Every so often I find myself going through stages where day after day I have some negative throughts stuck on repeat. These thoughts come to my mind throughout the day.

Whether I am nervous about the economy, I have fears about events occurring in my life, or I hear negative news, (which I do turn off all the time and try to avoid even when at the gym and it’s playing on the big screens everywhere).

I start to feel like I am almost walking on shaky grounds in life, and I start to have negative views about the future and where my life may be heading.

During these times is when I know I gotta pull out the big guns and do some extra daily mental exercises to help me restrengthen and rewire my brain.

First I recognize that I need to exercise, get adequate sleep, eat a complete healthy diet, and make time for relaxation and to be around meaningful relationships such as friends and family.

But when life gets tough and it’s my thoughts patterns that aren’t healthy I turn to meditation to help me out.

When firth starting I had no idea what I was doing. What was meditation? How do I do it? Do I sit down or lay down? Can I do it while driving? The answer to many of these questions is yes. But our focus at first may be really off. That is where it is perfect to start with a guided meditation. That means a meditation where someone else is talking to you through it. A specialist, not just some random internet guru.

Guided meditation is great for beginners.  Because trying to come up with positive solutions when all you can think about are negative things, can seem often almost impossible. It is then that turning to outside help is so essential.

Guided meditation can be done by  listening to a YouTube video or a series of meditations on apps or programs like this ONE.

I particularly research something I am struggling with. So weather I am having too many fears, or lack of focus, or I need help with being in control or being more grateful, I research a meditation that can help me with that particular issue I am facing.

Because meditating can seem daunting, boring, and too time consuming I often set up a timer so that I can control for how long I will be spending time doing it.

I have learned that 5 minutes is the perfect starting time. I now do guided meditations that are 10 minutes.

When I first started I often asked myself, does daily affirmations work? And the answer is yes. You are just not going to see the fruits of it right away. The new kinder and more positive thought patterns take a little bit to rewire in your brain. It’s a little bit like learning a very long poem for school. When I had to memorize poetry as a kid I would do so by memorizing one paragraph per day. I would each day review the first paragraph and add a new one. Slowly I would memorize more and more paragraphs. Guided mediations and positive affirmations help our brain to start producing kidney, purer, clearer, and more positive thoughts to help us live a calmer and happier life.

But when is life is just on the go all the time… Here is where I have had to do a little bit of homework first and create positive daily affirmations. These ones are particularly designed for women, but a lot of them could work for anyone as well.

I wrote these daily affirmations over a very long period of time. I started compiling them at first by researching them on the web. I also wrote some of these down because I knew I as struggling with a particular fear or challenge in my life. It took me over a year to compile these. Some  came from books I have read. I knew I needed these daily affirmations because when life gets tough sometimes we can’t always remember our mantras and favorite quotes. And during those times I needed reminders from an external source to help me get out of my funk.

I will say that I have also noticed that if I wait too long to do my daily affirmations or if I am not very consistent with them, it takes me a couple of days before I can feel the positive effects of these mental affirmations. The first day in  my brain I have to make the conscious effort  tol replay when needed, some of the affirmations that I read in the morning.

For example lets say I did a guided meditation or read a positive affirmation such as: “ I am doing the best I can.” That same day every time I go through a situation where I feel discouraged or that I am not doing enough, I will now think to repeat that and say that to my own self rather than beating myself down for it. Day 1 I will also notice how many times I was not giving myself graces throughout the day when things were tough. At first believing such a mantra will almost feel like I am cutting myself some slack. My brain will almost shoot back at me and say things such as, “But what if you are not doing your very best?” or “Are you sure you are doing your best?” After a couple of days though, my brain will actually have cemented that belief and will naturally accept it without as much resistance and negativity.

So I am learning to trust more the process of retraining our brain and recognizing that just like an exercise, these mental affirmations will take a little bit to take effect and be accepted by our mind and replace the negative thinking patterns that were starting to be pretty set in there.

Daily affirmations are like a power house of words and powerful vocabulary that are needed to thrive when one cannot come up with the right encouragement and solutions to be my their own best friend. In fact I like  call them “will power affirmations.”

When life feels like a thick fog of darkness and I need a boost of love and hope, I can rely on words of kindness. And because our secular music and tv shows can often be filled with what I call mental pollution and mental distortion, I keep a long list of powerful words and mantras to repeat to myself for when my candle of light and cheerfulness and hope feels dim.

I will say that I pair that particularly with prayer, reading my scriptures, and faith. Our body needs to have three different sides nourished all the time.

