How To Take Care of The Right Brain

Many times we talk about self-care, and how important it is to take time out to yourself (it is actually a requirement of mine). What we don’t think about, is to how to also take care of our creative mind. It actually is quite simple, as a lot of the thing you would do to take care of yourself, also will allow you to take care of the part of your brain that thrives in the creativity department. So, to get an idea of how to give your brain the dedicated self-care it deserves, think about these few things when you’re taking the time out for yourself:

  1. Adequate rest – in my humble opinion, a restful mind is a creative mind. Getting an adequate amount of rest and recharging will aide in better productivity and more creativity when working on different projects. I know society’s perspective is 7-9 hours; however, I can function on 6-7. You also have to know your body, because too much sleep can then make you a lot more tired than you were before.
  2. Filling your head with knowledge – I believe that the world is nothing but a big classroom, filled with tools and resources for knowledge. I try to do better at reading the news, different articles about certain topics, writing (or typing if I’m in my phone) random thoughts or ideas that come to me, anything that would help push along the creative rush. I feel the more I learn, the more creative I will be, and I’ll be able to lean on different topics to gain more ideas.
  3. Meditation – sometimes, I find bringing my mind to a certain level of stillness makes me more positive and more productive in the long run.
  4. Positive thought process – if my mind is clouded with negativity, my creative mind is stifled. Writer’s block creeps in, ideas do not flow, a whole mess.

All of these are amazing tips to incorporate into your daily life, because protecting our creativity is important. Those of us who thrive on the idea of creativity and shining in our given talents need to take into account the idea of taking care of ourselves, and our ability to create.

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Self-Discipline. Self-Love.

Lately I’ve been channeling more ways to love myself, before I put myself in the position to find the passion and love for other things. I feel like in every aspect of life, you need to love yourself in order to have the positive energy to be the best you can for your life (we all want to live our best life, right?). After realizing that even in some of the things I thoroughly enjoy doing weren’t even peeking me up, I realized that my overall happiness with myself, caused me to not even be happy about anything I do. So I started to look myself in the mirror, and tell the blunt truth:

“Girl, you need to get YOURSELF the hell together.”

And thus , we begin the process to self love and respect because I’ve been trippin’.

I watched a video on Will Smith’s Instagram, that eluded to self-love beginning with self-discipline. So I decided to look up what discipline really means.

Discipline:

a : control gained by enforcing obedience or order

b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior

So, with that being in place, I began to dig deeper into how one would need to begin a self-love process, and it’s very relatable to obtaining a level of discipline that relates to this:

“I’m going to enforce and be obedient to the process of loving myself.”

In order to love yourself, you have to teach yourself the discipline. If you do not have self discipline, how can you be obedient enough to love yourself properly?

This can apply to several parts of life. Loving yourself means loving wholly; mind, body and spirit. This can come from even the smallest commitment of obedience and change. For example, choosing to meditate for 5 minutes a day before bed is a small change, but could yield an impactful result, and even expand into a deeper and more meaningful practice with discipline and routine.

I realized that even over time, as I told myself “I’m going to focus on loving myself more”, because my level of self-criticism is through the roof; I really wasn’t truly doing the work needed to commit to that statement. I would find and adapt different hobbies, try to set my days differently, etc. and I realized I was really only touching the surface. I wasn’t really being honest with myself and figuring out how to fix those things. And here I was, wondering why I still woke up some mornings and couldn’t get out of bed because I was so dissatisfied with life.

Now that I’ve been able to really assess my life, and determine what and how I want it to go, I’ve been more apt to begin with setting up obligations and expectations for myself (in small doses), to make myself more disciplined towards living a life where the love for myself shows externally and internally. Without it, you truly cannot be someone who can love other things and people, because you will not be able to find the beauty in life. Begin your journey with assessing how disciplined you are to a change in your life, and that is when you will start obtaining whats necessary to lead the life you will come to love.

🖤

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“But How?”: A Small Look into My Mental Health Journey

I’m somewhere between the boughs of exhaustion and extreme restlessness.

I was on another Internet binge, searching for answers for my mental health.  It had become some sort of a past time now; a hobby if you will, I sit up on Saturday nights, and instead of going out with friends, or spending time with my family, I would look mindlessly through articles aimlessly, for answers that didn’t really seem to answer the questions I would ask myself; questions I probably should be asking a professional.  I had become so familiar with the process, even my computer had now auto-populated the words.

