Wednesday 30 September 2015

5 Techniques For Empaths To Prevent Depression And Anxiety

Being an empath means you’re at greater risk of feeling all the negative energy of the people around you. This can lead anyone down a path of anxiety and depression. Empathic people are especially susceptible to it. So what can we do to avoid depression and anxiety?

1. Don’t be afraid to ask for support.

If you’ve been around a bunch of negativity all day, don’t be afraid to ask some upbeat friends to take you to your favorite bar or go with you on your favorite hiking trail. There’s no fault in asking people to help lift that mood up.

2. Keep your space pleasant.

When you go out into the world, it can really damage your internal self. For that reason, you should keep your home space exactly as you like it. Clearing clutter and keeping a clean home an help reduce stress when you’re in your sacred space.

3. Talk about your feelings.

Much like asking your friends to support you, you can talk about your feelings with people. You can also talk about them with yourself. “When I get mad, what am I trying to show myself?” What could you be missing? What are you not getting enough of? Don’t be afraid to hash out your feelings.

4. Be cathartic.

Catharsis is the expression of strong emotions to relieve psychological issues. Doing so can help you relieve some stress and de-depress yourself. So have at it. Yell it out. Get a punching bag and knock it around. Have a cry. Let it all out.

5. Be active.

Feeling rough? A little anxious? Walk it off! Lift some weights. Go for a hike. Keep yourself active. Not only will you be healthier for it, but you’ll feel better too. Plus it’s a great way to break out of day to day monotony.

10 Reasons Why Done Is Better Than Perfect

10 Reasons Done Is Better Than Perfect
“Do not plan for ventures before finishing what’s at hand.” Euripides
Anyone who is assigned a project, has a creative passion, or runs a business knows the struggle that is actually finishing what you’re working on. You know how easy it is to spend several long days followed by late nights on a project, and still not feel totally satisfied.
The reason for this is because you are chasing an idea of perfection that cannot be reached. At first, this feels like the well-placed desire to create something of quality, but when the project doesn’t end up representing your initial inspiration it’s easy to feel disappointed and demotivated.
However, when you try to live by the phrase ‘done is better than perfect,’ you will learn more than just how to finish your projects, but also discover several other virtues that will be crucial to your success in anything you do.
Below are 10 reasons why done is better than perfect:
  1. Self-Respect
The worst thing about not finishing the projects you start is that you will slowly stop expecting yourself to finish things after you begin them. This not only leads to a lack of overall results and output, but also a lack of faith in yourself to follow through with what you say you’re going to do.
You’re only as good as your word, right?
  1. Positive Momentum
You can accomplish more than you ever imagined possible, when you have the strong breeze of positive momentum at your back. Each project you accomplish creates a positive momentum that will make everything that comes after easier, faster, and better.
This is why many authors say the second book is easier than the first, and before long they have a list of best-sellers.
  1. Publish For Feedback
If you start looking at your projects as experiments designed to gather feedback, you will no longer fear criticism. Everything you publish is only a draft, and you know that whatever comes of it will serve to make the next iteration better.
This is how the pros do more and get better each time.
  1. Nothing Is Perfect
In your mind you have an idea of the perfect end result of what you’re working on. Usually, it’s based on the first spark of inspiration that motivated you to start the project to begin with. But the truth is, you can never reach this idea of perfection, because it doesn’t actually exist.
Art itself is never perfect, but the rendering always implies perfection. That’s what makes it beautiful and human. And when you learn how to accept and appreciate what is good about what you’ve created, your audience will be able to see it too.
  1. Settling For Mediocrity
At some point you’re going to have to settle for mediocrity. You need to understand that your boss, your audience, and your customers will be seeing your work exactly as it is, and that’s a good thing. Because they they won’t see the faults you see in your own work.
They will experience what you’ve made subjectively, relate to it in their own way, and find qualities to appreciate in it you won’t be able to recognize yourself.
  1. If No One Sees It, It Doesn’t Exist
The struggle of chasing after perfection is the main reason why many of the world’s most talented people never get the recognition they deserve. You could be sitting on a masterpiece all your life, but if you never get it into a beta form and put it out into the world, no one will ever be able to know about it. And what good does that do anyone?
Plus, if you get it to a place where others can experience your work, they may be able to help you get the resources you need to accomplish the full vision you have for your project.
  1. Create A Body Of Work
When you create often enough you will reach an effortless state of output, which will allow you to imbue your projects with an essence of authenticity. And because of this your audience, whoever they happen to be, will feel feel more connected to you as they pour over your body of work.
Plus, you never know which creation will be your best work yet. So, keep putting them out with equal effort and consideration. Then, your audience’s feedback will guide you towards your magnum opus.
  1. The First Version Always Sucks
Just accept it, the first version always sucks. Think about all the platinum selling musicians whose first albums were terrible. And try to imagine all the first drafts of books that went on to be bestsellers.
No one talks about the first drafts, but they are always necessary. The first versions of anything you do will help you refine your work to the place where it will eventually provide massive value and be loved by others.
  1. It’s Time To Move On
When you find yourself drained from working on the same project for far too long, then you know it’s time to end it and move on. Everyone knows that it’s easiest to do the work for anything when you’re inspired to do so. But if you’re still backlogged and working on things that inspired you weeks ago, you don’t leave space for inspiration to strike.
So, set aside some time now, finish the project and move on, because bigger and better things are waiting. And by practicing finishing what you begin, you’ll be able to honor the inspirations that come with completion.
  1. Be Unattached To the Results
The master level of anything you want to do is to always be in the flow of creative output. And the only way to reach this level of flow is to develop the habit of finishing what you start without attachment to the results.
You learn to do the work because you love the process, and eventually you will get the results you desire. But when the results come they won’t phase you, because you know that they’re just inspiration for what comes next.
Let these virtues guide you to success and remember: learning to finish your projects is a muscle. And the only way to build it is to exercise it more often.
So, what are you going to go finish?

