What do I do to feel good today?

What can I do to feel good today? What can I do to love myself today? How do I best take care of myself today?

Do you ever ask yourself any of these questions? I just realized the other day that I actually ask myself one of them every day, without even realizing it. I think it's pretty cool that I do. Not too long ago I would never ask myself that, and now I find myself automatically asking myself that question in all different sort of situations.

Are you taking good care of yourself today, and every day?

On my days off, I always ask myself "how can I best take care of myself today?". Some days it is by doing nothing special at all, other days it is to write, some days it is to clean the house and other days it is to spend time out in the sun.

When I finish work I tend to ask myself what would make me feel best; to walk home or to go for a coffee, read and take the bus home. When I come home, if I have taken the bus, I ask myself what would be best for me to do. To rest after having been on my feet for 6-7 hours at work without a break, or to do some sort of exercise. Surprisingly often that answer will be to do some exercise.

When I am asked to do something, no matter what it is, I ask myself "would it be best to do it, or would it be best not to do it?".

But it is about more than using these questions in situations like I described. It is about implementing things and routines into your daily life that make you feel better.

I made a new years resolution, the first one I've had in a lot of years. The resolution was to only do things that makes me feel better, that makes my life better. I started by using some EFT on the subject, and from that came the idea to start taking nice baths a couple of times a week. So I put some candles in my bathroom and I used some shampoo for bubbles and put some olive oil in the tub and then I soaked for as long I felt like it. Now, I have never really been a huge fan of bubble baths before, but I have always envied those who could really enjoy it so I knew I had it in me to enjoy it. And now I love it!

I also started to meditate, I found some nice ones to follow, and I started to combine my baths with meditation. It is absolutely lovely and a fantastic and cheap way to take good care of yourself. It will most certainly help you feel a lot better, and will make you relaxed. You can find some nice mediations for free, as well as a lot of useful information about meditating, here.

Next step for me was to start exercising, and as soon as I had decided to it I found a Zumba class that turned out to be both cheap, and on perfect times of the week for me.

A couple of months in to the Zumba classes I woke up one morning with the idea to give myself a 10-week challenge. I felt that I needed to implement exercise into my daily life, make my body crave it and make my head realise how good it made me feel, because I knew that if I didn't I would most likely stop exercising when the classes ended in early June. I made a chart where I every Monday morning wrote what possible types of exercise I had do choose from, inside or out doors, every single day, and  a check box to check it off once I'd done it. Do boost my motivation even further I weighed and measured myself on that very first morning, which happened to be a Monday, and I continued doing it every Monday morning for the next ten days. The results were great. I lost 5-6 pounds and 10 cm around my waist.

After the Zumba ended I took a break for a couple of weeks, but I am now back into exercising again. This is one of the things I do to make myself feel good.

It is so important in this stressful world that we live in, to take the time to do things that makes us feel good from the inside. Exercise will make you feel good on the inside if you do it for the right reasons. For me I stop exercising as soon as I feel like I have to, or need to, or if I do it to lose weight. For it is important to exercise because it makes me feel great on the inside, as is the case with bubble baths, or meditation. It is all about feeling good on the inside. That is where it all starts, and then it works it's way out!

"The real question is not whether life exists after death. The real question is whether you are alive before death." - Osho

And this is what I ask myself; Am I alive today? Am I enjoying this day in my life? What do I do to feel good today? Have you ever asked yourself any of these questions? Maybe you should?

Love
Carina

Sunday Music Time!! Yaaayyyy!!!

A few nights ago I was cruising Facebook on my smartphone, and I was just about to log out as I stumbled upon this video. I am not sure why I clicked it, but somehow I felt like I had to. I spent the next hour on youtube, listening to this young man. I love raw, crispy voices. Always have and always will. And this one is no exception. This is simple, raw, crispy, genuine and in Swedish, but listen anyway. It will be worth it. There is something about this kid that makes me think he will have a brilliant future ahead of him. Listen, and enjoy!




This week is full of good things I am dying to tell you about, but this is not the time to do it. I might tell you further on though. I find life just simply amazing and I have got such a nice feeling in my body. I know that a big part of that has to do with meditation. It is really helping me keep in touch with my inner feelings of love, safety and peace. I have a feeling that all is well!

Today I am extremely lazy! The weather is fantastic, hot and sunny outside and I am inside reading on my Kindle. I love my Kindle by the way! Since the end of last summer I have been reading up on Agatha Christie, one of my all-time favourite writers. But, since I don't really spend that much time reading anymore I still have more than half of them to go. But, I don't mind, because I think they are brilliant in so many ways. There is a depth to a lot of them that a lot of people don't understand.

Who are your favourite writers? What are doing a Sunday like today?

Love
Carina

"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it"

Yesterday I had a breakdown day. I was really tired, and spent my day sleeping, watching films, crying and thinking about this whole Empath thing. Of course, being me, I realized that it would only last for a day, or maximum two days. And I started to feel better last evening, already. Naturally, because that is how I function now a days.

"No problem can be solved from the same level
of consciousness that created it"
Albert Einstein

During last night I had a dream about a house. It was a big, white, wooden house of two or three floors. It had a lot of big open windows everywhere, and the feeling inside the house was that of love and harmony. Peace. But then came the winds. Hard and strong, and they swept in from all different directions, through all the windows and whirled around in the house. The house tried to close the windows, but they were all stuck. And then the winds died out again. Leaving the house in chaos, with leafs, broken branches, dirt, rubbish and wall papers coming off the walls. The love and harmony could still be slightly felt, but it was hidden underneath all the chaos. It took a few days for the house to get back to what it was. And the winds came back again.

