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Daily Acts of Self-Love = What’s Missing in Your Life

By: Monday, September 9, 2013 Exercise, Healthy Beauty, Healthy Eating, Healthy Home, Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Organic Beauty, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

Daily Acts of Self-Love = What’s Missing in Your Life | The Organic Beauty Blog

Daily acts of self-love aren’t just fuzzy, feel-good luxuries.  They are what is standing in between you and the body, life, and love that you are so desperately seeking.  They are a necessity, and their lack leaves a huge gaping hole in your life that you then fill with ice cream, TV, wine, unfulfilling sex, and potato chips.

I know all your excuses, I’ve heard them all before.  “But Natasha, I can’t afford massages!” or “I don’t have time for picnics in the park!”  That may or may not be true, but each and every one of us has some time and some money to dedicate to the fundamental cause of our own happiness.  So I’m doing the work for you!  I’ve compiled a list of daily acts of self-love that fit any budget, any schedule.  Make it a priority to pick one every day.. start small, and before you know it, daily acts of self-love, mindfulness, and joy will be a habit as natural to you as brushing your teeth.

Continue Reading…

How to Become a Morning Person

By: Monday, August 5, 2013 Exercise, Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Organic Beauty, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

How to Become a Morning Person | The Organic Beauty Blog

In my holistic health counseling practice, the excuse I hear most often for why someone just can’t make time for a healthy breakfast, a morning workout, or meditation is “I’m not a morning person.”  I’ve got news for you:  That’s a load of hooey!  Any staunch night owl can become a super productive person before 9am if they want to.  I’ll tell you how I know this.. I did it!  I come from a family of night owls.  We stayed up LATE in my house, and mornings were a time to sleep until the very last minute, rush around getting ready, and frantically arriving late wherever we needed to be.  I kept up this M.O. well into my late 20’s.  And then I decided to change.  I craved calm, nourishing mornings.  I craved time.  I hate the feeling of rushing.  So if I can do it, so can you, if you choose to.  Here’s how:

1.  Get to bed at a reasonable hour (DUH!)

This is so obvious, but always overlooked.  If you want to wake up, totally rested, before your alarm, with time to get some stuff done in the morning, you need to get to bed earlier.  Don’t kid yourself into thinking you do ok on less than 7 hours of sleep. You don’t, and pretending is what’s making you a tired, grumpy zombie in the mornings.  Figure out when you ideally would like to wake up, leaving time for whatever you would like to accomplish in the morning (see below), and get thee into bed at least 8.5 hours before that time (leaving yourself a 30 minute buffer to actually get to sleep). If you have trouble getting to sleep, check out my article, How to Sleep Better, Naturally!

2.  Decide how you want to use your morning.

Morning is a perfect time for exercise, meditation, a healthy breakfast, and some chill time before work.  Figure out what your priorities are and set your intentions for the morning.  Figure out how much time you want to dedicate to these activities, and go to sleep accordingly the night before (see above).  Create a little morning ritual for yourself that incorporates everything you would love your morning to include.  A ritual is an amazing way to create and stick to a new habit, injecting it with calm and meaning (check out my article, The Power of Ritual!).  Here’s my morning ritual:  I wake up, walk the dog, feed him, take my morning vitamins, meditate for 15 minutes, make breakfast and watch the news for about 20 minutes… all before even starting to get ready for the day!  I set my alarm to leave myself time for my ritual, and make sure I get to bed at the right time to allow myself at least 8 hours of sleep (preferably 9 ; )

3.  Leave yourself plenty of time, and stay calm.

Regardless of what you want to accomplish in the morning, leave yourself enough time to do it all calmly.T he number one way to ruin your morning is to rush, or even just to feel rushed.  So always give yourself a buffer to account for any unpredictable events, as well as all the basics of getting ready.  The more time you feel  like you have, the calmer you will be.

4.  Save room for pleasure.

Make sure your morning includes something you find pleasurable (like meditation, checking your favorite blogs, or watching the news).  You’re not going to be motivated to get up early for your awesome mornings if they’re not pleasurable, or if they’re filled with more stuff you have to do.  Morning is an amazing time to start the day with some you time, which sets the tone for a more  enjoyable and less stressful day. So dig deep and connect to what you’re really craving in the mornings.  Maybe it’s tons of time to do your hair or pick out the perfect outfit.  Or sitting down at the table for a real proper breakfast.  It’s YOUR morning, so make it count!  The more enjoyable your mornings, the more you will look forward to them.  And, wait, what?  Suddenly you’re a morning person.

Related articles

The Power of Ritual

By: Monday, July 29, 2013 Exercise, Healthy Eating, Healthy Home, Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Organic Beauty, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

The Power of Ritual | The Organic Beauty Blog

In my holistic nutrition practice, I am always talking up the power of creating rituals for eating, wellness, and self-care.  Rituals not only help you to create and stick to new healthy habits, but they can also play a huge role in how full or satisfied you feel after a meal, how effective your meditation practice is, or how relaxing your mani-pedi is.

In some exciting news, a new research study co-authored by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Minnesota will be published in the Journal of Psychological Sciences, proving what I’ve been claiming for ages… rituals matter, and they could mean finally feeling fulfilled, consistently happy, and yes, even dropping those last 10 pounds!  The study showed that when a ritual was performed before eating, thse food tasted better and was more satisfying than when there was no pre-eating ritual. Whether it was a chocolate bar or a carrot, participants who performed a specific pre-eating ritual ate slower, enjoyed the food more, and ultimately felt more full and satisfied after eating (which means they didn’t need to keep snacking!).  Though this study was specific to food, the results can be translated across all healthy behaviors.

Rituals promote mindfulness, a slowing down that brings the action at hand to the forefront of your consciousness.  When simple, everyday activities are given more meaning in this way, they are elevated from mere automatic behaviors to moments of connection, fulfillment, and joy.  The more you feel these uplifting emotions, the less likely you will be to overeat, abuse your body, or skip the activities that fill you with energy and vitality (like exercising and meditation).  Pick rituals to perform around the areas where you struggle — food, sleep, relaxation, exercise, self-care.

Try some of these rituals for yourself, and see what a difference they make!

  • Morning rituals:

    • Sip hot water with lemon right when you wake up.  It’s super alkalizing, hydrating, and just feels great!
    • Meditate
    • Spend some time mindfully making your morning tea or coffee
    • Move your body — some sun salutations feel especially great in the morning
    • Listen to music

  • Rituals before a meal:

    • Say a prayer or a few words of thanks, or sing a little song!
    • Take time to beautifully set your table, even if you’re eating alone!
    • Arrange your food creatively on the plate, garnish it with fresh herbs or other edible adornments, and take a moment to admire your work before digging in.
    • Put on some lipstick, brush your hair, and throw on a fresh, cute outfit before sitting down to dinner.

  • Rituals before meditating:

    • Light candles or incense.
    • Water your plants.
    • Do some stretches.
    • Create your own ritual of bowing to an icon, statue, or symbol that has meaning to you, and saying a few words of intention.
    • TIP:  I am a big fan of having a dedicated meditation space (I use my window sill) where you can arrange these ritual items.  I water my plants, light some candles, gain calming inspiration from my Buddha statue, and only then do I start my practice.

  • Bedtime rituals:

    • Unplug from electronics 30-60 minutes before bed
    • Sip some relaxing tea, like chamomile, kava, or sleepy time
    • Take time for a bathroom pampering ritual
    • Take a hot bath with relaxing essential oils like lavender
    • Slip into something that makes you feel sexy
    • Read a great book

  • Other self-care rituals:

    • Have a weekly, at-home spa ritual.  Put on a face mask, listen to music, take a bath.
    • End your week on a high note by walking home (or getting off the train a few blocks early), taking a ferry, or a different, scenic route while driving home.  Listen to music if it helps you relax and wash off the week.

What are your favorite healthy rituals?  Share them in the comments below!

Live Like a Queen for a Day and Reap the Benefits!

By: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Organic Beauty, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0

In our quest for “fitting in” self-care, it often becomes yet another to-do to negotiate with our schedule.  So instead of just squeezing in a few minutes of self-care here and there throughout your week, try this on for size:  Pick one day out of your week to live like a queen (or king), and enjoy life at a more royal pace.

What does this entail? Fortunately, untold riches and a cadre of minions are not necessary to reap the benefits of a royal pace.  Any one of us can adopt a more royal attitude, if even for just one day, and enjoy the calm, pampering, and refinement that comes with a life lived well.  Imagine the Queen, if you will (any queen will do), moving through her day.  There is no rushing, no yelling, no unrefined habits like eating in front of the TV or a computer.  She goes to bed early, she unwinds from her day of queenly duties with some pampering self-care, she rises in the morning calm and energized, leaving plenty of time for reflection and getting done all the things she wants to do.  This may sound like a major luxury, but I promise you, one day a week is doable, even for the busiest, most hectic lifestyle.  So give yourself this gift, and note how you feel after just one day of taking care of yourself the way you know you deserve.  You just may get addicted!

Your Royal Day

1.  Early to Bed, Early to Rise:  A queen would never be caught dead working into the wee hours of the night, or worse yet, watching reality television.  On the night before your royal day, give yourself the gift of an early bedtime.  

  • Get the kids to bed (if you have them), or finish whatever work you have early and draw yourself a hot bath at 8pm, with some lovely essential oils of lavender or rose.  Soak the day away, and then crawl into bed with a good book (not a Kindle or iPad… so un-queenly!) no later than 9:30 (a very queenly bedtime).
  • With such an early bedtime, waking up a good hour or two earlier won’t be a problem!  A queen rises early and has plenty of time to take care of herself before launching into her day.

2.  A Queenly Morning:  Use your extra hour or two in the morning to meditate, do a calming workout like yoga, take an early morning walk, or do some writing.  Your morning sets the tone for your whole day, so on your Royal Day, make the morning YOURS.  Leave yourself plenty of time to get everything ready for work or the day ahead.

3. A Queen Never Rushes:  Can you imagine a queen rushing into a meeting, 5 minutes late, out of breath and harried?  Never!  For your Royal Day, adopt a policy of being early for everything.  Leave extra time for travel and commuting, and enjoy the process.  Listen to some music, and maintain a calm, intentional, unhurried pace.  Arrive where you need to be early, calmly, and with grace.

4. Eat Like a Queen:  No, this doesn’t mean pigging out on foie gras.  A queen would never pig out on anything!  She eats delicately, calmly, and healthfully.  She eats in an undistracted, lovely setting, and she enjoys her meals.  You can do this too!  In fact, on your Royal Day, you must.  Leave yourself plenty of time for each meal (a queen never eats on the run!), and eat some delicious, healthy food in a calm, undistracted space.  Sit at a table (not your desk!), or enjoy a meal outside.  MAKE TIME for your meals so they can be an enjoyable, mindful event instead of a rushed afterthought.  If you don’t have time to cook, than eat out somewhere lovely or order in (very queenly) from your favorite healthy restaurant.  Set the table, light some candles, and savor.  No cell phones, no TV, no work.

5.  Take a Queenly Stroll:  As every royal period film has shown us, royals love their meditative strolls.  You may not have access to a manicured garden, but you can certainly take time out of your day for a leisurely stroll.  After lunch, take a walk in the fresh air, clear your head, calm your thoughts, and reenergize for the remainder of your day.  Breathe, observe, and enjoy your surroundings, if only for 1o minutes.

6.  A Queen Never Multi-tasks:  Can you picture a queen checking her email, talking on the phone, eating and working all at same time?  Never!  Today, if only for a day, practice the art of focusing on the task at hand, one thing at a time.  This is crucial to maintaining your queenly pace of calm and balance. Block out time to accomplish what needs to get done, and when you find yourself drifting and getting distracted, just pause, breathe, and return to the single-minded activity before you.  Throughout your Royal Day, be present to the moment you’re in.  If you’re speaking to someone, really listen, in an undistracted state.  In the evening, set aside some quiet time to relax with a single task.  Read a book in your favorite chair, knit, write, paint,

7.  Maintain a Queenly Demeanor:  Power-crazed, beheading monarchs aside, a queen would never lose her temper or raise her voice.  Throughout your Royal Day, if you feel yourself losing control or getting angry, pause, close your eyes and take a breath.  Maintaining an external calm makes it so much easier to maintain an internal sense of calm!  If you get stuck in a situation, ask yourself, what would the queen do? (WWQD??)

8.  A Queen Observes… And Delegates:  Obviously you still have to be productive on your Royal Day… Things need to get done.  But take a page out of the queenly book, and learn to delegate, if only for this one day.  At work and at home, try not to freak out if things aren’t done just so, if a bed isn’t made, or if someone dropped the ball.  Calmly and gently delegate the task to someone else, or just breathe and leave it be.  A true queen doesn’t rush to fix others’ mistakes, or point out their flaws.  She moves through her queenly day observing, but not engaging.

9.  Be a Kindly Queen:  A good queen takes time for the small kindnesses that let those around her know they are appreciated.  On your Royal Day, take the time to call your mom or a close friend and tell them you love them.  Write a handwritten thank you note for a gift you received or a meeting you had.  Complement those around you.  You’ll find that when you radiate kindness, it calms those around you as well, making your entire environment more balanced, serene, and, well, queenly!

10.  A Queen Makes Time for Herself:  Throughout your Royal Day, be mindful of what you need.  A queen makes sure her needs are met, and so should you!  If you need a break, take it.  If you’re dying to hit the gym, or have some quality time with your special someone, make time for it.  Maybe all you need is an hour to yourself… take it.

This is just one day out of your life, but the benefits you’ll reap are boundless.  Make note of how it felt to prioritize your needs, to not rush, to move through your day calmly, gracefully, and with purpose.  You might want to adopt some of these queenly habits on a daily basis.  Or, if not, make room in your life to give yourself this day with some regularity, if not weekly, than a few times a month.  You may find that the more often you let yourself live like a queen, the more queenly you’ll naturally become in your daily life.  These habits are amazing for developing mindfulness, for decreasing stress and anxiety, and for living with more balance.

Share your Royal Day experience in the comments below!

{Photo: WeHeartIt}

 

15 Ways To Find Happiness, Health and Abundance

By: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 Exercise, Healthy Baby, Healthy Home, Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Organic Beauty, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0

By: Stephanie Heino

15 Ways To Find Happiness, Health and Abundance | The Organic Beauty Blog

Are you facing difficulty with knowing what to do in order to embrace and love yourself? It’s a hard one, we know. Many people feel like they don’t know where to start when feeling the need to love themselves first, prior to developing any meaningful relationships with others. We all spend so much time looking for the best romantic partner, so we should all be experts, right? What we soon realize is that our external search was meant to fill the void or emptiness we have inside, that often is created during childhood when there is a lack of love, or traumatic experiences. Finding a good relationship with ourselves can seem like an even harder task! But if not done properly, we will all finding ourselves failing miserably in relationships because of insufficient or little self-love. Do you recognize yourself in this? Self-esteem and self-love are issues that are often related, so if you suffer from low self-esteem, it is possible that the root cause is a case of insufficient self-love.

Sometimes, loving yourself feels unnatural because your mind has been trained to have sabotaging thoughts about yourself for the longest time. However, nothing is going to change if you do not make a conscious decision. When you don’t love yourself, you are basically telling the universe (and those around you) that you are unworthy or undeserving of love and positive outcomes in life. Learning to love yourself starts with making a very basic conscious decision: an intention to be happy and lead a fulfilled life. You can do it! When you make a decision to love yourself, you are really saying that you want to live your life to its fullest. You can accept that you are responsible for the all the outcomes in your life and can work towards letting yourself shine, living a fulfilling and loving life.

“Love yourself first and everything falls into line.”-Lucille Ball

So if you’ve decided on loving yourself but are confused on how to love yourself here are 15 ways which can be helpful:

1. Fall in love with yourself. Think about what makes you You, be happy and proud of it, and nurture yourself in every way. Love yourself for all the good things that you see, accept your flaws and the fact that you are imperfect and unique. This does not mean that you do not learn to change from your shortcomings, but instead, you are being gentle and kind to yourself despite all your “flaws”. Look in the mirror and fall in love with the reflection that is You.

“To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” -Oscar Wilde

2. Eliminate Self Criticism. Do you often beat yourself up over the tiniest thing? Is there a little voice inside your head that often tells you that you are no good because you are stupid or make mistakes? If you find that you often judge yourself, make an effort to stop the self criticism by going inside! Going to see a therapist or counselor might be very effective too!

3. Be Kind And Positive. When you start to think kindly and positively about yourself, the love you have for yourself just grows and keeps reflecting on the outside world. Make it a habit to praise yourself everyday, while in the front of the mirror. You will naturally undertake more empowering actions that support your development.

4. Acknowledge Your Effort. It is not always about winning or coming in first in everything that you do. Many times, it is the effort that counts! Acknowledge that you have done your best, even if you have failed to produce tangible results.

5. Let Go Of Worry. Loving yourself requires you to let go of your worry. It is horrible to live a life filled with constant worrying. I can attest to that! Worry does not help in any way. It cannot, on its own, make things happen. Only wise actions can! So instead of worrying, spend time thinking about what you can do to help in the situation. If the situation is beyond your control, then make a clear mental request or set an intention about what you want. Next, surrender your outcome.

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” — Epictetus

6. Trust Yourself. Have confidence in your abilities. Know that you have the ability to make important changes for yourself, as long as you put your heart to it. You can also support yourself by clearly visualizing desired outcomes.

7. Forgive Yourself. If you have made mistakes in the past that caused you to feel less worthy, then you need to forgive yourself. All of us make mistakes; so there really is no need to beat yourself up over them. Also, if you have been carrying around some emotional baggage because of a childhood trauma or a specific occurrence in your life, learn to forgive yourself.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” — Lewis B. Smedes

8. Be Truthful To Yourself. Loving yourself requires you to be truthful about your own feelings. If you are happy, acknowledge the joy. If you are sad, acknowledge the sorrow. When you are truthful about your feelings, you do not try to lie to yourself or seek to bury your negative emotions. Instead, acknowledging what you feel provides a good guide to what your thoughts are. And as we all know, thoughts can be changed, so healing and growth can take place.

9. Make Positive Affirmations Everyday. Retrain your mind to think differently with positive affirmations. One good affirmation that I repeat every morning is “I love and accept myself completely and unconditionally.” Keep reading your affirmations out loud several times a day. It will help you, I promise!

10. Express Gratitude. Express gratitude for the person that you are. For instance, cultivate an appreciation for your strengths and gifts. Also, feel a sense of gratitude that you are alive and well, and fully capable of making a difference in your life.

11. Boost Your Self Confidence. Make a deliberate attempt to look for opportunities that can help improve your confidence. For instance, if you are particularly good at doing something, set aside more time to indulge and improve your skills on it. Knowing that you have particular gifts can boost your self-esteem.

12. Relax. Give yourself space to take breaks every now and then. If you spend all your time working, without paying attention to your health, you’re showing yourself that you do not love You enough to take care of your own body. Fill your time with silence, soothing music and visions of beauty to soothe your soul and you will become more peaceful, connected, kind, loving and compassionate as a result of this.

13. Enjoy Life. Life is meant to be an enjoyable, so have fun people! Don’t take life or yourself too seriously. If you can think of life in that way you will automatically relax and quit worrying over things that do not matter.

14. Take Care Of Your Body. It is important that you strengthen yourself with proper nutrition and regular exercise. Your body is a temple and you should treat it with respect, love and care. It has been found that lack of self-love is often the root causes of conditions like eating disorders, obesity or even some terminal diseases.

15. Learn To See Beauty Around You. When you learn to see beauty in everything, you will also see beauty in yourself. So take some time to stop and smell the flowers. Try to notice things you haven’t noticed before, and feel it. How about the amazing yellow color on that flower in your garden, or the whisper of the gentle wind, or the endless hues of an evening sky. Watch the sunset tonight and pay attention to the beauty of it!

Choose to be happy, and make it happen!

Make November Your Self-Care Month!

By: Monday, November 12, 2012 Lifestyle, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0

Make November Your Self-Care Month! | The Organic Beauty BlogAfter all the stress of the last few weeks, a lot of my friends and clients have been playing catch up, trying to get life back to normal. In all the hullaballoo of to-do’s and appointments, the first thing to go is almost always self-care. We invariably spend more time on work and the house and running around from thing to thing than on the one factor that will consistently give us the energy, calm, and presence of mind to get it all done! And then of course we wonder why the weight keeps packing on, or why we’re bloated and frazzled and craving all kinds of god awful, crappy foods. This cycle of craziness needs to stop!

This month, I challenge you to make self-care your NUMBER ONE PRIORITY in life. I know, I know, I can hear you already thinking of all your “but’s” — the bills! the kids! your work! Consider this, a frazzled, tired, stressed out you makes a much worse parent, provider, and employee than a happy, balanced you! You OWE it to your family, your friends, your partner and your co-workers to be better, and the only way to accomplish this is to take care of number one.

Below, I’ve compiled some great resources around the blog for you to start sleeping better (and by better, I mean a full 8-9 hours every single night!!), minimizing stress, and simplifying your life. The less clutter you have in your brain and your environment, the better!

I’ll let you in on a little secret… Self-care is not a luxury only afforded to New Jersey housewives, trust fund kids, and actors. It is a fundamental need that all of us have, as vital to our health and longevity as water, and air. No, you won’t immediately drop dead if you haven’t had some down time, a good night’s sleep, and a yoga class, but the effects of consistently skimping on the lifestyle choices that help you feel calm, relaxed and taken care of add up! Stress and consistent lack of sleep have been identified as among the top contributing factors to higher risk of cancer, inflammatory disorders, hormonal imbalance (including infertility!), premature aging, and a slew of other unpleasant things. So if being happier and more balanced isn’t enough motivation for you, hopefully that will be.

So let this month be THE month. The month you get your act together and start taking care of that phenomenal and complicated machine that is your body. Below, post your favorite ways to take care of yourself, and publicly state your goals and intentions for increasing these activities in your life, even if it means cutting out something that isn’t serving you. And as always, please be in touch if I can support you in any way!

Check out:

How to Sleep Better, Naturally!

8 Ways to De-Stress and Simplify Your Life

Less Stress and More Energy Through Breath!

8 Ways to Simplify and De-Stress Your Life

By: Monday, November 12, 2012 Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

8 Ways to Simplify and De-Stress Your Life | The Organic Beauty Blog

It is virtually impossible to prioritize your health, wellbeing, and happiness when your days are filled to the brim with excessive clutter, both physical and emotional.  Taking some steps to simplify your life will do wonders for your state of mind, productivity, and balance, and will allow you to better fill your plate (so to speak) with things that make you happy, healthy, and taken care of!

1.  Say NO!  The biggest mistake overworked, overburdened people make is saying yes to too many things.  Social engagements, play dates, work assignments, favors, the list goes on and on.  We’re all afraid that if we admit that our plate might be a little full, it makes us some sort of colossal failure.  Well, newsflash!  Taking on too much means the things you are doing aren’t getting your full attention, which significantly lowers the quality of your engagement — with your friends, your family, your work, everything!  So stop being afraid to say no.  Pick what really matters to say yes to, and get a raincheck on the rest!

2.  Make your bed.   Guess what?  Momma was right on that one (I know, it kills to admit it!)…  The simple step of making yourbed every morning starts your day off with a little more order, a little less clutter, and a little more mental space for productivity.  Our physical environment is a reflection of our mental and emotional environment, a phenomenon that goes both ways.  Having just a little more neatness in your physical space will contribute to more calm and balance everywhere else… And it literally takes but a minute!

3.  Reclaim your inbox.  Yes, I know it is super duper important that you not miss out on any of the eight billion flash sale sites that you’re signed up for, and that getting newsletters from every single store, travel site, or gallery you’ve ever visited is absolutely crucial to your feeling in-the-know in life, but all that is really just contributing to your feeling of overwhelm and stress.  When you open your inbox every morning to a barrage of (let’s be honest) totally unnecessary crap that you need to sort through to get to the one email from your friend about her upcoming birthday party, your day is simply not getting off to a great start.  Not only is this is an enormous waste of your precious time, but it also gives you the illusion that you are a lot more stressed/busy/overworked/overwhelmed than you really are!  They’re just emails!  They’re not even important!  So go through your inbox and unsubscribe to absolutely everything but the most important, life-affirming, happiness-making content (like my newsletter! Which you can sign up for right over there —–>), or make good use of the Hotmail or Yahoo account from the 8th grade, and change all of your commercial correspondence to be delivered there.  That way, you can check it once a week, or whenever you really feel like a Gilt sale will boost your spirits, and pretend that whole mess doesn’t even exist the rest of the time.

4.  8 Ways to Simplify and De-Stress Your Life | The Organic Beauty BlogQuit multi-tasking!  Ok, I could hear the collective gasp from everyone reading this.  “But Natasha!  I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life cultivating the skill of reading emails, listening to music, talking to my mother, eating lunch, and finishing my quarterly report all at once!  It’s a defining aspect of my amazing character!”  Yes, I say to you… But how well has that worked out for you so far?  Do you feel like your work, your relationships, and your self-care are all getting the attention they deserve?  Or is everything perpetually getting about 30% of your headspace?  I’ve gotta say, multi-tasking is probably the most harmful and counterproductive trend of the last two decades, and it’s time we put it to rest.  Truly successful, productive, balanced people do NOT multi-task!  They dedicate themselves fully to one task at a time, whether than be work, talking to a friend, eating a meal, or watching The Big Bang Theory.  This allows you to not only get more done (like, really done, not half-assed done), but it also allows to you enjoy what you are doing so much more.  Work on chunking your time into specific task-oriented blocks.  Carve out time for answering emails, calling your mom, eating lunch, relaxing, reading, and exercise and don’t let any of those activities overlap!  I promise you, after a week or two of living this way, your cortisol levels will go down, and your seratonin levels will go up.  Hell, you may even lose a pound or two, or get a promotion!  Everything that you do will be done infinitely better, and more importantly, you’ll feel better doing it!

5.  Write down the five things in the world that are most important to you.  This simple step will allow you to refocus your time and energy on what really matters, and let what really isn’t worth your time fall by the wayside.  Keep your list somewhere handy and read it at least once a day.  Have you done something to benefit, support, or move towards a goal related to the things on your list that day?  If not, schedule it in.  It is way too easy to waste our lives focusing on the minutia of the day-to-day, while ignoring what matters most. But luckily, it is totally up to you whether or not you live this way!  Take control of your life today.

6.  Pencil yourself in.  When you’re looking ahead at your calendar, make sure you have some you-time scheduled in every single day.  This might mean a 1 hour yoga class, or a 10 minute walk in the sun, and anything in between.  Whatever it is, make it something you enjoy that leaves you feeling more revitalized and happy.  Every day.  When you start making yourself a priority, even on such a small scale, it becomes a whole hell of a lot easier to stay in control on your time and your emotions!

7.  Delegate.  This one can be the hardest to do, but yields the highest pay off.  Allow me to let you in on a little secret… You can’t do it all.  This isn’t a criticism, it is simply a fact.  You cannot stay on top of every single little detail in your life and the lives of your family members and expect to stay sane.  It’s just not possible!  So start delegating.  Pick 3-5 of your least favorite tasks that you consistently need to accomplish and delegate them to someone else.  Hate cleaning your house?  Get a housecleaner!  Even once every other week, for $75-$100, having someone get your home into sparkling clean condition is SO completely worth it!  Can’t stand administrative tasks?  Get an assistant, or better yet, hire an intern!  There are so many smart young things out there just dying to get experience doing exactly what you do for very little money, and sometimes just the cost of lunch!  Ask your spouse to wash the dishes or take care of laundry, ask your mom to take the kids to their dentist appointments.  It’s so easy to forget that the people in your life love you and want to help you stay sane and happy!  Whatever it is, figure out who can help you get it done.

8.  8 Ways to Simplify and De-Stress Your Life 3 | The Organic Beauty BlogMake smarter to-do lists.  Once a week, write down everything you need to get done that week (of course, after having SAID NO, DELEGATED, and WRITTEN DOWN WHAT’S IMPORTANT).  Assign yourself 3-5 specific tasks for each day of the week, no more.  If you can’t fit all your weekly to-do’s into 3-5 tasks per day, you need to go back and read the list above again.  Say no, delegate, write down what’s really important, and cross some stuff off that weekly list.  3-5 tasks per day is really all you can commit yourself to accomplishing well, while still leaving yourself plenty of time for penciling yourself in and taking care of what’s really important.  I promise, this will change your life!

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Better Sleep for A Better You

By: Sunday, March 20, 2011 Holistic Health, Wellness , , , , Permalink 0
 “We have in our society this idea that you can just get by without sleep or manipulate when you sleep without any consequences,” said Lawrence Epstein, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. “What we’re finding is that’s just not true.”
Better Sleep for a Better You | The Organic Beauty Blog
Somehow, in the last 20 or so years, the notion of working hard and playing hard, at the expense of our own health has become the supposed tagline of successful, motivated people.
We proudly declare how little sleep we got the night before, as if it’s a badge of how hardcore and dedicated we are.  Truth is, by robbing ourselves of sleep, we are in actuality robbing ourselves of health and longevity, which is quite a sacrifice to make in the name of dedication to our work.
Good quality sleep is a major foundation of health, equally important as nutrition.  You can eat all the organic fruits and vegetables in the world, exercise like clock work, and drink ounce upon ounce of water, but if you’re not getting enough sleep, all of that is for naught.  Weight gain, skin problems, inability to manage stress and emotions, high blood pressure, and increased risk of developing cancer, heart disease, and other life-threatening illnesses are just some of the negative effects that too little or poor quality sleep can have on your body.
All this in addition to the simple fact that insufficient sleep makes it impossible for you to perform at your best.. at work, on stage, in bed, or simply as a human being.   The old adage, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” takes on a creepy ring of truth when you consider that  neglecting your sleep will bring on that rather final state sooner than you think.

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