When we talk about boosting our energy, we often hear things like "drink more water", "get some exercise", "take your vitamins", and other things we need to physically DO.
But what are some external sources that can sometimes increase - or zap - our energy?
Exposure to Light
Have you heard of Seasonal Depressive Disorder? It's a real thing. That's when some people experience feelings of depression during the months when there is much less sunlight. The weather isn't as pretty, so we often stay indoors.
It's also common for people who work indoors under florescent lights all day to experience some symptoms of fatigue and depression, due to lack of natural light.
If you find this is the case for you as well, try making a habit of spending at least 10-15 intentional minutes outdoors each day. Even if it's cloudy, you can still reap the benefits of UV exposure and increased Vitamin D, which will boost your energy.
Scent
Our sense of smell is very powerful and can bring up a lot of memories. If we smell something that reminds us of something painful, that can drain our energy. Synthetic fragrances made in a lab with lots of chemicals can be incredibly draining as well, because our bodies weren't designed to process manmade chemicals. When we're around a lot of "fragrances", our bodies are fighting to work through those which means other functions (e.g. energy producing functions) can sometimes lag.
It's helpful to surround yourself with natural scents that uplift and encourage you. Fresh baked bread or desserts are wonderful if they invoke happy memories. Flowers and plants are great choices. An easy way to access scents like this is with essential oils! Just be sure you know the source of the oils you use, because so many are mis-labled and actually contain fillers or synthetic chemicals to make them more cost effective (I will only use Young Living because of their transparency and commitment to quality).
What You See
Scientists tell us that many different colors can invoke certain emotions, which can greatly affect our energy. Surrounding yourself with bright colors like yellow, orange, and green can be helpful. More muted colors such as grays, browns, and blacks might drain energy.
If you're able to paint your walls with colors that energize you, go for it! If that's not an option, some things you can do are to buy decorations like wall art, flowers, pillows, desk accessories in the colors of your choice.
What You Hear
When you surround yourself with sounds of complaints, or the musings of the melancholy, it's easy to take those feelings on yourself. Negative feelings like these can very quickly suck the life and energy right out of you!
If you find yourself listening to people who tend to complain a lot, make an effort to infuse the conversation with positivity, or consider spending less time with those people and more time with those who are upbeat.
Take some time to think about the music, podcasts, and shows you listen to. Do you feel encouraged, lifted up, and optimistic afterwards? Or do they leave you feeling sad or downtrodden? What enters our minds via words and music can have a dramatic effect on our emotions, which can then affect our energy levels.
After evaluating these different external elements, what are some areas where you think you could benefit from a few tweaks or changes?
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We've all heard the saying, "Ignorance is bliss."
Although we don't necessarily want to be ignorant, there is something to that.
Have you noticed that the people who are considered conspiracy theorists, or those who tend to be nervous about current events, or people with short tempers, all seem to have one thing in common: they watch a LOT of news.
I'm not saying the news in and of itself is bad. I think we just need to be careful about the types of things our minds and hearts are consuming.
Studies have shown links between playing violent video games and the impact that can have on people's minds, and their intents.
There have also been links between listen to certain types of music, and watching certain types of TV shows.
Granted, I know a good number of people who watch violent TV shows and listen to disheartening music who are still positive, upbeat, happy people. But they're the exception, not the rule. They have also made the choice to BE happy, rather than leave it up to their circumstances to make that decision for them.
Scripture tells us in Philippians 4:8, "Whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things."
In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we're told, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
Another good verse to remember is, "God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."
Those three scriptures are proof enough for me that God has given us every tool we need to CHOOSE what we think about.
What we think about, what we focus on, what we listen to and hear the most, is what shapes everything we do. It determines our beliefs, which determine our actions, which determine our entire lives.
In my Essentially Vibrant group on Facebook, I'm running a 21 Days of Encouragement series with a quote, a journal prompt, and a coordinating essential oil to use. Today's quote is by an unknown author and says,
"Remember - most of your stress comes from the way you respond, not the way life is. Adjust your attitude, and all that extra stress is gone."
What we think about determines our attitude about EVERYTHING.
What we think about comes from what we allow into our hearts and minds - from the news, to TV shows and movies, to music, to even certain people and the types of conversations we have with them.
Something to consider today: how often do you find yourself listening to something that uplifts and encourages you, rather than something negative?
Let me know what the last encouraging thing is that you watched or listened to! If you need some ideas of encouraging TV shows or things to listen to, let me know. I'm here to help!
If you're feeling exhausted and would love 5 easy ways to boost your energy, grab my free guide here!
In our current social climate, with COVID and riots and now hurricane season approaching, it's easy for us to feel overwhelmed, stressed, exhausted, and just unmotivated. We can sometimes get anxious or depressed when we focus on the things that are troubling us.
One surefire way to turn yourself completely around is to focus outward.
When we take our thoughts away from our own problems and shortcomings, suddenly the world seems a little bit brighter.
A positive outlook is easier to cultivate when we focus on those around us. So how can we practically put this into action?
By doing the simplest of actions: Random Acts of Kindness, affectionately called RAKs.
Not only can these help us to focus on others, but we get a rush of endorphins when we do something nice for someone else, and this can also help us to feel more empowered and in control.
Let's start with RAKs in the home.
- Do someone's chore for them (even a parent doing a child's chore!)
- Leave love notes around, on their pillow, in their bathroom, at their seat in the kitchen
- Bring them a treat from the grocery store
- Make their favorite meal or dessert
- Announce a movie night and have their favorite movie (or one they've been wanting to see) all cued up and ready to go
Here are some ideas for RAKs in the office, for those who aren't working remotely or will be going back to the office eventually:
- Bring in bagels or donuts
- Leave a note of encouragement on their desk
- Bring in an extra cup of coffee from Starbucks
- Buy someone's lunch
- Wash out someone's coffee mug or lunch dish in the breakroom
Need some random ideas for when you're out and about? I have some of those for you too:
- Bake bread or cookies to bring to your neighbor (this is especially great if you don't know them or better if you do but don't like them!)
- Pay for the order behind you in the drive through
- Give someone a sincere compliment instead of just thinking about how much you admire their outfit or hair or whatever
- Leave a substantially larger tip than normal
I know you could easily do an internet search for these, but I wanted to share a few to get you started.
Here's my suggestion: make a list of 5 RAKs that you will do within the next week and as you cross each one off, write the name of the person next to it.
What other Random Acts of Kindness can you think of, or what have you done or had someone do for you that really blessed you?
In the movie Home Alone, as the family is rushing to get everyone in the car to the airport after oversleeping, Frank McAllister makes a comment to Peter McAllister that there's no way they'll ever make the flight. Peter tells Frank to be positive, to which Frank replies, "You be positive. I'll be realistic."
If you've seen the movie, you know they did end up making the flight.
That quote has stuck with me from the first time I saw the movie.
Oftentimes we can confuse pessimism with being realistic. We tell ourselves we're simply choosing to be honest when in fact, we're really just being negative.
We take this tactic when talking about our own attributes, reasoning this is why we don't speak highly of ourselves. We don't want to give ourselves false compliments. There's a huge difference between falsely complimenting ourselves, and having a positive mindset.
In order to have a positive mindset, we don't need to wear rose-colored glasses or ignore the harsh realities about ourselves, our situations, or our world.
What we do need, however, is the determination to not allow anything negative to stand in the path of what we want.
Our words have SO much power.
There's a huge difference between saying, "I hope I can achieve this goal" and "I am going to make this happen!"
It's great to hope. Everyone needs hope. But placing outcomes on our hopes rather than on our actions won't get us anywhere near our goal.
There's a big difference between saying, "I am just not creative" (which may be true in the moment) and "I am going to grow in my creative abilities!"
I'll be honest, this is something that I have had to be very intentional about improving. It's not easy! Positive mindsets don't come naturally to most people. I can almost guarantee you that the people you know who have a positive mindset have worked hard to have it.
If this is something you struggle with and you'd like a little kickstart, I would love for you to join us in our Drops of Blessings Facebook Group on Monday for our FREE 3-day Mindset Challenge!
We'll work together over three days to take a look at how we're currently thinking, and what we can do to flip our mindset switch to the positive setting. We'll explore truth vs. reality, and actionable steps you can take to help you speak truth over every situation.
How often would you say you complain?
According to an article on entrepreneur.com, research shows most people complain about once a minute during a typical conversation. That's a LOT! 🤯
Most of the time we complain because we want to "vent", and it just feels good to know that other people feel our pain and empathize with our situation.
When we complain, our brain builds pathways to ease the flow of information, which just makes it that much easier to complain again and again. And again...
Eventually complaining becomes our default behavior, which not only damages our relationships, but it can also physically damage our brain as well.
Stanford University ran a study that shows complaining can damage the hippocampus. The hippocampus is what Alzheimer's primary destroys, so let that sink in for a minute.
You can cause the same type of damage that Alzheimer's causes just by complaining.
Complaining can wreak physical havoc as well. When we complain, cortisol is released in order to prepare our bodies for fight-or-flight mode, and this raises blood pressure and blood sugar. The extra cortisol released also impairs our immune system which makes us more susceptible to a whole host of issues.
Have you heard the saying that you are the sum of the 5 people closest to you? That's because our brains tend to subconsciously mirror the moods of the people we spend the most time with. If you're around people who complain a lot, you can experience the same damage as if YOU were the one complaining.
Likewise, when you complain, you can damage those you love and are closest to you in those ways as well.
In this season of stress and unrest due to the unpredictability of the COVID-19 virus, it is more important than ever to protect ourselves against anything that can damage our immune systems, our bodies, and our minds.
Fear makes it so much easier for us to complain under these circumstances, though, right?
So what can we do to keep ours hearts and minds positive and avoid the damaging effects of complaining, when our worlds feel like they're in a tailspin?
1. Be grateful.
According to an article on entrepreneur.com, research shows most people complain about once a minute during a typical conversation. That's a LOT! 🤯
Most of the time we complain because we want to "vent", and it just feels good to know that other people feel our pain and empathize with our situation.
When we complain, our brain builds pathways to ease the flow of information, which just makes it that much easier to complain again and again. And again...
Eventually complaining becomes our default behavior, which not only damages our relationships, but it can also physically damage our brain as well.
Stanford University ran a study that shows complaining can damage the hippocampus. The hippocampus is what Alzheimer's primary destroys, so let that sink in for a minute.
You can cause the same type of damage that Alzheimer's causes just by complaining.
Complaining can wreak physical havoc as well. When we complain, cortisol is released in order to prepare our bodies for fight-or-flight mode, and this raises blood pressure and blood sugar. The extra cortisol released also impairs our immune system which makes us more susceptible to a whole host of issues.
Have you heard the saying that you are the sum of the 5 people closest to you? That's because our brains tend to subconsciously mirror the moods of the people we spend the most time with. If you're around people who complain a lot, you can experience the same damage as if YOU were the one complaining.
Likewise, when you complain, you can damage those you love and are closest to you in those ways as well.
In this season of stress and unrest due to the unpredictability of the COVID-19 virus, it is more important than ever to protect ourselves against anything that can damage our immune systems, our bodies, and our minds.
Fear makes it so much easier for us to complain under these circumstances, though, right?
So what can we do to keep ours hearts and minds positive and avoid the damaging effects of complaining, when our worlds feel like they're in a tailspin?
1. Be grateful.
We've all heard the suggestion to start our day with gratitude, but I would challenge you not only to start your day, but maybe set a reminder for throughout the day to think of more things to be grateful for. The floors in your home, the roof, the people who built it, coffee, your family, your pets, a safe environment, anything you can think to be grateful for.
2. Hear truth.
2. Hear truth.
Recognize that our feelings are NOT truth. We may feel scared, we may feel hopeless, we may feel lonely, but we have to remember that God promises to protect us, to give us hope, and to never leave us. Focus on TRUTH.
3. Practice self-care.
3. Practice self-care.
Take some time to participate in some soothing self-care. Take a bath, go for a walk, search YouTube for some quick workouts, read Scripture, pray, listen to worship music. Just enjoy some relaxation and peace.
4. LAUGH!
4. LAUGH!
Watch a funny movie on Netflix, search YouTube for comedians, Google jokes you can share with your family. Laugh together, play some board games, just have fun.
5. Stay connected.
5. Stay connected.
Make sure to stay connected with the outside world however you safely can, whether by phone, social media, video chatting, or sending snail mail. Now is the perfect time to handwrite some letters to loved ones and brighten their day. Staying connected and doing something kind for others will surely brighten your day and lessen any need to complain.
The next time you feel tempted to complain or release any kind of negative energy, keep in mind that our goal right now is to stay healthy.
Try this: keep a rubber band or hair tie on your wrist and snap it when you notice yourself complaining. You'll start to see just how often it actually happens, and it can be surprising!
Which one of these tips will you try today to help yourself break the habit of complaining and get through this pandemic successfully?
The next time you feel tempted to complain or release any kind of negative energy, keep in mind that our goal right now is to stay healthy.
Try this: keep a rubber band or hair tie on your wrist and snap it when you notice yourself complaining. You'll start to see just how often it actually happens, and it can be surprising!
Which one of these tips will you try today to help yourself break the habit of complaining and get through this pandemic successfully?
