Taking Time To Breath & Connect With Yourself

Last week I started getting the hang of this new life that has started since the beginning of the year. One of the things I realized I was really missing was meditation, inspiration and quiet time. It was stunning how good it felt to slow down for a few minutes each day to breathe, be still and read something inspiring. Life changing!

It's amazing how it upped the energy, mental health and outlook. Taking a few minutes to be still, be with alone with yourself and listen to your thoughts really gives the soul air to breath, the ability to calm down and proper, calm perspective about life.

It seems like our good habits for these things often go out the window at the holidays and it takes a while to get back in sync. It makes sense that we are often stressed and sick in the month of January when many of us are tired and in a low energy place after the holidays. We are often so busy during the holidays that we don't take two seconds to hear our own selves think for half the month of December.

I've written about this many times. It's an ongoing challenge, one of those things we have to continue and continue to try to master. A vacation, being sick, a holiday, house guests - all these things and many others can throw us off our usual routine and healthy habits.

I have been meditating in the evenings, leaving the TV off and reading inspiring books after dinner and trying to connect with myself every day. It feels so good to get back in touch with me and feel flow rather than tight muscles in my neck and an unpleasant sense of over-busyness every day. When I connect with myself I enjoy my day, am more efficient and feel a lot calmer.

Here are a few other posts about taking time to breath, think and connect with ourselves that might give you more inspiration to find that time each day to breathe and be. Hope you get a chance to do that today!

Living A Noble & Inspired Life

Downloadable Meditations

The Quest For Inner Peace

Breathing In Peace

A Clear Mind Inspires Answers & Solutions 

Taking A New Neighbor On A Tour of Our Town

images by kalanicut

I met a new neighbor this week who has just moved to our BIG city. In our conversation about her first days here in Los Angeles, I was reminded how overwhelming it can be to move here. At least when you move to New York you can walk and adventure your way around on foot to get to know that big city but in LA you have to drive and that is it's own scary adventure, let alone dealing with parking everywhere you go.

So I decided we should pick up our new friend tomorrow and take her on a little tour of our city and help her find all the fun spots and the best place to park in all those places. We are looking forward to it and glad to be able to help simplify her getting settled process. Here are a few places we'll try to introduce her to:

• Farmer's Market locations & days (we have lots of these, almost one every day within 2 miles)
• Best beach spot & free parking areas and inexpensive but fast parking areas
• Fun parks & gardens
• Best neighborhoods to walk & wander
• Cheap eats & great local hangouts
• Must have resources: hardware store, garden shop, etc.

And we're going to give her a map with spots highlighted so that she can start feeling more comfortable wandering around the city. Now that we're doing this once, I am going to try to be more mindful of new neighbors and how they feel moving to a big, new, expensive and sometimes frustrating city. I remember when I first moved here it was pretty overwhelming. It's so easy to forget that when you've been here for a while and everything has become second nature to you.

So if you have a new neighbor that comes to your town, think about taking them on a "My City 101" tour to help them get the lay of the land and start feeling comfortable in their new surroundings. Some people are just naturally adventurous and can't wait to jump into their new city, for other people, they can use all the help you can give them. Moving is exhausting and overwhelming enough, so anything you can do to help the transition a peaceful one is a blessing for sure.