Wellness & Mindset-it's an inside job

12 Ways to Be Well

February 13, 2019 by Heather Filed Under: Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Wellness & Mindset 4 Comments

Wellness means more than keeping myself from getting sick or burnt out, overwhelmed or just getting by, it means feeling good about myself, finding balance, nourishing the spirit and soul and being a good steward of the earth.

12 ways to BE WELL, in body and spirit.

1. Get 8 hours of sound sleep (give or take what feels right to you). See last week’s sleep post here.

2. Exercise regularly (3-5 times a week for at least 30 minutes), some of my favorite forms of exercise are Yoga, walking and Dancing (Nia)

3. Eat lots of organic and local produce. Same goes for meat and dairy if you are not vegetarian (which I am not but was for quite a few years).

4. Take time to do something that gives you Joy each day. This might mean quality time with loved ones (pets, family or friends) or taking time for a personal hobby you love doing.

5. Drink water as much as possible every day.

6. Use natural and non-toxic cleaning and beauty products in your home and on your body (that are not tested on animals and that do not contain parabens and other carcinogens)..

7. Keep houseplants and get out and garden if you can.

8. Volunteer and help others out when/however you can. Online is great but in person is even better!

9. Breath. Stop, notice your breath through your day and just bring your breath back to you.

10. Have FUN and Play more!

11. Be KIND, and I mean to everyone. This certainly takes practice but it’s worthwhile and will lead you to…

12. Don’t forget to Smile! Smiling can change our attitude and thoughs, give it a try regularly.

These may all seem like really basic practices and I commend you if you already do all of these (they are all a part of my regular routine at this stage in life). If you feel like some or many of these goals are not attainable please stick with it, you can change habits but it takes time. Find the ones that seem the most EASY or the most REWARDING or the most FUN and start with them!

I will be share more ideas about wellness and self care throughout February and I’d love to open this up for discussion. If you would like to join me, please connect on my Facebook page.

How do you define Wellness?

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Intuitive Planning

January 13, 2019 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Planning & Goals, Productivity, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

Welcome to 2019! I’m excited about what this year is inviting us to discover! I’d like to share a bit more about my Intuitive Planning process and Word for the year!

There’s always an exciting sense of possibility at the beginning of a new year. I think a lot of it has to do with our collective conscience. So many people with big ideas, plans, resolutions, and goals to do new things, accomplish BIG dreams and it all seems do-able with so many days ahead, Right? I also know there can be a bit of a mind trap here because we often bite off more than we can chew. I’ve learned to dial it back over the years and break my goals down further before I decide WHEN I think they need to happen. My planning process now allows me to meander a bit more along the way, leaving room for surprises, changes in direction, spontaneity, and failures. None of us want to fail but if we are going to fail, do it quickly my friend and move forward.

What good is a destination without the Journey?
We never begin something with the INTENTION of failure, but if we don’t plan for our journey, then failure might be inevitable…or maybe we will discover something entirely different on the path and that is certainly a different way of living than many of us are taught. We are taught that we need to control, set goals, budgets, plan our days, years, months, and before we know it our life is spent in the GRIP of what we think we need to do to be happy!

What if there was another way we could trust and let go just a little bit? For those of us who have a deep need to maintain control (raises hand:), color inside the lines, and do the “Right Thing” it can be terrifying to begin to let go. Having a word of the year is a practice I started about 6 years ago and I always discover that you can’t PLAN for what that word will teach you on the journey.

Last year my word was Fearless and I learned a lot about what it really means to live fearlessly…I embarked on the year thinking it would lead me to grand adventurous gestures. That was not the case. I discovered that being fearless means getting out of my head, into my heart, trusting myself, trusting my body, trusting my Intuition! This is exactly what I PLAN to do for 2019. I arrived at the word Intuition for this year because of my journey last year and my discoveries along the way.

ENOUGH about me…Do you choose a word for the year or have any resolutions? How do you plan for the year? Do you start with a vision, and Intention, or resolutions? I also use the process of creating a Vision Board and am offering a workshop to Envision Your Year on January 28th, click here to learn more and register!

