So….today I have a call with my blogging trainer and I know that in order to get my blog moving a long – I need more content.  He is often reminding me of this.

Yet, I also know it is NOT something I can force.  “If only” I could hit a button and have this stuff churn out of me like a machine – I could get there quicker.  But, I can’t.  And I know that whenever I try to force something – my body revolts in ways of stiffness or reaching for food I know deep down I don’t really need.  I also know that I have gotten so much clarity that all of my passions and visions that came years ago after my healing are still achievable.  Writing.  But, I have to sometimes remind my uber eager self with big hopes and dreams to slow down and enjoy the journey.   Let go of the “if only” and the “what if” cycled thoughts and just do.  Put the pen to the paper and show up.  Just like on the mat.  It’s not always pretty but it’s worth it!

A few weeks ago, I started taking a lesson on Daily Om – Yoga for Empaths with Sadie Nardini and I am really enjoying it.  I am an empath.  Most definitely. I am super sensitive and super loving but sometimes at a detriment to taking care of the one person I need to be full in order to take care of others, ME.  So I was checking my mail before my call and boom inspiration struck just like when Fancy Nancy talks about in her artists book that I read to Kira.  In one story Fancy Nancy is super stuck and then she goes out with a friend to do something fun, and BAM – comes back full of inspiration.  The email was from Daily Om and it was an article by Madison Taylor.  The quote in the beginning was “When we live thinking of “if only”, satisfaction will always be out of reach.”

This got me thinking to the many emails and small conversations that have been exchanged during this quarantine.  “If only schools would open back up” or “If only the golf courses would open back up” or “If only I could get my hair did” or “If only someone could tell me WHEN this would be over?” or “If only I knew if my family was going to be ok?”  —–how many if only’s have you asked yourself?

And has this blocked you from living? I think there are two ways to look at this virus and quarantine.  The one where you say to yourself “if only it’ll end soon – life will go back to normal” and I will resume living.  I think this approach drags one away from being satisfied with the now which to some, this is very unsatisfying.  I am not trying to say that this circumstance doesn’t suck in many shapes and forms.  What I am trying to say is if we remove the “if only” – it comes down to focusing on what we do have and can do and getting creative in our living.  And this all leads me back to the many studies on gratitude and the impacts to wellness and health on having a mindset that is in the we have now, the half full side of the cup.  Even during this crappy time, there are many things to be grateful for.   Just like one conditions their body for a race, the mind needs to have some practice at noticing when the if only and what ifs start to become the focus and sending the mind back to dreaming and living without conditions or barriers or some crazy concept of perfection or world of no if onlys…

One of the most empowering things that I have learned and also at times scary – is that I alone have so much control over my own life’s satisfaction and how I rate satisfaction.  To me, it’s all about my inner resilience and approach to life and to each moment.  By removing the “if only” – I come back to something simply satisfying – that I’m alive, well, with opportunities right now to grow myself, to connect more closely to my existing community, to help those in need, to spend time outside, to spend time with my family, to take some free writing workshops, yoga classes, maybe redo my kitchen cupboards….or to be still.  So many possibilities if I remove the “if only”.  I really don’t need anything external for me to be okay.

And that is another reason I love yoga & what I have learned from my continuous exploration of myself on the mat through slower movement.  “The Yoga Pose is not the goal.  Becoming flexible is not the goal.  Standing on your head is not the goal.  The goal is serenity.  Balance.  Truly finding peace in your own skin.” – Rachel Brathen, Yoga Girl. I know this situation sucks – but it’s here and it is teaching all of us a whole heck of a lot and if we remove the if only or the I’m mad at or why can’t I’s – I typically feel an energetic shift that helps bring me back to so much that I can do and get done now for myself and my family, things that I might have continued to glance over because I was living in fast forward.

I have been pretty silent this week and emotionally heavy but I kept getting the urge to somehow find something and this is what came.   I hope the hearts of Americans stay open towards working and learning together for reform in so many areas to make this country well again.

Dear Mr. Trump,

We are not well.  We are not treating each other well.  We are not living well.  We are not taking care of ourselves well.  The posts that I see and the comments on Facebook are shameful and disheartening.  Since when do we take to social media to blame and shame people for posting black squares instead of doing “something”, to beg/plea for the lives of Black people to be protected by those that are armed and out there to protect ALL OF OUR children and our communities, and to mock our president???  Where has human decency gone?  Does this not keep you up at night? Does this not feel wrong deep down inside?  Does it not make you ponder how or why or what this stems from and how to turn it around? And I beg of you, the way to turn it around is not with angry tweets and using words like thugs?! This may have worked for TV – but you are our President.

