Find Your Voice

We all have our individual needs, wishes, and things we were meant to do. How do we know what to do when? Is there such a thing as finding a perfect balance of knowing when to give and when to get? How do we do this giving and taking thing so that it feels less like a tug of war and more like a harmonious symphony?

Before we pick up any rope or instrument, let’s start with just listening. Listening to our own needs, wants and abilities. Listening teaches us when we need things and when we are ready to give. Getting in touch with this voice, honoring this voice and amplifying this voice is so key to preserving ourselves as well as learning how to take on new challenges in a way that excites us instead of exhausting us.

Sometimes this voice of ours screams its head off and other times it whispers something to us gently. It has different tonalities and subtleties. Let’s take the time to pay attention to not only what we say and but how we say it.

We can do this by simply remembering to notice. Notice when we are filled with emotion, notice when we are numb, and notice everything in between. The more we pay attention and recognize what is happening the more likely we are to understand ourselves and find ways to give ourselves compassion.

Knowing what to do when is always within us. Sometimes its just a matter of stopping to listen.

Join us for a sunset mindfulness meditation!

Give someone you love your presence.

One of the greatest gift that you can give to anyone is your presence. Presence means taking the time to understand the world through the other’s eyes. Pausing our own train of thought and giving ourselves permission to surround ourselves in another’s world. Meeting the other with the same curiosity we had as if we were first meeting. It is being with them when we are with them and seeing them as they are in each moment.

What is so great about being present? It validates. It makes us feel understood and cared for. It is the portal and source for greater compassion and love.

So worthwhile and yet quite challenging to cultivate. We are taught to view others not through the lens of the here and now, but through the lens of our past, and our collective history of judgments and old patterns. It is extremely difficult to put all this aside and see people as though we are meeting them from a beginner’s eye.

How do we do this tremendous feat? Practice. And not just with others but also with ourselves. Trying to give ourselves compassion and see ourselves through fresh eyes trains us to see others through this new perspective. So let’s start to make this world a kinder more compassionate place… who will you be giving your presence to today?

Introducing Restartwell’s Youtube Channel!

Love the blog but want more wellness tips? Check out Restartwell’s Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/restartwell!

Restartwell welcomes Luana Turovskaya, who is studying Medical Dietetics at Ohio State University.  Luana has joined Restartwell this summer to produce and direct Restartwell’s new youtube channel.  Luana brings her film expertise, creativity and wealth of knowledge to Restartwell!

 

Time for wellness…

Sometimes it seems like wellness requires hours a day of food preparation and gym sessions.  But is wellbeing just for those with ample amounts of time on their hands?  Resounding NO on that one! Wellness is indeed for everybody and requires a lot less time than you may have been led to believe.

Here are some great wellness tips for those who are seeking more wellness but are short on time:

1. Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean hours of food preparation in the kitchen. Buy all your veges at the beginning of the week and cut them all up. Store in portion size tupperwares or ziploc bags and then use at each of your meals. This quick and simple way to add fresh veges at each meal can have a dramatic impact on your quality of life!
2. Have no time to meditate? No problem! Set your alarm at various moments throughout the day to check in with yourself. For less than a minute each time, check in with your mood and feelings. Meet these thoughts and feelings with kindness and compassion. Simply being aware of what you are thinking and feeling in just a couple of seconds at a time is a kind gift to yourself that may help you to derail any stress or anxiety.
3. Feel like your middle name is multitasker? Try as much as is possible to do one thing well at a time. If you are with your children, just be with your children. If you are at work, be at work. If you are eating, focus on your eating experience. So much of our anxiety and stress derives from trying to do twenty things at one time. Slowing down and doing one thing well at a time will increase your overall life satisfaction.
4. Is your attitude, “Gym? Hahahah!” Well, no worries! You can do all your exercise during your regular day. Remember every step counts! Try taking the stairs up to your office and park your car at the end of the lot. Without a lot of effort you can fit in a daily cardio workout!

Always remember wellness is more a state of mind than a state of time!

New Workshop in Jerusalem July 29th at 8pm!

Join us July 29^th at 8 pm at The Place for a workshop that discusses how to utilize mindfulness techniques to actualize our potential!

In this workshop we will learn how to:

• Become more aware of our everyday thoughts that impede our own self growth
• Discover how to meet these thoughts with self acceptance and compassion
• Learn how to disempower negative thoughts and empower ourselves
• Become more present in our relationships and daily activities

The cost of the workshop is 35 shekels per person.

For more information and to register please email Talya at restartwell@gmail.com

 

Mind, meet body. Body, meet mind.

Our mind-body connection is invaluable to our health and wellbeing. Honoring and cherishing our thoughts and mind can lead to greater improvement in our physical health. Improving our physical bodies can impact and improve our minds and our thoughts. A great mind-body connection enables us to feel whole and integrated.

Feel as though your mind-body connection is currently a shaky bridge? There are numerous ways to improve and strengthen whatever connection we currently have.

First let’s focus on the mind. See if you can try expressing something that makes you feel vulnerable or frightened.  We often repress thoughts and emotions that make us feel vulnerable. Unfortunately, repression does not make them go away. Instead, the thoughts often manifest in our bodies in other ways. They can hide themselves in our body masquerading as body aches and pains. Taking time each day to get in touch with and to acknowledge our emotional vulnerability releases the emotional and physical manifestation of the pain.

