I sit here today drinking my morning coffee in a creative space to write. I have been having a really tough time lately with my mental, physical, nutritional, and spiritual health. I recently took a leap of faith to clear up some space and time to start pursuing my health and wellness business. With this change in routine, habits, behaviors, and environment- I have been feeling a lot of friction, fear, anxiety, and most recently imposter syndrome.

There are so many days recently with this change and shift towards pursuing my calling that I let my ego win and I tell myself I will never be good enough, that I will just embarrass myself, and I don't deserve to live the life I always envisioned. Some days I can recognize and break free from my perfectionist mindset, ego, and old thought patterns and belief systems. Other days I can't break free from these negative, self deprecating thought patterns, and I feel "lost."

I am sharing this to let you know you are not alone- if you have felt these feelings one time or another in your life- I have been there too. We all have dark days, and days where our ego and thoughts in our head talk awful to us.

In these dark days- I have recently found great success with implementing mindful practices into my daily routine. I will share the 10 below that have really helped me break through the chains of my old self, and find freedom, happiness, and peace with the person I'm working towards becoming everyday. Some days are better than others, but by implementing these mindful practices- you may find better peace, happiness, balance, and alignment with yourself just like I did!

When I am feeling down it's easy to change into my favorite pair of PJs, fuzzy socks, pour myself a glass of dark red wine, and watch my favorite comfort show (it will always be friends or new girl for me). Although this is not necessarily an awful thing to do in moderation, it's not what your body is craving at the soul level. Our mind, body, and spirit thrives off movement when we are feeling down, but so many of us fail to prioritize movement into our daily routine.

The friction that most people feel when it comes to movement is that most people have not created a daily routine or habit involving movement, which feels foreign and frictional for the brain at first. A person who always turns to their TV and phones when they are down- makes a connection with their brain that being down and getting on their TV/phone will provide comfort.

So instead of craving a healthier habit like movement when a person is feeling down- their brain will relay signals that they don't want to move, or that movement won't help their mood since laying around and watching TV and scrolling through their phone is what the brain has practiced time and time again. The brain thrives and learns off repetition. So it will crave the habits, routines, and behaviors it always does on a daily basis. So don't be surprised if movement is not your first choice or frictional when you first start trying to implement it if you aren't moving very much to begin with.

What most people don't understand is that choosing tv and choosing to scroll on your iPhone over time and for years and years- will create negative deposits on your overall health. If you are always choosing your comfort foods, comfort show, and drinking as your vice to cope with the emotions of a bad day- it will negatively impact your long term health. When we can break free from our old habits, behaviors, and routines, and prioritize movement- your overall well being will improve.

Your brain releases feel good chemicals when you move. So next time you want to reach for your comfort food, that glass of wine, or the remote for your favorite TV show to escape reality- I challenge you to change your thought patterns and prioritize the one thing that has been clinically proven time and time again to improve your mental, spiritual, and physical health- and that is MOVEMENT. I encourage you to move more, move often, and definitely move when you are feeling down.

End each day focusing on the positives. There are 24 hours in one day. Although we have days where it seems like the hours were filled with more negative than positive hours- we are already starting the day with a win, and that is that we are getting up breathing earth air, feeling our hearts beat within our chest walls, and getting another day to live out the human experience. Life is a daily present in itself, but sometimes the emotions and heaviness of a daunting and negative day can make us forget this.

So at the end of each night find a quiet space, a safe place, and a place of comfort where you can internalize your day, and find the good in it. My Fiance has been in my life the last two years, and we always tell each other to "Win the Day" before we leave every morning. Although a lot of days feel like I am losing miserably, if I can only focus on the fact that I was granted an amazing opportunity to live another day living, breathing, and feeling emotions through the human experience- I call that a win.

So I dare you to find the courage to end the day on a win.

The concept of nature in itself is so grounding and humbling to me. A greater power created our galaxy with all the planets that revolve around the sun. Here we are on planet earth having a good time, and given the opportunity to explore and see mother nature from the human perspective. I have recently found so much gratitude in all that nature has to offer after the pandemic. Spending so much time locked up inside, and feeling like I was a prisoner to my house made me grateful for any chance I get to be outside absorbing the rays of the sun, and breathing in the fresh earth air.

Just like the habit of movement telling yourself to get outside in nature will be frictional and hard initially if it is not part of your daily habits and routines to begin with- but the more you start building repetition and prioritizing movement and being outdoors in nature- the better your long term health, and overall wellbeing will be.

I would love to hit the fast forward button to show others how important it is to prioritize movement and getting outside. For me personally- working in the orthopedic clinic setting for the last 4 years has really opened my eyes to what negative deposit habits and behaviors can do for you as you age. So I encourage you to envision the daily habits and behaviors you are currently practicing. Iff you were to hit the fast forward button and jump into the timeline of you being older- like the movie "click" with Adam Sandler would you have regrets with the daily habits/behaviors you are currently practicing- or would you feel proud that you set your aged body up for success?

Boundaries... yikes...

Before I came to the point in my life where I was able to set healthy boundaries, I was full of resentment in others who did. Since I lacked healthy boundaries I was always repulsed or instantly offended by friends, acquaintances, and peers who would say no to me or set healthy boundaries for themselves.

It came with deep internal reflection that I was projecting my own insecurities and lack of my own boundaries onto them. I am not perfect by any means, and still struggle with setting healthy boundaries, and learning to respect other people for their boundaries- but these are vital for your long term health.

Saying no to something or someone that is not filling your cup, and in turn other peoples- is the perfect time to set a healthy boundary. Some of the richest and wealthiest people in the world talk about how money is not their biggest asset. The biggest asset is TIME. When you start looking at your daily activities, habits, behaviors, actions, and who you allow into your life- you will recognize why healthy boundaries are so important.

You don't get time back. If you are spending a lot of your time regretting and resentful for doing things you wish you would have said no to- you will spend a lot of your day feeling negative emotions and feeling drained. Healthy boundaries are a way to ensure your energy and time is being invested in things that truly bring you alignment with your highest, happiest, and healthiest self.

I have recently come to the realization that I spend a lot of my time venting to family members, friends, and my fiancé about things that could easily be shared confidentially in my journal. I have come to the point in my self growth journey that I have recognized that I am a pretty optimistic person, but highly sensitive. As a person who is highly sensitive- it is easy for my feelings to get hurt quickly, and to get easily agitated by others even if I don't always show it.

The old version of myself would react to any situation that disturbed my inner peace by venting out my frustrations and complaining. The new version of myself still does this at times (shout out to my work besties and fiancé)- but I have found such a great release in journaling. Rather than pouring this negative energy onto someone else and being selfish with their time, I have chosen to try to journal about it instead.

I currently work in healthcare. I miserably fail all the time at holding my frustrations in about how I get treated by patients, the roadblocks of the medical system, and so much more. With any fast paced environment (not just healthcare) it's easy to get into a highly reactive and agitated state. However, each day I get better and better at inwardly telling myself that these emotions can be settled by getting outside, by taking deep breaths, and by journaling these thoughts and emotions out at the end of the day. Although the journal doesn't talk back like human interaction- I truly can feel the negative emotions being released and absorbed by the pen and paper.

The above practice of journaling can be used to absorb negative emotions and feelings, but also can be used to absorb positive emotions and feelings of happiness and gratitude.

Physically you can practice gratitude by journaling about it, writing a note, or sharing a gift with a friend to express gratitude. Spiritually you can practice gratitude by prayer. Prayer over what you have, the food that feeds your mouth each day, the roof over your head, and in times of desperation where all you have is faith.

Living in an ego and victim mentality mindset will never make you truly appreciate all that you already have. If you can't express gratitude for all that source has provided you with, you will never see the world through a positive, happy, and abundant lens.

The more time you can spend in gratitude and grace, the the more you truly will appreciate and enjoy all that life has to give you. So practice gratitude DAILY and as often as you can.

If you are allowing someone who disagrees and criticizes you for your vision and calling to be of service to others.. let them go.

Your inner voice is wisdom, your inner voice is light, and your inner voice can be YOU in the highest realm. When you start listening and taking action with your inner voice- you will start to grow in a direction that even YOU may not fully comprehend. Growing into your true self takes time. Steve Jobs didn't create apple overnight, Jay Shetty only talked to a crowd of 5 people before selling out arenas as one of the biggest motivational speakers, and my absolute favorite is that Milton Hershey created Hershey Park before even coming up with the recipe for his Milk Chocolate Hershey Bar.

When you start growing, chasing, and pursuing your higher calling- this can come at the cost of a lot of judgement. Start practicing acceptance with those who do not see your vision. It's okay to stay in a place of respect when they share their views, but do not allow those criticisms and opinions to hold POWER over your vision. Only listen to the criticism and advice from the people who are where you want to be, or going in the direction of where you want to go.

Self care is a great practice on the hard days, and even on the good days. A simple shower after a long, hard, and hectic day can be calming, relaxing, and help improve your mood.

If you are in a place of burnout, and the thought of showering feels exhausting- find it within yourself to shower so that you can relax the mind, body, and spirit. A simple shower can hit the reset button for you.

We spend so much time as a collective of humans reacting to other peoples behaviors and actions, I feel like we avoid looking internally and doing personal inventory with ourselves. I was victim to the blame game for years and years. If someone hurt my feelings, a friendship ended, or I had a bad breakup- I refused to look internally. Looking back on this- I regret it deeply.

No matter what experience you go through in life it's important to remember that there are different perspectives to every story. A fight you watch may be told 10-15 different ways because of all the spectators in the crowd, a falling out between friends may have two different sides of the story that don't match up at all, and a bad breakup may have a friend group of one significant other labeling someone as the villain when all along the other person was just as guilty and possibly even more of a villain.

With any human experience it's important to look within yourself to learn and grow, rather than just blaming others in your external world. The last few years I have tried to hold myself accountable of inwards learning from all my experiences- especially the ones involving other people. It's easy to rationalize and blame other people for confrontations and fights, but true power and grace comes from the people who want to look within to see what they could have done better. Taking responsibility for an experience or confrontation may be hard on your ego, but this is what truly helps you find alignment with your highest and best version of yourself.

Practicing peace, grace, light, and love is so much more healthy than pointing fingers, comparing yourself to others, blaming, and criticizing others. Spread love to your neighbors and treat others how you would like to be treated. These practices often times takes looking inwards to be a light for others outwardly. When you discover someone is disturbing your inward peace and happiness set some healthy boundaries for yourself, but also do some personal inventory to see what you can learn from the experience. We are at human school, part of the human experience, to learn, grow, and spread love to others living in the human experience with us.

Don't let your ego and failure to look within and to grow stop you from finding your wings to fly.

Compliment others. Spread love. There is already so much hate in the world. If we all just started respecting each other and complimenting each other for our strengths, the world would be a better place.

You need to compliment yourself just as much as you compliment those you love most. Wake up everyday and look at yourself in the mirror and say things like "You are Enough."

You are indeed enough, and the moment you start realizing your presence in this world is just as valuable, needed, and important as everyone else here- you will truly live out your purpose.

I truly hope these ten mindful practices can change your perspective on how to approach life with a healthy lens, and through the tough days. You are the creator to your own internal happiness. Now is the time to take responsibility and find the happy and healthy in your life that you deserved all along!

Much Love,

Julie