You can’t open the internet without seeing something related to COVID19 and honestly, it’s been discussed so much all over every news channel and internet source, we really don’t want to go too much into that subject specifically, however we do understand what a serious subject this horrific virus is to humanity and the world. We along with so many of you, want to show our support for others by sharing some ideas and tips that may help you in staying zen, productive, and happy during these stressful and scary times.
The definition of zen can be fairly loaded depending on who you’re talking to. For the purposes of this blog, we’re going to stick to a more general concept of ideas that may be able to help you stay both physically and mentally zen.
We think (and many in this field would probably agree) first and foremost, practicing gratitude is probably the most important aspect to helping achieve mental tranquility. What better way to be more zen and happy than to be mindful of our blessings? While researching more, we stumbled across an unsuspecting, yet however fairly helpful source that beautifully outlines expressing gratitude and that is: kidshealth.org
Quick side note to those who have teenagers; especially during these times when trying to find inner zen. This site is vast and covers a multitude of helpful tips and lessons - both for parents and teens alike - that assist with an array of subjects for teens including: feelings, relaxing & undwinding and subjects for adults like: emotions & behavior of teens, nutrition & fitness, etc. Even if you’re running into issues at home currently and need a little bit of reading material on different topics, this site might be a great resource for you.
Back to gratitude and inner zen. When we navigated through the teenshealth.org, we came across the following quick read, “3 Ways to Practice Gratitude,” which we thought was important to highlight here. We feel that although this particular piece was under the teenager menu of the site, gratitude and remembering to practice it is sometimes lost upon us.
Because of the current situation, we loved incorporating these three practices into our morning routine. We’ve found these three practices to be helpful in terms of perspective and acknowledgement of the beauty of all things. I, myself have realized that I thought I appreciated things more than I did before and this practice has helped me personally reconnect with the little things.
Once again, this comes from kidshealth.org and we strongly encourage you to check their site out for more information on this particular subject and much more.
Each day, think of 3 things you are grateful for. Pretty self explanatory, but dig deep and make sure you take note of the little things.
Start a gratitude journal. Carry a journal around the house, or even take note in your phone, however we encourage you to write the note on paper, when good things happen to you. Over time, your brain will start to notice more of the better things rather than the negative more consistently and naturally.
Express your gratitude to yourself, write it down, or thank someone. Notice when you put in extra effort for others, or for yourself. We’re not saying boast about it online, but try to write down in that same journal when you do something good for others. Also, it’s important to be more mindful of what others are experiencing and when they do strive to do more for you as well. Make sure to say, “Thank you,” to those who go out of their way to help you.
While most of us are having to stay inside, now is the perfect time to begin a new routine and/or practice. With all the stresses of the current climate, what better time than now to begin meditating or yoga?
Meditation has been used for thousands of years first by spiritual minds looking to find their inner enlightenment. Now, the practice has evolved to different types and many are used for stress, depression, and anxiety alongside spiritual practices.
The Mayo Clinic has a great depiction of meditation in a general sense as well as a listed breakdown of different meditations you can do more research on, however the subject is vast and definitely helpful when it comes to relaxing your mind. \
Yoga is a combination of both physical and mental training of the mind and is similar to meditation. Some would say yoga has borrowed some mental practices from meditation, others say yoga is a form of meditation altogether. We like to think that both are similar, however with yoga, the combination of preparing the body and mind for meditation and deeper levels of introspection is what we feel yoga is a better representation of.
We’ve compiled a list of some free, online meditation and yoga practices that may be of some help below.
Mindful Exercises and Practices: https://mindfulnessexercises.com/free-online-mindfulness-courses/
‘The Honest Guys,’ Neutral and Non-Spiritual Meditation Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4jWo5kiyOCt4PnvF4jbaLg
‘Yoga with Adriene,’ In-Home Yoga Practices Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFKE7WVJfvaHW5q283SxchA
A lot of us now are working from home. A few of us have been used to working from home for years now, however we know many are struggling with dealing with working from home for the first time, plus juggling kids, plus keeping the house clean and never being able to leave unless to a grocery store or an essential trip. So overwhelming.
While the world continues to spin, but life seems to stop except necessities, we have to find ways to help keep us productive when we’re feeling sluggish, overwhelmed, or lost.
First thing to keep in mind during all of this; be kind to yourself. In these times, it’s easy to be critical of our efforts, but we have never experienced what we are experiencing right now before. When you feel like you’ve not done enough or you’ve made too many mistakes for the day, remember, we have never experienced what we are experiencing right now. It’s ok to cry, to need to be alone, all of it is ok.
We are surviving during a crisis and trying to work and do life from home. We can’t always expect ourselves to be 100% on standard with what we’ve done before and we need to accept that. Beating yourself up over not being able to perform at your best won’t make matters any better. Be kind to yourself.
“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Benjamin Franklin.
There’s a lot to be said about our founding father’s perspective. Try waking up early and going to bed early. This makes more productive time in your day and morning and schedule your days out. Some tricks to scheduling your day? Try setting alarms throughout the day and on your weekly calendar. Get your meditation, yoga, prayer, whatever the case may be, and bed made, out of the way in the morning before moving on to your workflow, if you can. This should help create a sense of consistency and structure in these strange times.
