Tag / health

by yojeanyi

Creative Block?? So over it??? Lying there unmotivated???????? 

MAKE SOMETHING. AGAIN.

What makes us human in these ceaselessly trying times is creative making with our hands. Even if you’re not an artist or writer, making activities help us with processing complex human experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

You’ve heard or directly experienced artists and writers’ block. The need for inspiration or spark. It seems like you are either hit with inspirational fuel and work in a frenzy. Or, you try everything under the sun to tap into creative energy, but to no avail. 

Why do we go from zero to full throttle? Unless you thrive on the extremes of burn out and restoration, a balanced approach is the way to go. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it forever, grounding activities connecting us to our environment have short, long, and forever benefits. It benefits all that is alive. What better way to ground than with our body? Actually, it’s the only way haha!

(For other grounding activities see “Daily practice: walk for the sun 🌄🌅 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️”)

But this post isn’t about what to hand make, because that’s been covered in (see: tbc) This post is about grounding with our senses…a trending pop psych topic the last few years. Ground frequently to reaffirm brain routes to sanctuary spaces, or ground to also create new brain routes to interesting spaces.

PLAY IS WORK.

I forgot, since it’s been a decade, but play as labor was a big topic in the art world. It must have been 2010, 2015, when art therapists and social and political artists were espousing the revolutionary need for play. Not just for children, but for adults as well. Play nurtures curiosity and exploration. It expands our energy into uncharted territories for personal growth. Not an upward or vertical growth, but one of satisfaction, connectedness, and well being. It’s an undirected, non outcome, non goal oriented way of being.

PLAY IS LIFE. 

Now what does this all mean? Play, sensing, grounding, creative making, are all good.

THE SENSE CHART FOR GROUNDING CREATIVE ENERGY 

SenseThing. Action.drawingWhy it works
hearPurr like a cat. Whistle like a bird. Growl like a dog. Hum a song. Enjoy the vibrations in different parts of your throat, head, chest. Fill your lungs with air, then feel it squeezing out until you’re a husk.
tbc
Nonverbal sounds we emit are ancient ways of expression. Purring/Humming can self soothe. Humming while you work also shuts out the background noise in your head. Cats purr to self soothe, and it’s said that the frequency of their purr accelerates healing. Whistling is just fun, if you can do it. Otherwise have you gutturally growled recently?
smell
Take a loooong sniff of mountain air. If you don’t have mountain handy, try a spice or natural material like cardamom, cinnamon stick, lilac, pinewood, seashell. 
Use the material itself in its natural form. The smells take you to the nonlanguage, irrational part of your brain, where instructions hold no power. It’s where empathic memories, emotions, inspiration reside.
see
Get a rubber duck or other small animal figurine to talk through your thoughts, problems, and feelings.
Programmers talk to their rubber duck to solve problems, and it’s known to work. The same can be applied to anyone for any problem. Your mind gets jogging and before you KNOW it, a candle or lightbulb turns on. When you get trapped into your own thought process, it prevents alternative ways of seeing. Talk to the duck.

touch
Hold rosary or meditation beads in your hands. It can be stone, wood, shell, jade, rose quartz. Move the beads between your fingers one by one. Repeat a single sentence mantra of your choosing. 
These calming meditative states will induce zone out/ second or third consciousness/ different mind zones/ where you can drink from the well of creativity.
Pet a soft soft soft cat or dog, with permission. Procure an alpaca fur object, perhaps a small keychain. 

Indisputably the best.

Play with a desk fidget thingy.
The barrier to entry: 0. Fun: 100%.
COMBO
Play a sound making percussion like a bell, wind chime, rocks, marbles (sound+tactile)
If you’re feeling an inner Beethoven come alive, don’t hesitate to play a wind chime, knock some rocks together, roll some marbles in your palm.
taste
Chew gum. Have a medicinal licorice, fruity lollipop, toffee, hard candy, jelly, etc. Let dark chocolate melt in your mouth. Or crunch crunch on some bones. 		Now get back to playing.
by yojeanyi

Decisions Are Just Bell Peppers

TIP #1: FRUIT OF THE SUMMER

look at all these delicious decisions

Crunchy and refreshing with a mild sweetness. Juicy but not sticky.

Bell peppers are fruits that can be eaten like an apple, whole or slices, and contain vitamin C and other good stuff. It always surprises me how easy they are to eat. They’re an excellent lifestyle fruit for their user friendliness.

It’s suspicious how easy they are to eat. Throw them in a backpack and they’ll be okay. Even if they are crushed, there’s only water residue- no sticky juices like those other fruits.

Maybe you prefer a dip in keeping with the settler’s summer tradition. It would be uncouth to consume a dip alone, unless it’s a light Tzatziki/ cacık dip with crushed coriander. Composed of yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, and any herbs- parsley, mint, dill– it’s wow. Munching on my bell peppers and tzaitziki dips, I have been thinking.

Despite my invisible achievements well into my third decade, I’ve navigated uncharted waters and strange crossroads. I suppose if you survive a catastrophe, that could be considered an accomplishment. Survival is not easy, yet little do we celebrate it.

Survival is not easy, yet little do we celebrate it.

TIP 2: Celebrate decisions >accomplishments > achievements

Achievements get trophies 🏆; accomplishments get checkmarks ✅; decisions get silence 🤫. Powerful decisions disappear into daily life like vegetables in vegetable chowder. You forget about them, but they’re doing all the work keeping you alive.

Decisions are harder to celebrate because they’re internal, sometimes messy and painful, and even transformative (quitting a job, leaving a relationship, starting something new).

The word “decision” comes from the latin “caedere” meaning “cutting the links.” It’s a cutting of ourselves from a “wholeness.” In the case of life, its a cutting into the wholeness of our identity and stability. Whether that’s getting out of a comfortable stagnation or an awful place, we have to slice, dice, and dip out of there ASAP. A life altering decision can suck because of the risk factor. But while there might not be reward, we need these decisions for prevention and immunity.

These “good” decisions that cut the deepest should be actively remembered in order to keep up the positive spirits; they are the silent architects of resilience, sometimes outweighing the glitter of achievements.

a beautiful user friendly decision

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF DECISIONS

  • Vitamin C: One medium-sized red bell pepper provides 169% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for vitamin C, making it one of the richest dietary sources of this essential nutrient.
  • Vitamin B6: Pyridoxine is the most common type of vitamin B6, a family of nutrients important for forming red blood cells.
  • Vitamin K1: A form of vitamin K, also known as phylloquinone, K1 is important for blood clotting and bone health.
  • Potassium: This essential mineral may improveTrusted Source heart health.
  • Folate, also known as vitamin B9, has a variety of functions in the body. Adequate folate intake is very importantTrusted Source during pregnancy.
  • Vitamin E: A powerful antioxidant, vitamin E is essential for healthy nerves and muscles. The best dietary sources of this fat-soluble vitamin include oils, nuts, seeds, and vegetables.
  • Vitamin A: Red bell peppers are high inTrusted Source pro-vitamin A (beta carotene), which your body converts into vitamin A.
by yojeanyi

Hydrating Tip (boring but essential)💧💧💧

So the thrill of rating bottled waters according to taste, alkalinity, electrolytes, distillation is gone.

💧It’s time to decide on the one true water source tasked to keep you alive.

This is a negligible task, but that skin is not going to elasticize itself. You need continual water because you sweat, pee, and cry it out.

It’s a project that can be the difference between “always” and “sometimes.”

Excellent Integrated Hydration (EIH) begins at the source might sound like hype, but it’s the holy grail. Whether the water is tap or filtered is up to the One Who Hydrates (OWH), but if you choose distilled, you still have to find an alternate source for electrolytes and minerals.

💧Drinking water that tastes good means drinking more of it.

💧Choosing your container:

There are too many reusable water bottles with impractical designs and laughable capacity. Hydration isn’t 12 ounces while you’re out driving, errand running, working, schooling. (And the bottles with narrow mouths are hard to refill >:/ $*#$&$&*# ). But if there’s one true vessel that you swear by, good.

While stuck at home, I found myself drinking less water once I switched to the Brita water pitcher…Before I was doing fridge filter —> Hydro flask. I wondered why. I like the taste of Brita. I already considered the inconvenience of pitcher refill.

Turns out, that extra step between pitcher and my cup each time was just annoying enough.

Fridge –> Hydro flask (container)–> user [2 steps]

Tap–> Brita pitcher–> cup (container) –> user [3 steps]

Solution 1. Change container to one with larger capacity

In conclusion / learning opportunity? : minute changes to how you daily activities seems negligible but aren’t. Identify issues and solutions to the banal stuff too.

💧In efficient systems, one step makes a huge difference over time.

Now the 💧 you’ve been waiting for. A look at the exhausted choices of containers to use when you’re on the move:

Bladder backpack – camelbak- true to the name, you carry a bag of water wherever you are bothered to go. A straw gives you quick access to that life giving elixir.

Original Nalgene / Nalgene inspired bottle: this one is practical and ideal for a number of reasons. It has a wide mouth easy for refilling, and it holds 1 liter (33.8 ounces) which means less frequent refills. (2 for men, ___ for women.)

Webmd

But you hate plastic? While this one has a narrow mouth, it at least has a good capacity at 1.4 liters. When using at home, I use a funnel to fill it.

💧💧💧HAPPY HYDRATING 💧💧💧💧💧