Lift Your Spirit UP, Chill Out & Be Inspired: Food for Thought

Simple Ways to Relax, Chill Out, Stress-Less & Be Inspired

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These days most of us are feeling stressed out, anxious, and wondering how to enjoy life when there seems to be uncertainty and chaos all around. If you are distressed, worried, and/or harried, it will be more difficult for you to support others and be aware of all the blessings surrounding you. So how can we tap into our inner faith and serenity?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said . . . "The whole course of things goes to teach us faith." This is one of my most favorite quotes about life and being patient and confident. When you are patient, even when you don't know how to get to the other side of a challenge, you are putting your trust in God. Behind every dark situation, behind all difficulty, there is a hidden blessing. We just need to have the confidence and develop faith in God. Isaiah 7:9 is one of my favorite Bible passages: If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

Life is like a rollercoaster with ups and downs and leveling out, then repeat, repeat. How we handle the down times is a reflection of our confidence and faith in God. It's very difficult to hear the whisperings of God when we are anxious, scared, and stressed out. So how can we relax our minds and bodies and be more open to the guidance of our guardian angels, aware of our blessings, and become a magnet for miracles? We need to relax our minds, open our hearts, and breathe in God's Light and Love all around us and in us. When we chill out and invite calmness to be our daily companion, our faith flowers and our inner joy blossoms. Gratitude becomes our way of being and living.

We must choose to live thankfully each and every day, no matter what's going on around us. We must be the change we wish to see in the world — from the words of Gandhi. Beauty is all around us. And it was Confucius who once said that "everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."

My book, UPLIFTED: 12 Minutes to More Joy, Faith, Peace, Kindness & Vitality, is perfect reading now during these uncertain times to help lift your spirit and fill your heart with joy. I show you how to see beauty and vitality in everyday living—even during stressful times.

Here are some of my favorite ways to CHILL OUT and get the most out of our day — staying calm and balanced even though the world seems to be spinning out of control all around us. We do have control over our thoughts and can make a choice to quell the chaos in our mind and our daily lives. First and foremost, take time each day to pray and read some passages from the Bible. Bring God into your life and you will see miracles. And find ways to create and experience moments of relaxation during the days and nights.

PROFOUND RELAXATION: One of the world’s leading experts on the brain is a former Harvard medical doctor, Herbert Benson, MD, author of The Relaxation Response and Your Maximum Mind. What Benson calls “the relaxation response” is the body’s ability to enter into a state characterized by an overall reduction of the metabolic rate and a lowered heart rate. According to Benson, this state of relaxation also acts as a door to a renewed mind, a changed life, and a feeling of awareness. He describes the physiological changes that occur when you are relaxed as a harmonizing or increased communication between the two sides of the brain, resulting in feelings often described as well-being, unboundedness, infinite connection, and peak experience.

One way to cultivate calmness and peacefulness is to progressively relax your body, beginning with your toes and ending with your head. Breathe slowly and deeply, and totally relax each part of your body, saying to yourself as you go along, “My toes, feet, legs [and so on] are relaxed,” until you have gone through your entire body. You can do this lying on the floor or bed, or sitting in a chair. I like to lie on the floor with my legs resting on the wall. Then rest for a while in the quiet and silence. Listening to a relaxation or meditation recording also may be helpful.

RELAXATION FOR BODY & MIND: Here’s another great tip you can easily do at work or at home to help relax your mind and body. Look at a picture of a beautiful landscape. Yes, it’s that simple! Two studies measured the effect of certain photographic images on emotional and physiological responses. The first study was designed to find ways of fighting the boredom and homesickness that astronauts experience during extended stays in space. Researchers projected a variety of slides on the walls of a room built to simulate a space station and recorded the subjects’ responses to various scenes. The second study focused on hospital patients who were about to undergo surgery. In both groups, pictures of spacious views and glistening water lowered heart rates and produced feelings of calmness.

An easy and inexpensive way to look at a beautiful landscape is to get a poster. I have a framed Sierra Club poster in my meditation corner of my bedroom that has a dazzling view of water, mountains, and colorful wildflowers. Every time I look at it, I feel more relaxed. This is the perfect solution if you work in an office without windows. Larger posters of resplendent nature scenes can transform a room and provide you with a mini-fantasy vacation whenever you need it.

TEA BREAK: This is so simple and yet so profound. Make a cup of your favorite tea, whether it's chamomile, green tea, hibiscus, peppermint, lemongrass/ginger, detox, or others. Take your cup of tea and sit quietly and enjoy every sip. If you can, look out the window, in a chair or on the floor, and breathe deeply while sipping your nutritious, relaxing warm tea. Or look at a nature photo that captivates your heart and soul. At the same time, focus your mind during these few moments on only those things for which you are grateful in your life.

SOUNDS OF NATURE: I also highly recommend listening to a variety of nature sounds, everything from gentle rain, to ocean waves, and a flowing brook, to a waterfall, to songbirds, and soothing wind chimes. Nature sounds are very relaxing. CLICK HERE to find CALMING NATURE SOUNDS on my website.

LAUGHTER: We need to find more ways to laugh during this stressful time and throughout the year. Laughing is one of life's greatest pleasures and joys. Laughter fills our body with more oxygen, reduces pain and depression, bolsters immunity, and lifts our spirit. Want to laugh right now? Maybe this will tickle your funny bone. It's a 2-minute video by Jeff Foxworthy on the Differences between Men & Women—using a computer's gender as an analogy. Click HERE to listen.

HEAT THERAPY:

My absolute favorite way to relax is in the welcoming environment and salubrious heat of an Infrared Sauna. Using a Transcend Infrared Sauna at home a few times a week is my #1 secret and best advice to keep your immune system healthy, strong, and robust to help prevent/kill VIRUSES, COLDS, FLU and more, and also to look and feel your best.

• To read my article which includes many scientific studies on how "Artificially Induced Heat" kills viruses, strengthens immunity, reduces the risk of pneumonia, and heals the body head-to-toe, please click HERE.

• For my article on 10 BENEFITS IN INFRARED SAUNA THERAPY, click HERE.

• For my national radio interview on This Week in America on SWEATING YOUR WAY TO VITALITY: All the Ways Infrared Sauna Therapy Promotes High-Level Wellness & Youthful Vitality, click HERE.

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