“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, go into survival mode, and sort of just forget to live mindfully and purposefully. However, I think that mindfulness is actually most important to practice when we're in the midst of a busy, stressful time. Mindfulness offers so many benefits, including stress reduction, increased ability to deal with illness, boosting job performance and lowering depressive symptoms. Honestly, I've found the past couple of years to be the most stressful ones of my life thus far. I moved cross-country and went through a draining moving, home selling, and home buying process. I got ... [Read More]
mindfulness
Setting a Healthy Intention for 2021
Happy 2021 friends! I think it's safe to say that 2020 was a challenging year for us human beings as a whole. I never could have pictured quarantining for months, watching my little one 24/7 while running a small business, making grocery store trips every 3 weeks with a mask on, and not seeing family members who live only 2 hours away for a good part of the year. But despite 2020's hardships, I move into this new year with a grateful heart and an optimist look ahead. January always gets me motivated to set new goals and intentions, and my mantra for the year is to live consciously. I want to be mindful about my attitudes & perceptions. ⠀ ⠀ How I parent. ⠀ ⠀ How I love my husband, family & friends. ⠀ ⠀ The work that I do. ⠀ ⠀ The food that I eat. ⠀ ⠀ The ways ... [Read More]
10 Empowering Quotes from Oprah’s The Wisdom of Sundays Book
Did you know that according to Pew Research, about a quarter of Americans haven't read a book in the past year? Ever since I can remember, I've loved to read and write. Recently when I visited my parents, my mom pulled out a piece of paper from when I was a kid, where I was talking about what I wanted to be when I grow up. Wouldn't you know, I said that I wanted to be a writer and someone who helps people? Some things never change! My job titles these days include food & wellness writer, publicist and healthy living blogger. To this day, I like having a good old fashioned book in my hands. But whether you prefer old school books, reading on your Kindle, or listening to audio books, books are an important way to learn and expand your horizons. While I don't have a ton of ... [Read More]
Wherever You Are, Be All There | 7 Powerful Mindfulness Quotes
If there's one thing that I think each and every one of us can do to enrich our lives, it's to practice mindfulness. Any regular blog readers may recognize this to be a constant life practice that I bring up, because I really believe that living in the moment and appreciating the now are surefire ways to feel happier and lower stress levels. (via) Today I had the chance to practice at a yoga studio I hadn't visited before - a rooftop yoga studio and vegan restaurant in La Jolla called Trilogy Sanctuary. I'll be sharing a full review of the studio soon, but as I participated in a lunchtime vinyasa flow class - feeling the ocean breeze, looking up at the bright blue sky, stretching out in some yoga poses - I couldn't help but feel appreciative of the moment that I was ... [Read More]
The Power of Now: Practicing Mindfulness
With the start of September here and Labor Day having just passed, I kept noticing the past bunch of days how much people love to jump ahead and say sayonara to summer before August is even over. Everyone seems to be moving on to pumpkins and Halloween already! Don't get me wrong, I get it. I know that for many, Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer - back to school, pack up the beach gear until next year. But in reality, the summer season lasts for most of the month. In the Northeastern U.S. where I grew up, September is one the best months weather-wise. Actually, as everyone is getting ready to pull out their Uggs and sweaters, today was the hottest day of the summer in Jersey. So what's one of the reasons why everyone has been saying RIP to summertime? Because us humans love ... [Read More]
Life is Too Short to Wait
(source) So often I hear of tragedies happening and people dying and I think of how crazy and short life can be. This happened a few days ago when that teacher in Nevada was killed by a 12-year old gunman. And the thought of life being unpredictable has been weighing heavy on my mind today, since finding out that my great aunt passed away this morning. I wasn't really close with her, but she was family. The last time I saw her we were relaxing on beach chairs in the early evening, feet in the sand, plastic cups of wine in our hands, just chatting about life. She always seemed healthy, until recently when she was diagnosed with cancer in multiple areas of her body. After that diagnosis came, it all went downhill for her, and a prognosis of having months to live turned into ... [Read More]