Meditation is also a fantastic way to build a mind-body connection! There is no better way to get your mind in touch with your body than allocating even just a few moments for your minds to turn its full attention to the body and tune into any physical sensations. Your body has plenty to say to you, so connect with it by listening to everything you feel in it.

How about thinking about our mind-body connections from a body-mind vantage point?

See if you can look at the mirror and choose three things to love.  We send ourselves messages unconsciously all the time about ways we want to change our physical appearance. We are bombarded about standards of beauty that are so vastly different from what normal people look like! Fight these unattainable negative messages by discovering the beautiful parts of yourself and absolutely resolving to love them!

Don’t forget to also treat yourself to physical pleasure! Treating ourselves physically definitely impacts our emotional wellbeing.  It sends us messages that we are worthy and valuable.  On a budget and can’t afford a decadent spa treatment? No problem! Take some time to try some DIY spa treatments at home! You deserve it!

And finally, go ahead and exercise! Strengthening our bodies and pushing ourselves to excel physically is often an exercise of the mind. When our minds practice empowerment, our physical bodies follow suit. Together, there is nothing the two can’t do!

 

 

Do it yourself organization!

Clutter. Without even realizing it at times, we can fill our spaces with things that we don’t need or use.  Sometimes the item was needed before and no longer works for us.  Other times we create a “to take care of” pile  and we just simply can’t find the time to actually take care of it.  Whatever the reason, all of this can add up to one messy living space. Because our physical realms can have a dramatic impact on the way we think and our state of mind, sometimes just a little decluttering can have an amazing ability to clear our minds.

Decluttering can mean donating old items that are no longer needed and can be of great benefit to others, or organizing the things that you have already.  Whatever way you choose to declutter, cheers to you for making room for new opportunities and ideas!

I just made this scarf organizer from an old piece of wood and some old paper towel roll cut up into individual rings and then covered in a paper design.

 

Be vulnerable! It does a mind and body good!

We are often trained to view expressing our vulnerabilities as a sign of weakness. Why? Being vulnerable means that we are taking a part of ourselves that is painful and exposing it. This of course makes us open to rejection, even more pain, loss of love, and lack of acceptance. Things we all desperately try to avoid in life.

So why open ourselves up to this possibility?

When we reveal who we are in both the things we value about ourselves and the things that scare us, we are actually beginning to acknowledge and accept all that we are. The mere fact that we are strong enough to express our demons means that on some level we are accepting them. When we can gain acceptance of all that we are, we can start to feel whole. A genuine love for ourselves develops that is not dependent on anything or anyone.

This unconditional love for ourselves, in turn, creates more space for genuine relationships. When we feel whole, we can begin to see and accept the wholeness of others around us.

It takes courage to open ourselves up to whatever the responses may be. I suggest doing this in baby steps and at our own paces. Hopefully we will gain more authentic love and acceptance from others, but we also need to be prepared to not get the responses we are hoping for. Whatever happens with others, we definitely will gain something far more valuable, we will feel more connected to ourselves in a sincere and authentic way.

So let’s start to face those very things that we think we can’t deal with! When we do have the courage to the face them, marvelous things seem to start happening. It definitely does a mind and body good!

 

Got goals? Start PECKing!

Goals. We all have them. We all want to reach them. And preferably soon. Like now soon. Ok in fact yesterday.

Somehow all that desperation in wanting to reach our goals disempowers us from actually reaching them. The motivation that we have right after we have set our goals seems so steadfast and strong! We can feel that initial charge towards our goals as if nothing can stop us! But somehow, all of that motivation so quickly dissipates as we meet some challenging obstacles.

What if we started to think about meeting our goals as not just an end goal but a slow and steady journey where we can actually win the race but also have an incredible experience doing it? Valuing the journey creates space for learning how to be patient with our pace, how to celebrate meeting our challenges and how to react with kindness to the inevitable setbacks that can happen along the way.

Forget the charging and start PECKing at your goals!

That is: Plan, Easy steps, Celebrate, Kindness!

P= Plan out your goal. Decide want kind of a goal you’d like to set for yourself. Be realistic. Is it actually attainable? Can it be broken down into smaller steps? Then great! First step… done.

E= Easy steps! Break down each step into even tinier, doable steps. The steps should be as tiny as you need them to be so that the next step is not only doable but FEELS doable. If the step feels overwhelming ask yourself if there is away to break it down into even smaller steps.

C- Celebrate, applaud, and give yourself a reward after every step you take toward your goal. It is so important to honor the fact that you are that much closer to reaching your goal! A lot of times we forget to do this. We tend to think, “Ok I was able to do this particular step, but there is still so much more to do, I will never get there!” Recognize the thought but understand that the thought is coming from a place of judgment. Let’s gently remind ourselves that we are still in celebration mode!

K= Kindness. There are just going to be days where we have setbacks. We sometimes have the tendency to beat ourselves up over this, which can derail us from staying on track to meet our goals. But instead of empowering the thoughts of worthlessness, we can embrace this feeling of vulnerability, and meet it with kindness, forgiveness and compassion. Other times, life throws us curveballs and our goals need to veer in a different direction. Again we can access kindness in these moments over the loss of our original goals but knowing that somehow this may open us up to new possibilities.

So the next time we find ourselves about to call it quits, let’s see if we can reevaluate by asking ourselves to examine our journeys. Many times we find that it is quite sPECKtacular!

 

Photo of Chestnut Woodpecker (Celeus elegans) courtesy of Steve Garvie from Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland