Claire 4/15/2016 “Why Living a Holistic Lifestyle Makes Sense”

Hey everyone! I am so sorry that I wasn’t able to post a couple of weeks ago. I have been so busy with school and passing my classes that I haven’t really thought about much else. Especially since I was also singing in two very big events this past semester and was focusing all my time and energy on homework and memorizing and singing the words to the songs we sang. But here is my blog post for this week, all about why living holistically makes sense.

We’ve talked a little about what a Holistic Lifestyle is in general and ways you can live a Holistic Lifestyle, but we haven’t talked much about why it makes sense in more detail. So, I am going to explain why a Holistic Lifestyle makes sense not only as a person, but also as a member of my church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Living Holistically is all about realizing that Mind, Body, and Spirit need to be aligned and working together efficiently in order to be happy and have a healthy body. Knowing this, the happier you are the more you are balanced in these three aspects. But let me explain a little more about what I mean by Mind, Body, and Spirit.

Mind is all about keeping your brain healthy. It’s continually learning and using your brain rather than doing menial tasks that require little to no brain power. Your body is at its peak when you are using your brain to solve problems. This is why we are encouraged to never stop learning, keep growing and changing, keep finding new things that make your heart happy and you smile your brightest smile! It’s good! It means you are open and willing to change and become a better person. Always strive for that.

Body is exactly what it sounds like. It’s what your mind and spirit live in, so it is especially important to keep your body healthy. It’s eating healthy, exercising regularly, staying safe and knowing how to protect yourself from outside harm. Remember, when you are sick your mind and spirit aren’t as able to think or feel the spirit. When you are in shape and healthy you feel more energy to do the things you love and to learn more!

Spirit is all about your emotions and your beliefs. It allows us to feel connected and open to generations of people who came before us. Spirit means meditation, continually learning about what you believe in, and just generally practicing your beliefs. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that means that I try to pray to God morning and night, and read my scriptures daily, as well as meditating on a regular basis. Remember, God can only speak to us when we are willing and connected to our spiritual side.

If used effectively, these three aspects will heighten your life and patterns. If your mind is healthy it’s probably a good sign that your body is also in good shape and if you are in shape and your mind is healthy you are better able to practice your spirituality. It all works together as a whole.

So, keep learning and striving for knowledge, spirituality, and health! They all work together to create a happy and healthy life!

Live well,

Claire

Katie 3/11/16 “Treat Yo’self”

Dear reader, I hope you’ve scheduled some personal time for this weekend. If you’re reading this, that is a good sign that your health is important to you (or maybe you just really love me). You’ve made an awesome commitment, and I’m proud of you! Health and wellness is something every person should prioritize, since it dictates our whole life. I’m going to ask you to do yourself a favor this week.

You work hard. Life demands everything from you and sucks your energy away. Hopefully most of that energy goes into things that fill your heart with joy: family and friends, creative projects and talents, fun opportunities. However, you and I both know that rarely happens. By the weekend, we’re spent and ready to relax. What I’m asking is for you to take this precious time and put it into something that will benefit you, instead of vegging on the couch.

Treat yourself! With your precious free time, fill it with what you’ve been wanting to do. Fill it with something that is special and different than your normal routine. Get a massage. Read a good book. Listen to a new album. Paint a room. Ride your bike. I want you to do something that benefits you. I want you to do it at your own pace, too. If you’ve been dying to try out your new car on some backroads, go and speed along without anyone else to tell you to slow down. Maybe you want to break out your easel and paints and disappear for a day--don’t guilt trip yourself into letting the kids into the studio and taking up all your time and creativity. This brief moment in time I want to be all about you.

No, it isn’t selfish. Yes, your kids might whine a bit. Remember that you work hard and that it is not only okay, but necessary to cut out personal time for yourself. It can be very restorative and invigorating. It will pour fulfillment and ease into your life.

You deserve a little get-away. Don’t deny yourself, and don’t waste your energy on worthless and wrongly placed guilt for giving time back to yourself. You’d do the same for people you love, so remember that you love yourself, too, and give this gift.

If we all take a little time on occasion to slow down and work on ourselves, over time we will have more to offer. You’ll finish that great hand-carved kitchen table and enjoy all the people around it. You’ll master a new skill. You’ll feel healthier physically and emotionally and have a better version of yourself to share.

This life is all we have, so we really need to invest in ourselves. If we want to get the most out of our time, energy, and natural gifts, we have to prioritize those great needs. You are so worth it!

Have you called up the masseuse yet? What the heck are you still here for? Go!

Live well,

Katie

P.S. It’s finally been warm enough that I felt confident to get my potted plants into the ground. My mom gave me two blueberries and two grapes (and some other plants that didn’t last the winter) last fall. I have the crazy, burning gardening itch to play in the dirt (if you haven’t noticed) and gleefully dug some holes in my lawn for my little plants.

First, I pruned them up on a sunny afternoon. The grapes had some dead shoots and the blueberries needed a little bit of growing guidance as well. They look ready to take off now! They even budded out dramatically just a few days after the prune. Healthy cuts direct the plant’s energy into productivity.

I got those babies into their holes and covered them with woodchips. They look so happy to be planted! I want to train my grapes to go up and get some wire fence or something that they can grow on, so I zip tied them in the general direction I need them to go.

On April 1st, I get to plant my early seeds! It’s less than a month away, people! I can hardly stand to wait. I’m excited to enjoy my garden and share my learning process with you. Until next time!

Claire 3/4/2016 “Why Yoga?”

Hey all! 

It feels like forever since I wrote a blog post (I know, it’s only been a couple weeks)! Well, I’ve known for a few weeks that I wanted to write about Yoga, because it’s an important part of my routine. However, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about exactly. There’s just so much about Yoga! Most of it I’ve learned through personal research and by looking up videos on Youtube. Recently, however, I joined this online community called Zenward. This is an online Yoga community focused on providing Yoga routines for Yogis from Beginning to Advanced. I absolutely love it, because our instructors could be from anywhere in the world, and I can do one routine over and over until I get it! Plus, I don’t have to go anywhere to exercise, all I need is my computer and the internet.

However, today when I went to do Yoga, I couldn’t get through the first five minutes of a ten minute flow that I’ve done half a dozen times. I couldn’t figure out why. Sure, I haven’t done Yoga for a couple weeks, but could I really be out of shape already?

For those of you who exercise regularly, you know that the answer is yes, but it’s probably not that simple of an answer either. There could be any number of reasons:

• Not enough sleep
• Not eating enough/well enough
• Not drinking enough water
• The shot I got in my arm yesterday which is still hurting after a day
• And it could even be as simple as motivation

It's hard to tell, but this is Warrior Pose. I don't have my arms
up just because I was in between poses.

That is why it’s SO important to stay on top of your workout routines. Not only that, but to also stay healthy, eat healthy, drink healthy. Really, it’s all about making everything in your body work harmoniously so that you can be in the best shape possible!

This is really hard on me. I was always a healthy kid, but my family wasn’t big on the whole exercise thing, and we did splurge and eat candy and other foods that aren’t the best for our bodies on occasion. This isn’t bad necessarily, it just didn’t teach me healthy habits. I’ve had to learn to create my own healthy habits as an adult, which hasn’t been easy on me. And I’m still learning!

Yoga helps me to realize how each part creates the whole. If one thing is out of whack, everything else will be too, and Yoga understands this. I don’t want to just practice Yoga when I’m on the mat, but I want to practice Yoga in all aspects of my life! And I want to have fun with it while I’m at it! Oh hey, look at that! I AM having fun!

I hope that you will consider these things when you are deciding how to be healthier. And remember, Yoga isn’t just a way to exercise: It’s a way of Life!

