Tis The Season

~~Stress Less This Christmas~~

 Christmas is right around the corner, and I haven’t purchased one single gift . . . not for ANYONE! I’m still busy sorting and decluttering after moving. I haven’t done any decorating. No tree, no garland, and the stockings are NOT hung by the chimney AT ALL!

 I hadn’t thought much about it until my daughter offered me a small Christmas tree that she was preparing to donate to Goodwill. Then . . . a light came on in my head . . . It’s time to decorate for Christmas! That thought, along with my already convoluted “to-do” stuff, triggered something inside me . . . STRESS!

 Since I am already coping with some level of stress, I need to do something to relieve it. I learned some time ago that effective stress-relief techniques focus on relaxing the mind and the body.

For starters, I can relieve a lot of my stress by dumping limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs are those things I believe about myself that place limitations on my abilities.

Question: Is it possible to relieve stress?

Answer: Yes. But, before I go on if your level of stress is serious, consult your physician. But, if you think you can take charge of your stress, here are a few things that can help.

- Learn to have a sense of humor
- Try yoga: no legs behind the neck here though
- Aroma therapy works wonders
- Exercise for 30 minutes

- Take a walk in the fresh air

-Listen to some relaxing music
- Try dance and creative movement
- Eat Chocolate, eat it in moderation or open a candy bar and just smell it
- Relaxation & deep breathing exercises provide immediate relief
- Take a six minute vacation (let your mind wander freely)
- Communicate: talking with friends, family, a counselor, or a member of the clergy   about your feelings is a healthy way to relieve stress
- Set more realistic goals: for yourself and others (those close to you)
- Develop a hobby: writing, blogging, fishing, knitting, photography, woodworking, anything. Do something fun with your hands

Find your inner peace - - learn how to relieve your stress by finding what works best for you. 

Let us know your favorite ways to de-stress in the comments section

8 Quick Ways to Relieve Stress

Is It Possible to Relieve Stress? 

Yes! Before we go on, if your level of stress is serious, consult your physician. But, if you think you can take charge of your stress, here are a few things that can help.

1. Learn to have a sense of humor. Google “Funny Jokes” images

2. Take a walk in the fresh air (in your back yard or down the driveway works).

 3. Try dance, creative movement, or exercise for 15 minutes.

4. Eat Chocolate in moderation or open a candy bar and just smell it.

5. Relaxation and deep breathing exercises provide immediate relief.

6. Take a seven minute mini-vacation in your mind. Re-visit photos of fun family vacations...remember the good times!

7. Talk to friends, family, or a pastor/priest about your feelings.  

8. Aroma therapy works wonders.

Find your inner peace - - learn how to relieve your stress by finding what works best for you.

Let us know your favorite ways to de-stress in the comments section.

Needs vs Wants

There are quite a few household and personal things I need to do. But first, I need to get some rest. I want to REST! I want to SLEEP! I want some sleep and some rest!

If I had the opportunity, I could sleep for two days straight only getting up to eat or go to the lady’s room. Seriously!

I need to go grocery shopping soon or the family will think I lost my whole entire mind. I could put away some clutter that’s accumulated. Siiigghh ):

I certainly need to get better acquainted with Sir Hoover, the vacuum cleaner and Lady Pledge, the dust-buster queen. I need to do all this but, will I?

I should probably do a couple of them, maybe all of them. Then again I don’t feel like doing any of them. Truth be told, I don’t WANT to do anything. So I won’t!!!

The more I think about it, the more I think it would be nice to just lollygag and play around on my computer and my tablet. Okay, that settles it. I’m going to diddle the time away until bedtime.

Maybe I can rest when I go to bed tonight.  I don’t know if any of this made sense, but I got it out. That’s my rant for the day!

Just My 2-cents worth,,,

Okay, enough already. Now, go sit down somewhere and be quiet dellgirl.  

Energizing Foods

A Healthy Well-Rounded Lunch w/ Whole Wheat Roll

Are you feeling sluggish? Or do you just feel downright tired, overstressed, overwhelmed, plain old exhausted? If you do feel that way, you already know where I'm going with this. 

In case you are wondering why I ask these questions, the answer is simple. A few weeks ago I began feeling extremely tired and exhausted. It was over and above my usual “dead-tired” feeling. I was exhausted to the point I felt as if I would pass out sometimes.

It did not take long to realize what was wrong. I had “been-there-done-that” before, back in 2011. I was doing too much, not truly relaxing as I should. I was not sleeping well, and I definitely was not eating the way I should. Truth be told, I was not taking good care of myself.

I did not want to end up sick the way I was in 2011. Therefore, I quickly got myself together and set goals for doing better at taking care of ME. First, I eliminated everything from my to-do list that was not imminently important. I also made a point of relaxing to refresh throughout my day, then dropping everything and going to bed at a decent hour.

I made a concentrated effort to eat healthier. That started with not skipping meals. It also meant eating well rounded meals instead of my usual intermittent nibbling throughout the day. I built-in healthy energizing snacks instead of chips and junk food for in-between meals.

A healthy energizing snack w/ orange juice

My first task was to research Foods That Give You Energy. Then I compiled a short list of those energizing foods. So let me get right to the list for those who need to scan quickly and move on.

Here is my List of Foods & Beverages That Energize, in no particular order.

-Water

-Coffee

-Tea
-AppleJuice
-Orange Juice
-Greek Yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese

-Dark Chocolate
–Popcorn

-Nuts: cashews, almonds, walnuts

-Coconut: coconut water, fresh or dried coconut
-Whole Grains: oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat bread
-Fresh Fruits: apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, bananas
-Citrus Fruits: oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits

-Lean Meat:  chicken, turkey, pork, beef

-Shrimp
-Canned Tuna (white or light) 

-Fatty Fish: smoked salmon, albacore tuna, mackerel
-Chicken Noodle Soup 

-Eggs

-Leafy Green Vegetables: kale, spinach, romaine lettuce
–Beans and Peas

-Sweet Potatoes
– Avocados

There are many more foods and beverages that give us energy. This partial list contains only those items I have tried first hand and know that they work.

Let’s wrap it all up. If you are feeling overly tired, sluggish, overstressed, overwhelmed, and totally exhausted, start with these tips. Change your lifestyle, your diet and your eating habits. Use this list of energizing foods to change your life. You will feel a lot better within a few days.

This process worked wonders for me and I am extremely I am happy to have some energy again. Give it a try, you might like it. You’ve got nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Happy Re-Energizing to you! 

Recover Your Health with Clean Eating

Diagnosis Diabetes

What A Mind-Boggling Week!

Another week has come and gone, this one did not fly by though. It was a long tiring caregiving week. Mama came last Friday and stayed until last night (Thursday). I say the week was long and tiring because Mama now has a new medication and diet regimen.

She no longer takes these thirteen pills morning and night, the doctors here have reduced the number to five pills a day total. Thank God for that. I just knew she should not have been taking so much medication. Mama also has a new (to us) definite diagnosis identifying two serious medical conditions, one of which is diabetes.

Both conditions require constant monitoring and specialized diets. Both diets require careful attention to what foods are recommended and what foods are to be avoided. The diabetic diet also calls for eating smaller properly measured amounts of suggested foods throughout the day. That means the person should eat at two-hour intervals to keep the blood sugar levels constant.

WOW, this is mind-boggling if you have never had to deal with something of this sort. With my daughter Jordyn’s help, I/we were able to get through the meals and medicines without me pulling all my hair out wondering how to get it done.

Thank you, sweet Jordyn. I could not have done it as well without you. You make it look so easy, and I know for a fact that it is NOT easy…not by a long shot.

 Now the weekend is here, and I am so looking forward to some much needed rest and relaxation.  As I am so fond of saying, my plans for the weekend are to do as much nothing as humanly possible. Today started out bright, sunshiny, and HOT. Now, it is raining. Thunderstorms are scattered here and there. This is the perfect weather for doing all that nothing I wish to do.

Okay, enough already. I’m going to get started right now. What are your plans for the weekend? Are you doing anything special or will you just take it as it comes? Whatever you’re planning, I wish you a Wonderful Weekend.

I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July today!

Ventilating: Not Feeling Motivated Today

There’s so much going on at one time, so much to prepare for, too many things to do that most of the time I hardly know what day it is. Several days I have gone the entire day thinking it was one day when it was actually another day completely. (((Siiiiiigh)))

Mama was here for the weekend to give my brother and sister-in-law a much needed break. Everything went rather smoothly while she was here, but it was still very exhausting. Preparing and administering medications along with making special diet meals and getting it done in a timely manner are more demanding than I ever imagined. It takes a lot of mental concentration and focus.

Jace’s mommy took Mama back to my brother’s late Monday evening so she could be there for her physical therapy appointment early Tuesday morning. I spent yesterday (Tuesday) trying to re-group from the weekend of care giving duties.

With that said, I woke up this morning feeling just so-so, not great but not bad either. As the morning progressed I began thinking of all the things I NEED to do, that didn’t make for happy feelings. I trudged through the list of things to do that were really necessary, and finally reached a point where I could pop open my laptop. I need to update my blog, check my emails, post some photos to Zazzle, and a few other things.

The problem with that is I am not feeling motivated, not motivated at all. I am not feeling motivated to write, not motivated to think, not motivated to - -  to - - to anything. I definitely am not feeling motivated to think of something positive and uplifting to write about. I am just not feeling it.

That was earlier today, so I thought I would put that in writing to see if ventilating about it helps at all. 

The Golden Time of Day

Sunset from my back yard - 10-21-2013

Watching a beautiful sunset is relaxing, strangely mesmerizing, like having my own piece of heaven right at my finger tips.

From a comfortable chair, I could spend hours gazing at the amazingly beautiful colors of the clouds and the sky. This is ‘The Golden Time of Day.’

The awesome beauty of an evening sunset is but one of God’s precious gifts, a natural stress reliever. Experiencing this celestial phenomenon is so calming I literally feel the burdens of the day float away like feathers in the wind.

During the quiet stillness of this picture perfect scene, witnessing this mind-altering miracle, I realize… life just doesn’t get any better than this.

Up At the Crack-of-Dawn!

That's 7:00am dellgirl-Texas time; crack-of-dawn somewhere. I grab my trusty old broom and dustpan and, get busy sweeping out trash and debris. Be sure to get behind that chair and under the desk really "good". Make the room sparkle and shine brightly for this glorious new sunshiny day.

A smooth flowing fine-point writing pen is my broom and a pretty new fabric-covered journal is my dustpan. The pen records the jumbled clutter that infests the corners of my sleep-filled mind. The journal, my dustpan, holds the brain-garbage I want to dump.

Ummmm...maybe the journal is a trash can instead of a dustpan.

Okay, okay! So, what is the purpose of these early morning journaling exercises? The purpose is to help me learn some things about myself. What exactly is it I am supposed to learn about myself by journaling at ridiculously early hours of the morning, when I could be sleeping?

Well, I will learn what I like and what I don't like.

I started this so, I will continue with it. It certainly can't hurt, except to cause me to lose some sleep. What about you, do you journal? What do you think of the concept? Does it clear your mind of clutter? Does it help uncover anything you did not know on a conscious level? Does it open you up for greater creativity?

Stress Less

Most of us are probably coping with some level of stress and we need to learn how to relieve it. Effective stress-relief techniques focus on relaxing your mind and your body. For starters, we can relieve a lot of stress from our lives by dumping limiting beliefs - - those things you believe about yourself that place limitations on your abilities.

Limiting beliefs can be difficult to change because we often don’t realize they exist but, they can easily be overcome with desire and determination. It is imperative to first identify them and how they have served you in the past so you don’t beat yourself up for having had them.

Limiting beliefs almost always begin with “I can’t because…” Examples include “I can’t find a good job because I never went to college, diets don't work for me, I don't have time to exercise, or my company isn't giving pay raises this year.”

Can you really get beyond your limiting beliefs? Fortunately, yes. It is possible to get rid of these beliefs and replace them with more positive ones but, you first need to identify your limiting beliefs. Then to change limiting beliefs, you will need to break the thoughts that reinforce your belief that you are unable to do something.

Is it possible to relieve stress? Yes. Before we go on, if your level of stress is serious, consult your physician. But, if you think you can take charge of your stress, here are a few things that can help.
- Learn to have a sense of humor
- Try yoga: no legs behind the neck here
- Aroma therapy works wonders
- Exercise for 30 minutes
- Lift weights but don’t go overboard
- Take a walk in the fresh air
- Try dance and creative movement
- Chocolate, eat it in moderation though or open a candy bar and just smell it
- Relaxation & deep breathing exercises provide immediate relief
- Take a six minute vacation
- Communicate: talking with friends, family, a counselor, or a member of the clergy about your feelings is a healthy way to relieve stress
- Set more realistic goals: for yourself and others
- Develop a hobby: fishing, knitting, photography, woodworking, anything. Do something fun with your hands

Find your inner peace - - learn how to relieve your stress by finding what works best for you. Let us know your favorite ways to de-stress.

© 2009 by Leona G. Shankle