Category: Well-being

One year for Covid 19

I cannot believe we are into March!

A whole year since the start of the first Covid patient in NYP, I also cannot forget 3/13 the day AJ was diagnosed with COVID-19.

The good news is we have a new president, who seems to take Covid seriously, we also have started vaccinations and I am hoping to God, that everyone can get this much needed vaccine.

The bad news is this virus is not planning to go away and we have to change the way we live to be safe for ourselves and others around us.

Masking, staying away from major crowds especially indoors is needed to lower the infections.

In this post, I want to talk about how we can take care of our emotional and physical health, regardless of what the situation is around us.

We may not be able to control many things that are happening but the good news is we can control how we react to what we hear and see.

That is what being resilient means, being able to bounce back from stressful situations and adversity by learning and growing from the event.

Two skills that can help build our resiliency and have played a huge role in my personal and professional life are, Mindfulness and Self care.

I talked about Self-Care in my last blog, today I want to talk about the power of being mindful daily.

Let me start by distinguishing the difference between meditation and mindfulness.

Meditation is a formal seated practice and mindfulness is the ability to be present in any situation.

I have tried to meditate for years as the benefits are numerous and the practice is evidence based, but unfortunately have still not been able to successfully adopt this practice and be consistent. This last year, I offered myself self compassion and accepted that meditation is not for everyone!

That being said, practicing mindfulness is also an evidence based practice that has benefits.

To really explain mindfulness, I would to give you my personal story.

Most of my life, I have also been called hyper and scatter brained and I just accepted that was who I was but this last year when I started Health and well-Being Coaching, things changed.

One of the most important skills of coaching is being mindful and I realized before teaching others I had to model it in my own life.

I was under the assumption that being mindful when I practiced yoga was enough but that is where I was mistaken, yoga is beneficial for mind and body but Mindfulness, can be done any where anytime and can take from a few seconds to as long as you want.

Being mindful means paying attention to the task at hand. Being intentional in whatever you are doing. We spend more than fifty percent of our day on autopilot, thinking about the past or about the future and we rarely pay attention to the present moment. Our whole day goes by going from one thing to another and by the time it’s night we sleep and the next day it’s the same all over again.

MF can be practiced throughout the day, some ideas to help you start:

Being mindful in your daily tasks, from simple things like taking a shower and feeling the water on your body and smell the soap to brushing your teeth or washing the dishes. The more you pay attention, the greater chance you will enjoy the activity.

Mindful movement is where I really practice MF, when I walk on the streets instead of talking on the phone or listening to anything, I pay attention to what is around me and try to notice things that I have never seen. This practice allows me to really enjoy my walk and when I finish, I feel like I have noticed so many things that I never paid attention to.

Mindful listening is an important skill for a coach as listening to the other person, without being distracted or thinking about the next thing that we want to say, takes away from the speaker. MF listening allows the speaker to fill validated, which can help relationships.

Mindful eating is a necessity we are constantly surrounded by food and with food and by commercials. Most of the time, we eat while distracted. When you don’t pay attention, there is a greater chance to eat with your emotions overeat. Mindfulness helps you make wise decisions and allow awareness to hunger

This post has become quite long and I hope you got something from it, to take into your own life.

I am so grateful to all of you who read my blog!

What is self-care?

Time just flies and tomorrow is the first day of November, I cannot believe we are already entering winter and both spring and summer are gone. Unfortunately with the start of winter, for most of us the weather gets colder and the clocks go back 1 hour, giving us less daylight after we finish work. All those factors affect our emotional health, and the uncertain situation around us adds to this stress on all fronts.

We may not have control over a lot of things that are going around us, but we do have control on how we react. This brings me to todays topic of the importance of Self-Care.

As a breast cancer survivor, I learnt about Self-Care after my grueling chemotherapy. I learnt that Self-care is not selfish and we all need the self love and compassion that we give to others. Self-care helped build my self-esteem and confidence which then and allowed me to become a yoga instructor. Yoga changed my life and it all started with me making myself important in my own eyes.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, self-care can be defined as “the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.” In simple words it is taking small steps to take care of yourself.

Self-care includes all the things you do to take care of your physical, emotional and spiritual health, it is a legitimate practice for your overall wellbeing. Often people sacrifice self-care for a variety of reasons, they are focused on caring for others and they feel guilty or are too busy. When life becomes overwhelming self-care is ignored and the paradox is that you need self-care most when you don’t think you have time for it.

