Balance Your Life in Two Days

Posted in Balanced Lifestyle, Most Popular | July 13, 2016 | 15 Comments

Getting to grips with your life can be daunting and hard task. Everybody faces challenges in life whether it’s to do with work, if they live with fibromyalgia or in day to day family life. The key is to find that balance.

Life balance always seemed to me like one of these broad terms that cannot be explained in two words and that definitely cannot be reached in two days. Even though I am practicing life balance every day I still cannot say that I have mastered it completely and still have a long way to go before I do. However, this weekend I discovered a wonderful way to bring my emotions under control, to find peace in my inner world, to straighten out my thoughts and clear my mind, to enjoy a wonderful quality time with my family and even to fight a few of my fears. My life balance doesn’t seem so complicated anymore and it took only two days for me to discover why.

This weekend my in-laws rented a log cabin in the mountains and invited us (my husband, me and our twins) to stay with them for a weekend. I must admit that I was very skeptical about this trip and I was not sure that it was a good idea (you see, my babies hate their car seats and a trip that is longer than 30 minutes usually turns into a disaster. It takes 3 hours to get to the mountains so you can understand my “enthusiasm”). I must confess that this trip was one the best ones I’ve had in a long time. This trip taught me a few lessons and opened my eyes to a few simple secrets of balanced living. Read More »

101 Healthy Habits that Anyone Can Follow

Posted in Balanced Body | July 5, 2016 | 30 Comments

Image by Kj

Developing healthy habits can be overwhelming if you do not know where to start. A lot of people fail at healthy living simply because they try too many things at the same time and they end up not sticking to anything. They get back to their double cheeseburgers and “exciting” evenings in front of the TV and keep getting bigger as their health problems increase.

Developing healthy habits that stick is not that complicated if you choose the simple ones and progress slowly. Here are 101 healthy habits that you can choose from. Just pick one habit at a time, conquer it and then try the next one. It is that simple!

Healthy Eating

Always eat a big breakfast
Add 1/2 cup of fruits to your breakfast
Drink 8 glasses of water and carry a bottle of water with you all the time
Start a food diary and track how much you are actually eating (with 2/3 of the Americans being overweight or obese overeating is a real problem today). The general guidelines are 1600 calories for women and 2200 for men (active people would obviously need more)
Substitute fresh and dried fruits and berries for candies and granola bars
Eat fish on most days of the week. Choose fatty fish like salmon, herring and trout as often as possible
Eat only whole grain cereal. Look for at least 3 g of fiber and not more than 10g of sugar in one serving
Add walnuts to your breakfast or salad to increase your omega-3 consumption
Add sunflower seeds, almonds and hazelnuts to your meals to increase your vitamin E consumption
Eat red meat once a week or less
Choose only lean meat and poultry
Do not fry shrimp or any other shellfish. Grill, boil or bake it to reduce cholesterol
Eat fresh fruits as snacks between meals
Eat at least one apple daily

11 tips on how to start your day right

Posted in Balanced Lifestyle | July 4, 2016 | 3 Comments

How do you usually start your day? Do you wake up with the idea “I just fell asleep, it can’t be morning already” and then sleep for another 15 minutes which really doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. That extra 15 minutes you slept then start the famous domino effect that puts you 15 minutes behind the rest of your day. This causes you to often trade that healthy bowl of oatmeal for a pop tart or even worse you decide to stop by the McDonalds drive thru for a quick injection of fat, sodium and cholesterol. Of course Read More »

5 Mistakes of All Exercise Newbies

Posted in Balanced Body | July 4, 2016 | 1 Comment

5 Mistakes of All Exercise Newbies

I boldly called this article 5 Mistakes of All Exercise Newbies though I will be writing about the mistakes that I made before I succeeded in creating an effective workout routine that I could stick with every day. Read More »

10 Killer Strategies to Kill Negative Thinking (and Regain Life Balance)

Posted in Balanced Mind and Soul | July 4, 2016 | 17 Comments

Image by Monroe’s Dragonfly

I am sure that each of us has those days when we feel that the whole world is against us. It starts with gloomy rainy weather that does not let even a tiny ray of sunshine touch your skin. The next thing you know is that you have gotten into a mess that you were not even expecting. You got laid off (pretty common in this modern economy), you had a bad argument with someone close to you, or you feel that you are not appreciated and that everything you do is not good enough. You can think of your own scenarios of how you could develop a negative attitude to life, I don’t think you need my help for this

It’s difficult to be balanced and happy in these situations (yep, even “balance experts” like me have times like this). Instead of focusing on balanced thinking you start over-analyzing the situation. Thoughts of self-pity or criticism fill your entire mind killing any sprouts of creativity or inspiration. You get stuck in a circle of insecurity, fear, frustration and a general feeling of failure.

Each of us knows the best advice that we hear in these types of situations “Stop thinking negatively. Concentrate on positive thoughts.” Yeah, right … If it really were that easy then people would not be popping anti-depressant pills like crazy now.

However I do believe that there is a way to change this negative attitude and to regain life balance in the shortest time (without any medical assistance). After going through a situation that required all my knowledge of life balance I can give you a few tips on how to eradicate negative thoughts.

Talk to someone with a positive attitude. The most important thing in situations like this is not to stay alone. Find somebody that you can talk to and discuss whatever troubles you (do not forget to be emotional in the conversation). Do not get stuck on the subject of your negative attitude though. Once you feel that your burden is lighter move on and talk about something pleasant. Remember funny situations that happened to both of you in the past, talk about nice people you met; discuss funny movies or people you saw lately. Have fun.
Write down your thoughts. If there is nobody you can talk to then just write down all your thoughts. Again do not forget to put your emotions into this writing. You can pretend that it’s a letter to yourself or to an imaginary friend. It also can be the plot of a novel (do not forget to write a happy ending then). It can even be a mind map that will help you realize what led you to this negative attitude and how you can break through. Once you are done you will feel relieved and your balance will be at least partially restored. Depending on the situation you might want to burn whatever you have written or tear it to pieces and imagine how your negative thoughts disappear.