Hold on or let go

We are often let down by the most trusted people and loved by the most unexpected ones. Some make us cry for things that we haven’t done, while others ignore our faults and just see our smile. Some leave us when we need them the most, while some stay with us even when ask them to leave. The world is a mixture of people. We just need to know which hand to shake and which hand to hold! After all that’s life, learning to hold on and learning to let go.
~Unknown




When Someone Shows You Who They Are, Believe Them

Quarreling Couple
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~Maya Angelou
I remember first hearing these words in my early twenties. I heard them. I just didn’t follow them. Hence, I brought myself a whole lot of painful lessons and needless suffering because I always wanted to give people a second chance, and a third, and a fourth … You get the picture.
I was the girl who always saw the “potential” in people. The person they “could” be, with a little love and nurturing from yours truly. I considered myself to be one of the most loving, loyal, and big-hearted people out there. And besides, there were very few things I truly wanted that I went after and didn’t get.
I suffered many disappointments and even more heartbreaks because of this, both in friendships and romantic relationships.
I expected people to change just because I thought they should be or feel a certain way. But at that point in my spiritual journey, I hadn’t yet learned that everyone is on their own path, and sometimes their soul just isn’t in alignment with yours.
When I fell for some guy and had it made up in my mind that he was “it,” I made a lot of excuses for his behavior, which was never in alignment with what I was looking for. Well-meaning friends would warn me in the beginning: “He doesn’t sound like a good match for you. His behavior seems a little sketchy.” Did I listen?
No. My ego was way too big. Sure, I saw the behavior. I even saw the red flags. But I thought I was “different.” I was so special that I felt I could change that person… just by being wonderful, amazing me.
NOTE TO SELF: When people show you who they are, believe them the first time!
I married someone after seeing all the red flags in the very beginning. Behavior that didn’t add up to what I was being told, behavior in past relationships that was not filled with integrity. But there was so much about him that was good and pure, and the love and passion we had for each other was real and intense.
I truly believed that people could change. And they can. But more importantly I believed I was different, and that behavior would never exist again now that he was with me.
It should be no surprise that the marriage ended and was the most devastating and painful loss of my life. But that was the moment I started to live by Maya Angelou’s mantra.
The dating world after divorce is a lot of things—exciting, fun, scary, sometimes horrible, but most of all, a test. How much have you learned from your previous relationships? And what are you going to do differently this time around?
For me, I learned a lot, but I have blind spots. And comfort zones I fall into. I keep gravitating toward men that feel “like home,” except that home never made me feel good or secure in it and it was definitely a place I shouldn’t consider settling in long term.
Some warning signs I’ve finally learned to look for and walk away from:
  • Lack of commitment to anything especially in relationships
  • Not a great communicator
  • Not being emotive with feelings
  • History of cheating in past relationships
  • Always looking for the “next best thing”
These are my red flags. Someone else’s may be completely different. But they are things I know just won’t work for me and will eventually lead to heartbreak.
What I tell friends when I see them falling into the same trap I often do is to ask themselves some key questions and to be rigorously honest:
  • Is this person someone who embodies all the things that are important to you, or are you convincing yourself that you can change them? You can never change someone. Walk away.
  • Are you attracting the same type of person you always do (the one who never works out for you and always leads to heartbreak)? If so, walk away.
  • Does this person have all of the things that are on your “Essentials” List? Those are the things that are your “must haves” and are non-negotiable. For me, those are trustworthy, spiritual, a great communicator, and someone who is affectionate, loving, and expressive with their emotions. If this person doesn’t have your essentials, walk away.
The best advice I got just this week was from a friend who knows my journey well. He said“You know what. Just recognize that you are finally learning what your heart truly wants and moving closer to that every day. You’re walking away from people who aren’t in alignment with your core values anymore.”
So yes, I’m learning. And I still have a ways to go. But I trust that the right one, the one who steals my heart for good, will show me how amazing he is for me…. the first time.
Quarreling couple image via Shutterstock