I am afraid to even show my 6 year old any of your speeches for I honestly don’t know what I would say, yet I strongly know this is not behavior I want her to model.   I read a Brene Brown book and I remember this jist of this quote at the beginning of one of the chapters.  When America was first founded – we needed brawn – to build our streets, houses, and infrastructure.  Then we needed brains to create technology, automation, efficiency, and to connect globally.  Now and for the future of America and the world- we need someone to lead with the heart. We need healing.  We need a spiritual revolution.  We need hope.  We need both mental and physical health restored in our people.   I feel that this is not your super power.   I am asking for you to consider to step down as our President.  I think this would be the exact message that the American people need.  This would be the exact message that I would respect.  Stand down to bullying.  We all have strengths, we all have ways in which we can contribute but you sir – with your words are pushing the knife even deeper and twisting it.  I get you are angry – by all means have your stance and your opinion.  But a President is there to pull us together, give us hope, and remind us to rise above our prejudice, our circumstance, and to work together to better our nation.     We all know that when that knife is removed – that LIFE and BLOOD flow.  If that knee had been removed, George Floyd’s breath would have flowed.  We need someone who not only has brains but also compassion, humility, and an ability to express emotion.  To inspire ALL of us.  To force us to dig deep beyond the party lines and get to the human lines.  I think it would be best to admit to your deficits in what we need right now and let someone else guide us into our future.  I think it would say a lot to the African American population and to those that think it’s okay to hang on to power/control with brute force.

With respect for your efforts & hope for a better tomorrow,

Becky Clifford

Mental Health is huge during crisis.

Mindfulness has become a buzz word used a lot.  I feel like some people get “it” and it’s importance and others think its froo froo.  Like it means someone who isn’t mindful is mindless.   I think because the pace of things has become so fast that our minds can get stuck in forward motion or scattered amongst 5o different things and we get out of touch with the present moment.  We have lifted off into a state of consistent heightened cortisol, stress, and alert forging ahead to finish the next task or meet a deadline with not enough time in between to reset.

There is so much in our mental news feed consistently running at all times.  During this pandemic – one of the articles I read suggested limiting the amount of time you spend watching about the virus.  This is great advice.  There is a difference between being informed and ingesting a lot of unknowns, projections, opinions, etc on something we have little control over.  Right now, you are alive and you have an opportunity to spend some time on your well-being, watch out for those closest to you, support your community, and maybe patch some holes in your own foundation.

Disconnection or wanting to disconnect happens a lot in those that have suffered trauma.  And the older we get, the likelihood of some traumatic event happening increases, but the question is do we really take the time to digest it before we forge ahead? How many people say there isn’t time? Just to push forward?  How many days do most companies offer for bereavement or birth? How many can’t afford to take the extra time? And how many of those grieving something or someone feel as though they can allow themselves to have a “moment” of weakness at work or with a friend?  And as a nation -things like 9/11 or the mass shootings – they affect us.  We can try to turn the page as quick as possible or we can add a mindfulness practice and embrace vulnerablility more. I find that a mindfulness practice helps me notice my thoughts which helps me identify patterning in my thinking and also notice things in my body.  If we are able to pinpoint those exact moments when we feel a shift or enter a state of a negative emotion – then instead of using old ways to disconnect – we can turn towards more positive ways which I think the path to healing is FEELING.  And by turning towards our inner dark – we become friends with it.  We accept and love it for what it is – our past, our teacher, our commonality amongst humans.

Some tips for finding or trying out a mindfulness practice:

1. Use the same space and make it comfortable.  Place a few items that you can look at and rotate these as you need. Things are constantly shifting in and around us.  Maybe buy a nice comfy cushion to sit on, a plant to help you breathe, or do it in front of a wall that’s color resonates with you.
2.  Do it daily.  In order to create a solid foundation – commit to 5-10 minutes atleast 6 days a week.  Once you feel the benefits – it will not be something you have to schedule.
3. Set an intention before each sit. Something that is happening in your life or something about yourself you want to explore.
4. Close your eyes and connect to your breath.  Your natural breath and listen to its ebbs and flows.  Notice your thoughts.  And bring a word to what they are.  No judgement.  I am _______ .   Sit with it.  Breath.  Notice any shifts.  Make any movements with the arms or sounds with the mouth that feel good.  Come back to stillness.
5. Close each sit with either bringing the hands to the heart center in prayer, singing, praying, blowing out a candle.  Something that signifies closure of the session.

