Tag Archives: healthy habits

Mindful isolation living

Our daily in life in Canada changed very suddenly a couple weeks ago with the closing of schools and businesses. Having seen the lockdown that happened in China a couple months ago, it seemed implausible that we would see such restriction of freedom here in North America with our cultural norms being so different. When I saw the news of lockdown for friends in Italy, I learned there is no discrimination for a virus. This is a global issue that will be resolved most effectively with the collective cooperation of humanity as a whole.

The field of health and wellness involves connecting with and being around groups of people. Traditional chinese medicine which I’m about to start practicing involves physical touch for diagnosis. It has been a real adjustment to learn and accept that work I know as essential to being healthy is considered a health risk at the moment. All human contact is viewed as a potential health risk for now. How will this affect our psyche in the long term?

How do we cope with our world being so suddenly disrupted? Surely, we will be distracted on some level and we need to find a way to bring ourselves back to balance. The best way to optimize emotional, mental, physical balance and health is to focus on what is within our control. Top priority being how we utilize our time. Depending on our field of work and family situation, we may be busier than usual, adjusting to working from home or completely out of work with time on our hands. For all situations, we need to own our time and cultivate acceptance for the present moment.

Here are some mindful habits I recommend to feel more at peace at this uncertain time:

  • Practice meditation daily, any form for any length of time. I’ve made it a habit to start and end the day with meditation with additional short pieces at sunset and 3 minutes at 9pm daily to join in a collective meditation with friends around the world.
  • Prioritize sleep. With a pandemic illness circulating around the world and no treatment available, the defence is to be as strong and healthy as you can. Sleep is crucial to having optimal health and wellness.
  • Limit the amount of news or social media you consume as it can affect your emotional/mental well being and focus. I decided to stay away from one form of social media and notice feeling much better.
  • Get into a consistent hand washing habit and sanitize your smart phone and computer keyboard with alcohol frequently
  • Maintain healthy eating habits-drinking water, eating veggies and fruit daily, minimizing caffeine intake, and moderate alcohol intake
  • Get fresh air and physical activity daily. We have limited access to fitness facilities at the moment and we’ll need to be creative with the resources and space we have for now. A yoga mat is sufficient to practice yoga, some weights, gliders, tubing, anything that works in your space for strength training.
  • Be creative, try something new! Cook, dance, draw, garden, sing, write, anything that inspires you. Take the opportunity to work on something you’ve always meant to.
  • Most importantly connect with family and friends any way we can, practice gratitude together and reflect on how fortunate we are to be Canadian and we are all in this together with the world.

New Year, new habits?

Many of us set out on great courses of action at the start of a new year. The gym seems busier with people who have resolved to change themselves. Lasting change and transformation in the realm of health and fitness requires improving lifestyle habits on an ongoing basis. How can this be done? I would say cultivate patience and make things easy for yourself.

Patience with yourself during and through the process of any change will make reaching your goal easier. Making things easy for yourself means creating incremental, achievable goals. For example, 3 Making Life Good healthy eating goals that apply for everyone all the time are:

1. Eat green vegetables at least once daily

2.  Drink adequate quantities of water and herbal tea http://www.vivianlaw.ca/fat-loss-tip-daily-water-intake-goal/

3. Track your alcohol intake

Try the above habits in addition to your exercise program to feel your best-Here’s to your optimal health!

Longevity: Where People Forget to Die…

Here is a great article on longevity that was kindly passed onto me yesterday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

The author also wrote the Blue Zones, which is a great book that details various pockets in the world where people have great longevity by living a more traditional lifestyle.

For most urban, city dwelling people, living in the country or an island on a self sufficient garden/farm community seems foreign. However, there are many lifestyle ideas that we could apply to our daily life that could help us be happier and healthier. Some lifestyle concepts we could apply to our daily lives for more enjoyment and health include:

-physical activity, which means taking a walk, walking to places you need to go, doing a workout you enjoy

-enjoy the outdoors daily, if possible

-spend time with family and friends daily, if possible

-enjoy high quality, natural whole foods everyday

-take time to drink tea, coffee with family and friends

-drink in moderation

-sleep and nap well

-manage your activities, not time, as time is actually beyond our control

Generally, it seems to me that taking time to enjoy the present moment of your life is a way to be well. I most certainly love to make life good.