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!
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!
Smile to improve your health!
June is National Smile month. Smiling and laughing so many benefits that support you on mental, emotional, physical and social levels. Here are 8 reasons to smile as much as possible!
- Smiling activates brain chemistry that boosts your mood! When you smile your brain releases dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin – all of which are feel good molecules that increase your feelings of happiness. Regardless of how you feel, smiling boosts your mood and increases positive thoughts!
- Reduce your stress with a smile! Studies have shown that smiling decreases cortisol (stress hormone) production which lowers your stress levels. Smiling also decreases feelings of anxiety and depression.
- Did you know that smiling boosts your immune system? One study showed that smiling and laughing actually increased the number of infection-fighting antibodies and immune cells. So give your immune system a boost with a good belly laugh!
- Smiling decreases your pain! The endorphins released by smiling and laughing actually reduce your feeling of pain. Which means laughter really is one of the best medicines!
- Lower your blood pressure with a smile! Studies have shown that laughing can briefly increase your heart rate followed immediately by a slower heart rate and decreased blood pressure. Even small amounts of laughing can help reduce your risk of heart disease!
- Did you know that smiling makes you look younger? One study showed that subjects who were smiling were rated as looking younger than the same person with a neutral or angry expression. Be sure to smile to embrace a youthful appearance!
- Smiling can help you have better relationships! People who smile often are described as more likeable and positive, which leads to better relationships and improves overall well-being.
- Would you like to be more attractive? Smiling makes you appear more attractive to others. Multiple research studies have found that people who are smiling are rated as more attractive.
No matter how you feel, you are only one smile away from having a better day! Anytime you are looking for a quick “pick me up,” turn on a funny video or do something else that gets you smiling and laughing!
Benefits of Grounding
Grounding is GREAT!
Getting into nature is so relaxing and balancing. Nature is the ultimate stress reducer! Grounding, sometimes called earthing is simple – it is getting your skin to touch the ground. You can do this by walking barefoot, laying on the ground, wading in shallow water, hugging a tree, gardening and getting bare hands into the dirt. If you ever done these things, you have probably noticed how much the help you chill out and relax. But if you’re like me, you have probably wondered how it works! So here is a short explanation – We are bioelectrical beings living on an electrical planet. Your body operates electrically. All of your cells transmit multiple frequencies that run, for example, your heart, immune system, muscles, and nervous system. The act of grounding is absorbing electrons from the earth and releasing excess protons into mother earth.
The benefits of grounding are amazing! Grounding is the most effective and quickest acting stress reduction technique I have ever found because it supports our mental, physical and emotional health! It benefits many body functions and has the following effects:
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- Reduces inflammation
- Decreases chronic fatigue & chronic pain
- Boosts mood, reduces anxiety & depression
- Reduces stress levels by normalizing stress hormone levels (cortisol)
- Improves sleep quality
- Supports cardiovascular health: reduces blood pressure, improves circulation
- Balances hormones & blood sugar; regulates metabolism
- Improves memory & focus
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Of course getting into nature is the best possible way to ground, but sometimes that’s not available to us, like if you live in a crowded metropolitan area with very little grass or it is the dead of winter and there is snow on the ground. Thankfully there are some grounding tools you can use in these times, which include grounding pads, mats, and blankets. This winter I purchased an Earthing Elite Mattress Cover Kit and have been absolutely loving it! I immediately noticed a dramatic increase in my sleep quality. According to my smart watch, I get a lot more REM & deep sleep now that I have the grounding pad!
Go outside and check it out for yourself today!
Walking Meditation
Quick How to Guide for Walking Meditation
Most people think that meditation means sitting quietly, but meditation can also be an active process! My favorite type of meditation is WALKING MEDITATION! Walking meditations help you slow down and really enjoy the beauty that constantly surrounds us! This is especially great because it helps you squeeze mindfulness and movement into your busy schedule at one time!
The process is quick, simple and easy, try out this 10 minute walking meditation:
1. Ground yourself – Walk slowly and connect to feelings of your legs and your feet on the ground. Feel the sensation of your heel as it touches the ground, the base and arch of your foot, and finally the toes. Notice what it feels like to lift your foot and the muscles in your legs. Focusing on these sensations grounds you and helps you be present in your body at this moment.
2. Gratitude – Remember that walking is a luxury that not everyone has. Take a moment to show appreciation for your legs and feet and feel gratitude for the ability to walk. Thank your legs for the daily service to get you to where you want to go!
3. As you walk, pay attention to your senses, one at a time:
(1) the feeling of your body walking, the feeling of your breath going in and out of your lungs, the feeling of wind and temperature on your skin
(3) any smells in the air or plants around you
(4) the taste of the air or anything in your mouth
(5) what you can hear
(6) what you can see
4. Focus on all of your senses at once and pause to thank your amazing body. Remember to smile and be grateful for the time you took for yourself today!
3 Minute Guided Meditation
Take yourself on a 3 minute relaxing journey.
New Year, New You Mini Challenge Day 3: Meditation and Gratitude
Click here for a 3 minute guided meditation from You be You!
Is recommitting to health one of your goals for 2020? Then join this FREE 5 day mini challenge!
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– Meal planning made easy and why breakfast is so important
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