by Vicki Peel | Aug 6, 2023 | Lifestyle |
In only ten minutes, you can create a morning routine that will put you in the right mindset to conquer your day. Jumpstart your day with these simple routines to prepare your mind.
As your feet hit the floor every morning, say to yourself “It’s gonna be a great day!” I have this phrase on my bedside table to remind me that if you start your day in a positive mindset, it propels you through the day in a positive manner.
Minute 1 – Drink the Water
Start keeping a large glass of water beside your bed. Before you even get out of bed, drink the water. Your body is dehydrated after a long night of repairing itself, and you need to replenish that. Drinking water will also help reduce the morning fog and grog that follows so many into their workday despite multiple cups of coffee.
Minutes 2-3 – Do the Breathing
Now that your body is rehydrating take a few minutes to do simple breathing exercises. This is as easy as timing your breaths to take six to ten deep breaths through one minute. Timing your breaths will force you to focus on your breathing and your body. Helping you to wake up and calm yourself for your day.
Minutes 3-6 – Stretch the Body
Gentle stretching will get your blood flowing and your body energized. This will also help to ease you into the process of getting ready and the day ahead. Stretching has long-term health benefits as well including better circulation and flexibility overall.
Minutes 6-9 – Give Thanks
Take a few moments to reflect on what you are thankful for. You don’t have to write these down or keep a record on your phone. Just take a few moments to single in on aspects of your life you are thankful for and why. This will put a positive spin on your day and keep you present through the difficult moments.
Minute 10 – Visualize the Success
Visualizing the successes you wish to have through the day will cement them in your mind and boost your confidence level. They don’t have to be big successes. Just see yourself completing daily tasks with ease to secure the outcome you desire.
You may not have hours to devote to morning routines, but you can spare ten minutes of your morning to starting off on the right foot (or mindset). Your personal morning mindset may take even less than ten minutes, but the benefits can last all day. Consistently devoting your time to these few minutes can change your life – for the better.
Need more help with setting your mind on your personal success journey?
Check out my “Habits and Mindset Journal”. It’s a great way to set your life course and it’s easier than you think.
Check it out HERE. Then let me know how you benefitted.
Here’s to the peace and joy of your new morning mindset!
by Vicki Peel | Jan 5, 2023 | Home, Lifestyle |
Does your home evoke “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being”?
In other words, is your home a haven from the chaos of the world, a place that nourishes your soul and uplifts your spirit?
If so, your home has hygge!
What is Hygge?
And your first response may be “what the heck is hygge”? (It’s pronounced “Hoo-gah”, by the way. I know – how can something spelled like that be pronounced “Hoo-gah”!?)
“Hygge… is a Scandinavian way of life that celebrates coziness, shared meals, and companionable interactions with loved ones. Emphasizing warmth, kinship, and an appreciation for the little things, hygge is a perspective on life that started in Denmark and has contributed to the nation’s consistently high happiness ratings. Now, Americans are turning to hygge as a way to find happiness from within.” ~ Brinton Parker, (December 10, 2019),11 Ways to embrace the hygge lifestyle this season. PopSugar
Hygge is a great way to embrace self-care that extends to all family members. Think about all the things you love about your home and the things you like to do there that provide that much-needed extra layer of comfort.
How to Get Hygge
While there many ways to create hygge in your home, here are a few ways my home has hygge, supporting and comforting me:
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- Time alone in the comfy leather chair in my office for journaling my thoughts and renewing myself spiritually
- Sipping on a warm cup of cocoa with mini-marshmallows
- Decorating my home with items of personal family memories (I’ll show you around sometime and point out all the “old things” that are so special to me!)
- Watching HGTV – any shows on HGTV (personally, I love Ben and Erin on Home Town, among many others!)
- Putting on an eye mask and listening to soothing music as I take a short afternoon nap
- Curling up (OK – I mean metaphorically curling; it has been a long time since my knees allowed me to actually curl up!) with my iPad to play Candy Crush, Soda Crush, Spades and Castle. (I’m ashamed to tell you how high I’ve gotten on Candy Crush. I am working to curb my “addiction”.) And I love playing Sudoku and Kakuro. There is just something satisfying about being able to solve one of these puzzles.
Now, how about you? What makes your house hygge, even if you don’t call it that? How is your house a haven from the outside world. Comment or email me at vicki@herlifehacks.com and let me know one or two things on your hygge list
Want to know more about hygge? Here are links to a couple of resources about hygge.
Coloring books are very comforting activities on the hygge list of a lot of people. Check out this hygge coloring book:
Think about your home and hygge. Is it hygge in its current condition? What could you do to make it more calming and comforting?
