Gift Guide For The Book Lovers

Buying gifts is easy but buying meaningful gifts can be pretty hard and with the holidays right around the corner you may be brainstorming gift ideas for your loved ones. I am a big believer in giving meaningful gifts – like a gift that keeps on giving (I know, cheesy!) but books are great for that and luckily there are so many incredibly great books out there for all sorts of needs, wants and tastes. Today, I’ll be sharing books that have read over the last few years that have really made an impact on me and that I highly recommend to my friends and family.

The Body Book by Cameron Diaz

This book is great for the person who is looking to live a healthier lifestyle and not necessarily in the form of nutrition (even though that is a huge factor) but it inspires you to love your body and treat it well. This book is filled with important and useful information that you can use to become a healthier person – mind, body and soul.

The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel

Part of living a healthy lifestyle is not just how many times you work out or what you eat but also about fully understanding the ingredients in what you eat AND in the products we use on our bodies (makeup, lotions, shampoo, nail polish, etc.). This book is for the person who will find an interest in learning about the harmful chemicals that are added to products we use in our everyday lives. This is a book I always keep handy and use a reference guide pretty often when contemplating a product purchase.

The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau

This is an interesting and fun read (I read it while on vacation to Costa Rica a year ago) so it is a bit nostalgic for me! This book really takes you into a world of journeys and quests and inspires you to take risks and be curious about what else is out there for you. This is a great book for someone who is searching to find more meaning to their life, this books provides a good foundational guide that anyone can use to begin taking steps towards the life they envision for themselves.

The Best Advice I Ever Got by Katie Kouric

This book is a collection of essays written by celebrities, politicians, authors, etc. and it is a fun and encouraging read. I like that this book keeps it relatively light and it is a great book to read whenever you are need of some uplifting positivity. This may be a great book for someone who is beginning to read books on empowerment and positivity.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

This book was given to me by an employer after a team training while I was still in college. Maybe since it was the first book of its kind I had ever read – it made such a big impact on me. While it was definitely a sad book it makes you realize how important it is to live a life that provides a positive impact for yourself and those around you. This book is full of inspiration, a lot of great advice and would make a great gift for almost anyone on your list.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

And last but not least, I could not do a book round up without including Big Magic. This is my most recent read (I actually have about 15 pages left) and I cannot tell you how glad I am to have picked this book up. Big Magic encourages you to embrace those magical moments in your life – some of them are very obvious but others can be easily glossed over, it also encourages you to embrace whatever you are passionate about and to make sure you incorporate whatever makes you happy into your everyday life. This is a must read for anyone (or everyone) on your list.

Do you have book recommendations? Any good books you have read recently that were a gift? Share below!

6 Simple Ways to express gratitude every day

I do not know about you but I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by. I feel that every year I get older time seems to pass by faster and faster – could it be that life just gets busier and busier? Very possible. Now that we are entering the holiday season we get a chance spend more quality time with friends and family which also gives us time to wind down and reflect on our year – the good times and the bad. It seems that sometimes we tend dwell on the bad times because it is hard not to but we need to train ourselves to always look on the bright side of things. One of the ways we can train ourselves to look at the positive side is to learn how to regularly express gratitude for the good things and good people in our lives. Showing gratitude comes from within and it is a fundamental way to feel at peace with yourself and also be in a good place to outwardly express that.

journal it

I am sure you have heard of this one before and it is because it works! This is an exercise that takes 2-3 minutes out of your day and it is such an easy way to keep track of the small things that happen in our daily lives that puts a smile on our face. Remember when we used to journal about the good things that happened to us in elementary school and remember how we think back to our childhoods as being one of the happiest in our lives? Yes, journaling the good things works.

stop complaining

We get caught up on the things that annoy us or the things that do not go as planned and when we complain about negatives all we are doing is feeding that negative energy. And we do not want that! So the next time your mind begins to complain about this, that and the other put an end to it right then and there. We know that to every negative there is a positive and even if you have to dig deep to find that positive, find it!

show some respect

Respect for yourself and respect towards others. Respect for yourself can come in the form of how you feed yourself and how you keep your body active – these positive actions you can take for yourself are simple ways of showing gratitude to your body, mind and soul. A good rule of thumb when it comes to respecting others is to treat others the way you want to be treated – and when you respect yourself respecting others becomes that much easier.

praise others

Congratulate someone for a job well done, cheer them on as they reach for their dreams, be a positive role models to those around you. These actions will not only make you feel good but will also provide encouragement to those around you – and who doesn’t like that?!

give back

Last but not least we can show gratitude to our communities by volunteering or time and energy for causes that we hold near and dear to our hearts. This is something we can do all year round but especially during the holiday season we can (and should) make some time to give back to our communities.

smile

Last but not least, always rock a smile on your face – it is contagious! Smiling will instantly lift your mood and spirit and it is not only one of the easiest things to do but you will also find that you will influence others to also smile more often.

How do you show gratitude and appreciation for others? What came naturally to you and what did you have to work on over time?

5 TIPS TO GET BETTER SLEEP AT NIGHT

Our lives can get kind of crazy and when that happens there are two things that in my experience tend to go array very quickly and that is eating habits and sleeping habits. There are a few simple habits we can create in our everyday lives that will help us get a better night’s sleep. As always, creating new habits takes time so I suggest incorporating these into your lives one at a time and putting your best foot forward in terms of sticking to the habit. You will be glad you did once you have reached your goal!

set an alarm to go to bed

Yep, you read that right! I know (from firsthand experience) that we can get easily distracted in the evenings. Think: Netflix, Hulu, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. – you get the drift. My point is that if we are not conscious about it our evenings will fly by and before we know it its 10PM and time to prepare to the next day. So, setting an alarm to be in bed by will keep you accountable with how you spend your time in the evenings.

avoid exercising 4 hours before bedtime

Regularly exercising has amazing benefits on your body (and mental) wellbeing, BUT, exercising late in the evening can come in between you and a good night’s sleep. I have especially noticed this if I do some type of cardio workout but not as much if I do Yoga or light Pilates.

ditch the caffeine after lunch

This is a tough one for me during our extreme seasons (summer and winter) – on the (very few) hot summer days I will give in and have an iced latte and on the (very many) cold winter days I get the urge to drink a hot cup of coffee in the afternoon. While I have not solved for the summer days iced latte urge I have done a pretty good job at eliminating coffee in the afternoons during winter by replacing my coffee with a cup of decaf tea. I have never been much of a tea drinker; however, I am learning to appreciate it more and more these days.

spray your sheets

There are certain natural scents that are very calming and relaxing like lavender, chamomile, vanilla and ylang-ylang. My favorite is lavender or a lavender-vanilla blend. You can easily make your own calming mixtureto spray your sheets a few minutes before getting into bed by mixing a few drops of essential oils (can be found in pharmacies or grocery stores) into a spray bottle.

white noise

Having some type of white noise on at night can do wonders for your sleep because it will help tune out noises (cars, dogs and/or people) that can wake you up at night. I have a air purifier that not only purifies my air but also serves as white noise - double win! Another option is to search white noise on YouTube and you will come across videos that are 8-10 hours long.

 

The Do’s and Dont’s of Keeping Your Body Hydrated

In order for us to all lead happy and healthy lives we need to keep our foundation strong and healthy – that being our bodies. On that notem a few weeks ago I wrote a post How to Start Your Day Off Right which offered up some tips on things we can incorporate to our daily routine whichcan potentially improve our overall lifestyle. Back to water…I am sure you already know but just in case I will state it again – our bodies are made up of about 70% water. Yes! Way more than half of what out bodies are made out of is good old water. Now, we are always told to drink water all…the…time and don’t get me wrong I love water. My liquid intake consists of two things coffee and water – I do not drink soda (let go of that bad habit many years ago) and I have never been a fan of juice. Sometimes I’ll have natural freshly squeezed juice or a fruit smoothie but none of the processed juice we can find at the grocery store.

What a lot of people may not be fully aware of is that we can also hydrate our bodies from sources other than water. Below I will outline the foods we can have which will supplement our water intake along with a few things we should steer away from.

1 | Fruits

Yep – fruits. Fruits are a great source for fluids - fruits like watermelon (92%), oranges (87%), canteloups (90%) , pineapple (87%), strawberries (92%) to name a few have a very high water content. Note: a fruit whose water content of 80% + is considered to have high water content.

2 | Veggies

Veggies typically do not have as high of water content as fruits do but they do have a substantial amount. A few that are top of the list are: brocolli (91%), carrots (87%), celery (95%), spicnach (92%) and  cucumbers (96%) – quick side note on that, I always tought that they were a fruit!

3 | Tea

Drinking a warm cup of tea may not seem like it’s a water source but it is! I am not a huge tea drinker (I usually only gravitate towards it when I am under the weather) but if you do enjoy drinking tea consider upping your intake.

Just as there are things we can do on a day to day basis to make sure our bodies stay hydrated there are also things that we may be doing that lead to dehydration. A few examples of those are:

1 | Hunger

If we allow ourselves to get hungry our body will start getting to our water source to regain some energy. This is why is is so, so important to have healthy snacks on hand if you are ever too busy to have a healthy meal.

2 | Stress

We allow ourselves to feel stressed out from everyday pressures of life and work but many of us do not see the correleation between the stress and the harm it can cause to our health. One of the direct side effects of stress is dehydration.

3 | Drinking Alcohol

But you already knew that, right? Yes, alcohol dehydrates the body. Ever notive when you drink alcohol your body immediately responds by having to use the bathroom? Im not saying you hae to nix alcohol, but I am saying to follow one simple rule – for every alcoholic drink you have drink a glass of water.

My main message here today is to take care of your body. After all it is the only one you have. Pay attention and listen to it, realize what it needs and does not need. Your busy will repay you with good health and abumdant energy. Stay healthy!

Do you already follow the do’s and how do you deal with the don’t’s? Share your approches to staying hydrated below!