It started off as just something I thought I could hide, something I thought was meaningless.  “Maybe it’s just a phase, I’m just in a bad mood and I will get over it.”  That is how it started.  When it didn’t go away after a month, I began to worry, but I still didn’t do anything serious about it.  After three months, and my family started to notice, I still didn’t do anything about it.  I figure I could just fix it on my own.  I would self-diagnose, research and develop a treatment plan on my own, just because I just wanted to get rid of it, so it wouldn’t be a burden to anyone.

It’s difficult going through an anxiety-ridden or very low depressive moment, especially when no one believes you in the first place.  When it seems that no one feels that your emotional instability is valid, you really just want to deal with it and get it out of the way, so you can move on with your life.  No one wants the “depressed girl” around all the time.

Avoidance and denial were the games I played, and I would like to say for a long time I played them well.  I didn’t want anyone to know because I didn’t think they would believe me; let alone, I didn’t think they would care to know it was even happening.  I mean, you can only imagine the things they would say, right?

So, when you finally hit the rock bottom of your truth, and finally admit to yourself that you have a problem or that something’s been off for a long time; something that may never be right or it “normal” again, what do you do?  Do you bottle it up and bury it deep inside you because it’s stigmatized that you just learn to “deal” with mental health, or do you find a way to breakthrough those demons and find the right help and healing that you need?  If you chose the latter, you’re right, but sometimes the tough question is not what to do, it’s how you do it…

But HOW?

Personally, it took a lot for me to finally admit to myself that there was a problem that I needed to rectify within myself; that constantly saying yes did not mean that I was a reliable person, but that I was enabling a possible ability for others to manipulate my emotional stability, and that is not ok.  I found myself struggling with finding a way out and also struggling with how to find a way through to a level of peace and mental stability.

When I finally realized there was a problem, it did not look like what your average “mental breakdown” looked like.  I did not spiral out of control and I did not need to check myself into a facility.  It looked like blank stares, sporadic bursts into tears, long periods of silence, random mood swings, angered outbursts, body aches, unexplainable pain, irregular stress patterns and inexplicable mood changes.  It looked like things that mental health breakdowns don’t commonly appear to be, because someone is not screaming or crying in front of you; however, someone with these symptoms, or look like they are exhibiting a multiple amount of these symptoms would need to seek some type of assistance with them, immediately.

My assistance looked like and needed to be filled with love and understanding and support; it needed to be emphasized with positive and encouraging word choices and it needed to be enhanced with affirmations and support from family and friends.  The key to managing my mental health awareness is having a heightened sense of my self-care, which begins with meditation and prayer, and ends in meditation and prayer.  My emotional and mental stability requires positive reinforcement, calm reassurance, laughter, happiness, grounded intention and most importantly a positively influenced support system that is willing to ensure my mental health wellness is also a priority.

 

 

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Dealing with Downs

Most times, I enjoy writing things that people could relate to.  I’m not like other bloggers; I don’t have a “niche” per se, I don’t have a specific thing that I want to talk about all the time on my blog.  But, if you could ball my creative side up and put it into a category, I would call it “Life.”  That’s what I enjoy writing about; sometimes my innermost thoughts, sometimes the things that you are thinking but just won’t say, but most importantly I like to write about the things that I feel the person to my left or right of me is going through also, but are too afraid to bring it to light.  I believe that everyone sometimes has similar problems or trials in life, and we all just need someone to sit down and talk to them about it.

So, with that being said, here is mine.  As I’m sure the greater 475+ of you have noticed, I haven’t written much in a period of about 2-3 months.  I haven’t been on my blog, I haven’t promoted anything, and honestly I haven’t even finished the projects that I intent to publish very soon.  Mentally, I haven’t been in the headspace to create anything that I feel people would care about, but I felt like if nothing more, someone could relate to this very post.  Emotionally, I’ve been on a roller coaster.  It’s something that I don’t want to put so much effort into disclosing, but just know that there are times when you can be at your lowest, and in a split second be on a high; eventually, you ride that high all the way back down to a low point, and that could last for a long while.  I feel just like that, like I’ve been riding an emotional wave between high and low for a while now.  Some days I’ll sit down and crank out 10,000 words for my book or have really good content to write for my blog, and another day I may not have the motivation to do anything and that could last for days.