With all of the talk of the corona virus and some more time at the homefront  – now is a great time to experiment with ways to work from the inside out to help support your well-being.

These do not have to be in pill form, they can be used in your cooking or drank in the form of a hot tea whilst rewatching Hart of Dixie after your child’s in bed.  I realized during my cancer crisis that it was a wake up call to how I was treating my body.  One of my favorite quotes that Stan and I saw at a spa in Italy when I was planning one of my yoga class themes was by Jim Rohn.  It said “Take care of your body.  It is the only place you have to live.”  I noticed when I started reading and shifting how to better feed myself, it didn’t take long before I felt the changes.  The more energy and good stuff I had in me, the more of it oozed out.  Now, I don’t think it is ALL what you put in, some of it is your thoughts and relationships to yourself, your past, your trauma, your work etc etc.  But what I can say is that the gut speaks to the brain and the brain speaks back and all parts of you speak to each other and that the brain can try to overpower it but it is in my opinion, that the brain more naturally thinks positive when the body is in a state of well being.  Now we all know the nutrients in our food has been depleted with time and how we care for our animals and land.  We also know how we move our body affects our functioning.  So on top of the lifestyle advice of sleeping well, eating right – eat the rainbow and reduce packaged foods, laughing, moving your body, and finding ways to de-stress if stress arises (Yoga!), I’m going to review some other tips to boosting immunity.

1. Vitamin D – This isn’t new information.  Shine your face in the sun when you can and when you can’t supplement.
2. Zinc – Zinc Deficiency affects 2 billion people per year
3. Vitamin C – citrus fruits and fermented veggies
4. Elderberry – can be found in a variety of forms from syrups to tea and has several positives to boosting immunity
5. Medicinal Mushrooms – Top 2 are chaga and cordyceps – these also have a host of benefits to boosting immunity
6. Garlic – super anti inflammatory – can make pesto or add to sauces and stir fries
7. Licorice – reduces stress and helps respiratory system
8. B Complex – lots of benefits to your cell function
9. Curcumin – anti inflammatory, can be added to food or supplement – I even made an eye mask once but let me warn you – the orange tint could stay on until you scrub

I hope this info finds you well and offers some ideas on keeping well!

Inventory your sandbox.

So, my intention with the blog is to blog about all things that surround taking good care of oneself and living in the most authentic, sustainable, hard working and loving way.  Less days or moments of feeling blah and more moments of feeling alive and well and able to tackle whatever life throws at ya.

With the Corona Quarantine which I feel should have some sort of acronym by now so I’ll call it CQ not to be confused with GQ or QVC- I’ve been reading a good bit and just finished the book “Girl Wash Your Face” by Rachel Hollis.  I had a couple favorite parts of the book but the underlying theme that I loved is pointing out the lies we can tell ourselves and the psychological component to not feeling well or living well or even digesting our foods or feelings well.  And for women, I do believe this is rampant.  For whatever reason, not to place blame or shame, I have met SO MANY WOMEN from SO MANY DIFFERENT PLACES and we are some harsh inner critics with a tough time sometimes loving ourselves and even if we get to that point of loving ourselves – can we do that and support other women as they succeed or does it push our demons to the front again only to wrestle them down again in an exhausting fight to get to the good stuff?  How many of us have to recreate ourselves after we become moms and this seems to send some of us into a very stressed space of depletion wondering how to make a life again.  Well, she has some awesome pointers.  So rather than hypothesize as to whether Barbie or the Palmolive commercials fuc*ed us all for good – I love love that she has built a business and a community of the likeness that exists in us women ALL OVER THE WORLD.  It takes all the lines out of the sandbox.

She talks about how she grew up as a Christian but fully loves and accepts someone if they are Christian or Muslim or Buddhist or Jedi or if they like the same sex or if they are married to one and only one political party.  She recognizes that the ability to seek out community with people that are different than us leads to growth and the result – a stronger version of ourselves.  I remember walking into LUSH one day – one of my favorite stores and if you haven’t been– it’s a magical place with lots of skin/hair care and yummy smelling products to nourish your body and on the containers it tells you who it was made by and the date with this cute cartoon pic of the maker.  It makes the entire experience so personal & human.   I wish they did that on cereal boxes.  They had a box at the front to write down a stereotype and put it in the box for no reason other than acknowledgement that this exists.  I thought of many.  Some that have impacted my life and some that I have thought.  For ex.  Women are bad drivers.  Stay at home moms are “just” housewives.  Swiss are stiff.  Men can’t cry.  Gay men wear purple and pink.  White men can’t jump.  Rich white men golf.  Italians eat a lot of pasta. Americans are fat and lazy.  The list could go on and on.  What I liked about this exercise is it reminded me to be more self aware of my own and the ones that I sometimes use to lie to myself and keep me in the state of unwell.  Like if I’m not of a specific weight- then I can’t succeed until I fix that.  Luckily many women have broken through that and to them, I applaud.

When I was in Switzerland I had the opportunity to meet people from ALL over and sometimes there were similarities and other times I was able to have what I call a “moment” or a good time with someone from a completely different walk of life simply because we were able to be exactly in that moment, guard down, ourselves, and accepting.  We were able to play in an area of the sandbox with no lines and no judgement.  This is where the magic happens, this is where union came, and a lot of growth for me.  Other times I had to find my voice and navigate how do I get them to see me for me and not their labels?   “Yes, I am from America.  No I didn’t vote for Trump.  Please don’t blame me for the world’s problems.”  “No I don’t speak your language but I did a duolingo lesson yesterday and am not totally ignorant.” We are different and there are times maybe a side has to be chosen for a moment, but not for eternity.  If there’s a dispute then I like to state my case but also see and hear the other’s side and clear than line that was drawn quickly.  I feel like in life sometimes I felt like I was being asked to pick a side for instance between working/full time moms, republicans/democrats, medicine/natural, big business/small business and I have thought and thought and the truth is in different moments I see different things and I think this world has a place for all.  The more these lines are cleared and we choose to play in the same sandbox – the more human it all feels.

So back to us women, sometimes we get labeled as broken or crazy or hormonal  or too nice or too assertive or we think that a failed diet, failed relationship, failed marriage, or failed job equates to us being a failure and this is so far from the truth.  If we put all of us in a sandbox and we eliminate the lines – what would we see? Would we appreciate each other more? Would we be able to stand tall in who we are yet fully love someone else?  – I think part of what we would see are years of strength, courage, wisdom, and collective energy that can guide us towards collective healing.  I think now is a good time to ask what your own lines are, where did they come from, and have you done work to erase them or at least be aware of them as they arise.

There is a lot of research that supports how good journaling and writing can be for one’s mental health.

I also find it an amazing way to express and get connected to one’s creativity and imagination.  You can write about daily occurrences or completely fictional fantasies and as the author you can take as many liberties as you want when you write.  The page is yours and you are in control.  I also find writing to be therapeutic and has the ability to heal pain within all of us if we are willing to go there.   Sit with just you and the paper or you and the keyboard and just go there.  During Covid-19 there has also been much talk of what kinds of mental health impacts are being felt during isolation as humans are having less connection with other humans and if they are having contact – there may be an underlying level of anxiety due to the virus that muddles that connection.

Personally, I have always loved the written word and felt more comfortable expressing myself in email or IM than in person.  When I chose to start teaching yoga – it was not only because it touched my life deeply during my cancer crisis, but also because with teaching came an opportunity to work on the spoken language, my communication, and face one of my biggest fears.  But I still LOVE TO WRITE.  I also love to try new things during this quarantine, ones that maybe I wouldn’t have tried so when I saw an Instagram post on a FREE Friday Night Writes Writing Workshop – I got all excited and signed up.  Now there were a couple thoughts come that Friday after I had just finished teaching a private client and Kira and I had had some difficult challenges about listening – was I going to be able to find that clear vessel from which the words flow?  And then I go back to reminding myself maybe, maybe not but let’s try.

