What self-care products would relax you and bring some happiness to you?
If you're wanting to practise of bit of self-care, and pamper yourself with a lovely treat that puts a smile on your face, I've made a list of lovely products for you. I had fun going through products on Amazon that I thought would relax you, in different ways. I hope you enjoy this post.
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This is a beautiful hardcover book that comes with gilding for that touch of elegance. I was pleasantly surprised with the gilding on the cover and the gilding on the edges of each page.
I have this journal and it is a delightful keepsake and good for your soul. It has insightful quotes and activities to act upon, as well as space to journal your thoughts.
Their ambient glow is great for relaxing or meditating. It's so relaxing, waiting for the colors to change. You can read more about the color changing pearl mood lamps here.
This book is the most beautiful book design, both inside and out. I bought this for my daughter and I need to buy another as it is not easy to pass on to someone else!
It is a guided self-love journal, full of inspiration for joy and positivity.
The pictures and photography are high quality and it's a lovely book to cuddle up with.
Clary Sage, Rose Geranium, Frankincense, Bergamot and Lavender Essential Oils
100% Pure therapeutic grade essential oils
Are you irritable and moody?
Get rid of the bitch while you relax with this relaxing aromatherapy product. Find out more here.
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Which one is your favourite ?
I know my next purchase is definitely Spray The Bitch Away (not that I need it lol). I just love the essential oils that are in it.
I make sure I treat myself with something small (it does not have to be expensive to make you happy) and it is my present to myself for working hard throughout the week.
You can start developing the habit of gratitude with this bundle which contains downloadable pdf's: -weekly templates -attractive Binder Cover -Reflection sheet template to use as many times as you want -Gratitude Jar labels
Today, I would like to practice gratitude towards people who have, in some way or other, left a favorable impression on me and remember them with fondness.
Those who may have shown kindness, integrity, or gone the extra mile for me.
Gratitude for my dad
My dad-the hardest thing is to limit dad to a few short paragraphs! An incredible man who loved his family and community.
After his death, all the Hungarian clubs in Victoria that mushroomed from the first club he started, stood for 5 minutes silence in his honour, even though he had been off the scene for more than 30 years when he died at 86.
He left Europe to give us a better life and built a tiny bungalow for us to live in while he built our first brick home.
He was responsible for bringing out all our family, giving them free board and food until they could be independent.
The words 'nuclear family' meant nothing to us as we were always surrounded by a huge family, as well as community.
Dad also helped other young men and couples who migrated to Australia. They were always included in family outings and our combi van was always full of people and food.
He built up small businesses as a greengrocer and had a thriving fish and chips business. His days started mostly at 3.30 am to go to the market and home at 6pm.
He was a homing pigeon and always happy to be home, but sometimes did visit his brothers' families who lived in the same street or area, most of the time.
He never charged the family for food they took from our shops.
As the family did not have cars in the early days, he would do the rounds and pick up all my cousins and drive us to school.
He never complained about being tired, and when we were old enough to go out to functions, he would eat, have a shower and get ready to take us out and wait around somewhere until it was time to pick us up after parties, etc.
He always knew how to cut costs but give people a great feed. In his fish and chips business, he made his own fish cakes and they were so popular.
On Fridays, I had to help as the shop was bulging at the seams with people and the cue went outside the door and down the side street alongside our side fence.
We had two fish and chips shops on either side of us, just a short distance away- empty, of course!
Later in life, he became a real estate agent. I remember a time when the interest rates were very high in the 1970/80's and it was common for young couples to get second mortgages on top of a first mortgage.
A young couple wanted to buy a house from dad but he refused to sell it to them as he looked over their finances, and said that a second mortgage would ultimately lead them to lose their house and put pressure on their marriage.
The bank had okayed them for the two loans, as they did in those days!
There is so much more to dad, but the loveliest memory was when he would take mum to the station to go to work in the early morning.
I would hear a clatter in the kitchen and he would bring me breakfast in bed, with a cup of coffee and a rose in a small vase. He always said 'a rose for a rose.'
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Mostly, and unfortunately, the majority of my teachers were stressed, mean, or just interested in getting information across.
The teachers that I have fond memories of were those who were able to get off their pulpits and show kindness and have a little 1:1 moment while teaching.
Just reading what I have written, I wonder why I actually liked school!
My Grade 6 teacher
She was a nun and the kindest one in my four years at catholic school. Nuns could be tough ladies!
I don't remember her hitting us, as part of normal practise at the time, when they were annoyed at someone's antics.
Often, the whole class copped it so we would get angry at the culprit and put peer pressure on him( yes, it was always a 'him').
My family went overseas for three months so she would sit with me every day, before we went, and taught me what I needed to learn.
Looking back, I would have done well with homeschooling as I was a quick learner and enjoyed the 1:1 sessions.
Mr. Pavlov
Mr. Pavlov was a Russian teacher who was a mixture of strictness but funny! He could get angry but no one was really scared of him.
If the boys got on his nerves, he called them 'potatoes' and they knew they were out of line.
I remember his kindness- when he roved the classroom, he always spoke kindly to me and asked me how I was going.
I was not backward in maths but I certainly was not super confident.
If he thought I wasn't sure of something, he explained the concept quietly at my desk and he always got his message through easily.
Mr. Kuhne
Another maths. teacher who struck terror in us all!
Everything was black and white and there were no excuses.
He told us the rules on the first day and stuck to them.
He took a lineup area and everyone rushed to be on time as even talking to a Principal etc was no excuse- you just had to be lined up on time.
What a nice surprise to find how patient he was on a 1:1 basis, and he made maths so easy to understand that I actually enjoyed it.
He was kind on a 1:1 basis and was patient with students who needed some support.
He just did not tolerate rudeness and those who wasted time in class.
Mr. Jones
My art teacher who was just a nice guy. You did not have to be good at art, just enjoy it. He was one of the only teachers, in that era, who allowed us to stay inside at lunchtime.
Miss Simpson
My English teacher for both English and English Literature. When I was a teenager, a lot of learning was 'chalk and talk', with copying from the board or answering questions on paper.
I remember being very upset as Miss Simpson would come in, sit on top of a desk, and just talk or fire questions at us. I was so concerned that my exercise books were empty!
She was encouraging us to think and talk, express our views. Our results were phenomenal- with the majority of our class receiving A's in our final year. This enabled me to get into the college of my choice.
Miss Helen Welsh
Vice-principal at one of the schools where I do a substantial amount of casual teaching.
Helen has been so kind and this has enabled me to have lots of work, especially working in the grade 1/2/3 area.
She has respect for my experience and, as she asks for me by name when she rings the agency, she has given me a high profile as the agency has said that I am the only teacher that is requested by name!
I am now an ambassador for the agency.
Rahul and Sheetal
The parents of two young students who I tutor, they are doctors and lead a very busy life as they are on call.
They tell me how they appreciate how I teach their children and asked, this past Christmas, if I would mind if they gave me a raise in pay!
The resident doctor who saved my life.
I was five months pregnant and was taken to hospital with appendicitis.
I had a high pain threshold but I remember the incredible pain. I was taken in about 9 pm and they were waiting for a doctor to arrive- a Mr., not just a DR.!
Well, he just didn't arrive and they had to keep changing the time of my operation.
Finally, he arrived and it was about 2.30 pm next day that I was taken into theatre. By that time, my appendix had burst and the pain was escalating and I just wanted to escape the incredible pain.
The nurses said, with glints in their eyes, how lucky I was to have this doctor operating on me.
Well- Mr. arrived! He walked into the theatre (I was still conscious) and walked over to the nurses where there was a bit of giggling going on. Not even a look at me.
The last thing I remember was the resident doctor being very angry and shouting to others to get me ready for the operation as I was in a bad way.
Well, that week I had round-the-clock checks every 10 minutes. I remember not being able to open my eyes at one point but hearing what was going on around me.
I remember a very high level of pain. I just wanted the pain to end.
I remember feeling that I could just slip away and then, feeling so scared that I could die, I talked myself into positive thinking mode- you will survive, the team in hospital will look after you etc.
When I left the hospital, the matron and the doctor talked to me separately and said that I had been so ill that it was a miracle that I was still alive.
They actually used the word 'miracle'. So the feeling I had that I could pass on was real!
They also said that there was no word to describe my baby surviving the operation and my subsequent level of illness. They had expected both of us to die. Yes, they actually said 'die'.
My friend, Rob!
My friend who has stuck by me when I went through a bad depression and was close to a breakdown after my dad died and the family went to pieces.
He was there holding my hand when the doctor and nurse were trying to get my heartbeat back to normal, as they said I was having a heart attack, stress-induced.
He never judged me and understood what I was going through.
Who are you grateful for? Who are your 'standout' people that left their mark on you? I'd love you to share your memory with me.
I decided to find out how gratitude contributes to wellness as there are many memes and printables focusing on gratitude.
Have we ever thought about gratitude and its importance to us as a society?
*If you wish to go straight to the Gratitude Bundle offer, scroll down to the end of this post.
What is gratitude?
Gratitude is a social emotion and it connects us to our social world.
It is directed at someone who has helped us in some way and it can range from a simple act of someone offering their seat on public transport to lifelong gratitude for an act of kindness that may have had grand repercussions to someone, such as an act that may have saved someone's life.