Houses in dreams are said to represent the dreamer, so the house was obviously me. The winds I am sure represents the energies around me, that I take in, being an Empath. The windows that were not able to close felt significant after the dream had ended, but I wasn't sure in what way.

In the morning I usually meditate, and so I did this morning as well, and during this mornings meditation the thought came to me that instead of thinking of the winds, aka the energies, as intruders and enemies, I should see them as friends that come bearing gifts.

Being an Empath is a part of who I am. I owe it to myself to love all parts of that I can't change. I am not supposed to hide within a shell, or close those windows. I am supposed to build my house so the winds can sweep easily through it, taking what needs to be cleared out with them, leaving the good stuff that belongs in there.

This is a very nice realisation, because fighting against who you are never leads to anything good in the end. Now, I can walk into these situations with curiosity and love, and a will to learn from these energies.

Becoming aware of something that has causing you problems is a huge step towards solving it, but as Albert Einstein so wisely said: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it". 

Sunday Music Tradition!

Another Sunday, another sunny day! And I love it! Today I went for a coffee with my very good friend C. It's been a while since we saw each other since she's been away so it was very nice to catch up on things. There's nothing like a bit of sunshine, a nice cold ice coffee, a good friend and some proper girl talk on a Sunday afternoon.

Afterwards I came home and decided that I should make it a Sunday tradition to post a music video. I'm not really fond of must-dos, but this is a nice one to (have) to do, I think. I started out with an idea of what type of song I wanted, but couldn't find anything that felt right, so I clicked something else, search something different and have now spent hours listening to music, from Frank Sinatra, Etta James and Louis Armstrong to Maroon 5, Queen and Lady Gaga, and I almost forgot why I was doing it in the first place.

So, this is where I ended up. With one of my favourite Glee mash-ups, of two of my favourite 80's songs, from two epic 80's films (Risky Business and Top Gun), with the one and only Tom Cruise, who back then was incredibly hot. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with boys in this video either. Enjoy and please sing and dance along with it, so I don't have to be alone doing it!




And, yes, I am a total Gleek, as in a fan of Glee. Glee is absolutely brilliant, it makes me cry and laugh at the same time. So, shoot me, or better yet, join me!


Love
Carina

"I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet"

Well, this post isn't really about your mind, more about your energys and mostly about other people's energy's effecting you, but I still think this quote by Mahatma Gandhi kind of says it all.

"I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet"

I am an empath. I just learnt that, although I have heard it before, and have worked on some of the issues I've had because if it before. I just never really put them all together, but now I have. And you are probably wondering what an empath is, so let me explain it to you; an empath is someone who is overly empathic and overly sensitive to other people's energys (feelings, pain, health, thoughts, mood and so on). An empath often knows how someone else is feeling even when they are not showing it, or even if they try to lie about it. An empath might often find him- or herself pulled into strong emotions when watching the news, or films.

I remember when the Tsunami happened over in Asia some years ago, I was completely hooked. I was up all nights watching the news and I bought every newspaper I could find about it. I sucked in all the feelings, both the tragic feelings of fear, loss and death, and the positive feelings of joy, love and life. And afterwards I felt empty inside. Empty because those feelings were no longer there. This is a typical empath occurrence.

Empaths can also:

• Feel overwhelmed in crowds, and drained on energy after having been in a crowd.
• After having been amongst others an empath is often fatigue. This is true for having been to the grocery store, on the bus or a café, or maybe at work.
• Have I high need for solitude, often close to nature of some sort (beach, water, sky, woods and so on).
• Have a high need for the truth, because lies literally hurts them since they often just know when someone is lying to them. And being lied to hurts, as we all know.
• Dislike rules, routines and control, but will feel a lot less weighed down in organised and clutter free areas.
• Have a problem with fat around their stomachs, even though they are not overeating and are eating healthily. This is a way for our bodies to protect us from threats (and other people's illnesses, stress and negativity are interpreted as a threat)
• Appear to be disconnected or moody, and does not like to put on a happy face for others if they have taken on too much of other people's negative energy.
• Be free spirits, in to all things holistic and metaphysical, and are often daydreamers.
• Have an addiction, it helps them block out the energies from the outside.
• Be very creative people, and are often in to writing, music, painting and other creative stuff.
• Be great listeners, and are often the person people turns to when they need to talk.

I am most of these things. There are tests you can do, questions to answer, to find out if you are an empath or not. I found this one to be a good one for me. I did it twice, the first time I answered the questions from the view of before I hit the wall and crashed (emotional breakdown) in 2005, and the second time I answered the questions from the view of where I am today. Maximum score is 80. I scored 78 the first time, and 63 the second time. Both well within the limit of being an empath. 

So, how did I manage to get from 78 to 63? What have I changed in my life? What can you do to keep all that energy out? 

Answers do these questions, and more will come in later posts. This is something that explains so much about why things are the way they are sometimes in my life. Like why I was always slim while working in bars, but have excess fat around my stomach working where I do now. Or why I feel so bad on the bus if I don't have someone to talk to or music in my ears. Or why I feel so much better living here i Spain than I ever did in Sweden.

Do you have questions? Are you an empath, or think you know someone who is? Let me know what you think about this post.

Love

Carina