Welcome
to our new monthly Wellness Wednesday link up in 2018! My thanks to
Amber
for the graphic, Leslie
for the link up codes, and the fabulous bloggers who joined right
away after I made the suggestion.
First,
about the Wellness link up: It is monthly so we have time to act on
our goals and to enjoy the journey. Each month in 2018, we have a
different topic to write about and a progress update. Please feel
free to join us to share, inspire, and support each other.
2018
Wellness Wednesday schedule and topics:
- Jan 10 - Wellness goals
- Feb 7 - Favourite cardio exercises or tips; Wellness goals update #1
- Mar 7 - Favourite exercise equipment or gadgets; Wellness goals update #2
- Apr 11 - Favourite natural wellness tips; Wellness goals update #3
- May 9 - Healthy skin and hair care tips; Wellness goals update #4
- June 6 - Mental health care tips; Wellness goals update #5
- July 11 - Emotional health care tips; Wellness goals update #6
- Aug 8 - Healthy cooking tips; Wellness goals update #7
- Sep 12 - Favourite strengthening exercises or tips; Wellness goals update #8
- Oct 10 - Cancer care tips; Wellness goals update #9
- Nov 14 - Stress management exercises or tips; Wellness goals update #10
- Dec 12 - Self-care rewards
Second,
about my Wellness goals: To create my Wellness goals for this year, I
looked at Wellness under seven to eight lenses such as emotional,
physical, environmental, financial, intellectual, social, spiritual,
and occupational (for people who are working). With
this in mind, I wrote a post on 18 FEASTs to enjoy in 2018 here.
FEAST
stands for Fitness, Entertainment, Arts, Social, and Travel. To
start simple and steady, I decided to set three wellness goals in
January, one for my mind, one for my body, and one for my spirit.
My
January wellness goals:
- Meditate 15 minutes daily. I usually do this in the morning and before bedtime. It clears and calms my mind.
- Exercise one hour daily. I'll rotate my physical activities to keep myself engaged and to use different muscles in my body.
- Smile or laugh every day. I'll be thinking of happy moments that I've shared with my family members and friends. They automatically bring a smile to my face. Some memories make me laugh out loud.
Each month
I'll create a new set of wellness goals, work on them, and report my
progress in the following month. Some months I'll have more goals in
one of the FEAST buckets than the others. Hopefully, by the end of
this year, I'll have enjoyed a well-balanced year.
Here's to a
healthy and happy 2018! Good luck with achieving your wellness goals.
Great goals. I tend to go off topic in link-ups a tad (I'm such a rebel... not) , but this is such a great place for the regular updates - and inspiration from everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jo, for joining the link-up. I like the uniqueness of everyone's graphic and goals. Look forward to reading about your heart goal progress.
DeleteI’m much looking forward to the accountability the monthly check ins will provide, Natalie. Thank you for organizing this idea, so terrific to start the new year off this way.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate that we share meditation goals. The harder it is to still my brain, the more I know I need to do so!
Thank You, Tamara, for participating in the link-up. I'm excited to anticipate our group's wellness progress going forward. Our meditation goals are reasonable time-wise so I'm sure we'll achieve them.
DeleteWhat an important goal...to laugh and smile more every day. My PC makes me laugh and so do my daughters. And I have one of those loud, obnoxious laughs so I might do well to make a goal of giggling rather than exploding in laughter.
ReplyDeleteThank you for creating this series. I am blessed to be very healthy but I want to be equally balanced and well in every aspect of my life.
Thank You, Leslie, for participating in this link-up. Laughter is so good for our well-being. Your wellness goals are well balanced. Look forward to reading about your progress.
DeleteI love all the prompts Natalie and thank you for organizing. I also love that you have included laughter and smiling into each day. We all need more of that!
ReplyDeleteSue
Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
Thank you, Sue, for participating in the link-up. I love reading everyone's wellness plan for this year. You have solid advice in your post. I already look forward to our February Wellness Wednesday.
DeleteI love it... I need to meditate more in my life. I do ZERO of it but was working at getting in a few minutes every day. I need to start on that again. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rebecca Jo, for participating in the link-up, and suggesting some of the prompts. Even five minutes a day for meditation is a good start.
DeleteI love your goals for this month! Meditation, physical activity, and smiling--three of my favorite things. Good luck to you. I'll be interested in hearing about your results.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Christie, for dropping by and commenting. My three goals are do-able, and easy to remember. Please feel free to join us in this link-up any time.
DeleteThank you for putting this together! I'm excited to see everyone's progress throughout the year, as well as update others on my own progress. I feel like the linkup group is a built in accountability group, so I'd better start drinking my water!
ReplyDeleteDo you use any specific apps, books, or prompts in your meditation? I think that meditation would be really beneficial for me, but I'm not quite sure where to begin!
Thank You, Amber, for the graphic and your participation in the link-up. We have a supportive group here so I'm looking forward to sharing our progress. For my meditation, I do not use any specific apps, books, or prompts. What I do:
Delete1) Find a quiet spot.
2) Start by taking 4 or 5 deep breaths, inhale thru the nose, exhale slowly thru the mouth. If you place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly, you should feel your chest rises and your belly expands with the breath. This relaxes my body and signals my mind that I'm going to meditate. I start in any position that's comfortable e.g. standing in the shower, lying in bed, or while walking.
3) Continue deep breathing, visualize my breath as it travels thru my body, and focus on what I'm sensing. If my thoughts drift, just acknowledge and bring my focus back to my breath. I use my breath count and how relax I feel to end my meditation. When I do deep breathing and meditate in bed, I usually fall asleep so it's a relaxing way to end the day. You can use a timer and start with 5 minutes, then increase to 8 , 10, etc. Once you form the habit, it's very easy to do and is great for stress management. Hope this helps.
I love the topic you have chosen as a focus! Hope you don't mind if I copy your ideas!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Fran, for visiting and commenting. Please feel free to join our Wellness link up at any time, or make reference to my site as the source when you copy my ideas. Much appreciated!
DeleteI love these topics as a focus for your writing. Hope you don't mind if I copy your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHi Fran...Please see my reply above.
DeleteYou are starting the year off with a bang. I hope you reach your January goals! What do you do to exercise one hour a day? Cheers to a balanced 2018!! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe present is always a good time to start something healthy, right, Liesbet? For my one hour/ day exercise, I currently have: Gym on Mon/ Wed/ Fri; Yoga on Tue/ Thu; Swim on Saturday, and Run 5-6K and Stretches on Sunday. When I'm in the gym, I do warm up, cardio, weights, abdominal and balance exercises and cool down.
DeleteSounds like a great schedule! We love walking the dogs we pet sit. Other than that, not much time to exercise, but we are and have been eating a very healthy plant-based diet for years. :-)
ReplyDeleteDog walking is exercise and dogs are wonderful for our emotional wellness. Good for you for eating so healthy. We eat vegetables and fruit daily, just strive to do more.
DeleteHi, Natalie, Leslie, Amber and all other 'Wellness Wednesday' contributors. Thank you for this great series. Very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Donna, for your encouraging words. We all should take care of our well-being and seize life.
Delete