2021 Roundup
To save from wrapping up the year, this is just a reminder to celebrate something you’ve learned, accomplished, cooked, figured out, or didn’t do this year.
Here’s a collection of some favorite thoughts throughout the year broken up into four categories that are vital to our overall wellness.
Eating & Drinking
Fiber is our friend. Fiber helps moderate blood sugar levels, keeps us feeling full longer, encourages healthy weight, and feeds our microbiome promoting flourishing gut flora. Fibery foods include: hemp, chia, and flax seeds; beans and lentils; artichokes, broccoli, and zucchini; fruit, oats, and dark chocolate.
The food we eat primes our gut to help get rid of the bad bacteria and viruses that we encounter. A healthy gut yields a thriving immune system and can help prevent mood disorders. One of the best things we can do for our gut is to eat a wide assortment of plants.
Aside from keeping our skin glowing and our bodies in working condition, staying hydrated has effects on our brain. Drinking water when you’re dehydrated can improve alertness and help regulate your mood. Plus, being in, around, or under water promotes calmness and happiness. Drink up, dive in, take a bath.
Add chop greens and fresh herbs to your meal just when it’s about to be done cooking. The greens and herbs will be perfectly wilted and add so much flavor.
Make eating veggies more exciting by switching up your cooking style or trying something new. Roast, sauté, blanch or boil, grate, spiralize, eat raw… add salt, pepper, garlic, and onions while cooking, and chop fresh herds to sprinkle on top when serving.
Immune System & Complete Health
Lasting health comes from a uniquely compassionate relationship with our body, mind, and soul. Feed them accordingly.
Research shows that spending time outside improves mental and physical health. Benefits of spending time in nature: lowered blood pressure, strengthened immune system, energy boost, mood enhancing, and cognitive benefits for kiddos.
Stretching elongates our muscles, increases our body’s tolerance, and lets our brain know our body is safe. Plus, stretching is an amazing time to incorporate a breathing ritual. Simple morning stretches contribute to our well being on multiple levels. Energy, you-time, and confidence are among the positive benefits.
Our long-term health is dependent on the small things we do daily. Cultivating little habits for yourself, including small things that make you feel joy, can result in something greater down the road.
Our immune system and general well being is directly affected by biodiversity.The larger variety of plants you eat and the more you go outside to breathe in different environments the better.
Stress Relief & Self-Care
When in doubt, sleep extra and do something nice for yourself.
The cells in our body are constantly receiving feedback from internal and external signals. Every little thing we do, eat, see, smell, has an impact on our well being. It’s the little things that add up.
Offer yourself as much kindness as you would your loved ones.
A good forward fold helps to calm your thoughts, relieve headache tension, can aid digestion, and simply gives you a moment of mindfulness. Hold for five to ten complete breaths.
Incorporate a tea drinking ritual into your day when in need of a moment to yourself, work is overwhelming and you need to step away, or nightly instead of a glass of booze like me! Tea meditation is an ancient mindfulness practice that will never go out of style.
Transforming a mundane task that you do daily, like making coffee or taking a shower, into something ritualistic helps create healthy habits for sustainable wellness. Try adding a short breathing exercise or moment of mindfulness scanning your senses.
Inspiration From Others
“Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself… In this sense, ‘Easy does it’ is actually a modus operandi. It means, ‘Easy accomplishes it.’” — Julia Cameron, excerpt from The Artist’s Way
“Stay in the moment.” — Michael Jordan
“Getting back to basics is self-care for me.” — Alex Elle, as heard on the Expanded podcast
“For life is the best thing we have in this existence. And if we should desire to believe in something, it should be a beacon within. This beacon being the sun, sea, and sky, our children, our work, our companions and, more simply put, the embodiment of love.” — Patti Smith
“Nobody sees a flower-really-it is so small it takes time-we haven’t time-and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” — Georgia O’Keefe
“If there is meaning in the past and in the imagined future, it is captured in the moment. When you have all the time in the world, you can spend it not on going elsewhere, but on being where you are.” — Robin Wall Kimmerer, excerpt from Braiding Sweetgrass
“You will be led to new sources of support as you begin to support yourself.” — Julia Cameron, excerpt from The Artist’s Way