Disclosure: My blog posts sometimes contain affiliate links. This means I earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase, which is at no additional cost to you. Thank you!
I’m Vicki Peel, former home economics teacher and educational administrator. If you are not receiving my emails, coupons, and freebies, look for the Subscribe block (below right) and submit your contact information. I will not share your information with anyone, and all the content you will receive as part of our community is free. I may occasionally promote someone else’s paid content, offer a product for your consideration or share an item that I think might be of use to you. However, you are under no obligation to purchase anything – ever. So, sign up now so you won’t miss anything!
https://HERLifeHacks.com
by Vicki Peel | Sep 27, 2022 | Lifestyle |
What do you want? What do you really, really want?
Can you answer that question, or is it one you don’t dare to even think about? Maybe you think you can’t have what you want. Or you don’t deserve more than you have. Or maybe, just maybe, your religious upbringing tells you that you are selfish to want things when others are suffering. Or is there another reason?
I remember daydreaming a lot when I was a child. I would go into a rarely-used room in my home, lie across the bed and look out the window, and daydream. Or I would climb upon the roof of the chicken house and look at the clouds and daydream. I thought about what my life would be like as an adult, who I would marry, what my children would be like, and the kind of house I would own. I even picked out names for my children!
Did you daydream as a child?
But what about as an adult? Do you still daydream? Or do you dare?
I admit that dreaming about what I want is something that I would not allow myself to do for most of my adult life. I thought it would be selfish or that it would be wrong to ask God for things I merely wanted and didn’t need.
But why not have dreams and expect them to materialize? And how can you do that?
Visualization
First, you need to practice visualization.
Connie Ragen Green wrote this in “Morning Routines and Visualization”.
“Visualization is the technique of picturing a goal in your mind in detail so that you can manifest this change in your life. Sound hard? Really, it’s not.”
Visualizing what you want is a major first step in getting what you want. See yourself in the future and how you would feel having achieved your dreams.
The Visualization Process
The Visualization Process is this simple:
- Start with a goal
- Imagine the goal
- Revisit the goal
- Accept the reality of the goal already completed
- Experiment with different techniques (meditation, vision board, etc.)
A great way to implement the visualization process is to create a Vision Board. Vision boards are how you can use your creativity to let your dreams grow.
What Exactly is a Vision Board?
The most basic definition of a vision board is just this: It’s a collection of images, quotes and symbols that have meaning to you and which bring out feelings of joy, peace, love and happiness. They represent your dream life.
Vision boards come in many different formats, both digital and physical.
Images. By far the most common item to find on vision boards, images can be photos, drawings, mind maps, sketches or anything else that has some meaning for you.
For example, if world travel is one of your goals, you might include photos of historic landmarks you want to visit, or airplanes or ships (imagine the feeling of freedom associated with those). If you dream of retiring young, then a photo of you and your family relaxing on the beach will serve as a happy reminder of what life will be like when you no longer have to work.
Motivational messages. You’ve seen those motivation posters that say things such as, “Challenge: Always blaze the trail; never follow the path.” For some people, these messages can be extremely powerful. When you face a rough patch, simply remembering that phrase can be enough to get you fighting again.
Inspiring quotes. Inspiration is different for everyone. For some, the greatest source of inspiration is the Bible. For others, words of encouragement from industry leaders or historical figures is uplifting. You can have fun with these, too. Maybe your best inspiration comes from the notes inside a Dove candy bar or a fortune cookie. Whatever makes you smile or brightens your day is a good fit for your vision board.
Everything else. What else inspires or motivates you? The blue ribbon your grandmother’s quilt won at the state fair? A small vial of sand from that secluded beach you’ll retire to someday? Your daughter’s baby shoes? Vision boards can include these treasures as well, you just might have to be a little creative when it comes to adding them.
The Power of a Vision Board
That which we focus on we attract more of. We’ve known for decades that daydreams have power, and that purposeful visualization is the key to greater success in every area of life.
If you spend all your time worrying about money, it seems to slip right through your fingers. If you obsess over your weight, the pounds stubbornly hold on. And if you daydream about relaxing in the Caribbean sun, well, you’re a lot more likely to find yourself on a beach chair in the near future.
Like anything though, effective visualization takes practice. A vision board can help kick start those creative visualization skills.
When you create your vision board, regardless of which of life’s aspects you’re focusing on, be sure to look for images and words that make you feel the way you imagine you’ll feel when you achieve your goal. It’s not about what you want to have. It’s about how you want to feel.
