Ways to Live a Healthy Soulful Inspired Life
Welcome to Wellness Wednesdays where we will be sharing tips, real life stories, ideas, and inspiration. A Beautifully Curated Life is on mission to be a collaborative force inspiring strength, clarity & creativity for a healthy soulful life. We’re launching Wellness Wednesdays today! Our goal is to help you put wellness into action in your life in big & small ways. We believe that adding the good and letting go of what doesn’t work makes life better.
During my wellness journey, surviving breast cancer and during this season of pandemic; there have been so many lessons. Some reiterated. Yet, I felt more than anything, well prepared to deal with the uncertainties because of what I had learned in this process. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2018, we were en route to becoming foster/adoptive parents. I was diagnosed early but the treatment was radical because of a family history. After losing my mom and aunt to breast cancer; I was no stranger to the process.
Finding Clarity & Letting Go
I was so thankful to be surrounded in faith and supportive friends and family. My faith certainly grew stronger in this time. I leaned into it and let go of control in many ways; got grounded and clear in others. I knew that in order to get through it I had to let go of many things, and create space for what it was that truly mattered. I had big decisions to make. That process was more about actions and inaction; conscious choices and using my faith, my heart and mind/voice to make clear what I wanted and needed.
I wanted to live. I wanted to live abundantly and boldly and I knew deep in my soul that there was something more for me than this.
Caroline Morey
Carving out time for prayer and meditation was such vital part of calming my mind.
Someone shared along the way that fear is of the mind and love is of the heart. Where there is love, love will cast out fear. It’s not always perfectly clear but if you trust, and focus, it makes a difference. It also frees you to move through your life.
Christine Caine who is one of my favorite pastors and speakers, said that
“If God brought you to it, he’ll bring you through it.”
Christine Caine
I remembered this and I knew that there was some lesson to be had from this strange, scary time in life, I would keep moving though it and pay attention to the lessons. I feel like many of us are living in strange times with such uncertainty. But, I trusted then, and I trust now that He’s got a plan for me and for you.
Choices: So, what I did was make space for all the good and made a conscious choice to be a survivor.
It wasn’t so much about the fight but it was about listening to my body. Slowing down, making space for prayer and meditation and then doing what I needed to do. Maybe it was one thing on my list. Maybe it was 3. I found 3 was indeed a good number. Cross those to do’s off my list! I felt accomplished and I still felt like I was able to take care of myself in the process.
Get Grounded
Grounding: Getting my feet in the sand and sitting watching waves is one of the most grounding things ever. If you can’t yourself to the ocean…a video is a darn near close second. Hey, it’s not perfect but it’s something. We’ll share a few of our fave wave video clips….so you can enjoy.
Create Routines You Love & Can Repeat
What routines can you do better? Sleep. I thought that’s easy. It’s not always but I made it a focus. Getting more of it really made the difference. I committed to it unabashedly. I even began napping. My body felt better. Decisions seemed clearer. I was more resolute and it created momentum. Sleep still requires commitment on getting in bed a little earlier, but it’s such a little/big game changer.
Searched online for “easy fast organic whole food smoothies”. Found some and ordered them. Wow! So easy. I added raw organic frozen smoothies with tons of antioxidants & copied the recipes to make my own. Easy & I felt better. It was part of my shift to move toward more plant based meals moving away from animal products to avoid hormones. I added in coffee with cordyceps and created an amazing iced coffee with natural flavorings. Cut back my coffee overall and enjoyed herbal teas.
Started meal prepping which meant I always had good food on hand. Less eating out. Created a plan to cook 2x per week and it made enough for our family for the week. I filled in gaps with simple things like oats, clean eating bowls, salads or wraps from food I prepped, smoothies and healthy snacks. All the good nutrition helped my strength and that improved my clarity.
Take Breaks
I also found that when I was in the process of getting ready for surgery, a million and one doctor visits and fielding calls, researching my nearly minted doctorate in learning about cancer care (or at least that was what it felt like). Did I tell you about the time I went to Newport Beach Library and I already hat probably 25+ books out trying to learn all I can and I asked if I’m my limit? The librarian said, “oh, no! you’ve got all the way to 50!” But I digress. Sometimes more isn’t more it’s just noise. Take breaks. Don’t feel guilty. You will be amazed at how it changes the landscape.
Do less. It might sound counter intuitive.
You will find a way and sometimes consciously choosing to do less is one of the best things you can do. It helps you find sanity and with that there’s calm. Calmness helps you find your strength. I’m someone who has always been triple type A and never needed a break, but it wasn’t serving me. So I learned to make space to take breaks. I meditated more. And you know what? I not only felt better but I got more done. Hmmmmm.
I also was NOT a meditation/yogi kind of a girl. But I needed something and sure enough I stumbled across Simple Habit and it was kinda cool This little app in my back pocket and there were some super cool and friendly meditation teachers who sounded like kinda normal, real folks. And it got my attention. And I found in the midst of the chaos that is cancer, I was feeling better. Better than I’ve felt in a long time.
Meditation was kind of amazing. How come no one had shared this?
If you’re not sure where to start, check out Simple Habit. I have a link for a 30 day free trial. If you want to check it out.
Cory Muscara is one of my faves. You can also find him on Practicing Human which is a pretty great podcast. I’m not an affiliate and they don’t pay me a thing. I love the ap and I hope you find it a cool starting point to explore.
You are so resilient. #bravebeyondmeasure I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes:
“On particularly rough days when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100%, and that’s pretty good.”
Unknown
Have a beautiful Wellness Wednesday! Check out our resources page to get the Waves of Wellness & Wonder Checklist coming soon! If you’d like to learn more, hop on over to the podcast or check us out on instagram: www.instagram.com/carolineand.co
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