As I joined the ZOOM call, I was greeted by new people that liked to write and I found it easy to talk to them and connect right off the bat.  I still had some fear of how does this work? do we share? what if mine sucks?  And then sometimes there is the reminder that well, it’s a zoom call you can end it at anytime, blame technical difficulty, and never join again.  Problem solved.  But instead, the opposite happened. I loved it and can’t wait for next week!  After the initial chit chat and introductions, the leader read a prompt about a dark smoky dance hall with a lot of people and a singer who came on stage and as she started to sing, people stopped dancing in their tracts as if they had chains on their feet.  We were given the instruction that we could go in any direction we wanted with that for the next 15 minutes.  As I stared at my paper at first I was nervous because nothing came to mind or I couldn’t remember all the details of what she wrote to let it continue flawlessly.  BUT the second I let go of my expectations of it being the perfect continuation of that prompt and let my imagination run wild – this is what came out.

“As the words flowed out of her at times trembling and at times strong lips, there was no longer any physical motion on the dance floor.  There was something greater.  A lightness in the dark, smoky hall.  A movement in their hearts and a connectedness on what it feels like to truly let someone else in and to truly be alive in the moment.  In some cases, this was a stranger yet her voice and her sound were familiar.  After some stillness, one by one people found their way back to movement having been touched by this precious moment that they hadn’t expected but shared together.  They danced and danced until the music in her soul called it a night and as they walked out of the hall into the crisp, fresh air they carried that unspoken connection with them for a bit.  Her sound, her voice had touched many of them to their core, had awoke parts of them that had died, and set parts of them on fire again.  There was both beauty and pain in her voice, beauty and pain that was meant to be shared.  And there was beauty in the chains that had become unbroken as they danced that night.”

I got chills sharing and hearing what the other people in the group wrote.  There was such personalization, uniqueness, and emotion attached to the writings.

So on your path to staying well during this transitional time – maybe try writing yourself well on the days you can’t seem to grasp what is going on or what the future holds or maybe something from the past that haunts you when you slow down.  Physical exercise is also amazing for getting things moving but sometimes creating movement through expressions like cooking, planting, writing, etc are also amazing and the more tools in the toolkit – the better prepared we are for building our sustainable foundations.

Soooo….I was a little unsure if I could actually write 300 words about a legging BUT I have decided that the only way to find out is always to try so why not?  I often tell Kira never to give up and not quit before she starts so I have to often remind myself of my own words and example.

A couple weeks ago my yoga teacher training in Thailand got officially cancelled by the corona crisis and I was totally bummed.  I have always wanted to go to Thailand and I was super excited to get my 300 hr teacher training and spend some time focused on solely taking care of myself and my craft.  I felt like something was telling me that Kira is getting older and I just turned 40 and it was my time to do something for me.  Well, enter somebody else’s plan and another lesson on surrender.  So instead of going to Thailand alone – I am in a house with my family hanging out 24/7 except for the occasional trip to Giant and/or the Dollar Store or Green Vida Wednesday.   In honoring this transition, I decided I could take some of the money that was designated for the teacher training and buy a few new duds.  New clothes often make me reinvigorated with my workouts and wanting to keep myself in good shape so that I feel well, live well, and like putting on new pants.

So I have been wanting to try the brand KiraGrace for a bit now.  One, I love the name.  Kira makes me happy cause it’s my daughter’s name and Grace – well, grace has gotten me through a lot of tough times and I often have to remind myself to allow myself more grace.  I feel like it’s a super power and a super word.  I also love that the company is 100% female owned and dedicated to empowering women and giving back.  Just speaks to my heart center.  I was hesitant to buy without having tried on but I had a coupon code for a FREE leggin so I filled my shopping cart, clicked submit, and awaited my order.  And, I have to say – I am in love with my leggings from there!! I also love the one top and the other one I haven’t tried on yet but these leggings I LOVE!!  First of all they are long enough to do the thing where you put the pant down over your ankle which for some reason makes me feel super sleak and like I could for just a little while morph into spiderwoman.   AND they have little pockets.  I don’t know what it is about pockets but I was also once obsessed with a dress that a girl picked out on the show “Say Yes to the Dress” because it had these super cute pockets she could put her hands in.  It actually made me want to marry again or renew my vows so that I could have had pockets.  Not only can you do the ankle thing and have pockets with these KiraGrace leggings- they are also super comfy! The material is soft and cozy.

So – in case you were wondering where to get them….go here https://www.kiragrace.com/ and if you were wondering if I hit 300 words or not – 529!

Much Love & Leggings,

Becky

The wonderful world of wellness has become about a 4 trillion dollar industry globally and experienced significant increase between the years 2015-2017.  What exactly defines wellness?  Well in terms of what is included in the wellness industry, you can find healthy eating, nutrition, weight loss, mind body, fitness tourism (retreats), preventative and personalized medicine, traditional and complimentary medicine, spa economy, and thermal/mineral springs.

So here we are in the midst of the corona virus and how can we redefine living WELL through this, rather than waiting for it to pass and maybe giving up and turning to not so healthy food, alcohol, and binge watching netflix? (Even though we were asked to rather than go out?)  This is not to say I do not love me a reese’s cup, a stiff drink, or Love is Blind from time to time.   I think one can live well and enjoy celebrations and indulgences.  Again, only each peep on an individual level knows when they are in the green.  And often times, if one doesn’t and one keeps trucking along full speed ahead – they will live life in a very empty way.

To me, living well means feeling overall in alignment and at peace with myself, my faith, my home, my planet, my closest relationships, my job or purpose, and my finances.  When I feel like these elements are in the green – then I feel pretty good.  But when something gets rocked – I don’t feel so well.  After many years of practicing yoga and breath work, I have become very in tune with when my body/mind/soul are in the green and when I have off days and if the off days become too OFF-ten (haha get it?) – then I know it is time to explore what area is being depleted and how to get some support.  However, I am not always so good at asking for support so to me it becomes easier to spend money outside to “fix” something and now most of those services are not available so we are left to again redefine and maybe simplify “wellness” and I think that is a fabulous thing to do during this time.

So – here are some tips to living WELL during a crisis such as this:

1. Let your body sleep until it is ready to awake.  Yes, Yes, I know we have jobs. I get it.  But if you are not working a late shift right now and you have the extra time minus a commute – let your body wake you up.  We are human beings that at one point in time were very connected to nature/insert higher power if your beliefs warrant).  Collectively we have gotten a little away from this way of living (Enter book Mark Manson the world is f*ed).  Great read.  Highly recommend.  When you let your body sleep until it is ready to arise you allow your body the time it needs to rid itself and heal itself and fully repair.  Your parasympathetic nervous system will thank you greatly.  And for those of you that are financially motivated – this costs you nothing.  Expenses reduced.
2. Have some sort of morning ritual to start your day.  I love a little bit of reading and a bit of yoga or pilates or movement of some sort to fully feel my body and begin each day appreciating it’s ability to help me move through my day with both strength and ease.  If you have physical limitations, you still have your breath and that is uber powerful.  There are so many online yoga classes and fitness classes available – this is an amazing time to get to try new things and new teachers while taking care of yourself.   If you can’t afford it – there are plenty of FREE classes available on youtube and other places.
3. Create some sort of routine for the weekdays and weekend.  During this time I have heard many say the days are blurring together.  If you know that eventually you are going to re enter a workforce, you do not want to lose that sense of having a routine.  Now if you have children – they help keep you on a schedule.  If you don’t, create one with some consistency for M-F and then on the weekend – it’s the weekend.  We personally have created that Friday is take out night and we support a local restaurant picking a different one each week and it is something we all look forward to after a week of routine.  We also keep regular bedtimes for the week days and maybe stay up  a wee bit longer on the weekend.
4.  Spend time outside.  Fresh air does a body good.  Most of us know this but can get wrapped up again in a fast paced life forgetting that we haven’t really enjoyed a slow walk or a breath of fresh air in quite some time.  Ayurvedically we are coming out of the winter months of hibernation and renewal and heading towards spring – rebirth.  Soak up some sun and learn to dance in the rain.
5. Put the phones away and connect to the humans in your life.  This is a great time for families to really build solid foundations rooted in their traditions, their love, and their light.  Have long dinners without the phones or play games or create art or decorate a portion of the house together or have a planned movie night.  Get creative with this.  These are your people, your ride or dies – do you really know them or have you been on a non stop wheel for the past few years?
6. NOURISH yourself well.  There are now no distractions from the outside.  Get curious with your habits.  Were you one of those people that hoarded food and if so, what kind? Take a look at your cupboards.  Look in the mirror and ask yourself honestly, have I been feeding myself well and can I use this time to get back to eating more naturally if I steered a little bit away from? Now, food is a challenging one to cover in one bullet point but I am sure I’ll have some more posts on this for later.  Just know that what you put in your body as an impact on your overall wellness as well as the thoughts you have surrounding yourself and your relationship to food.  So make this a conscious love affair with nourishing yourself well.
7. Be Kind to yourself and others.  I look at this time as one that will cause a lot of us to purge emotional baggage at random times and learn a lot about our core selves.  Be kind during the process.  Part of becoming well, is sitting with your not so well parts and with your past pain that you may have pushed through.  Grieve. Cry.  Sit with it.  It’s time.  And when emotions arise – notice how you speak to your inner child and how you maybe do not honor your pain.   This could amaze you and change the way you not only talk and treat yourself but how you may treat and talk to and about other humans.  We are experiencing this as one.  We have an impact on one another.  We have the ability to unite in love.

