Happy And Healthy Lifestyle

“It is the marriage of the soul with nature that gives birth to imagination.” ~Henry David Thoreau Before my accident, before we had kids, after we divorced, after my father died from Covid, before the pandemic… We tend to divide our lives into the before and afters that define our world, whether personally or on a grand scale. These divisions offer context, providing a kind of roadmap that supports us in reflecting on the beauty and darkness, the decisions we made, and who we might be if certain things had never occurred. I have always believed that the only reason to look back is to learn. Still, I can’t help but wonder: What if, when my marriage ended, I already had mindfulness skills in place? What if I had known the infinite ways nature could soothe my soul? Would my life have been different if I had consciously known that creativity was the safest place to process my emotions? Perhaps I would not have been paralyzed in grief and sorrow. Maybe my children would have been spa...

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ~Martin Luther King Jr. It was Saturday, August 29th, 2020, when I admitted to myself, for the very first time, that I was a victim of sexual assault as a child. Twenty-five years of complete denial that this ever happened, and suddenly all I could think of was the fact that my innocence was taken at the age of five. “Why now?” I wondered. “Why does it suddenly matter? Was I so resentful of my trauma that I denied its existence altogether?” Between the ages of five and eight, I was repeatedly molested by a family member. Although I wasn’t sure what was happening, I knew two things: This felt pleasurable, and therefore, there was something inherently wrong with me. I carried this shameful image of myself into adulthood, unaware of how it impacted my self-esteem, my sexuality, and my overall perception of myself as a woman. As the sexual abuse eventually ended, so did any thoughts about it. No one knew that...

“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. When life is bitter, say thank you and grow.” ~Shauna Niequist Imagine if you had a tool that, with no effort or change on your part, could cast a glow around you, exposing hidden gems within your everyday life. You do! It’s called gratitude. It has the power to light your way through tough times . And it can multiply the good. Of the many tools I use daily, I love gratitude the most. It is so simple to implement and immediately effective. It’s a powerful way to change the world—through seeing, not doing. I’ve invested a lot of thought, time, and deliberate action into creating the life I want. But building a life is one thing; relishing it is another. Having gratitude allows me to squeeze every last bit of joy from what already exists around me and within me, creating more with no extra effort. Few things in life are simple, practical, and magical. Without gratitude, our tendency is to focus on what’s missing. Life is what we ch...

“Why don’t you get up and make the coffee, while I stay in my sleeping bag and plan our ascent route?” I half-heartedly ask my climbing partner Hank. He just looks at me with that unassuming, “give-me-a-break Val Jon” look of his. It’s three o’clock in the morning, cold, dark, and damp, and neither of us wants to leave the comfort of our tent. But we’re committed to this climb, so we don our parkas and gloves and confront the bitter cold. In silence, Hank and I gather up our gear and join the rest of our climb team assembled at base camp, which is located at eleven thousand feet. Thirty-three climbers in all have come together for this extraordinary ice climb to the summit of Mount Shasta in Northern California. During our team meeting, we decide to make our ascent via “Avalanche Gulch,” a treacherous glacier route up a steep icy slope. This particular route is shorter than others, but it’s also notorious for its deep crevasses and unstable blue fractures, so one wrong move could m...

“ Bent but never broken; down but never out.” ~ Annetta Ribken I lived for a long time thinking I was broken beyond repair. Let me rephrase: I thought I was unloved, unworthy, scarred, and broken. What a package, right? It started young, never feeling like I was good enough for anything I did. Being the youngest of the typical modern recomposed family in the eighties, I never knew on which foot to dance and always thought I needed to bend left and right to be seen and loved. I carried this baggage under my badge of anxiety, feeling like no one and nothing could ever make me happy, that no one could love the real me, that nothing could ever make me feel worthy . It reached a point as I was entering my forties when all I wanted to do was disappear. I wanted to not be who I was. I wanted to die. I thought that was my only solution. I believed the world would be better without me. What I didn’t understand then is that by thinking I was broken, unworthy, unloved, and all the other ...

“Be kind to past versions of yourself that didn’t know the things you know now.” ~Unknown When I taught yoga classes in jails in Colorado and New Jersey, I would end class with the Metta Meditation: May we all feel forgiveness. May we all feel happiness. May we all feel loved. May all our sufferings be healed. May we feel at peace. The women, all clothed in light gray sweatpants, would be in a relaxed yoga posture, usually lying on their yoga mat with their legs up the wall. The fluorescent lights would be full blast, as they always are in a jail or prison. Some women would feel comfortable closing their eyes. Some wouldn’t. With quiet meditative music playing, I led the meditation with the gentlest voice that I could, taking into consideration that the noise outside the room would be loud. Often, we could hear the incessant dribbling of basketballs in the men’s gym. Someone in the complex might be yelling, and we all would have to work past it. As I spoke that first line, “M...

“It’s okay if you fall apart sometimes. Tacos fall apart, and we still love them.” ~Unknown Do you often find yourself saying, “I just have to get through this week…” and then that turns into every week? I know I do. Between work responsibilities, chores, and spending time with family and friends the calendar can start to fill up quickly. Unfortunately, there was a time in my life where I let those activities push self-care off my to-do list, leaving me constantly feeling exhausted and burned out. Before this experience, I always thought burnout was predominantly mental, not necessarily physical. But then I experienced a major wake up call. Recognizing the Signs of Burnout A couple of years ago, I was working long hours and filling my hours after work with hobbies, chores, and time with my significant other. This constant activity started to take a physical toll on my body. I felt tired all the time. I had gained ten pounds in a short amount of time. I was experiencing constan...