on my very last nerve. I couldn’t understand why the smallest of life’s altercations would allow my father to lose his temper and go into a screaming frenzy. Until I realized I was the same.

The things we dislike most about people are the things we secretly don’t like about ourselves. It’s the harsh truth, because otherwise it wouldn’t bother us so much. Don’t let this thought depress you. Many people reject this idea because they allow it to make them feel bad about themselves. Others would rather deny it because they don’t want to be associated with what they hate the most.

For me, this was a vital piece of information. It was a total “Aha!” moment. If we pay attention to our triggers, we can then start with the man in the mirror. By realizing I had anger issues of my own, I dug deep to understand where those feelings were coming from and why. I accepted them, and then channeled them. I learnt that I was giving away my power by not claiming responsibility. Nobody make us angry or upset, but rather we allow ourselves to get angry. I was also able to understand my father in the process and that brought me even more peace.

Get to know your triggers. Listen to your emotions. Fear, sadness, anger, resentment, guilt, jealousy, anxiety and stress are low vibrational emotions. Constant low vibration emotions translates to an overall low vibrational living. This means we trap ourselves in our own negativity, which strikes our immune system and affects our health.

But this can change! Once we identify our triggers, we can take full responsibility rather than suffer from reactivity. We are the commanders of our own ship! We have a choice. We can choose to drag along the grey cloud over our heads with a string, like a balloon, or  we can leave it behind and choose happiness and health!

Do whatever it takes to raise your vibrations. Turn to self-investment and creativity. I turned inwards with some daily self love reminders. I stuck post-its all over my house. I embraced journaling, exercise, art and meditation. I also started reading and watching videos made by the greatest spiritual speakers of our time. Wayne Dyer, Abraham Hicks, Gabrielle Bernstein, Eckhard Tolle, Louise Hay, Lewis Howes and Mel Robbins were just some of them.

Not only will you catapult yourself into the best version of yourself, but you will also raise your vibrations and experience a wonderful shift in your life. But the internal work must be done!

“Yesterday I was clever so i wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi

With loving energy,

Tee

 

Daily Rituals

I’ve come to realize that the beauty of life is simplicity. Truth be told I didn’t always believe that. After all, we are currently living in an age of major consumerism. We’ve mistakenly managed to place our happiness in stuff. For a while, our stuff might bring some kind of satisfaction, but we fail to realize that this is only temporary, and then we are on to the next thing. The same can be said about other addictions like food, drugs, alcohol. Our stuff bring us a sense of addictive high that feeds our insecurities.

When we  depend on our stuff to make us happy,  and they break down, unhappiness is inevitable. Remember that energy flows where attention goes. A perfect example of this is my mother who puts a special kind of fear in her car. It was the first time I realized the madness of it all. There’s nothing wrong with buying nice things, but we fall short on happiness when we identify with our stuff. I watched as her Jaguar brought serious anxiety into her life on a day to day basis. She was constantly worried about anything happening to it so she forbid anyone from driving it. She fed so much negativity into the car, that no surprise, it kept breaking down!

To see peace in the world we must be willing to make peace in our own lives. Mother Teresa once asked: “What can you do to promote world peace?” Her answer: “Go home and love your family.” After we learn to pour love into our own hearts, we can start to love our families, and then our neighbors and so on. There’s a more authentic way to seek inner love and fulfillment, found from within, rather than resorting to kick fixes in the world outside of yourself. Abundance is all around us. Plugging into this portal requires a rise in our frequency, level of consciousness and internal healing.

We often go about life resistant to change. Some of us are so resistant to help that we coil up even more. The most broken souls no longer recognize the difference between unconditional love and harm and often get the two mixed up. This is a result of conditioning, upbringing and past experiences. I came to realize this truth when I faced myself and surrendered to whatever help came my way, but for so many years my ego rejected any help coming my way. My fear kept me in the same miserable place. Keep in mind, that if nothing changes, nothing changes. But, also, change doesn’t happen overnight.

My life completely shifted after I replaced a few old habits, that were holding me back in life, with newer ones that vitalized me from the inside out. There is no “one size fits all” rule book. In fact there is no rule book. We all respond to different techniques but we can start by identifying and eliminating the habits that no longer serve us. Our indication of how well a habit serves us, is in how it feels.

1. You are what you eat. 90% of your serotonin (happy chemical) is produced in your gut. What you eat is directly linked to your mood. Trade in your junk food and alcohol for fresh organic food bursting with color, flavor and life.
2. You are also what you say and think. Put an immediate stop to the victim and judge living in your head. Empower yourself through empowering and positive thoughts! Face your reflection every morning and say out loud: “I am enough!” or “I am perfect just the way I am.”
3. Have a healthy night time ritual. Instead of mentally scanning all the things that have gone wrong that day or in your life, try to focus on all the wonderful things that happened. Leave your phone and laptop in another room. Loading your subconscious with content and negativity is a recipe for depression! Visualize yourself having the best possible upcoming days. You can dive deep into a quick meditation and launch yourself into an energetic day!
4. Go to bed at a timely hour. If you’re a late sleeper—at, say, 3 AM—you will only enter a light REM sleeping phase. This means a shorter restorative sleep  may leave you feeling groggy the next day. Depression and other stress-related disorders are associated with sleep disturbances as cortisol (stress hormones) are elevated.
5. Have a healthy morning ritual. If picking up your phone in the morning is the first thing you do, again, start leaving your phone in another room. Adopt a morning ritual that will allow for a peaceful start to the day. This can be yoga meditation or writing up a gratitude list for all the things your grateful for in your life. You can also read ten pages of a motivational book or plug into an uplifting podcast!
6. Get physical! The benefits of exercise are no longer a secret and I won’t bore you with the scientific details, but it’s true, nobody ever regretted a workout!

With loving energy,

Tee