 By giving yourselves some of the love and compassion you give to others and by prioritizing your wellbeing you can be better equipped to take care of your loved ones, therefore self-care is not selfish.

 Self-care is personal for each and every one of you. Making a list of things that bring you joy and trying to do a few of them each day is important because “Knowing” doesn’t bring change, action does. When you begin to take action each day, self-care will eventually become a lifestyle, not a to-do list. When self-care becomes part of your lifestyle, you become more productive, have more confidence and can achieve more work-life balance, which ultimately leads to optimal wellbeing.

Promoting lifestyle factors like healthy eating, regular sleep, hydration and regular physical activity can strengthen your ability to adapt to stress and be able to bounce back from adversity or stressful situations. It can help against anxiety and depression.

As a NYPBeHealthy Wellbeing Coach, my goal is to help empower employees in making small meaningful and realistic goals which can help with resiliency. Small successes may lead to lifestyle and changes in habit. Mindfulness is one strategy in helping my clients with their personal wellbeing.

Learning to be mindful in your daily life can help when you are overwhelmed. Mindfulness is the ability to be in the present moment and pay attention to the task at hand, it can be practiced any day and any time, the key is remembering to do it. You can be mindful in your daily tasks, from breathing, movement, eating, in fact being intentional in whatever you do is mindfulness.  It allows you to stop, refocus and come out of your autopilot and any negative thoughts. You are more likely to be engaged and productive when you pay attention to the task at hand.

Now more than ever, do we need to take small steps to focus on our optimal wellbeing as every little thing we do counts in helping manage our stress.  Here are some ideas:

slow down, relax, take it easy, keep calm and other motivational lifestyle reminders on colorful sticky notes

I love this image and I hope you all are trying to do some of these things for your health.

I have still been baking since it brings me joy, but I try to bake only for friends, so the baked good gets shared. I also have started doing more yoga just simple sun salutations as I am suffering from politics anxiety. Please remember to not doom scroll as reading too much information on news websites or social media can exacerbate anxiety and depression, which can lead us to negative thought cycles.

Right now, we all need resilience to get through the next few months, so please practice any form of self-care you can.

To welcome the cold weather, I made Stewed apple oatmeal , it filled me up and I got some fiber and some protein.

Stewed Apple Oatmeal

Ingredients

2 apples chopped

2 cups rolled oats

1 tbs butter

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs maple syrup

1/2 tsp chia seeds

1-2 tbs chopped nuts

1 1/2 cup almond milk

2 cups of water

Method

Add the butter to a small saucepan and sauté the apples for a few minutes, then add some water the cinnamon and maple syrup and cook till apples slightly soft. Add the 2 cups rolled oats and 1 1/2 cup almond milk and water, cook till oats soft. You can add more milk or water depending on the consistency you enjoy of your oatmeal. Take out in a small bowl and add the chia seeds, nuts and drizzle with maple syrup if you want. A cup of coffee and the warm oatmeal made me smile.

What makes you smile?

New Normal

Wow! It is approaching 3 months since I went into quarantine and life has changed in many ways. I have to admit, I am now getting restless and just waiting for our vibrant city to open, but I do acknowledge that life will not be the same as precovid.

Watching the events in these last 10 days has made me realize that a new normal maybe is what the world needs. Unfortunately I realized that I myself need to really spend some time educating myself on the Black Lives Matter movement. Just saying I am not racist is not enough, and I am trying to reflect on my life and where I have been wrong and right in my internal thinking. I know one thing for sure and that is I am so grateful for all I have and I hope and pray that justice and equality prevails.

I wanted to share a quote by the great Martin Luther King Jr that has resonated with me, this past week.

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”- Martin Luther king Jr

As a health coach, I am always encouraging my clients to take small baby steps towards their goals as each step leads to the overall big goal.

Today, I encourage you all to think of one small thing you can do to help the make the world a better place, as it is the small contributions that carry this world forward!

On another note, I have become a fan of Yotam Ottolenghi and have ordered 3 of his books as all his recipes look simple and delicious and most importantly fresh and healthy. His desserts also look divine and I did make his blueberry almond coconut cake!! It was utterly delicious! It did have butter and sugar but almonds, coconut and blueberries were the stars! More to come when I try some recipes!

I want to end with positive and healing thoughts to all!

Support those around you, educate yourself, and feed your mind body and soul. ❤️