The power of gratitude is its ability to build repricocity in others so if you practise gratitude towards others, they are more inclined to reciprocate gratitude themselves.
Gratitude becomes a circular event that connects us socially, with warm feelings towards other human beings.
Scientific research has shown that practising gratitude, with you being the giver or receiver, stimulates the frontal cortex of the brain and this sets a chain reaction that ultimately leads to a boost in our mental wellbeing.
Practising gratitude helps us become better human beings by being less selfish in our wants and perceived needs, and develops humility in ourselves.
Instead of focusing on perceived deficits, such as the lack of material wealth, we focus on our blessings by actively thinking about the 'positives' in our daily and long-term life.
It is so easy to focus, for example, on one bad thing that has happened and not let it go.
That one thing masks the many good things that have also happened and we need a jolt in our thinking to put things in perspective as focusing on negatives can impact your mental wellness.
What prompted me to start thinking about gratitude?
As I spend a lot of time on Pinterest, I saw an idea that I loved. It was the Gratitude Jar, wherein you write one thing you are grateful for each day and place this note in the jar.
At the end of the year, you should have 365 memories of things you were grateful for throughout the year.
I thought it was a great idea and what a lot of lovely memories you would be reliving, that you would ordinarily have forgotten.
It is a great way of training your mind to think of something that was positive and uplifting, and that you are grateful for.
Throughout my life, I have seen others who spend most of their time ruminating on all the negatives in their lives and focusing on bad memories.
They were emotionally draining, unhappy people.
Should you make an effort to practise the art of gratitude?
As mentioned earlier, practising gratitude has a beneficial effect on our brain and mental and physical wellness.
On social media, time and time again, I have often read that if we ever saw the effects negative thought had on us internally, we would never have a negative thought again. I was listening to an audiobook prior to sitting down to write this part, and it was discussing the effects that negative and positive thoughts have on us and it made an astounding statement. Along with the claims that are perhaps expected, it said that when we are in a negative zone e.g. we are scared of bees that may be in our line of sight, we emit our anxiety so powerfully that a bee can actually pick up our vibrations, interpret our anxiety and sting us. I have never been scared of bees so that may explain why I have not been stung, even though there were plenty of bees around as I grew up.
I have decided to add this in as an interesting fact, and you may or not believe it!
One article went into depth about how a negative thought triggers a set of physical reactions within our body and it was staggering to read how many reactions our bodies experience, without us being aware of the potentially harmful chemical surges within our body.
Having negative thoughts sets a train of events inside our bodies that we cannot fully perceive as it is invisible to us.
So it is valuable to train yourself to practise gratitude until it becomes a habit.
I have witnessed a total lack of gratitude in others who are unable to say 'thank you' for a present or unexpected handout, for time spent helping them or mentoring them in a new job and they are negative souls and you can never get their loyalty. Needless to say, they have fractured relationships in life and this turmoil cannot be good for their mental or physical wellness.
If you feel you have nothing to feel grateful for or think that you are a 'half-glass empty' person who dwells on the negative, remember that :
Today
someone took their last breath
someone received news that they had a life-threatening illness
someone was just retrenched
someone lost a baby
someone didn't have enough money when shopping and had to put groceries back
someone suffers from depression in silence
someone had news that their partner had just died
someone who needs to work has a sick child but manages their family
someone has a child with a diagnosis that means lifelong special care
someone is in an abusive relationship but it is better than living on the street or being stalked
someone whose marriage has deteriorated and finding it hard to keep up the pretence
someone is having a breakdown and being judged by family
What to be grateful for each day:
Do you appreciate
someone you don't know smiling at you unexpectedly?
offering you a seat?
making you a cup of tea or coffee?
cooking dinner?
taking you out for dinner?
helping you with a project?
staying after work to talk to you?
a child bringing you a flower? (I get this sometimes from school children)
letting you go first in the queue?
someone picking up something you dropped?
So many possibilities!
The Benefits of Gratitude
The benefits of gratitude are twofold: physical and mental wellness. Some people are better at it than others so, for some, it is a habit to be acquired by practising with deliberate intention.
Without gratitude, we lose the 'glue' that binds us, not only to those we know but to the rest of humanity. Those who helped Jewish people escape from the Nazis, by hiding them in their houses, did so at their own peril.
The gratitude felt by those who were saved was a lifelong feeling towards those strangers.
Gratitude develops trust towards the humanity of others.
If people are kind to strangers, we feel safer and more secure in our place in the world.
How to start developing the habit of gratitude.
It takes 30 days to develop a new habit and this habit is a worthwhile, important habit for your overall happiness.
You can start developing the habit of gratitude with this bundle which contains downloadable pdf's: -weekly templates -attractive Binder Cover -Reflection sheet template to use as many times as you want -Gratitude Jar labels
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