Do you break your planning down into bite-size pieces by area of your life? Do you plan your year out on your calendar? I’d love to hear more about your planning process…leave a comment below and tell me more!

Get Sentimental this summertime

June 7, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Organize, Productivity, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

Get Sentimental this Summertime and use these tips for sorting school work and kids memorabilia.

Summer is perfect for getting a handle on all those sentimental school objects, papers and artwork you and your kids are keeping. Maybe you have a designated spot and you just dump things in one place throughout the year? Before you sit down to sort through the sentimental savings, it helps to understand how sentimental you are. Do you want to keep everything, are you totally detached or somewhere in between?

Having an awareness of what we learned from our upbringing will be a great guide to your decision making process moving forward!

Think back to your childhood and how your parents treated your memorabilia. Sometimes how our family “taught” us is how we respond and other times we want to do the direct opposite. Did you parents keep everything and then dump it in your hands after college or when you moved out? Or did they dump it in the trash? What did you do with your sentimental treasures from childhood? Do you still have those things? When is the last time you looked through your memory albums, boxes etc. Beware that what you do today will impact your kids behavior tomorrow and they may already have a strong opinion about what they want to keep or toss (which might differ from your’s).

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5 mind map tools for a deep dive

April 18, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Paper management, Planning & Goals, Productivity, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Wellness & Mindset 1 Comment

Mind maps tools are increasingly popular among companies, business owners, individuals, and educators. Using mind maps for a deep dive into a specific topic, project, or goal allows you to throw it out “on paper” and get the order of your ideas.

All mind maps have one thing in common. They have a central structure that radiates out organizing ideas by using lines, symbols, photos, and text to support and provide additional information for each big idea or topic. Mind maps can be either paper or computer-based, both follow the same structure, breaking a topic out from a central idea. The wonderful thing about the process of mind mapping is that you can dive deeper into a subject as you radiate out and continue to brainstorm. The mind map process is both intellectual and creative and is such a wonderful tool for individuals and businesses’ that are more hands-on and intuitive in their goal setting and brainstorming process. The key is to find out which method works best for you, your needs, and capabilities.

Paper Mind Maps

Paper-based mind maps are easy to create – you don’t need a computer, internet access, or computer chargers. All you need is paper and a pen, easy peasy! You can quickly jot down everything that comes out of your mind and map it out exactly how you’d like it. A paper mind map is great for those who need to get all of their ideas out quickly and allow for refining later. It can also be a helpful tool for organizing ideas and actions for teams.

Paper mind maps wick and easy to access anywhere, but there are a few downsides to using traditional pen and paper – it could easily get lost, crumpled, or get eaten by your dog! You aren’t able to change your ideas with ease unless you use a pencil, and if you are creating a large mind map you’ll need a lot of paper (which isn’t so ecologically friendly) and can take up a lot of space.

Digital Mind Map Tools

There are dozens of mind map software to choose from, these are just some of the most popular and user-friendly systems that I’ve used myself, with clients or heard good things about.

Coggle

Coggle is a web browser-based mind mapping software that makes creating a mind map simple, easy, and fun. This software offers both a free and paid version and it is an excellent investment if you create a lot of mind maps. It allows you to collaborate easily with a team. You can add text, hyperlinks, and images anywhere on your map with Coggle. The attractive branches can be customized with color, making these mind maps easy to follow.

Inspiration Maps

Inspiration Maps offers both computer and web-based software that has been newly introduced for iPad and iPhone. Its key features include the ability to create an unlimited number of maps and outlines, a user-friendly interface, and the ability to customize, add graphics and photos to any part of your map. You are able to choose from over 100 pre-made mind map layouts and hundreds of graphics within the app. With its autosave feature, you can be certain you won’t lose any of your data if the internet goes down and you are able to share it on a variety of platforms. It is very inexpensive for all the features and is worth the purchase!

