Five Ways to Naturally Reduce Stress

Dad, you might like these:

http://huffpost.com/us/entry/4681739?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living&ir=Healthy+Living

Breakfast smoothie

Mango (for thickness), kale, spinach, blueberry, trader joes super red mix, chia seeds, chlorella, spirulina and organic apple juice

Super Easy, Super Fast Healthy Breakfast

Heat up pan on high for several minutes before adding olive oil. First, fry egg and add crushed black pepper. Then, add more olive oil and two handfuls of spinach after removing the egg. Season spinach with garlic salt. 

Tastes good, good for you, and a balanced breakfast too. Takes about 8 minutes total. 

Marathon training, day 1

Started at 6:50 this morning. Took 20 minutes to get out of bed and on the road but I'm glad I did! 

Organic whole milk, whey protein and cacao powder for a recovery drink. 

A Healthy, Fast Food

When I'm too tired or busy to really prepare something healthy, even just to blend something up, I love to stock up on Odwalla or Naked juice - especially the superfood or green machine flavors. 

Odwalla doesn't use concentrate in their juices; they use a purée of real fruits and vegetables. The superfood flavor even has spirulina, one of my favorite superfoods. It's literally jam-packed with nutrients and basically nothing else. And the best part is, these juices are actually delicious!

They do go bad faster than most juices you'll get, and that's a good thing. It means they're more natural and aren't loaded with preservatives, so you can still get a "quick fix" that tastes good and not get burned by it later. 

I like to stock up on 3-4 of these at a time. They're great for taking with you in a hurry too! I've had them for breakfast on my way to work several times this week already. 

Don't live off of them, of course. Make sure to drink plenty of water too. As always, moderation and balance and everything. 

Oh, and don't get the protein ones. They're super gross. 

Weathering the Storm

Image Credit: http://laurie365degrees.blogspot.com

Sometimes, you may be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of thoughts, feelings, emotions, or even physical pain.  Usually those have come in the form of thoughts, for me.  But you don't need to worry about them.

Thoughts are just thoughts, and nothing more.  Feelings and emotions are founded in our thoughts and beliefs, so for this post we're just going to focus on thoughts.

This week, I've been overwhelmed at times by thoughts that seem to hit me like a semi - totally out of nowhere, and unsolicited for the most part.  Most of the time, I've tried to prevent them from coming or straight up fight against them.  But that only serves to make them stronger.

What I've recently learned from meditation is this: thoughts can be like a storm.  But like any storm, it eventually passes.  You can't control if the lightning rages and the wind beats against you, but you can always choose to wait it out.

I'm not saying you can't control your thoughts.  I think you can.  But when you're tired, bored, stressed, lonely or whatever, it gets much harder to do so.  

Today I got up early and ran, did everything right, even ate healthy all day.  But I'm still tired from not sleeping enough, and from being mentally exhausted by a project at work.  My mind started to wander to relationships in my life that are stressing me out, and before I knew it, I was smothered by this tidal wave.

But rather than try to fight it, analyze it or avoid it, I decided to try this technique of just "weathering the storm."

What happened was, I simply felt peace.  I don't know what will happen in these relationships; nobody does.  But what I do know is everything is ok as it is, right now.  I am ok.  Not in a few months, and not when x, y, or z happens.  Right. Now.

Letting these mental storms run their course leaves you feeling empowered and hopeful, and is great for your mental and emotional health.  Harnessing this mental clarity will give you an extra reserve of energy and endurance for those days when you're feeling more tired, bored, lonely or stressed than usual.

Why It's Bad to Call Bad Feelings... Bad

Ok, so it's not the best title.  But this is a little more of a serious, deep topic than what I'd usually write. I learned some of these things while practicing meditation (ooobah) and also from doing a processing session with Carrie.  Trust me, it gets good.

One of the most common urges I think we have as human beings is the need to label things.  Specifically, to decide if emotions are negative or positive.

Is that helping?

When we put labels on emotions, we are often doing it to protect ourselves - whether we are aware of it or not.  For example, we may say it's bad to feel angry.  Why?  Because anger expressed can alienate those around us for a time and even ruin relationships when the fire rages out of control.  And we all know how important relationships are for us to thrive.

But consider this: what if that anger (or fear, or insecurity, or confusion) was merely a warning and a lesson, and wasn't really bad after all?  What if its primary purpose was actually to teach you something?

What if, for example, it was only telling you that something was out of whack in your expectations?  What if, like a sprained ankle, it was meant to teach you to take it easy for a bit and not expect so much from yourself?

Photo Credit: www.wellnesscoach.com

There are, of course, countless problems that these "negative" emotions are meant to uncover.  Heavenly Father's design includes an opposition in all things, and it is my personal belief that this opposition is meant (at least in part) to be a powerful, symbolic teacher.

Choosing to allow these emotions to be (rather than immediately putting them in a box to be condemned or praised), exploring them and letting them run their course enables you to be open to learning about deeper needs, wants, and unresolved issues in your life that you never would have discovered otherwise.  Labeling and thus confining our emotions prevents us from making those discoveries that "loose the chains that hold us bound."

For me, this discovery has facilitated the exposure of some mercilessly crippling core beliefs, ultimately giving me the peaceful reassurance I needed to face some of my biggest demons in life.  I hope it can do the same for you!

"...for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

-William Shakespeare

The Importance of Early Morning Exercise

One of the things I've been wanting to get better at, something that mom has always done really well, is early morning exercise.

I'm not talking about doing Jillian videos or Just Dance 2 to get my blood pumping in the morning, although that probably wouldn't be a bad idea.  What I really want to do is more simple.  (At least to start).

For the past few days, I've been getting up just to walk for about 15 minutes in the morning, or almost the equivalent of a Hokegon (how do you spell that?) lap.  Although I can probably run or something like that, this exercise's purpose isn't so much for...exercise.

What this walk does for me is three things:

1) It clears my head
I don't know about you, but I'm not naturally a morning person (as much as I'd like to be).  I know you can get so much more done, and the general authorities and scriptures have even said that getting up earlier is key to reaching certain spiritual heights, but I just have not been able to get there yet.  What I can do, though, is start small.  For some reason, a lot of days I will wake up stressed and anxious about something.  But going for this morning walk really helps to clear out the cobwebs and see things more objectively.

2) It gets my blood flowing
Even if it's a little bit, it feels so good to have your blood pumping early in the morning.  This is especially true right now because the walk is happening when it's still pretty cold outside, and the cold air tends to get your body moving as well.

3) It stabilizes my appetite
Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.  Your body just went through 8-10 hours without food, maybe more, and it's at a point where it really needs to be nourished again before chugging along for the rest of the day.  What will you put into it after all that time?  Walking and getting a little exercise in first helps to get your body started off right - it knows that it's going to need energy for the day, and exercising first gives you both a little more self-confidence (if you don't overdo it) and your body gets prepared too.  It will likely make you a little more hungry, but that also makes it easier for you to tell when you are full.

Eventually, once my joints start waking up with me, I'll start running in the morning like Tim and Presley.

The Importance of Finding Joy in Simple Things

I've been thinking a lot about how important it is to find joy in life.

I love this quote from the book Simple Abundance: "What is missing from many of our days is a true sense that we are enjoying the lives we are living.  It is difficult to experience moments of happiness if we are not aware of what it is we genuinely love.  We must learn to savor small, authentic moments that bring us contentment."

Children have learned this lesson.  I think as we get older we forget it.

On a recent outing with my granddaughter, I had to smile when I saw how she found joy in something as simple as pine needles in a cup.

This week I'm going to follow Brianna's example and make time to notice the simple things around me that bring me joy.  Gonna be a good week.

Introductory Post and Welcome

Hey guys!  I know some of us had been talking about getting this blog started while we were together for Christmas, and after talking to Tim just now, I figured now would be as good of a time to start as any.

So, the purpose of this blog is for our family to just to share all of the stuff we find, the stuff we like, and questions we may have for each other about health and fitness.  That includes physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and any other kind of -al you can think of that makes life better.

The way it works is that I am the administrator on the account, and I am going to add as many of our family members as I can as authors.  When you're an author, you should be able to post your own stuff to the group as well.  I don't have everyone's email, or Facebook, so I may need help getting a hold of those I might've missed.

For now, I'll probably be the one posting the most stuff, and that's ok.  It'll probably seem like over-posting, but you don't have to subscribe for notifications if you don't want to - you can just come back and check it out as you please.

Let's be like these people: