Quick Self Awareness Exercise to Increase Happiness & Satisfaction
We spend too much of our lives living on autopilot, we are not consciously aware of our thoughts, emotions, and actions – they just seem to happen sometimes. We spend up to 95% of our lives in autopilot mode so the vast majority of our thoughts are not conscious. Unfortunately that means that most of our thoughts go unchecked and that’s where our limiting beliefs can negatively impact us. These thoughts are often insidious – the ones that are telling us we are not enough, the thoughts that are judging others and picking situations apart.
The best way to reduce the unchecked thoughts and limiting beliefs is by bringing conscious awareness back to our day. When we have awareness of our thoughts and emotions we can start to work on changing them to be more positive words and releasing our limiting beliefs. The best way to bring awareness back to our day is to notice what we’re noticing. Here’s an exercise that really helps with that!
“Notice what You’re Noticing”
Pause for 1 minute to ask & jot down answers:
What am I thinking about right now?
What am I feeling right now?
This is a quick exercise you can do a few times a day that dramatically increases your self awareness around your thoughts and emotions. There are a few ways to remember to do this exercise, and my favorite is to set a phone alarm to go off randomly throughout the day. When the alarm goes off, I take 1 minute to do this exercise. Another great time to do this is when you wash your hands and look in the mirror because this is a great time to check in with yourself!
Ask these questions with open hearted curiosity and without judging yourself where you are. Remember to show yourself some grace! This is a practice of self awareness and even the most self aware people will still find themselves experiencing negative thoughts and emotions. So any time you find yourself thinking or feeling something you don’t want to, instead of being upset with yourself that you’re feeling those things, take a deep breath! Thank yourself for noticing that you’re in a place where you don’t want to be and intentionally shift your focus to the thoughts and emotions that you do want to have. If you get upset with yourself, that is negative reinforcement, which only creates a situation that makes you want to stop doing the exercise. If you kindly thank yourself for noticing when you’re out of alignment, it is positive reinforcement to continue this journey of increasing your self awareness.
This simple exercise helps us increase our self awareness which helps us shift our mindset to be more positive, allows us to be more present, and increases happiness and satisfaction with life!
Self awareness journey has no destination so remember to enjoy the ride! And if you find yourself in need of more support around self awareness, thoughts, emotions, or limiting beliefs, feel free to reach out to Kitty for support (here is a link to a 30 minute complimentary discovery call)!
Gratitude is Great for Mental Fitness!
Practicing gratitude in your day to day is a great way to bring more happiness into your life. This simple act of changing your perspective can have profound effects on your mental health, physical health and can bring more positivity into your world. Make it a point to be aware of how you are reacting to situations and look at things from a new perspective. You would be surprised at all of the amazing ways practicing gratitude can impact your life. Check out our list below for how gratitude improves your life:
- Gratitude increases mental strength: Studies have shown that practicing gratitude can have profound effects on those who have experienced trauma. Gratitude can really help build resilience to better help your brain cope with stressors.
- Gratitude improves self-esteem: Those who are grateful are able to really appreciate and be happy for others accomplishments. These types of people don’t play the comparison game or feel resentment towards or jealousy.
- Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression: Grateful people overall experience more positivity and are less likely to retaliate against others and have fewer tendencies to seek revenge or cause harm.
- Grateful people sleep better: Those that spend even 15 minutes a day reflecting on why they are grateful can get a better night’s rest than those who don’t practice gratitude.
- Gratitude improves psychological health: Studies have shown that gratitude reduces many toxic emotions such as jealousy and frustration. There is a link between gratitude increasing happiness and overall well being.
- Gratitude opens the door to more relationships: When you practice gratitude you’ll have a more positive outlook overall and an energetic personality that others will be drawn to. Your openness will help create new connections and other people will want to be around your energy more.
- Gratitude improves physical health: Practice gratitude overall has great health benefits. You’ll experience lower stress levels, and fewer aches and pains. Grateful people are more likely to take care of their health, exercise, and eat healthy meals.
Practicing gratitude has so many amazing benefits. When practicing gratitude you’ll be more open minded, overall healthier and will attract great things into your life!
Hacks to building healthy habits!
Starting a new healthy habit can be challenging! It’s common that we let our desires for the results lure us into biting off more than we can chew. New Year’s resolutions are a perfect example. We want to lose 30 pounds so we start January 2nd off running 5 miles, stopping eating sugar and eating kale with every meal. Those are all huge goals compiled into one day and so it’s easy to get discouraged and quit.
Thankfully there are many simple ways that you can implement a habit that will stick! Here are some great tips that will help you create a sustainable habit.
- Start small and focus on one thing at a time: The best way to build a habit is by committing to smaller goals and increasing as things get easier. By setting smaller goals and achieving them, we will be more encouraged to succeed! Take your end result and break it down into bite size chunks to create milestones. Choose only one milestone as your goal to focus on at any given time. I know it can be tempting to add more, however that can easily burn you out. By choosing one and only one milestone goal to focus on each month, it is easy to turn it into a habit that we can sustain long term. Once you have got it down, then add another goal (ideally adding 1 new goal per month)!
- Make it fun: If you associate a habit with pain, you’ll find reasons not to do it. If you associate it with pleasure, you’re likely to make time for it. Be creative and find ways to make your new habit more enjoyable!
- Plan ahead: Planning exactly when and how you’ll do your habit will go a long way toward making it happen, so be sure to plan in advance. It’s easier to forget to do your habit if it is not planned and scheduled. If you put something on your schedule and commit to it, it’s easier to build this habit. Setting reminders for yourself to ensure you remember can also be helpful.
- Consistency matters more than intensity: Make sure that you’re creating a habit enough times per week that it can become a habit. The consistency of keeping up with the habit week after week is the most important aspect. Do your best not to skip a day, this breaks your habit. If you do skip a day, don’t judge yourself or beat yourself up. Just get back to it tomorrow! Then identify what prevented you from sticking to your plan and work to solve that problem in the future.
Dogs Improve Our Health!
We get so much love and support from dogs! They make the world a better place and teach us the meaning of unconditional love! Today is “Make a Dog’s Day Day” which encourages people to adopt pets from a shelter. If you have been thinking about getting a dog, today is the best day to do it! And if you already have a dog, today is a day to do something special for them to show them extra love!
Here are some benefits we get from dogs:
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- Endorphins from petting: petting can boost serotonin, and other “feel-good” hormones to help boost your mood.
- Unconditional love: Dogs can be there for you even when other people can’t. They love you no matter what type of day you’re having.
- Dogs are good for your heart. There are studies published between 1950-2019 that found dog owners have a lower blood pressure and healthier hearts.
- Dogs can help improve brain health and cognitive function of those with mental illness.
- Service dogs, therapy dogs and emotional support dogs help people with all kinds of disabilities or conditions by performing functional tasks or providing support and companionship.
This is the 3rd annual “Make a Dog’s Day Day” which was invented by Subaru to do something special for the animals that are always there for us. So go to a local shelter and adopt a dog today! Or if you already have a dog, spoil them with something special today!
Getting Organized Improves Your Mental, Physical, and Emotional Health!
Clutter in your house actually causes clutter in your brain and has a huge negative effect on the subconscious mind. Even if the clutter is hidden in a closet or in the garage, it’s still present in your subconscious mind and causes stress. As your clutter piles up so does your list of to-do’s which may be contributing to your overall stress.
Check out the list below for more facts about how clutter can affect you:
- Clutter can cause stress and increased cortisol levels.
- It is a distraction from focus. Clutter is extremely distracting and causes our brains to switch into multitasking mode. Having a lot of clutter will increase the amount of time it takes to complete tasks and will make it much harder for you to focus on tasks.
- Clutter can be energy draining. If you want to feel inspired and have more energy a clean and tidy space will help you feel energized.
Take some time to clear out your space and declutter. You’ll feel amazing afterwards and will continue to reap the benefits from a clean space. Cleaning and organizing your space will significantly decrease stress, you’ll sleep better and will make you feel more calm immediately. So go clean out a closet, drawer or desk right now for an instant feeling of relief and accomplishment!
Body language speaks louder than words!
Body language says a lot about how you feel in a certain situation and tells others a lot about what you are thinking! Body language is controlled subconsciously without us even realizing that we are saying a lot. And because your body language is not conscious, you can be showing different emotions than you intend to be and communicating different messages than your words. These subtle incongruencies are picked up by others and can negatively impact your interactions. If you are looking to change your body language and subconscious feelings, then EVOX can be a great option for you.
EVOX is a biofeedback device that rewires your brain for more success and happiness in your life. It identifies the underlying emotions and core limiting belief patterns holding you back and sends biofeedback providing the exact frequencies needed to release these stuck patterns PERMANENTLY.
EVOX literally gives you a mindset makeover to reprogram your beliefs and move through the things that are holding you back! It is the best course of action to help you transcend the areas where you feel stuck, so you can have better health, fresh perceptions on life and relationships, new peace of mind, increased mental clarity, and more!
This is ideal for people who are stuck in unproductive thoughts, emotions, or behaviors and are ready for their life to improve. These issues are tough to address with conscious thought because they are rooted in the subconscious. The great thing about EVOX is that it helps you improve any subject in your life – whether it’s something that you’re good at and want to improve even more or something you’re feeling stuck around – health, relationships, wealth, communication, career, performance and more!
Reframe your mind and control your subconscious feelings for positive body language. Learn more about EVOX and book here!
September is Self-Improvement Month!
Self-improvement is so important! The most successful people and leaders in the world work on themselves and are always focused on self-improvement. Working on self-improvement helps enhance strengths, improves mental health, and can heal relationships.
Here are a few tips for self-improvement:
- Go for a walk or exercise. Getting some exercise during your day will improve your mental health, and can really improve how you overall show up for yourself and others.
- Meditate. Slowing down with meditation is a great way to improve self-awareness and self-esteem. Lower your stress, anxiety and foster kindness through meditation.
- Read more books. Reading will help keep your brain sharp and improve overall brain health.
- Adjust your diet. Incorporate more fruits and veggies and eliminate processed foods as much as possible. Making small tweaks towards a healthy diet creates big results in your physical and mental/emotional health!
- Schedule a private coaching session with Kitty. If you’re feeling like you need an extra boost, schedule a private coaching session with Kitty can really help you get on the right track!
World Alzheimer’s Day
September 21st is the 10th year anniversary for World Alzheimer’s Day. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, a progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. Currently 5.7 million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease and a new person is diagnosed every 65 seconds.
Raising awareness around Alzheimer’s is important so that people can both understand this disease and take steps towards preventing it. Alzheimer’s is hereditary but there are things that can be done to reduce your risk. Here are some tips on how to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
- Keep blood sugars and weight in check to avoid diabetes. Diabetes is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s so keeping up with a healthy diet and taking medications if you do have diabetes is important.
- Stay cognitively active by reading and learning new things. Brain health and activity can be a great way to stay sharp.
- Get regular physical exercise. A sedentary lifestyle puts you at higher risk of diabetes. Find a fun workout program, take part in group sports such as bowling or join a gym that you love to help you stay active.
- Maintaining a healthy weight will help to avoid obesity and heart disease. Cardiovascular disease has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s so be sure to eat a healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight.
- Eat foods with vitamin C or taking supplements.
- Maintain an active social life. Find a new hobby group to join or social activities to be a part of.
Prosper Where You Are Planted!
September is Prosper Where You Are Planted Month. The saying “prosper where you are planted” means to accept your present situation and to take advantage of all the opportunities around you. That is easier said than done! We often find ourselves resisting the current situation and thinking to ourselves “the future will be better when…” This is a slippery slope that actually prevents us from having what we want. Oftentimes when people are unhappy in life they’re focusing on the negative aspects of their situation. Let’s use this month to rewrite our narratives. Let’s break free from the constraints of waiting for the “perfect” moment and start seeing the potential within each moment. It’s a shift in perspective that empowers us to cultivate a garden of opportunity right where we stand, embracing the gifts that our present situation offers. With practice, we have the power to transform adversity into growth and flourish in even the most unexpected circumstances. Life’s twists and turns might not always lead us down the path we envisioned, but they can lead us towards remarkable personal growth and resilience.
Here are some tips on how you can learn how to thrive and prosper where you are planted!
How to Thrive:
Step 1: Shift your mindset to an attitude of gratitude. Be grateful for everything in your life, even the negative things. When you’re in a tough situation, be grateful for the lessons it’s teaching you and the opportunity to grow. I challenge you to take any negative thing in your life and find 3 positives that have come out of it!
Step 2: Be present! Usually when we’re feeling upset it’s because we’re regretting the past or worrying about the future. Take some deep breaths and realize how amazing it is that you’re alive right now. When you focus on the present moment, most of your negative emotions will just fall away. The easiest way to focus on the present is to focus on your breath as it goes in and out of your nose.
Step 3: Look for opportunities around you. This is often tricky when you’re feeling negative emotions, so get creative! Make a list of 10 opportunities that are available to you right now in the situation you’re working through. It might feel like a stretch to get to 10, but I know you can if you brainstorm! This may involve doing new things, taking risks and getting out of your comfort zone. It may also involve making connections, asking for help and working diligently.
Step 4: Make the most of each day. Don’t let yourself get stuck in procrastination, fear, anxiety or any other negative emotion! Be a positive force in the world by bringing positivity into your life and the lives of others! Brainstorm 5 ways that you take action in the day and get moving on them! They can be little things, like smiling at people on the street as you walk by.
When you focus on these 4 steps, you will bloom in your life and grow into the person you want to become!
I just want to note that this is easier said than done because sometimes it’s hard not to be negative! Our brains are actually conditioned to focus on the negative evolutionarily, because having an eye on the things that are “wrong” in the situation – like a sabertooth tiger on the other side of the field – actually kept you alive. Unfortunately this means that we will naturally tend to focus on and talk about what we don’t like instead of what we do like. Training your brain to focus on the positive can be tricky without guidance. It’s important to show yourself a lot of grace while you’re practicing on improving your mindset. If you are having trouble shifting your mindset or feeling stuck and want some support to prosper in your current circumstances, then check out the EVOX. It’s a biofeedback device that literally rewires your brain for more happiness and success!
To learn more about how Kitty can help you make your lemons in life into lemonade, book a free discovery call.
National Fruit and Veggies Month!
Fruits and veggies are amazing for our health! They help our brains and bodies function optimally. What’s even better is they’re a natural source of energy that increases our performance, focus, concentration, and productivity! It is recommended that everyone eat 5-8 servings of fruits and veggies every day! Sometimes it is hard to consume all of the fruits and veggies that our bodies need each day. Check out our creative tips for getting those servings!
Here are 8 Tips to Increase Your Fruits and Veggies:
- Start with the first meal of the day! Eating fruit for breakfast is an easy way to get in a few servings of healthy foods right away. Plan on eating a serving or two of fruit first thing in the morning.
- Snack on fruits or veggies for extra energy! Did you know that carbohydrates in fruit and veggies are sources of fuel. Combine these with some protein like cheese, yogurt, or peanut butter for an extra boost.
- Use fruit and veggies as ingredients. Some different recipes that you can create with veggies are chili, cauliflower pizza crust.
- Get creative! Try a new fruit or veggie recipe each week. Meal plan and think ahead of time of something new that you could try.
- Smoothies are a great way to consume more fruits and veggies. Combine blueberries, spinach, bananas, and some greek yogurt for a delicious and nutritious drink.
- When making your dinner plate double up on your veggie serving.
- One of my favorite things to do is turn vegetables into noodles! Zucchini noodles are delicious with some pasta sauce on top.
- Prep meals ahead of time so you have a plan to consume more veggies. Make a list of meals for the week that have both fruits and veggies so you can make sure you’re getting the nutrients you need.
If you would like more support in finding ways to add fruits & veggies to your diet to increase your performance and productivity, consider private coaching with Kitty! I can help you create custom action plans to help you implement healthy habits that are tailored specifically to your needs. Learn more about private coaching here!