So during this Corona Virus quarantine – I think a lot of us have been finding fun ways to celebrate the week-END and keep ourselves learning, engaging, and living during the midst of a crisis -at least that is my hope.  Sometimes it is hard not to get stuck in the “When it is over with?” – I will do x,y, and z again but I think it is important to live in the now and make the most of this time together with our loved ones.  I also remember those days of living in the mindset “when” and “if” and they often took me out of the present, that thing we are guaranteed and that thing that we have NOW.

I like to keep the structure during the week and have those days of less structure the weekend.  So Friday night has become “Take out Night” where we get take out from a different restaurant downtown and we all look forward to it but last Friday we decided to do something different.  I had been contacted on Instagram by Paige Elenson about a global healthy happy hour and I was immediately intrigued.  I remember whilst living in Switzerland – I had attended a couple events that really felt so amazing to have experienced.  One in particular was a charity event with women from all over the world.  It was hosted by a lady that had a purse company and she planned an annual event to help raise money for women in less fortunate countries. One year the money went to women in Greece to buy laundry machines so that they didn’t have to do their laundry by hand.  Not only did it raise money for those in need – it got those of us women living as an expat in a foreign land to come together, get dressed up, support female entrepreneurs amongst us, and it was purposeful.  I remember sitting in the room looking around me at such a display of empowering love.  It was using collective global energy to heal parts of the world that needed it and it felt amazing.  It felt right.  It was also intimidating at times because I didn’t know all of them, I was “new”, and sometimes amongst women there can be some exposure to the dark side of us – gossip, judgement, and caddy-ness.  Let’s be real.  It exists.  But when we put that aside in the name of a higher purpose – it feels damn good.

So I got online and read about the cause.  The money was going to purchase wellness kits for the yoga teachers in Africa.  The Africa Yoga Project helps bring Yoga to Africa to unite the community and heal some of the trauma endured in countries where basic needs are not provided from birth.  You can pick how many wellness kits you donate starting with 1 kit at 10 dollars and leading upward.  So I made my purchase and we rolled out our mats at 8pm that Friday evening.  Kira, Stan, and me side by side.  Paige came on screen with her daughter all the way from Kenya and I watched as person after person signed online and said hello from different parts of the world.  The joy in their faces and their hearts was apparent and I felt happy to be one fraction in the midst of this beautiful whole. She guided us through a flow and there was an african DJ providing the tunes by artists from Africa.  The music, the vibe, the people, the purpose – it lit me up.  As I periodically glanced at my uber tall somewhat stiff hubs busting out to African beats or Kira deciding she wanted to venture onto my mat and I tickled her – we all made an awesome memory doing something good for our bodies and our minds and our souls and each other.  It was a win win.  Highly recommend if you are looking for something to do on a Friday night and you have the open mind and heart to try something new – that in the midst of this tragedy where it is so easy to get swept up in what we don’t have right now or what we can’t do.  We have more time and the ability to connect to countries that lists of “don’t have” is and has been incredibly longer than ours for quite some time.  The corona virus opened our eyes to the fact that it doesn’t matter where you come from – illness strikes all places and all people but that WE have the POWER to impact all people in a positive way and to help all places heal.  When our funds and our hearts and our focus in on the light that burns inside each and every one of us – beautiful connection happens.

This Global Healthy Happy Hour will be continuing every Friday so don’t worry about the date on the post below as that was the first.  Next one is this Friday, April 24th!