Tuesday 29 September 2015

15 Mind-Altering, Crazy Facts About Life

15 Mind-Altering, Crazy Facts About Life
Strangely enough, being humbled is an empowering experience.
When you truly come to see how small, insignificant, and not-the-center-of-the-universe you are, your mind cracks open and your ego retreats like a worm back into its hole. Suddenly, something breathtaking shifts and changes within you, and you go from perceiving life through the limited “me” perspective, to the expanded “we” perspective.
If you want to experience what it’s like to be humbled, read through the following mind-altering crazy facts about life.

15 Crazy Facts About Life (That Will Shift Your Perspective)

I love anything and everything that broadens the mind and reveals just how small, yet infinitely expansive and interconnected we all are. We go about our lives constantly stuck in narrow, self-centric patterns of living often failing to remember just how minuscule and inconsequential our problems are in the "greater scheme of things." Of course, this is not to say that we don’t suffer or that we shouldn’t try to better our lives; just that life is more enjoyable when we're aware of the myopic, restricted perception of life the ego creates.
If anything, these absurd, awe-inspiring, crazy facts about life below will show you just how intricate, layered and interrelated all of life is, and the amazing role youplay in this huge cosmic dance. These discoveries will also show you just how much you're truly “unaware” of, and how amazing you truly are:

1. We are made up of around 7 octillion atoms.

Crazy Facts About Life Number 1
BY MIT SENSEABLE CITY LAB
That’s 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or seven billion billion billion miniscule particles. (Source.)

2. We are literally stardust.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 2 by scienceing.tumblr.com
BY SCIENCEING.TUMBLR.COM
Your body and nearly everything on earth is composed of the residue formed from the cataclysmic explosion of star matter that occurred 13.7 billion years ago.

3. We are 99% empty space.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 3 by blog.russellborne.com
BY BLOG.RUSSELLBORNE.COM
We are made up of atoms, and only 1% of an atom consists of protons, neutrons and electrons. The other 99% is empty space. In fact, if you were to take away the empty space of every human being on the planet, we would all fit into a sugar cube! (Source.)

4. Our unconscious (not conscious) mind is running the show.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 4 by myskinnybones.tumblr.com
BY MYSKINNYBONES.TUMBLR.COM
The unconscious mind has been proven to make decisions before we consciously decide anything. This causes us to wonder, if you and I are not consciously responsible for making our decisions … who or what is? And where exactly are our thoughts and choices coming from? (Source.)

5. You only use 10% of your brain. The other 90% is unconscious.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 4 by reddit.com
BY REDDIT.COM
You are only aware of a tiny percentage of what is going on inside of your mind. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud compared this to an iceberg: only the tip of the iceberg can be seen above water, but below the water looms the rest. Professor of medicine Dr Bruce Lipton compared the mind to a computer: our unconscious mind operates at 40 million bits of data per second, whereas our conscious mind only operates at 40 bits per second. (Source.)

6. Most of the universe is invisible.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 6 by hateplow.tumblr.com
BY HATEPLOW.TUMBLR.COM
27% of the mass of the universe is dark matter, and 68% of the mass of the universe is dark energy. Both dark energy and dark matter are invisible. Only 5% of the universe is normal, observable matter. (Source.)