Namaste,

Claire

Katie 2/12/16 “Let’s Talk About Love”

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, let’s talk about love. It’s the defining force of our existence, for it was in love that we were created, by love that we are saved, and through love that we are perfected. It drives each and every one of us. The more love we feel, the happier we are.

The most important thing in our lives are our relationships. At the end of the day, all we want are family and friends who are supportive to us. We spend a lifetime cultivating them. Some come easily, naturally, effortlessly. Others are a hard won battle. Hopefully it doesn’t take a lifetime to learn how to discern between poisonous relationships and tough ones.

Valentine’s Day is all about lovers, but what about our relationship with ourself? Don’t we deserve to feel love for ourselves the same way we do for others? I want you to go deep today, and really think about yourself. Set some time aside today for yourself and use it to reflect and assess how you’re doing. Now that you’re ready, please proceed.

I think we all know that self-love is where our joy comes from. When self-love is deeply established in your heart, you shall never want for love. A lot of people think of love in a backwards direction. They think that if someone loves them, that it will open their heart and heal all their ills. This is a false, limiting belief.

Love and marriage do not heal or correct. It's not a magic spell that fixes all our ills. Those exist just as before. Love has no power to change us or our life like a light turned on with a switch. If you're unhappy and have problems now, they will persist if left alone. Happy relationships are a great tool for the healing process, but not a cure-all. This is why divorce happens. People expect love to fix them and live happily ever after. We must first master self-love.

It’s one thing to know this, and another to feel love for yourself. Life can be hella hard, and kick your teeth in and leave you bleeding and alone. The things that happen in life can bury the love we are born with. If you are reading this and think you’re not worth loving, that you can’t ever forgive yourself for your past, or that you’re beyond reach, I want you to know that you’re deceived in these feelings. We are all beings of light and love. We’re Heavenly Father’s children. You have a divine birthright, and are not only worthy of love, but have an eternal spring of it within you.

When you’re having a bad day, smile at a stranger. Think of someone you care about and do something kind for them. This could be as simple as emailing a friend, making your family’s beds, taking your neighbor’s trash bin to the corner for them, or helping a senior bag up her groceries. One of the best ways to build self-worth is to serve. You have capable, helping hands. You can bring light and love to someone, and that’s truly amazing.

As children, we are sometimes shamed for our behavior. It’s not always done in spite, but it still affects us. We carry that shame forever if we don’t do something about it. Think of little children. They are innocent and pure. When they make mistakes, it’s not because they did it to hurt someone. It’s not on purpose. They’re too young to know any better. The same is true of you. When you were punished as a young child, you didn’t know, either. Go back in your heart and mind and rewrite the way you were spoken to. Change the words from a harsh, crushing punishment to words that uplift and heal and guide. Replace all the bad with good. Speak to yourself in your mind the way you would speak to a sweet child, desperate to learn and to please. You would use loving words. You would uplift. You still need that as an adult. More than need, you deserve it. As we rewrite our past, we begin to write a better future.

If there are things you feel regret for, do this same exercise. Forgive yourself and know that the person you are now is a much better, stronger person. Life is not for perfect choices. It’s designed for us to make mistakes and learn from them. We are still very much like children. This is the only life we’ve lived, and we’re going to mess it up the first time! God knew we would sin, that is why he made a plan for us. Just as Christ’s Atonement is infinite, it can cover our finite weaknesses. If the Lord with His strict justice can forgive you, and He does, so can you. Listen to your Father and trust His love. His perfect Son delivers you from the memory of your sins. You don’t have to be harrowed up by them anymore. It’s time to move on and progress.

Thanks for reading, and know Claire and I love you! Now scoot your butt off to a quiet, meditative space and start the process of renewing, invigorating, or beginning your self-love. You’re so worth it!

Live well,

Katie

P.S. Some good literature on the subject of healing past feelings is as follows:

Feelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol S. Truman

Healing Feelings From the Heart by Karol S. Truman

Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson