The Three "R's" of Summer

What makes a successful summer? When you think about success, you oftentimes think about achieving important goals; maybe financial, fitness, or educational goals. The goal of summer is different. The goal of summer is to take a vacation to Relax, Reflect, and Recharge. When you accomplish the Three R's, chances are, you will return to life better equipped to achieve all your other goals.

The many benefits of vacation time are well documented. Vacations prevent the inevitable burn-out you experience when doing the same thing over and over, day after day, at home and at the office. Vacations reduce stress, rejuvenate, invigorate and restore you mentally, physically and emotionally. According to some research findings the positive effects of a good get-away can last for up to as much as five weeks after the vacation. Research subjects reported that they slept better, had less physical complaints, and were in an overall better mood than before the vacation.

The Three "R's" of Summer:

1. Relax. According to Merriam Webster, relax means "to make less tense or rigid; to seek rest or recreation." What are those things you tend to be rigid about in your day-to-day life that you need a break from? For me it's the everyday schedule of everyone in our home. To relax for me is to truly rest, let go, hang out, not worry and live blissfully unaware of what time it is. I don't check e-mail or my phone. I "unplug" from all technology. Relaxing enables you to empty your brain from a never-ending "to-do" list. The clouds of everyday stress and responsibilities part and your mental and emotional vision becomes clearer after a time of relaxing.

2. Reflect. This naturally follows a time of relaxing. Being away from your everyday life helps you to see it more clearly. An article in the International Business Times stated, "A good vacation can help us to reconnect with ourselves, operating as a vehicle for self-discovery and helping us get back to feeling our best." You can be more objective when you aren't under the everyday pressures and responsibilities of life. This is a time you can evaluate what's working and what isn't working for you and plan appropriate changes if needed.
3. Recharge by definition is - "to regain energy or spirit to charge again; to restore anew the active materials in; to inspire or invigorate afresh." Wow, I don't think there is a person on this planet that couldn't use energy, charge, restoration and being invigorated. Batteries don't last forever. You either replace them or recharge them. Your personal batteries are the same. You must recharge to be at your personal best. A summertime vacation is a great battery charging station. So pull over, plug-in and recharge.

The Three "R's" of summer will enable you to return to life fresh, and finish the second half of your year strong!

Kaylene Mathews is the President and owner of KSMLifeCoaching LLC. She offers both personal and group coaching services as well as PeopleMap assessments and training workshops for individuals, groups and corporate teams in the DFW area. For more information visit: http://ksmlifecoaching.com/

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Relaxation Tips For Busy Women

Sometimes it feels like being a woman is synonymous with being busy. Keeping on top of everything can seem like an insurmountable task some days, and getting stressed about it actually makes us less effective and less able to cope. Many women are looking for ways to reduce their daily stress so they are calmer and more relaxed in the day to day reality of being a modern woman.

Put time aside for yourself

If you can put aside a little time for yourself every week you will find you are better able to cope with the demands of the day to day. It gives you something to look forward to where you know it is for you. You will find that with a certain amount of time put aside for yourself every week you will be calmer and a lot happier. You will gather your thoughts, regroup for the week ahead and have that downtime from the demands of work and family which can be so draining.

Meditation

No, I didn't type medication... Meditation does not have to be done on a yoga mat or chanting an ohm... It can take as little as ten minutes or as long as hours. You will find a meditation to suit you and you will find that with practice and repetition your ability to quiet your mind and rebalance will become easier. Sit or lie comfortably, focus on your breathing in and then out. Clear your mind of distractions. Initially you will find everything from your shopping list to your mum's birthday dinner will float through your mind, the trick is to acknowledge them silently and let them go. If you find yourself thinking hard on a topic focus on your breathing - a deep breath in and a deep breath out telling yourself to let go of that thought with the breath. The more frequently you practice meditation the better you will become at clearing your mind and you will find that you are more relaxed upon completion.