7. You were once a tiny sperm that triumphed over 250 million other sperms.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 7 by okkultmotionpictures.tumblr.com
BY OKKULTMOTIONPICTURES.TUMBLR.COM
“Congratulations! You were the sperm that impregnated your mother!” – said no one ever. But if you think about it … your existence is pretty astounding. You literally won the race of survival and triumphed over millions, even billions of other sperm cells. (Source.)

8. We barely know anything about the ocean.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 8 by thegoodfilms.com
BY THEGOODFILMS.COM
Only 10% of the ocean has been explored … imagine what shocks, oddities, and wonders the other 90% holds! (Source.)

9. Every 5 seconds …

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 9 by messedandfked.tumblr.com
BY MESSEDANDFKED.TUMBLR.COM
500,000 chemical reactions have occurred in every single cell of your body; 1.5 million people die of starvation; 10,056 pounds of edible food is thrown away in America; the average person in the world makes $0.01; the universe has expanded about 46 miles. (Source.)

10. Time is an unsolvable mystery.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 9 by liquidatomicgonads.tumblr.com
BY LIQUIDATOMICGONADS.TUMBLR.COM
No one can definitively prove when time was created or when it will end. Many people believe that time is a construct of the human mind and is therefore an illusion. (Source.)

11. The universe probably has no end.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 11 by reddit.com
BY REDDIT.COM
Plus,it is expanding rapidly as we speak. NASA scientists confirm that the universe is probably infinite. (Source.)

12. There are most likely thousands of “alien” civilizations out there that we know nothing about.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 12 by louloupandipanda.tumblr.com
BY LOULOUPANDIPANDA.TUMBLR.COM
The odds for intelligent life existing “out there” in space are overwhelming. The universe contains billions of galaxies – and we inhabit just ONE galaxy – therefore, it is extremely likely that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of alien civilizations out there that we know absolutely nothing about. (Source.)

13. According to quantum theory, there is no past, present or future.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 13 by tumblr.com
BY TUMBLR.COM
Instead, everything – past, present and future – is occurring simultaneously right now. Also, did you know that according to quantum theory, particles can be in two places at once? (Source.)

14. Our consciousness creates reality.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 14 by thinkinwhite.tumblr.com
BY THINKINWHITE.TUMBLR.COM
Numerous scientists and physicists alike have demonstrated that we create reality. In other words, the universe only becomes real when we “look” at it. (Source.)

15. We are all clinging to the surface of a giant rock that is hurtling through space around a massive ball of fire … and we’re still alive.

Crazy Facts About Life Picture 15 by natgeo-gifs.tumblr.com
BY NATGEO-GIFS.TUMBLR.COM
If that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.
You're welcome to share your own humbling and crazy facts about life below! I wish I could include all the fascinating, mind-blowing, and awe-inspiring discoveries about life here … but I would literally be writing this article for the rest of my life (and the rest of time ... if that even exists).
Photo by: Ludovico Cera
 by  

Strawberry-Rhubarb Chia Parfait

'Tis the season for rhubarb! This tart plant is usually used as a fruit, but actually qualifies as a vegetable. Rhubarb is a perennial, which means it grows year after year. This makes it easy to find and maintain in backyards. When harvesting rhubarb, remember the redder the stalk, the sweeter the taste. Also, the leaves are poisonous, so be sure to chop them off and discard!
This Strawberry-Rhubarb Chia Seed Parfait makes a perfect breakfast, dessert or snack, and is a great way to incorporate rhubarb into your diet.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Chia Parfait
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
  • 2/3 cup chia seeds
  • 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tablespoon raw honey
  • 2 cups rhubarb (diced)
  • 3 cups strawberries (diced)
Preparation
1. Combine the chia seeds, almond milk and honey together in a bowl and mix well until all clumps are dissolved. Cover and let sit in the fridge for 4 hours or until thickened.
2. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Place the rhubarb and strawberries together in a glass baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
3. To make parfaits, set out mason jars (we use size 250mL). Layer in chia pudding and use a slotted spoon to add the strawberry rhubarb mix. Repeat to create layers. Enjoy right away or store in the fridge up to 4 days. Enjoy!
Photo courtesy of the author