Sometimes, I am at a complete loss on how to move past those down moments.  It’s really not a fun place to be in. I know there may be several people in the world, creatives especially, that may go through these moments of lows when it comes to doing what you’re passionate about. First and foremost, I have to say keep pushing. No low moment lasts forever, and with proper self-care and self-love, you can pull yourself out. Some of the things I enjoy doing are listening to music, meditating, working out or just basically having alone time and thinking about positive things. I re-read affirmations I have written and journal constantly to try and vent my feelings, but also bring myself out of said funk. I urge anyone going through something similar to find what hobbies and activities put you in your happy place, and build off of those.

For me, I am currently in “pull yourself out of it” mode, and with that will come more writing, more content and overall more happiness.

Stay with me, I’ll be just fine. 🖤

Whitney C.4 Comments

3 Ways to Improve my Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Health

Now that I have surpassed a big milestone in my life (turning 30 in November), I am consistently pulled into a position of how I feel that this next chapter in life is a part of a big transition for me in life. I feel like im at a point in my life where there are so many opportunities that will come into fruition for me after I turn 30 that I want to make the most of what life has in store for me when I turn 30. In order for me to achieve this, I must be emotionally, mentally and spiritually aligned and healthy so that I will be able to properly receive what is for me in this next phase in my life. Without these three aspects of my life in check, everything I feel will not fall in place and be completely out of sync for me.

Oftentimes, and also do many times in my life, I’ve walked around in life not knowing which way to go or how to get to my desired goal in life. As I’m sure we all have at one point in our lives, I’ve suffered from several emotionally trying events in my life; some that I’d wish I had never had to experience; however those experiences are what shaped me and molded me into who I am today, and they also shaped how I view how to prepare myself into becoming more emotionally, mentally and spiritually healthy for anything else that may arise in my life.

I want to highlight at least one thing I do to remain emotionally, mentally and spiritually healthy throughout my life and hope that it helps someone else in their life if they are going through trying times, or need any suggestions in these areas as well:

1. How to stay emotionally healthy:

  • Conquer my self-awareness: in order for me to remain emotionally healthy, I had to remember that the first step is to always be aware of my inner self and stay grounded in that. If I kept on the forefront of who I was emotionally first, those around me will realize my worth and watch over me when I truly need it most. For me, this and my overall happiness were things I had to and continue to have to work on, because if I’m not happy with these things about myself, then others around me will not see these qualities in me.

2. How to stay mentally healthy:

  • Take charge of your self-care: There is no reason that in 2017, no one is not abiding by a self-care regimen by now. I feel as if this is not s staple in your life, it needs to become one quickly. I adapted a self-care attitude early in 2017 and have not looked back since. Making my self-care a priority has not only improved my mental health, but it has also proven to make me a healthier person inside and out.

3. How to stay spiritually healthy:

  • Take time out of the day to meditate: Meditation has become a lifesaver for me in many circumstances. Taking as little as 5 minutes to breathe has been quite a lifesaver and a refreshing restart that I never thought it would be. Meditation has also allowed me to gain more spiritual awareness with myself, especially in the times when I feel I’m losing touch with it. With my busy schedule I get very lost in everything that surrounds my job that I sometimes lose sight of taking the time for those things, and that is where meditation becomes a big priority for me.

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Living in Unapologetic Intention

When was the last time you did something unapologetically for yourself? I’m not talking about doing something for yourself by happenstance, or because it was an occasion; but just on a random Tuesday, you did something simply for yourself because you’re entitled to do just that?  Or maybe, you just wanted to sit around and do absolutely nothing and not feel guilty about it; but you knew that somewhere deep down in the corners of your mind, there was a little voice telling you “you shouldn’t be doing that because you have ‘x,y,z’ you need to be doing.”

Why do we as adults make it our intention to make our lives feel so hard?  Why don’t we find more time to do things for ourselves or cut ourselves some slack?

Why do we not take the time to enjoy life’s simplest things?  I ask these questions, and in my opinion, I believe there are three one-word answers to this question:

  • Time
  • Responsibility
  • Priority

I feel like these three things hinder us from enjoying simple pleasures of life.  Time is simply what we tell ourselves what we don’t have enough of.  We plan out everything for everyone else and leave little to no time for ourselves.  We tell ourselves we have a responsibility to our spouses and children, family and friends; but who is responsible for us?  We prioritize others’ needs, wants and emotions over our own constantly, and wonder if anyone does the same for us.

Im not saying that this is done all the time, but I know I am personally guilty of several occasions where I have gone leaps and bounds for my family and friends, and told myself that I don’t matter, or that they are more important when in actuality, my wants and needs are just as important; if not more!

