Charging the Self, Improving Your Life, Transcending

Sun

A physical need. To find enlightenment and joy in this human experience, we must take care of our bodies and our spirits. That's why I've named each of these components "physical" or "metaphysical." The sun is obviously physical.

It raises our levels of serotonin which helps us to feel happy. It supplies us some lovely Vitamin D, which makes our bones strong and improves brain function, builds our white blood cell count (increases immunity), regulates melatonin in the body--which improves sleep, and helps to lower blood pressure.

You, whoever you are, that's reading this, if you are a human being, you need sun, and it isn't hard. Just go outside for ten minutes. Walk around the block for a little bit. Your body needs it. Your happiness needs it. Do not neglect your simple needs. If you're just another walking vegetable that's unfulfilled and radiating low energy, make some changes. And start here, if you like, because it's easy to put your mittens and coat on, and walk out the door.

Sleep

A physical need. The benefits of sleep are linked below, but, for now, let me tell you how I tuck myself in to ensure a good night's rest:

1. Bedtime tea. A caffeine free, herbal tea called Bedtime by Yogi. It's a blend of Chamomile and other healthy goodies. I'm actually a mass tea enthusiast because the benefits are incredible. A discussion for another day. Bedtime tea leaves make me nice and sleepy.

2. A soft stretch before bed to relax my muscles and relieve tension in my body also makes me a sleepy girl.

3. Blue light glasses all day long to prevent blue light from throwing my circadian rhythms off. They also keep me from having headaches, and it's important to be free of headaches at bedtime.

4. Bubye screens. For at least an hour before bedtime, I put my phone and laptop away. It helps me to decompress, to clear my mind, and to create some time and space to reflect on my day, read, journal, visualize, and meditate before bed. Love this time.

5. Lights off, baby. I turn the dang lights off. This is the most effective way of promoting good sleep for myself; it is a signal to my sweet, little body and sweet, little mind that it's bedtime. To lay in bed with my eyes closed--day dreaming, or looking out the window and letting my mind think about--puts me right to sleep.

Gratitude

A metaphysical need. To me, metaphysical things are things that exist intangibly: feelings, energy, etc. And in the year 2020, one of the loveliest changes that I grew through was that of finding balance between physical and metaphysical. For a while, I was only aware of the physical plane, the 3D reality. My blog posts from that time showed it. And then, I got so in tune with the metaphysical that I left behind all physical. Just recently, I've come to enjoy and take care of the my body and spirit. I am balanced.

Now, gratitude. Some benefits are listed below, but my favorite isn't: the energy that gratitude creates. To practice thankfulness and physically feel the feeling of gratitude is a key to manifestation. The feelings that you feel are the core of your energy, and your energy is what returns to you. If you wallow in fear, you will continually attract "scary" things. If you have a fearful thought, but choose to turn it away and say, "I'm not scared. There's actually a good thing about that seemingly scary thing," your fear will lessen more and more; you will attract the absence of fear.

The kicker is that when you practice gratitude--for your shoes, for you belly button, for your paper cut, for your laptop, for your best friend's sense of humor, for your dad's hugs, for your mom's kind heart, for your dog's smile--you will continually attract lovely things that are similar to all of those. And if you want to know more about that, dm me because there is so, so much more. I'll tell you all that I've learned.

Meditation

Wow! A metaphysical need. Sometimes things can seem intimidating, intense, or too complicated to even begin to try. And meditation was one of those things for me. It seemed overwhelming, like something only the calmest, coolest of people enjoyed. So, I did what I always do, and kept away from it until it was just calling my name, then, I did it my way. I searched for the purpose of meditation and found a way to meditate that felt natural and desirable, not taxing or exhausting.

I've never been into guided meditations. I'm into stillness. In the mornings, I wake up quietly, free of thoughts, and just look out my window. That's meditations. While I'm cleaning my room, I speak little affirmations, that's meditation. After my workout at the Rec, I go to my beautiful room upstairs with the wood floors and lay out my yoga mat as close to the floor-to-ceiling windows as I can get, and stretch. That's meditation. And here's why it's necessary:

Nature

A physical and metaphysical need. I'm going to skip the Pinterest infographic on this one and just talk. There's magic in connecting to the earth, in putting your hands and feet in the dirt, in running through meadows in the mountains and fields in the valleys. There's magic in that first bitter shock of the cold ocean where your body instantly tenses and you grimace. There's magic in planting flowers, catching a snowflake in your mouth, crunching leaves as you walk around town with a warm drink.

The magic is connection. It is energy. Each element that makes our flesh and bone and lips and freckles and each element that creates air, dirt, ocean, apples, pears, and plums is full of energy. Our bodies need to feel that energy, because it balances our own. It's purely refreshing. We aren't made of concrete, computer wires, or plastic. We are made of living matter, and we need to surround ourselves with living matter. Go outside and feel this. Feel the energy shifts that come with each of these practices. Your life will change.

Journal

A metaphysical need. For this one, let's just do the infographic. These ones are cool and somewhat unexpected, but highly researched.

Art

A metaphysical need. To create is such a gift. It's an incredible blessing and responsibility, because the truth is that you, as a human being, are blessed with specific gifts and a specific purpose that the rest of the world needs you to bring to life. Art is creation. Harmonies, poems, novels, paintings, clothes, collections, connections, and so many other things are different kinds of art. Find your medium, your method, and create. Your impact will change lives.

Hi, angel, thank you for reading. I love you so much, and I want you to know that your potential is beyond understanding. What you are capable of, the world needs, so please, wake up. Do not live a sedentary life; get in tune with your intuition, your purpose, get up and get moving. Start living. Start enjoying your life. I love you. I'm always here if you want to reach out. Send me a little DM on Instagram.