Habits in review

Habits are an important part of maintaining your mental and physical health. While habits may often make you think of phrases like "stuck in a rut" or "mindless routine," habits can in fact be much more than that. Habits can be simple acts of maintenance or more complex commitments to personal interrogation. Keeping myself accountable with habits has made a big change in my life and I hope that you too can use them both to improve yourself and to catch yourself before you fall.

Here are a mix of my healthy habits, those that maintain and those that help me grow.

Affirmation of Sadness

While we may not need to cry that often, I think a lot of us struggle to let the tears flow. But it's really important to have a good cry when you feel the need to.

Sometimes when we cry, we feel weak or guilty for expressing out emotions. For women, it can be seen as a long expected sign of weakness to cry in the wrong setting. Men are often discouraged from expressing their emotions so tears can be a scary prospect. But all of us have emotions, no matter how strong of a front we put forward.

Here's a set of affirmations that I have been giving myself when I feel the need to cry. I hope that they help you or can serve as a resource for times of trouble. Please always keep in mind that things can get better and there are resources for help.

Positive Change> Average: TED talk

Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret to Better Work

Please check out this exciting and hilarious talk. Achor has a great sense of humor and that makes his material so exciting to listen to.

"Amy amy wait. Don't cry. No human lands on all fours like that. Amy, I think that means you're a unicorn!"

How to Be More Awesome

I'm a big fan of MissJessicaHarlow. Seeing the opportunities that she's making for herself and opening for her fans is amazingly inspiring. Not to mention her fabulous sense of style and humour.

Check out her video on how to be more awesome!

10 Ways to Measure Personal Calm

Working toward calm and contentment is a lifelong pursuit; it requires that you pay attention to the signs of your body and the actions you take based on your emotional state. Like most long term goals, people need to be able to measure their progress. Even your breath can be a way to check in on your emotions, on how calm you are.

These 10 consistent actions and abilities will allow you to measure your progress as you work towards your own personal calm. 

Read more to discover 10 ways to measure your personal calm!