Mind Meister

In addition to its catchy name, Mind Meister is another great software for creating mind maps. It is focused more on business and educational use and has a variety of features that support a lot of users at one time. It is available for download and can be accessed on any platform and has intricate sharing capabilities.

When making your decision take into consideration the pros and cons of each, the features, cost, ease of interface, accessibility, and most importantly that it suits your needs. At the end of the day, mind maps are supposed to be a fun, interactive tool that helps you expel all the information out of your brain. Don’t lose sight of that and have fun mind mapping all your great ideas!

Do you already use the mind map process? If so are you using pen and paper or software? What are some of your favorite things to mind map?

Procrastination isn’t healthy…or is it?

April 12, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Organize, Planning & Goals, Productivity, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Wellness & Mindset 2 Comments

Procrastination isn’t healthy, at least not when it’s chronic and habitual procrastination. Procrastination has been proven to impact every aspect of a person’s life, including our home, business and organizing projects. The scientific studies actually argue for and against procrastination so I’ll share a bit about both sides of the coin.

There are ways to overcome procrastination and to make it work in your favor. Some of us are more prone to procrastination than others. I find I often procrastinate for two different reasons and my theory is that the why behind the delay tactics can tell you a lot about healthy vs unhealthy procrastination. In my research about personality I discovered that certain people might be more inclined to procrastinate and for different reasons…so there ‘s no “RIGHT or WRONG” answer in this post, there’s both!

Scenario A involves my procrastinating when I’m really confident about a subject based on previous knowledge and experience. For example preparing for a presentation that I’ve done multiple times and have a good sense of how long preparation will take me. This is my most common form and what I consider GOOD procrastination. This type of procrastination isn’t fear based, I understand why and how to get to my outcome and that outcome doesn’t require a lot of decisions on my part. I’m confident that I will accomplish my goal and meet any deadline required. Some scientists consider this Active procrastination. We can recognize this type of procrastination when we make a conscious decision to delay our actions because we like a bit of pressure, may be currently working on more valuable tasks and are confident in our ability to complete the task on time.

Scenario B involves procrastination when I am totally overwhelmed, I don’t know where to begin and the subject is unfamiliar to me. I find or create excuses not to begin, which are usually fear based. If I’m honest with myself the only way to beat the head game is to admit that self talk is dragging me down and find my way through (perhaps by asking for help!), not around the task. This kind of procrastination crosses over to the BAD side… Some scientists consider this Passive procrastination. We can recognize this type of procrastination when we become paralyzed by indecision and we fail to take action and complete tasks on time. This type of procrastination isn’t healthy. It’s fear based, keeps us from making decisions, learning new things and moving forward.

The science behind procrastination goes much deeper than I cover here but the bottom line is that we procrastinate when we have to make decisions about what we are doing with our time and when we are going to do it (now or at the last possible moment?)!

The really important thing to understand about procrastination is what is behind your procrastination. Is it a delayed decision or are you making a conscious decision to do something later? If it’s the former, it might not be such a bad thing.

If you find that your stuck and overwhelmed then you need a SYSTEM to help you move beyond your procrastination. Some truths about procrastination…Procrastination begins with just one thing distracting us & taking us off track. Systems work to move us beyond procrastination, here’s how you can create your own…

Find your why & let that motivate you!
It only takes ONE small distraction to send us down procrastination alley…something like checking emails, or Facebook, grabbing a snack. You know your tactics.
Knowing why we are procrastinating can help us move beyond it. Is your procrastination a confident-I’ve got this scenario or fear based overwhelm?
Find an accountability partner or system
Work in intervals, using time boxing or other techniques to break larger projects into smaller tasks
Take healthy breaks between intervals-eat brain boosting snacks, drink water, rest your eyes, do a meditation, you get the picture, but set your clock and get back on task when the scheduled break is over
Eliminate distractions, turn email notifications off, close other browser windows, put your cell phone on silent, put a do no disturb message on your door etc

When do you find yourself actively or passively procrastinating and why? What systems do you use when you find your in a procrastination zone? Please share how procrastination impacts you in your daily life in the comments below.