Being intentional about living an unapologetically free life is very difficult, because you have to tell yourself simply that you don’t owe anyone anything, nor do you have to feel sorry for doing for yourself.  Many people call it being selfish, myself included; however, even I have had to get out of the habit of considering it a selfish act.  It is actually more of a necessary act.

You absolutely have to make time for yourself in life or else how else would you be able to be your best self for the ones you love?  How will you learn your likes and dislikes? How else will you learn to love yourself first?  All of these questions are answered simply by being unapologetic about allowing yourself to be your number one priority and being intentional about not being sorry about doing for you.  I’ve made a few posts about a couple of tips that I feel are ways that you can start living an unapologetic life:

Here are a few other things you can do to  start being intentional about treating yourself with just as much importance as you do your loved ones:

  • Carve out time for yourself each day, even if its five minutes.
  • Keep positive and motivating people around you.
  • Meditate, pray, or repeat encouraging words to get you through rough times.
  • Adopt a mantra for your life!

 

Whitney C.1 Comment

Podcastin’

Do you all listen to podcasts? Last year, I would say is when I started getting real heavy into having a rotation of podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. I don’t watch much TV outside of my ratchet Mondays, and TGIT; so I’ve been substituting listening to podcasts on some days instead of watching tv when nothing is on. When I look at my Podcast app, I’ve developed quite a healthy rotation, so I decided to do a spotlight on each of my faves for you guys! Here goes!

  • The Read

The Read is at the top of the list because it was the first podcast I came across  to start listening to when I wanted to get into podcasts.  I had heard about them on Twitter and decided to give them a shot.  That was over a year ago and I haven’t looked back.  Kid Fury and  Crissle are truly my best friends in my  head and listening to them is  like sitting around on the couch on a friday night drinking and talking about all the bullcrap that goes on in the world.  From pop culture to politics, if you want to hear a good unfiltered and unedited opinion on how they feel about something, make sure you’re downloading The Read’s episode every  Thursday.

  • The Friend Zone

Because who in the hell wants a musty brain? As soon as I found out Crissle and Fran  had friends with a podcast, I blindly subscribed to it; not knowing what I was getting into.  Little did I know I  stumbled upon another gem!  The Friend Zone is my mental escape and the place where I get ideas about my mental wellness with Fran, new music with Assante and get the recap on whatever has happened on tv that week with Dustin. Fran, Dustin and Assante are just what I need to get a good laugh in when I’m having a rough week and will clue you into some amazing perspective about life that you never thought about.

  • Gettin’ Grown

When Gettin’ Grown came out and I heard the concept, I thought, “this is EXACTLY what I need to be listening to!” Gettin’ Grown is your weekly sit down at the kitchen table with Jade and Keia, as we discuss the struggle through this thing we call adulting, and how many of us are barely getting it right! Despite the hurdles, Jade and Keia are there every week to give advice and personal experience on how to get us through.  They highlight people who own their own businesses or who are out  here slayin’ life, we  sit down  at the kitchen table  for some  real life discussion, have a good laugh at some of the petty peeves  in our lives and even highlight  some of our  favorite self-care techniques!  Gettin’ Grown is a podcast that everyone who has crossed into the adulting  threshhold needs to  listen to just to know that you aren’t  the only one  who has a hard time getting  life all the way together!

  • Jade and XD

Jade and XD is my random podcast.  There is usually a topic with Jade and XD, but  most times, I listen to them because a lot of it feels very sporadic and feels like random Friday night conversation after a long and  exhausting week at work.  It feels like you can pull up to the mic with them, pour up a drink and join the conversation.

  • Levar Burton Reads

I just recently started listening to Levar Burton Reads after listening to an episode of The Read in which  he was a guest on and he talked about his podcast.  I decided to check it out for a couple reasons; 1) I wanted to expand the genre of  stories I was into, 2) I am trying to get into this audiobook thing and what better way to start than through a podcast dedicated to listening to Levar Burton read stories?!

  • hey, girl

hey, girl  is  a podcast that I listen to to weekly sometimes as my self-care.  The podcast is made up of different interviews conducted by alex elle with different  women  from  all w alks of life.  Each woman sits down and  discusses a different topic;  from  divorce,  to m ental h ealth,  to activism, to trying to conceive.  These women have chosen to open up and have some of the tough conversations and open up like you wouldn’t believe.

These are the top 6  podcasts I am in love with right now, and probably won’t ever stop listening to!

What about you guys, what podcasts do you all listen to?? Leave a comment and let me know!!

Whitney C.Leave a comment