Today, we challenge you to look for an organization that is aligned with something meaningful to you. Whether it is disease-specific or civic-minded, there are people everywhere who don’t have the ability to fight for action to benefit the causes affecting them – be it poverty, animal cruelty, cancer or anything in between. You can be a part of the larger voice for those who have none. Even if you are only one person, you can begin by changing the conversation and drawing attention to the causes that are most important to you.

Is there something you can do to become more involved in that cause? Is there a civic group that you feel complements your life’s purpose and mission with their work? Maybe you already volunteer with the American Cancer Society or you are a member of your local Rotary Club. Are you serving in a way that is really meaningful to you? Do you need to re-assess your commitment or research ways to get involved with your existing affiliate organizations in a way that is more aligned with your passions? Look for additional opportunities within your cause communities for you to give back.

You might also find a community of support and encouragement with others who are equally as passionate about the same topic. All of these things can lead to an improvement in our overall wellness.

Artificial sweeteners like aspartame, Splenda and NutraSweet are not healthy substitutes for sugar. Look for ways to reduce your intake of artificial sweeteners. Look for all natural sweeteners that would make a better choice, but keep in mind that just because these are healthier doesn’t mean you can overeat them and expect that you won’t gain weight. They still contain fructose, just in a healthier, cleaner form. Some natural sweeteners like molasses and maple syrup have additional health benefits that elevate them above regular sugar but as with all sweeteners, they should be used in moderation in order to reduce spikes in your blood sugar levels. 

For something so simple, there are an amazing number of benefits linked to journaling. These benefits are both subjective (personally felt) and objective (scientifically proven).

Here’s are some of the many benefits:

• Strengthens your immune system and leads to better physical health
• Improves emotional intelligence (the ability to perceive and understand emotions)
• Soothes anxiety and increases feelings of calmness
• Promotes individuation (the maturing of the self/identity)
• Enhances mental health 
• Helps you to deal better with depression 
• Encourages spiritual growth and integration
• Reduces symptoms related to panic, PTSD, and addiction
• Increased self-awareness, self-understanding, and self-compassion
• Improves your ability to communicate with others 
• Increases happiness 
• Promotes mental clarity and problem-solving skills
• Helps you to deal with stress and intrusive thoughts more effectively 
• Increases creativity
• Improves your work efficiency
• Can help to improve your IQ 
• Speeds up emotional recovery after romantic breakups 
• Promotes emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual healing

Even just spending a few minutes a day recording how you feel is hugely beneficial, this is because journaling helps you to read your own mind and make sense of all the mental clutter and emotional turbulence you feel inside.

As a self-awareness and self-discovery tool, journaling is a fantastic resource. When we explore our thoughts, we’re not living second-hand knowledge or seeing ourselves through the eyes of some “professional” – instead, we are actively seeking to understand, through direct experience, who we are and what we value the most at a core level.

Summer is here and for most of us, that means more time outside! The weather is warmer, but there are also some great benefits that go along with spending time connecting with nature all year long:

• We all need a dose of vitamin D. The sun helps the body produce our own vitamin D which may help protect against cancer and chronic diseases, such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and more. Research shows time and again that more than 50% of the world’s population is deficient in this essential vitamin.
• It’s a nice change of scenery. Fresh air, sunshine, green grass—it’s beautiful outside. Wander around your neighborhood and you may notice things and encounter people you’ve never seen before. Who knows, you may find inspiration in nature.
• It can be good for your heart. Take a walk, hop on a bike, pick up the tennis racquet, dive in the lake or pool—the choices are endless. Not only is it fun, exercising makes you stronger, clears your mind and just may make you feel better.
• It may lower stress and boost your mental health. Simply living in a neighborhood with more green space has the potential to lower symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Medical College of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin, Madison. 
• It’s a good reason to unplug. Put down your smart phone, power down your lap top, turn off the TV and head out for the day. There is, quite literally, a whole world out there, waiting to be discovered. 

Multi-tasking…how good are you at juggling multiple tasks? Do you wear it as a badge of honor? With the fast-paced energy of an always-connected world, it often feels like multi-tasking is the only way to keep up, but research shows that more often than not, multi-tasking isn’t helping us as much as we thought. Between being distracted and jumping from one project to another, efficiency takes a hit and the entire process changes your brain to shorten your attention span in the long-run. A great way to get started is to identify the top 2-4 most important things that you need to accomplish in whatever time-frame you have available and working through each one until completion.  

It isn’t always easy to stick to the routine of cooking or prepping meals at home – especially if you are on the run a lot. There are many methods people have found to make meal prep more efficient like menu-planning, bulk-cooking/prepping, canning, etc. Utilizing some of these methods can ensure that when you get home late after a hard day at work, you have something you can eat with little effort. Additionally, if you get in the habit of making eating out more of a special occasion as opposed to a daily ritual, your pocketbook will thank you! Prepared foods ALWAYS have a significant price mark up over the cost of their base ingredients.

Many restaurants boast larger portion sizes that are often AT LEAST double what a normal portion would be. Additionally, many restaurant cut costs by using lower quality ingredients or dangerous fillers. This also doesn’t take into consideration preservatives like sodium and MSG that many prepared foods are riddled with.

The workplace can be a great environment for making social connections and building supportive relationships. People who work in healthy workplaces are more likely to share ideas, work efficiently, engage with each other socially, and feel comfortable being themselves. Whether working in a trade, an office, in retail, or the arts, the culture of a workplace is important for employee mental health. 
 
Workplace wellness programs are becoming a bigger part of the overall strategy of many companies. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) have been shown to be very helpful in lifting mental and emotional wellbeing in workplaces all over the world. 

Proper deep breathing techniques take practice, but once you begin to regularly take time for deep breathing each day, it become easier to focus on your breathing. Even just a few minutes of deep breathing each day can make this completely free and portable self-care technique that much easier to recall during times of elevated stress and emotional moments no matter where you are, so get breathing!

Here’s a short video from Dr. Christina Hibbert with some guidance on proper deep breathing technique.

How to Practice Deep Breathing–3-Minute Therapy 

Here are just a few of the known benefits of being kind.

1) Kindness Makes us Happier
When we do something kind for someone else, we feel good.

2) Kindness Is Good for the Heart
Acts of kindness are often accompanied by emotional warmth. Emotional warmth produces the hormone, oxytocin in the brain and throughout the body.

3) Kindness Slows Aging
The oxytocin that we produce through emotional warmth reduces levels of free radicals and inflammation in the cardiovascular system – two known culprits that speed up the aging process.

4) Kindness Improves Relationships
Kindness reduces the emotional distance between two people and so we feel more ‘bonded’.

5) Kindness is Contagious
When we’re kind, we inspire others to be kind and studies show that it actually creates a ripple effect that spreads outwards.

The short video found at this link gives a condensed view of how easily kind feelings can be passed on through random acts of kindness. LINK: https://youtu.be/-HxCIRI8xbM 

Need some more ideas? Visit : randomactsofkindness.org

 It is not difficult to foster and maintain healthy relationships but sometimes, it is hard to recognize relationships that have gone off track and become unhealthy (or were unhealthy to begin with) because we are blinded to the truth. It is essential that we surround ourselves with healthy relationships and do everything that we can to remove ourselves from relationships that are abusive or otherwise unhealthy for our overall wellbeing.

Healthy relationships can be fostered and strengthened when we:

• Share our feelings honestly.
• Ask for what we need from others.
• Listen to others without judgement or blame. Are caring and empathetic.
• Disagree with others respectfully. Conflicts should not turn into personal attacks.
• Avoid being overly critical, angry outbursts, and violent behavior.
• Expect others to treat us with respect and honesty in return.
• Compromise. Try to come to agreements that work for everyone.
• Protect ourselves from violent and abusive people. Set boundaries with others. Decide what we are and aren’t willing to do. It’s okay to say no.
• Learn the differences between healthy, unhealthy, and abusive ways of relating to others.

One sign of a healthy relationship is feeling good about yourself around your partner, family member, or friend. You feel safe talking about how you feel. You listen to each other. You feel valued, and you trust each other.

Having an unhealthy or abusive relationship can really hurt. The connection may be good some of the time. You may love and need the person who hurts you. After being abused, you may feel you don’t deserve to be in a healthy, loving relationship.

With help, you can work on some relationships, but sometimes in an abusive relationship, you may be advised to get out. 

At any age, your relationships matter. Having healthy relationships with others starts with liking yourself. Learn what makes you happy. Treat yourself well and know that you deserve to be treated well by others.