How to feel fabulous, healthy and balanced.

Fabulous Retreats Top 10 Tips

Life can be a big chaotic mess, OR you can choose to make it Fabulous!

Your choice. 

What makes you feel fabulous? What makes your soul sing? 

Sometimes we think it’s the big things, that overseas trip we’ve been looking forward to and the rest of the year is just ho hum in anticipation… Remember to stay in the moment, it’s the little things that count and will keep you feeling fabulous until your big trip away! (Especially since that could now be a little further away than you anticipated!)

Life has a constant flow, we ride with it’s highs and lows, smooth sailing or bouncing around trying to stay grounded on the journey. Challenging times offer us the opportunity to be the observer and push us towards growth and personal development! 

When you implement and acknowledge the little things, you are much better able to deal with those curve balls life loves to throw.

Here’s our Top 10 tips for feeling fabulous, improving mental health and creating balance. 

If you dare to feel more fabulous, you may like to embrace our little challenge too. 

1. Time in Nature

Do you spend time outside every day? Many people go from home, to car, to office, to car, without stepping foot on the earth. If you are now working from home, perhaps you don’t even get that breath of fresh air walking from your house to your car! 

Nature is the best grounder and it is totally possible to incorporate it every day!

Challenge: Take your shoes off at the park, the beach or in your backyard. Take 5 mins to feel your feet on the earth. Close your eyes and connect, feel the texture beneath your feet, take long, slow, deep breaths. 

OR sit under a tree at lunch time. Look up at the branches, examine the colours, shapes, textures, notice the leaves, flowers, bark. Breathe it all in. Notice the difference.

There is a brilliant book called Earthing, by Clinton Ober, Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. and  Martin Zucker, about the science of grounding. The authors explain how grounding can help combat the effects of being saturated with electro-pollution from constant exposure to technology by allowing the body to absorb the natural frequencies emitted from the earth that our bodies need and want. A fabulous read if the science of grounding interests you. 

2. Music

Do you start your mornings with a bit of a boogie? Or maybe that’s how you like to end the day. Music and dance go hand in hand for us. Music is a definite mood enhancer and a bit of a boogie, always starts us off on the right foot. Music can transform the mind from darkness to bliss. Literally, in moments, just by playing an uplifting song, your mood can shift.

Challenge: Play your favourite song first thing in the morning and notice your mind state shift. Dance along and notice your body’s reaction.

Listen to this fascinating TED talk about the power of music and mental health. Robert Gupta tells a moving story of society’s marginalized and the power of music therapy, which can succeed where conventional medicine fails.

3. Meditation

Meditation may seem like a chore, but honestly it is a life saver! It helps in so many ways! Start simply, just 5 mins of conscious breathing a day can make a huge difference! 

The science of meditation is immense! Meditation is like a reset button, allowing your body to move from the sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight response, into the parasympathetic nervous system, our system of rest, digest, restore and create. Pranayama, or breath work, often goes hand in hand with meditation. Long slow deep breaths have immediate affects on the nervous system. Think of how you feel when you let out a sigh of relief. If you have been experiencing challenging mental health, anxiety, stress or depression, mediation will help you gain the clarity you need to take the next steps in addressing the underlying issues causing you grief. 

If this interests you, Dr. Google has thousands of articles, videos and podcasts, as well as thousands of free meditations and mediation apps to help you get started.

Challenge: We have a free 5 min meditation on our YouTube page that you will enjoy https://youtu.be/9YG_7wmtNIc Go on, give it a go. 

4. Exercise 

Some love it, some hate it, but either way, it is an absolute integral part of every day! Exercise stimulates chemicals in the brain that improve mood and stimulate the parts of the brain responsible for memory and learning. Cardiovascular exercise stimulates serotonin release, the feel-good chemical. Exercise moves energy through the body. 

Exercise is crucial!

Challenge: Can you change the way you think of exercise so it doesn’t seem like a chore? Can you incorporate it in ways that you find fun and stimulating, instead of hating every sweaty minute? 

Below is an article about the benefits of exercise for mental health on the Beyond Blue website and some great ways to help you create and stick to an exercise regime

You may also want to check out some of our free exercise videos on our YouTube page. Below is a link to our 30 min Thera band workout https://youtu.be/oj7pojWWHWo and there are many more classes that may interest you!

5. Sleep 

If you live by the saying “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, you may actually be on the way to your grave a little earlier than planned! Scary but true. There has been an epic amount of scientific studies regarding the importance of sleep over the past few years and our understanding of importance continues to grow with the studies done. 

See #9 Limiting screen time for more sleep tips! 

Challenge: For one week, set an earlier bedtime for yourself and stick to it. Journal or simply be mindful of the effects on your mood and energy levels each day, and after one week.

Check out The Sleep Foundation Website for some fascinating articles about sleep, circadian rhythms, Sleep apnea, sleep quality and ways you can improve your sleep. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/science-sleep 

6. Quality Time with quality people 

Who are the people that lift you up? Give as much as they take? Inspire you? Bring out your best self? Let you be yourself? Encourage you? They are the people you need to be spending your time with. If you don’t have friends in your life that you can say YES YES YES to about the above qualities, maybe it’s time for some new friends. Easier said than done, for sure. 

Our Mum always says “lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas” – the company you keep is very important! The habits and attitudes of those we spend most time with will eventually become yours too. 

Choose wisely!

Challenge: Start saying no to hanging out with people or being involved in events that you don’t feel nurture you. Start saying yes to new hobbies and things that excite you – these are opportunities presented to you by the universe; are you ready to walk your new path, with new friends who brighten your life and help your light shine?

7. Eat well 

Sounds boring? Does it have to be? 

Can you make healthy eating part of your lifestyle, because;

1. It’s delicious and 2. It nourishes and energises you? 

Keeping a food diary is an interesting challenge. It really helps examine how particular foods make you feel and how it affects your energy levels, immediately after food and the hours following. We all notice how we feel after a big night involving alcohol, but do you drop in and notice how you feel the next morning after a heavy and or late meal? A food diary also allows you to examine what and how much you really are eating and why. Sometimes when we eat unconsciously or on the move or while preparing food; are we consuming more (or possibly less) food than we really need. 

Need some inspiration? Check out this Top 50 recipes of the year on the Eating Well website

Challenge: Make something that seems ‘naughty’ really healthy! 

Check our Healthy Chocolate recipe on our YouTube Page. or if savoury is more your style check out our Cheesy Vegan Cauliflower Bake

8. Stay Hydrated 

Hydration is crucial to everything. Thirst is the first sign of dehydration – regular consumption of water will keep you hydrated down to a cellular level – let’s prevent dehydration rather than trying to cure it by guzzling a litre at once and then rushing off to the toilet! Feeling fatigued? Often the reason for fatigue is due to dehydration. Staying hydrated keeps your insides healthy, your skin healthy, aids digestion and so much more. In this great podcast with Dr. Dana Cohen, she says “the single most important thing you can do to avoid disease is hydrate” https://www.findinggeniuspodcast.com/podcasts/more-than-water-the-keys-to-hydration-with-dr-dana-cohen/

Challenge: Make your water more exciting by adding slices of fruit and putting it in a glass container so it looks pretty and you can keep it close by and sip it all day long! Some yummy fruit combo suggestions to spruce up your water; strawberry and cucumber, lemon and lime, orange and mint. 

Aim to drink around 3 litres of water, this includes any herbal tea that doesn’t have sugar honey or milk in it.

9. Less Screen Time

People may scoff at this, but ask anyone with children about the difference in their kid’s behavior with excessive screen time, and I’m sure you will discover it is the difference between an angel and a nightmare of a child. Sleep is disturbed by screen time at night. We are all pretty aware now of the research about blue light emitted from TV, computers and phones. There are Blue Blocker glasses which are great help if you need to be online at night, but really, can you cut back your evening/late night screen time? We notice a huge difference immediately when we do. We love watching a good film or TV series, don’t get us wrong, but these days we are so much more conscious of the choices we make and the amount of time we choose to watch. Below is an interesting article about the effects of screen time.https://www.rallyhealth.com/health/unexpected-effects-screen-time

Challenge: Get the app that tracks your phone screen time and aim to spend at least half of that time doing something creative or reading.

10. Practice the art of appreciation

Capitalist society is aspirational, designed to have you ever chasing the newest, biggest, best, list of ever growing goals and material objects. What about taking some time out to appreciate the things you do have and all the goals you have already achieved? Take time to appreciate and practice gratitude for the simple things, the sun on your skin, the colour of the sky, your health, your loved ones? The word Gratitude comes from the Latin word Gratis which means thankful or pleasing. Therefore, to be grateful is to have appreciation and express thankfulness. 

Below is a fascinating white paper prepared by the Greater Good Science Centre on the science of gratitude. There is a lot of work being done on the psychology of gratitude and defiantly worth reading up on if you feel drawn to it.

Challenge: Each morning, first thing when you wake up, list 3 things for which you are grateful. List them in your mind or journal them. Challenge yourself to a week or a month, or do it forever more. Notice the difference in your general mindset and mood after just one week.

That’s our Fabulous Top 10. Don’t underestimate the power of tiny changes in your life. Sometimes implementing just one positive change can make a massive difference!

We dare you to challenge yourself to be more Fabulous!

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