Finding balance -- mind

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One aspect of holistic living is creating a balance of mind, body, and spirit in life. To that end, I want to talk about the creating balance within my mind moving toward a holistic lifestyle.

My mind is usually where I struggle the most in creating a holistic balance in my life. As an introvert, I internalize a lot of things, and I can get into a "loop" of thinking that is not always beneficial.

So one of the goals I have for this year is to work on quieting my mind and being in the moment. I think this will go a long way to helping me let go of a lot of the mental and emotional struggles in my life, particularly related to my family, and bring me a great deal more peace on a daily basis.

I want to be someone who meditates regularly. I've tried a few times (not seriously), but it never really went anywhere. And yet, I know that when I set aside time for the purpose of quieting my mind, I am happier.

Yoga is meditative to me. I'm able to focus on my breathing and ignore everything in my life. So I'm going to try and do yoga more (which will benefit my physical health, as well).

However, I would also like to sit and meditate. I may start with guided meditation to help get my mind into the habit of quieting itself on a regular basis. Once I'm more comfortable with it, I can move into more free-form meditation.

I think, through meditation, I will be able to let go of some things that I've been struggling with, as well. Not only will this help me to stay in the moment, but will make for a more peaceful, happier life.

How do you keep balance within your mind?

The role of holistic health in my life

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Holistic health is an approach to life that seeks to find balance in mind, body, and spirit for optimal health by recognizing that these three factors of health are interrelated.

This is something I have been working toward achieving in my own life. So far, I have been moderately successful, but I haven't gotten to where I really want to be. But it's a process, so I'm still taking steps toward balance, one day at a time.

This year, I am renewing my efforts at living holistically and finding balance. This is not only so I can achieve my health goals this year (some of them have a timeline), but because it will be highly beneficial for my work as I make changes this year.

I've been hinting at a big change that was supposed to happen sometime this year, then at the beginning of the year, and now back to the summer. This change is officially happening this summer, so I am ready to start talking about the change and what it will mean for my life and career.

The work I have been doing as a freelance writer for the past seven years has been going increasingly well. I have good clients, a great deal of experience, and a clear vision of what I want to do in my career. To that end, this summer I will be taking the step to establish myself as an official business and shift from doing work as a freelancer to focusing on doing marketing work for small and midsize holistic health and wellness organizations. In addition, the marketing work we'll be doing will take a holistic approach to the business, seeking to benefit every facet of the business with its efforts.

I look forward to integrating my holistic lifestyle and my career as a writer/marketer. I hope that my passion for holistic health will not only benefit the business as we take this new, adventurous step, but will further benefit my personal life as I learn more about maintaining a balance of mind, body, and spirit in my life.

Ending the year with mindful eating

Life has gotten busy lately, and I've fallen back into bad habits. So as this year wraps up and the new year begins, I'm focusing on getting back into my good habits of holistic living.

It was a little bit of a challenge through the Thanksgiving holiday, not only because we were traveling, but because I'm the only non-omni* in the family.

As I'm making the transition back into the healthy lifestyle that works for me, I have to focus on remembering why I'm doing it.

Yes, a big part of the reason I'm going back to a vegan lifestyle with regular exercise is for my health. (I feel better when I take better care of myself.) But it's also because I know how my body reacts to animal product.

My body doesn't like meat and dairy. I can eat it, but quite often, I feel ill afterward. When I was a kid, I couldn't handle dairy (which came up again in both my pregnancies). So it's not a shocker to me that I can't handle animal products now. Since a plant-based diet is not only healthier for me (as an individual) but healthier for me in general, it just makes sense for me to be on a plant-based diet. It's the best way for me to keep my body in balance.

The good news is that the next two holiday meals (Christmas and New Year's) will be at home, so I can make sure there are vegan options (especially since our New Year's meal will be all finger foods). It will be a good way to end this year and start 2015.






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*I know that veg*n living is not a requisite for holistic living, but my body is much happier with a plant-based diet, so it is a requisite for me.

Reading for work

Over the next year and a half or so, the work I do is going to shift.* I can't give too many details right now, but I will say that it has to do with moving my target market to the holistic health and wellness sector.

To that end, I have a lot of books on my reading list right now that deal with health and wellness topics, including herbal remedies and reiki. Not only are these interesting to me on a personal level, but I find them helpful in moving forward with work.

Of course, as is often the case, the more I'm learning about these topics, the more I want to know. One area of study leads to another, which opens the door to something else, and it's all interrelated, of course.

I'm trying not to get too carried away, especially in these early stages of in-depth research. I don't want to overwhelm myself with information, especially since it's for work.

So I'm reading little by little, learning more about this broad topic so I can better provide for the needs of my clients, to better equip me to narrow my target market in the near future, and, most importantly, to help me take better care of myself by finding a balance between mind, body, and spirit.

And in the meantime, I have plenty of reading to keep me occupied.






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*Originally the plan was to make the shift at the beginning of this year or by next summer, but there are some aspects that have come up that are causing the shift to be pushed back a bit. So it's going to be another year before the shift really starts to happen.