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 LearnTheEssentials Poll

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5 Simple Tips to Practice Gratitude as an Act of Self Care

Did you know that your mind could only hold one thought at a time? This is why I feel gratitude is a great act of self care because it helps shift your mindset and energy. I am a believer of “energy flows where the mind goes”- this goes with how the mind can only hold one thought at a time. While you are focusing on gratitude of the experiences you are going through,  you are shifting your bodies energy and mindset. I can have a whole other blog about energy, but for now lets get back to practicing gratitude. It has been shown to improve physical health, mental health and enhance self esteem and resilience.

Have you ever practiced gratitude when feeling blah or like life is not fair? It’s hard right?

The past few days have been very challenging, I was in a funk. I felt blah, I had a lot of things going on at once, and most of all I felt disappointment and frustration. It was not an easy task to get out of this mindset. I tried to use all my self care tools that I had in my tool box: journaling, meditating, reiki, essential oils, running, yoga but none of those really shifted this blah feeling. Then I realized I needed to let myself feel it, instead of burying it- I cried, I vented, I let it out in order to let it go.

It was very challenging to feel grateful when I felt disappointment and frustration but I recited what I was grateful for anyway and focused my energy on these thoughts. I began to list the things I am grateful for from the small things to the larger. After doing this I felt a little better. Have you ever heard the saying “fake it til you make it?” So I continued, I recited what I was grateful for in my thoughts, on paper, out loud multiple times a day while using my young living essential oils and taking deep breathes -all of this was a form of self care. I tried being gentle with myself and allowing myself to feel these hard emotions without judgement. Practicing self care and mindfulness is like a muscle, it takes practice and consistency.

Here are 5 simple ways you can add gratitude to your self care routine: 

1. Start and end your day with gratitude. This can be out loud, in your mind or written form.  Find a time that works for you and/ or incorporate it into something you already do. You could even do this while you are brushing your teeth. If this doesn’t work try to think of 3 things you are grateful for- you could use a post it note somewhere easily visible as a reminder. You could also use a gratitude rock as a visible reminder to practice gratitude if you do not want to use a post it note. I also find it therapeutic to hold the rock and roll it around in my hand while thinking of what I am grateful for.
2. Have a gratitude journal/ jar or box. This will get you in the routine of practicing gratitude daily. Some prompts could be what did I do for myself today? What made me happy? or What am I grateful for experiencing? Notice something new that you are grateful for or try to list different things.
3. Write a note of gratitude to someone. This could be as simple as a thank you for supporting me and helping me with my paper or as long as you like with details about all the reasons you are grateful for this person and how they impact your life or the lives of others.
4. Gratitude reflection during a walk this can be anywhere from 2-5 minute walk to any longer length you feel fit. You can use this walk to disconnect from technology in order to be present in this moment. Take in how it feels to walk and observe all the sights, sounds and smells use all of your senses. While walking you can begin to think about and reflect on what you a grateful for. If you’d like some prompts you can start with what you are grateful for in the immediate environment of your walk, then move to individuals you are grateful for, finally moving inward to thoughts of what you are grateful for about yourself.
5. Gratitude meditation is a visualization meditation of all you are grateful for. Find a comfortable seated position to start, and draw your attention to your breathing and then take in some deep breathes with your eyes closed. You do not need to clear your mind, you just want to focus your mind. If your mind wanders acknowledge that and bring it back to what you are feeling grateful for. During this meditation you can show gratitude to things like your health, ability to breathe, legs and feet for walking and movement, sense of touch and feeling, vision for seeing, etc. You can also show gratitude for people, animals, and things in your life. When meditating and focusing on the gratitude of each, be sure to pause to really focus on it before moving on to the next.

 

Self Care and Mindful Stress Management on Social Media

Hello Everyone! I wanted to share some new places you can find me. I created a new Facebook page for Self Care and Mindful Stress Management. This is a place where we can share simple tips and ticks as well as empower each other to take our health and wellness into our own hands. I also have been posting on Instagram. Please feel free to take a look. I appreciate all of the support! ❤ 

I get to call this work: learning about Young Living’s Mineral Make up

Right now as I reflect I am Feeling so blessed! Thank you @dragonflyandspruce and @myjoannamalone for today’s opportunity to learn more about Savvy Minerals by Young Living’s new mineral make up line! So many benefits to moving towards preventative care and removing yucky chemicals from my life style. I am loving this journey I am on with you all towards health, wellness and abundance. 😍❤ I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude to call this work! To love what I do and be able to intertwine what I am learning in order to help myself, my family and friends and to just help people. There is so much synchronicity going on between grad school, aba work and the oily work I am doing.

Digging a little deeper…

The past couple of weeks I have been going through roller coasters of emotions. Even though I KNOW I am on the right path and doing the right things I have been feeling so overwhelmed and at times paralyzed with my anxiety and depression. Between juggling grad school, working my ABA job and working as an entrepreneur with Young Living/ blogging/ and the realm of holistic healing it has been A LOT. The past few days I have been connecting with some special and important people in my life and it has been so healing! During these times of stress I make sure to up my selfcare and taking time to learn about Young Living mineral make up, get my make up done and connect with these ladies has been a form of self care (education so I can remove unhealthy chemicals from my lifestyle) even though it’s “work”. Though it’s hard I know it’s worth it. I love my support system and the folks in my life.

Reflection on Grad school Anxieties

I like to post different topics here and it was time to post about ABA and the past few days I have been brainstorming and trying  to come up with what to post and then tonight happened. In class we were vulnerable and trusted each other.

I am beginning my last year of grad school. This year we are focusing on intensive practicum and capstone project. I am adjusting to the rigor of juggling multiple classes at once on top of work (ABA & YL) and personal life.

This is the second week of the semester and already getting to know my “cohort” was very eye opening. I go to Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) and it is an online program. So we were video chatting and getting to know each other and our backgrounds. I am so thankful to have my professor (actually many of professors and instructors are wonderful!) for the capstone project and intensive practicum because he keeps it real. Tonight while introducing ourselves a few of us talked about our feelings and one that popped up multiple times was anxiety.

He dug a little deeper and wanted to talk to us more about this. It was eye opening and inspiring, the stories I heard tonight from colleagues. My professor wanted to define anxiety in terms of ABA- it was amazing. He said that Anxiety is the fear of the unknown- that Skinner classifies this as a conditioned response and that it has antecedent functions and a history of punishing consequences (what happens immediately after the behavior that either decreases or increase the behavior occurring in the future) for the behavior/ emotion. Basically what this means is that we feel anxious because of the unknown and in the past the unknown had negative consequences that decreased the behavior. (I will get a blog post on ABA Basics soon!)

He wanted us to  think about new functions(the why a behavior) to the antecedent (what happens immediately before the behavior)  and gave us an example of a rock climber. And how the unknown of rock climbing can lead to anxiety but can also be humors and fun. It’s true- I’ve indoor rock climbed before and the first time I was anxious because of the unknown but I was still able to have fun and keep trying and figuring out new ways to try and make it to the top. He talked about inviting in the discomfort and laughing through the process. Who I am changes depending on the contingencies. Learning contingency of reinforcement-  Skinner calls this the hot learning. Basically meaning that you learn from experiencing the stove is hot by touching it. ouch! haha

I know this year will be challenging and a lot of work but I am sure it will bring new perspectives for me in the field and I will grow to be a better person/ Professional Behavior Analyst throughout it.

He talked about being gentle with ourselves, to admit when we need help. He talked about turning fear into curiosity. It was such an inspiring space where we were able to really reflect inward and be vulnerable with each other. Something else mentioned was thinking about “where do I go to hide from fear.” This I will need to reflect more deeply upon.

So much of tonights conversations resonated with me and was truly synchronicity. Time to up my self care game! Posted is a photo from todays visit to the beach. I love to go to parks and beaches in between seeing clients. I make sure to add time to meditate, unwind during this time as well as be productive with studying or working on other things.