So in my last blog post I talked about The Top 4 Most Common Excuses to Avoid Meditating. Now I’d like to share what really motivates me to meditate, when it seems like there are so many other important things I have to do instead. There are many benefits to meditating, but I want to share with you my personal favorites:
A guy I was out on a date with recently asked me which cologne for men I thought was the most attractive and sexiest one. I realized I had a lot to say on this topic and decided to share it! For those who want a quick answer, there is research to back up which scents men and women find most attractive to each other. In general, men tend to be attracted to scents like vanilla, cinnamon, and a combination of pumpkin pie and lavender (yes seriously) on women. Women, on the other hand, are most attracted to the scent of musk in men--in fact we are 1000 times more sensitive to the scent of musk than men are! There is something deeply primal about fragrance. Our sense of smell is the only sense processed directly by the brain and it's processed quickly. Other senses must travel through neurons or the spinal cord before conscious interpretation, but not scent. It goes directly to the part of the brain linked to emotion and motivation, which explains why scent can take you back to a specific memory or point in time immediately. It's why certain essential oils like mint or orange can energize and motivate you so quickly and effectively. If you've always wanted to know how to select a fragrance and use it but felt overwhelmed by the perfume counter, this article is for you. I want to share with you three steps for choosing a Signature Fragrance that inspires YOU and best conveys the message of who you are to the world.
I had the pleasure of attending Annie Lalla and Eben Pagan's Love Workshop last Friday, which they held only one day after their wedding! I want to share with you my biggest takeaway out of all the wonderful tools they shared so generously-- some Conflict Resolution Tools!
I had always known that living consciously was an important practice in my life, but I wasn't always aware of how many things it could be applied to for life improvement. One day, I sat down and made a list of all the things I work with people on in my coaching practice. I was looking for a common theme. Once I looked at the list, it was very clear that living consciously is a theme that runs through all areas I use to improve my life and the lives of others Here are the 7 Most Common areas where you can benefit from Living Consciously: 1) Deep Relaxation Many people are drawn to living consciously or mindfulness in order to cope better with anxiety. But even people who are not suffering from anxiety can increase their awareness about when they need to slow down and find a space for relaxation. This can be tough in our fast-paced culture! There are dozens of meditation techniques for achieving deep relaxation. If you try one and it doesn't work for you, rest assured that there is surely one that will. Techniques for relaxation often make us more anxious and restless at first. This is because anxiety is often the first emotion that comes up when you start to settle down. In fact, the more anxious you are, the busier you tend to be to distract yourself. Would you like to feel a taste of deep relaxation right now? Try this 3 Step Technique: 1) Inhale while counting slowly to 4 2) Hold your breath while you count to 7 3) Exhale while counting to 9 I find when I do this even just once, I feel much more relaxed!
There is so much happening in every interaction that is beneath the surface. So often communication goes awry, because we are not consciously aware of what is truly being communicated in a conversation. Have you ever stopped to think about the many layers that exist in a conversation? Have you ever had an argument with someone and you just weren't really sure exactly where or why it turned ugly? Or maybe you walked away with a strange feeling after a conversation that you didn't feel during the conversation (like maybe you felt good during the conversation, but afterwards you're not quite sure it went as well as you thought it did?) If you want to be a better communicator, it is really important to be aware of the conversation you are having beneath the conversation. There is so much more being said than just words, and often the true statement a person is making is not even in the words. The three layers taking place in every conversation are: 1) Verbal 2) Body language 3) Intention
Recent research has shown that we use scent to assess compatibility in finding a partner. Claus Wedekind, a biologist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, conducted a study where he gave 44 men T-shirts to wear for two nights in a row. The men refrained from using any scent-based products, so that only their natural scent stayed with the T-shirts (they used scent-free soap and aftershave during this period). Then 49 women sniffed the shirts, and more often than chance, women preferred the shirts of men who were immunologically dissimilar. These women also reported that the scents of their favorite T-shirts reminded them of past and current boyfriends, suggesting that they are consistently choosing partners with the same immunological profile.
Samsara is a state of being attached to things that can be lost or desiring things that we do not have. Being attached to things that can be lost is really only a problem when we lose them--and everything can be lost! Desiring things we do not have is never really productive. It creates a state of hoping versus having, that keeps us further removed from attaining the very things we desire.
When you choose pleasure and truly embrace it, you notice that it feels so good. You wonder why you would ever choose to wallow in Samsara. But the truth is that choosing happiness and pleasure (even though it feels so good) is a skill that one must learn. Don't beat yourself up if you can't maintain it at first. Most of us don't find it easy to do so. Of course there are people that naturally have a happier disposition, but most of us do struggle with this.