Massage

If you don't have the time or the funds to splash out on a professional massage for an hour then consider giving yourself a massage. A loving partner will also do the trick but if you are stressed after a long day soaking your feet in warm water fragranced with essential oils can relax. Follow this with a good foot rub and massage in some of your favourite moisturizer. If you have time you can splash on some nail color.

Exercise

Its included in all stress buster lists for a reason! No matter that you feel like all you want is a chocolate bar and some Sex In The City reruns, a run or other vigorous exercise will actually get your endorphins firing and make you feel better in the long run. It will make you less likely to eat the emergency chocolate you were reaching for half an hour ago before you went on your run and it will burn calories to boot. You can't lose with extra exercise as a stress buster.

Breathing

When all you've got is thirty seconds before you throw your computer or perhaps a work colleague out the window take those thirty seconds and breathe. Walk away from the situation, close your eyes and breath in a long breath through your nose and then breath it all out again through your nose. If it helps, imagine breathing in calm white light and breathing out all of your pent up stress. When we get stressed we tend to shallow breathe - this will get oxygen back into your body and believe it or not in thirty seconds your life will seem a little more balanced. Plus nothing will have been snapped in half through sheer frustration.

As women in a busy world we deal with stress every day. Some days its more difficult than others and the smallest thing can set us off, other days we are so on our game that nothing pushes our buttons. A little stress is good for us, but too much is bad for our health. Have a plan on how you deal with stress when it hits you. If you have a plan you will be better prepared and your coping mechanisms will be in place. Take time out for yourself, thirty seconds, a half hour or even a day off if you have the time. A happy healthy woman is better equipped to look after herself and her family and that includes us being mentally healthy.

If you are suffering from stress and anxiety you are only damaging your own inner health and well being. Tanya enjoys writing for her blog Wealth, Success and Women and helping women achieve inner balance. If you would like more information on meditation and women's health check out her meditation article on her blog http://wealthsuccessandwomen.com/beat-stress-with-meditation/

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Improve Health and Wellness Through Meditation

Our lives are so busy that one is surrounded with so much of stress and tension. Mental relief is what one is looking for as stress is not only causing mental but physical fatigue that result in a number of health problems. Though exercise is a great way to keep fit but it does not relax your brain which is most important. Therefore to improve health and wellness, you can try meditation which provides both mental and physical relief to the body. You can not only focus on your work but also feel tension free for the rest of the day. Owing to the number of benefits it provides, more people are turning towards meditation and finding it a great option.

What is meditation?

Meditation is nothing but a technique to keep fit and healthy. It is also known as "relaxation response" and came into existence around the 1970's. As the technique provides a number of health benefits therefore even the therapists have declared it the best way to overcome the stress and get a soothing feeling. A 10 minute meditation is enough to keep you active for the entire day and concentrate more on your work. According to the recent research it has been found that meditation is also useful in curing diseases like cancer and AIDS. People have found a huge relief from their pain and have obtained plenty of health benefits.

Meditation sometimes is also called the relaxation technique where you increase your concentration by speaking a word many times. Usually meditation is done in open air so that you can feel the fresh air and explore the beauty of nature too. Sitting is an open and quiet place is a good though as there is no distraction and you can meditate in a better way. Another way to concentrate is to close your eyes and think about the good things. Just focus on the positive things and continue doing it for about 10-20 minutes. You can even set an alarm so that you can relax for that amount of time. Slowly open your eyes and you will definitely feel the difference. Trying these methods will surely improve health and wellness.

What are the problems faced during meditation?

When you start with meditation, it will be a bit difficult for you but as soon as you get used to it, there are lots of things that you can try. The very first thing that you should do is to get a state of relaxation. This is only possible when you have practiced it for a few days. The preferred time for meditation is early in the morning when you can feel the fresh air and get relaxed. Even if you are unable to spare time in the morning, evenings are a good option. But make sure that do not eat for about two hours before and after meditation.

So if you wish to improve health and wellness then meditation is surely an excellent option that brings a number of health benefits with no side effects.

For more advice on how to improve health and wellness, Visit my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/WellnessRevolution13 and subscribe for future videos.

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