Creating a Vision Board
Creating a vision board can be as simple as cutting photos out of a magazine and tacking them up on your office bulletin board, or it can be as complex as a hand-made frame with personal photos and trinkets.
- Digital: Created with software designed for the task. Ease of use is the obvious benefit with this kind of vision board, because you can quickly add and edit your board.
- Physical: Paper, bulletin boards, whiteboards, or even a wall in your home with hanging pictures. Your creative options are endless here, but your vision board will obviously be less portable.
- Mobile: Created on an app made for tablets and phones. The advantage here is that you’ll have your vision board with you everywhere you go.
Before you begin though, here are the most important things to remember about your vision board.
- It’s yours. There is no right or wrong way to create your dreams.
- Dream big! Your vision board should not be filled with things that you could easily attain next week. A new cell phone has no place on your vision board.
- You have to spend time with it. A vision board is a living document, and it will work better when it has your attention for at least a few minutes every single day.
Whether you choose to create a stunning collage of individually framed images you carefully collect over the course of a year, or you build it on your iPad from stock photos, give vision boards a try. You might just be pleasantly surprised at the power they can wield in your life and your business.
Here’s a beautiful printable journal to get you started: “My Life – My Vision”. Click on the title or Image below to get your FREE copy!
Disclosure: My blog posts sometimes contain affiliate links. This means I earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase, which is at no additional cost to you. Thank you!
I’m Vicki Peel, former home economics teacher and educational administrator. If you are not receiving my emails, coupons, and freebies, look for the Subscribe block (below right) and submit your contact information. I will not share your information with anyone, and all the content you will receive as part of our community is free. I may occasionally promote someone else’s paid content, offer a product for your consideration or share an item that I think might be of use to you. However, you are under no obligation to purchase anything – ever. So, sign up now so you won’t miss anything during our July through September focus on LIFESTYLE!
https://HERLifeHacks.com
by Vicki Peel | Sep 12, 2022 | Lifestyle |
How happy are you with your life? Did you know that anything that isn’t making you jump for joy can be fixed or changed? The key, however, is that only YOU hold that power to make your life joyous. It’s not up to your spouse, kids, parents, or boss.
To the extent that anyone’s life can be controlled, you are the one with the most control. And you deserve to live the life of your dreams. So how do you do that?
Your brain is crucial and food either enhances and sustains your brain or food slowly kills your brain and your body. But that is another blog post for another day.
Today, we are focusing on the brain and the mindset you hold. Having a growth and positive mindset is a critical foundation upon which we can build tiny habits that help you to put that positivity into action, and thereby change your life.
Sometimes it seems as though we have been stuck in “Groundhog Day”, the movie where we live the same day over and over. After a while, you don’t even know what day it is. It stagnates the mind.
Mindset (coupon code CARE50 for 50% discount!) and mindfulness are buzz words we hear a lot about. They refer to those learned attitudes we hold about absolutely anything. We have a money mindset, a career mindset; in a business setting you’ll hear terms like ‘fixed’ or ‘growth’ mindset. Starting with a mindset (coupon code CARE50 for 50% discount!) that works for you is certainly important to how we perceive life and being mindful of how we think affects what we get from life.
As I’ve said in previous posts, to make real and lasting changes in our lives, we need to embrace the development of tiny habits. Tiny habits that combine over a period of time become automatic habits that we don’t have to think about. These automatic habits compound into many small successes, which can also help change our mindset. It’s a huge cycle but one which can be changed at any point.
How to Add Tiny Habits to Your Day
Since every person’s goals will be different, so will every person’s tiny habit choices. These are just a few ideas and certainly not a comprehensive list. Choose whichever tiny habits make you happy and more fulfilled (and moving toward your goals) and continue building on those.
To begin, decide what exactly makes you unhappy then think of a resolution. Now, what is one small thing you can do to start to change the situation? It’s not enough to just THINK about a resolution; you must then take action. Creating tiny habits one at a time will change your life.
Some general tiny habits that anyone can add to their routines include: meditation, yoga, cardio exercise, writing a gratitude journal, journal about all areas of your life or your goals, listening to empowering podcasts, praying, and healthy eating.
If you’re specifically unhappy at work:
- Spend 5 minutes a day looking for a new job; apply for a new position inside your current company; rewrite your resume; seek a mentor for advice; get active with business networking groups; upgrade your skillset; write down a daily work goal and cross if off the list when achieved.
If you’re unhappy with your relationships:
- Start venturing out with groups of friends; reconnect daily with spouse or partner; go on regular date nights where you don’t talk about work or kids; try a new hobby or activity together; reconnect with old friends or family members.