When it comes to working from home, create a designated work environment. Somewhere comfortable, but not too comfortable to where you turn on the TV and zone out. I even know of some entrepreneurs that use their office as this space and dress in business casual attire every day in their office Mon-Fri. Now, like we stated above, be kind to yourself, however, if this helps you stay productive and efficient, get in a blazer or button down and slacks and try it out!
The internet has been a fairly dark place lately. And although it is important to stay up to date on important and vital information, it is also important to protect our mental sanity. You know the law of attraction, right? If not, click the link HERE. But essentially, what you put out into this world comes back. Consistently watching only bad, scary, and doomful news can lead you to feel those feelings all the time… and do you really want to feel that way all the time?
Break up the monentany! Watch some happy internet news or listen to some live music. Struggling to find that info? We’ve put together some ideas.
Have you seen the new Youtube Channel, ‘Some Good News,’ by the ever lovable John Karisinski? It’s his new channel he started during self isolation where he highlights good news only. These stories are heartfelt, funny, and the newest episode even highlights the 15 year anniversary of The Office with guest, Steve Carell (known on the show as Michael Scott.)
Secondly, if you’re feeling bored and down about all of the concerts being cancelled this season at the least, keep in mind, musicians globally are banding together to entertain from their homes and personal studios. These free concerts are being hosted through a few online streaming services as well as their personal and professional social media accounts.
Here is the list of free, streaming services holding live concerts across a variety of different genres.
Live From Home - Live Nation Streaming Concert Site: https://www.livenation.com/livefromhome
NPR Live Streaming Concert List:
Billboard Live Streaming List:
Being at home for this long and not being able to leave can start to feel a little hopeless after a while. Most importantly, during these frustrating times, we should try to appreciate our time with our loved ones, or even our solitude, if that’s the case. If you and/or your family have been experiencing cabin fever and not sure what else to do, we’ve put together a few ideas of different activities that you all might be able to participate in.
Get some Christmas lights or decorative lights you have lying around, get dolled up, and put on some dance music when you’re all finished! Facetime your family during, maybe plan a group party for all of your family to facetime together with!
Getting ready to, “go do something,” even if it is in the comfort of your own home will keep you occupied, remind you of what there is to look forward to in the future, and taking the time to get primed and proper is important to your mental health. Take time for you. Along with getting ready, throwing a little dance party will get you some physical activity in and it’ll be a nice change of pace!
Make a special dinner, even if it’s simply thoughtful, lay out a blanket in the back yard or living room with candles, a movie, etc. ask your spouse questions you haven’t asked in a long time. Discuss your feelings, fears, hopes for the future, and put your phone away!
There are also some incredible services that offer "date nights," in subscription service form! Check out: Date Night in a Box if you want to sign up for this service and get some unique ideas covered via a company.
As you know, kids love creativity! We have found one awesome way to help kids, and who are we kidding, even us, stay occupied and feel more fulfilled! If you have some chalk at home and some concrete sidewalk, have your kids plan a drawing to inspire others while walking down the street. “Stay Safe, Stay Home,” and, “Be Kind to Others,” etc. Giving them a voice during these scary times as well as offering them creativity can be a great opportunity while they’re pent up at home.
Along with disinfecting the house up and down, we have found that adulting and ‘honey do,’ chores have helped us quite a bit with establishing a sense of structure as well as getting much needed things done! We’re sure you’ve probably already jumped down the list of things needed to be done and have been done, however it’s always a good idea to keep these chores in mind when you’re really running low on ideas.
We have a few friends that are currently living alone during the pandemic and can’t be with their families while self isolating. We speak with them regularly to check in on their wellness and have asked how they’re getting by. They said podcasts, creating videos, frequent video calls with family, puzzles, art, hobbies, cooking, and meditation are focuses currently.
Alright friends that about does it for today. Best of luck to you and your families in these times. Stay kind to one another and remember, this too shall pass.
Have you been looking for a CBD product that may help you during these times? Here are some suggestions!
We have found that keeping up on our CBD regimen has made a tremendous impact on our mental wellness.
CBD Bath Soaks like Brother's Apothecary are very popular during these tenuous times. Using broad spectrum CBD and a wonderfully unique and pleasant aroma, this bath soak creates a dreamy, blue bath experience that you will love relaxing with.
Check out The Brother's Apothecary CBD Bath Soak for a little self love time.
Another bath product that is exceptionally popular are bath bombs and what better product variety than bath bombs with CBD?!
We offer a vast array of CBD bath bombs in a multitude of different CBD types/strengths, colors, scents, from an array of trusted brands!
Along side that, Nirvana CBD Body Lotion has been our personal favorite for our dry hands and skin.
Our go-to tincture for our personal life issues in the morning is Koi CBD. Koi CBD offers a variety of flavors and strengths. If you're looking for a CBG straight tincture, Hyve CBG is also a wonderful suggestion for a CBG tincture for daily use.
Curious about CBG and how it's different from CBD? Check out our CBG dedicated blog post!
This is a story of how hemp always finds a way to re-inspire me.
Being a small business owner sometimes offers its own sets of opportunities of wills to be tested. Someone once told me that being an entrepreneur is like having a toddler that never grows up.