If you’re unhappy spiritually:
- Start keeping a Bible planner, such as My Bible Planner (click to see + coupon code CARE50 for 50% discount!); create a meditative morning and evening routine; spend time every day doing self-care routines; seek advice from religious or spiritual leaders; listen to spiritual podcasts or music; volunteer to help the less fortunate.
If you’re unhappy with yourself:
- Start taking better care of yourself. This is something I’m consciously trying to do. I often find myself sitting and working on the computer hours upon end. Then when I get up, I realize I need to move my body more. And my “addiction” to sugar is contributing to the “fog” in my brain. Here is a methodical way to guide this self-care process: Taking Better Care of Me in 30 Days journal. And here’s some incentive to get started! Use coupon code SELFCARE10 to get $10 off the already low price!!
As you can see, there’s no magic wand that can change your level of happiness. It’s up to you to take the action and to implement these tiny steps toward your ultimate goals. Need a system to work through this process of creating tiny habits to change your life? Here’s an excellent book that helps you define the exact process that works for you – Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by B.J. Fogg. You can do this! Time to get your life on track and come out of the fog (no pun intended, B.J.) of living by default.
Disclosure: My blog posts sometimes contain affiliate links. This means I earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase, which is at no additional cost to you. Thank you!
I’m Vicki Peel, former home economics teacher and educational administrator. If you are not receiving my emails, coupons, and freebies, look for the Subscribe block (below right) and submit your contact information. I will not share your information with anyone, and all the content you will receive as part of our community is free. I may occasionally promote someone else’s paid content, offer a product for your consideration or share an item that I think might be of use to you. However, you are under no obligation to purchase anything – ever. So, sign up now so you won’t miss anything during our July through September focus on LIFESTYLE!
https://HERLifeHacks.com
by Vicki Peel | Sep 4, 2022 | Lifestyle |
Think back to the last time you set New Year resolutions. How did it go?
So many times I’ve written out elaborate goals of what I wanted to achieve. But it usually meant I had to basically change who I was for that to happen. And the outcome was most likely what you expected. I failed.
But I recently established a habit of which I’m very proud. I decided I needed to drink only water – no Pepsi, Coke, or the Southern lifeblood of choice – sweet tea. I used a simple habit tracker to keep up with my progress.
Each day that I drank only water, I colored in the box for that day. And guess what! I have not had a Pepsi, Coke or sweet tea for over 2 months!! After a while, I didn’t want to break the streak of coloring in the day’s box on my habit tracker. Now I don’t even think about drinking anything other than water. I never would have believed I could do that! But I did.
“Our brain circuitry is actually wired to adapt to incremental changes and repetition. If you start taking small steps toward a bigger goal, your brain will begin to develop new neural pathways that make achieving that goal easier. As these pathways are created, you’ll notice that what once seemed difficult becomes more routine.” Small Habits Lead to Big Changes by Connie Ragen Green.
And that is exactly what happened to me. As you start to establish a habit, it becomes easier and easier to do until you don’t even have to think about it anymore. Just being aware of this process helps us stick it out.
While we’re in that transition period of establishing a habit, we can use tools to make it easier. Use a to-do list or set a reminder to help stay on track. Find an accountability partner so the two of you can motivate each other and help bolster that willpower when it starts to fade after the first enthusiasm wears off. Even something as simple as laying out your running clothes the night before and keeping your sneakers by the door will make it a little easier to go out for that run.
And that’s the simple version of creating a new lifelong habit. There is much more to creating new habits that stick. Interested in more? Then check out Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by B.J. Fogg. Over 77% of over 5000 readers rated this book with 5 stars on Amazon. If you’re serious about developing better habits, this book needs to be your guide.
And to track your progress, pick up my free “My One Thing Habit Tracker”. It is what I used to develop my habit of drinking only water daily. You can get it HERE!
What habit or habits do you want to develop? Just a tiny step with one habit can change your life!
Disclosure: My blog posts sometimes contain affiliate links. This means I earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase, which is at no additional cost to you. Thank you!
I’m Vicki Peel, former home economics teacher and educational administrator. If you are not receiving my emails, coupons, and freebies, look for the Subscribe block (below right) and submit your contact information. I will not share your information with anyone, and all the content you will receive as part of our community is free. I may occasionally promote someone else’s paid content, offer a product for your consideration or share an item that I think might be of use to you. However, you are under no obligation to purchase anything – ever. So, sign up now so you won’t miss anything during our July through September focus on LIFESTYLE!
https://HERLifeHacks.com