OUR BODY

OUR MIND

OUR SPIRIT

These three facets go hand in hand and work together. But today I will cover the mind side of things only.

Our beautiful mind. Made up of all the experiences that we face. Everything that we read, watch, and hear. Everything gets stored inside of our brain. Over time our brain will sift out certain things and keep others. We can’t always choose what it chooses to keep and what it chooses to get rid of.

I’ll give a personal example. This takes getting to know one self and your own personal needs and how your brain functions. Often time a therapist will be needed to help with this.

I have learned over the years that for some reason my brain for example tends to be a magnet for negative thoughts. Things that are negative may enter more easily, stay  and repeat themselves over and over again. Unless I catch those thoughts and consciously put a stop to them. I can’t quire erase them. But I can replace them. 

That is where daily positive affirmations have been extremely helpful. I would tell anyone not to beat themselves up for not doing them everyday, but when practiced at different times, they have made me feel so much more at peace, and capable, and powerful, confident, and ready to conquer the day.

So this how I created my own. I started thinking about a current challenge and a current negative thought that has been recurring in my life. Then I came up with the most positive solution for that problem or words of affirmation. Basically like a genie wish list of how I would like to approach that challenge, how I would like to be and act, and what positive outcome I would like for that situation. I would write down all those words. Even look up synonym on the internet if I felt that the words I came up with were too simple. Sometimes all I can think for a word that represents strength is strong for example. So I looked up synonyms and came up with other words that to me were more powerful such as ANIMAL. I didn’t want to just be strong, I wanted to be beyond powerful and to me the word animal for what I needed in order to confidently overcome some of my life challenges.

Another thing I would do to help me conquer my own will power was to think of an outcome. If  someone had really hurt me and their words were often repeating themselves in my head I would practice over and over again saying, “ So and so I forgive you.”

If I was stressed out while waiting for a medical result, I would often tell myself which outcome I would wish for and repeat that over and over to myself over the days up until the medical appointment or while waiting in the hospital lobby.

When facing a particular fear about the future, I would envision exactly what I would need for things to work out at their best and would repeat to myself everyday the outcome that I wish would happen in order for things to turn out ok.

I know I cannot guarantee that, and I have to be realistic in what I ask, but I like to couple my positive beliefs and words with an element of faith and often think of a miraculous outcome for what I am hoping will happen with what I need in my life. This is the part where I couple my positive affirmations with prayer and I get to practice my faith as I patiently wait for something I am needing in my life. Sometimes this process may take a longer time. Some of the things I may be wishing for sometimes I need to recognize sometimes may take years to achieve.

you may ask yourself, “how many affirmations per day?” The answers is as many as you need and as many as you can consistently get through reading. My list other the years has grown up to 100 sentences and powerful words because I wanted a very vast vocabulary to rely on with very empowering words.

So without further adew, here they all are.

Click this link below to print and download your own:

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATIONS

daily positives

HERE IS A LINK FOR IT TO VIEW IT DIRECTLY AS WELL.

Which one is your favorite?

The post How to compile daily positive affirmations customized for you appeared first on Life At Casa.

As they often say, youth is waisted on the young explain what this quote means. Lately I have realized that I couldn’t agree more. I have been often guilty without even realizing of not being grateful of what my body can do for me over the years. I have focused too much instead on what I don’t like. Such as my physical appearance, having an extra pound or two on me, or having a bump on my nose rather than a perfectly straight  nose. I struggled with acne since the age of 12 and I took that burden with me for over 20 years before being able to achieve clear skin. Having so much inflammation on my face has often brought me into tears and shame. Not to even mention dealing with all the stretched out skin from delivering 4 beautiful children.

As I am nearing my birthday I have had a lot of time to reflect on my life and how my body is aging. Truth is these past few years I have not always been very grateful for my body. But knowing that also helped me work on it. It’s been interesting for me to learn that as my body has been aging and I have started to lose a few functions or two, I have actually learned to love my body more than ever. But it took some tweaks with the way I did things to get there.

For me it all started with earlier this year when I started my second round of accutane to treat acne. It’s a super powerful meditation with high dosages of Vitamin A. So high it can damage your liver and other functions so it needs to be monitored. I was lucky enough that I didn’t suffer from any of that during my treatment. Except for one rare side effect that I did get instead.       I started losing more hair than usual. The side effect was said to last for about a year. Sure enough though my beautiful hair did lose quite a bit of volume throughout the process and it did not stop as fast as I wanted it to. I had perfect skin now but I was losing my hair.

My hair has been perfectly healthy since I was a little girl. It has always been thick, shiny, strong. My hair has never suffered from permanent damage and it grows so fast and so healthy in fact that I have to trim it every month at least an inch to keep it from growing too fast. Over the years I have met many women who had the complete opposite problem than mine and for me it was incomprehensible that they could be struggling with hair growth and hair volume. Yet, I never once stood in the middle when struggling with acne and left the house overjoyed that I had the healthiest hair on the planet. That is when it hit me. I was guilty of not taking the time to do daily affirmations and moments of gratitude for what did work well on my body. too many times I had focused too much on what I didn’t like rather that what I did.

But I also didn’t have the time to sit down and do long meditations where I would take the time to find out what I liked about myself. truth is some days I just couldn’t even stand looking at myself in the mirror. My pivotal moment was when I finally found the perfect time of the day where I as usually already in a relaxed and calm state and not surrounded by noise or feeling negative emotions. For me a bad time is when I am often getting ready of the day. I tend to be rushed and fixate on what I don’t like rather than what I do.

So here is what I started doing instead:

I started to do daily affirmations while taking a shower or a bath.

Shower time is the perfect moment to not only give yourself love. Many times even working in the make up industry I have noticed that a lot of women rub make up and lotion on in an angry way. This is something I have been guilty of too. So I am learning that when putting on soap and oil, which I do in the shower, to treat myself as if I was a client and I wasn’t treating my own body. So do it with gentleness and in a calming way.

I then also have time to rub my feet and feel grateful for them. Rub my ankles and thank them for what they do. Thank my knees for working properly. Thank my gut for digesting food. Thank my hands for and fingers for properly functioning and still being here. Thank my ears for hearing. My eyes for seeing. My nose for smelling. My tongue for tasting. My hormones for functioning and helping me to grow, to sleep you repeated this , to have children, and to sleep. My hair for being here and growing. My skin for feeling and being a protection over my body. My heart for being strong. My lungs for functioning. My brain for properly functioning.

Truth is many of you will not be able to say that all of their bodily functions are hole and properly work. The secret is to still thank even the parts that aren’t so “whole” for being there. And when something is missing, to thank what is still there. Focus on something else instead.

This exercise can be done as fast as 1 to 2 minutes.

The secret is to remember that our body is an instrument that allows us to live this mortal life. That there is beauty even in what is imperfect.

Gratefulness will make us aware of what we do have and now wait until it’s gone and realize we had taken it for granted.

Gratefulness will slowly bring to the surface what is good and diminish the focus on what is not so our favorite.

How does this also play into a person’s  daily motivation. When I am more confident about yourself, something that I have had to work on both innerly and outwardly, I believe more in my capabilities. I speak more confidently, I interact in a happier way with people. I am more prone to speak up in a group with other people. I believe more that I am capable of pursuing a difficult taks, a dream, or things that seem hard or nearly impossible. When I love myself more I smile more and I think less about myself when I am out and about. I also am better at giving love and compliments to others as well. Self love ultimately makes love go around in a full circle in society. Family and friend and strangers will all benefit more from it.

If you liked this article and found this tip helpful, feel free to share your thoughts or any other additional ideas of what you do to make time to be grateful in the comments section.

The post How to love yourself even if you lack time and motivation. appeared first on Life At Casa.

Ring the bells because “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, and it’s not even June. Yes, with everything going on lately I have often caught myself playing Christmas tunes in my head.

This year we have been trying to make the best of life at home. There has been seriously so much going on with the world that to remain positive and have a hopeful outlook to the future can seem close to impossible. Yet, lately I have realized that there are so many things that can take our smile and happiness away, that I just cannot let those things take over anymore.

Trust me when I tell you that in my mind, I often play tunes that go from complete hope for the future, a life with joy, prosperity, success, to the fear of losing it all and end up out on the streets. There are no guarantees with anything in life. But I have realized that thinking, or more so, fearing about it, doesn’t do anything, and if I am going to choose one side, I would rather go for the positive one.

There is a lot of pain in this world. Sometimes if we are not careful we might end up hurting our own selves more than we even need to. So, I try and live as simply as possible and try to avoid giving my own self pain.

Sometimes we can carry pain from holding a grudge, when we are paralyzed by a certain fear, when we create unnecessary limitations, or from worrying.

The trick is to keep looking toward the future with a positive outlook. I have also needed to tap into the understanding that I can handle anything that comes my way. 

I used to fear certain circumstances. Then I went through situations that were exactly like my worst fear in my head, and each time I actually noticed that it wasn’t as bad as I had envisioned it in my head. I am learning that a lot of life’s game is best lived like a matrix. We think thinks up in our brain, and by putting those thoughts out to God and the universe we end up creating even the most impossible things in our lives. It’s hard to believe because we don’t want to make fools of ourselves if we fail. It’s almost harder to believe too. To believe requires action. And action requires effort. The greatest rewards await on the other side of action and belief though. The biggest growth which also result in increase belief in one self and one’s own capabilities. 

So choose to believe and trust in yourself. You only have you.

The post Staying Positive During Times of Uncertainty appeared first on Life At Casa.

So what are some ways that we can find joy through tough times?

How can we find peace and grow?

Bad things don’t just bring bad things.

My son asked me the other day what it meant to grow and learn from hard times in life.

I explained to him that it comes in the way we take those opportunities to grow as human beings and to find time to do good.

By staying calm, patient, and by adapting we can find out what we need to change and what may be missing in our lives.

So here are a few things that can help you right now.

1. TAKE TIME TO PAUSE AND REFLECT

We hear of many people bored out of their minds right now at home. But also of many others that are working non stop. Now more than ever.

With working from home, managing a household, cooking, cleaning, and homeschooling, especially parents right now may feel the financial stress, together with the added load of educating their kids and managing a full household.

We also hear if medical stuff and grocery store employees, mail services working nonstop.

Before all of these duties own you, remember more than ever that life is not a sprint, but it’s a marathon. Sometimes we need to just stop and rest.

This kind of rest may not come from turning on a screen or sleep.

You can find inner peace by going on a walk if permitted in your area, looking out your window and glancing at the sky if you can, or by closing your eyes and going to your favorite place inside your own mind.

Find a quiet place and focus on the present moment.

Even if for just 1 minute. Set a timer and give yourself time for peace.

Take deep breaths and find inner peace.

Speak to your self words of love and affirmation.

Remind yourself you can do all things and tell yourself how strong and beautiful and powerful you are even if you don’t believe it.

Whatever you don’t believe you are, tell yourself the exact opposite.

2. FIND SOMETHING YOU LOVE TO DO

As I child I grew up playing the flute and doing gymnastics. Oh how I loved gymnastics. I can only do a few tricks now. But a couple of times a week during this quarantine I have been taking the time to practice the splits on the floor, jump on the trampoline in my house, and do cartwheels in the living room.

What is something you have always loved that you miss doing? Perhaps you love art, or makeup, or fixing things. Is there an inner chef inside of you that has been wanting to grow?

There are many 5 minute tutorials in YouTube of anything.

Especially if you are bored this can be your time to shine and grow.

Take the time here and there to invest in you. Be artistic.

Even for just 5 minutes here and there.

3. SAY NO TO THE UNNECESSARY

With this pandemic happening so many things have been cancelled. Something that may have felt like the end of the world at first. But what if this was just meant to remind us that we didn’t have to be a part of so many events, meetings, communities and so forth.

And now more so than ever we can say no to what is just too much for us to handle.

Right now we might need to blame it on social distancing and all being at home.

But in the future, this could be a good reminder that it’s ok to say no to the things we don’t want to be a part of our lives.

4. TAKE THE GOOD WITH YOU GOING FORWARD

More so than ever, we can take what we have learned we don’t need now, and use it as a reminder for when things go back to normal, to keep things simple.

Perhaps online chats can be your future best friend to cut back on commuting so much.

What other unnecessary meetings and events could you benefit from cutting out of your life to have your own life back after all will be said and done?

5. COMPILE AND LIMIT SHOPPING

With so many stores closed and restrictions on how many people can enter public places, right now many are coming up with new and creative ways of making the next purchase.

At our home we have taken on the new habit of going to the store only once a month and then going back once a week IF needed for fresh vegetables, fruits, and dairy.

In the past we visited the store at least twice a week. Going to the store was particularly fun for me as a mom because it was a somewhat social event.

I have found out during this pandemic that I have not missed it as much as I thought. And by going less I have had more time to spend time with everyone at home and learn together.

I know plan our meals ahead and we eat out less. Shopping less frequently is definitely something that we plan on taking on as a habit with us even after all of this will be over.

What are positive habits to help you save money and to help you spend less time shopping that you would like to take with you in the future?

Not all bad things come from hard times in life.

These times can be a way for us to learn to slow down, to learn to say no a little more, and to work on developing our own inner selves.

Act on life and be in control. Do it with courage.

Simplify things and you will find your most sophisticated, confident, beautiful self.

The post 5 Ways to Simplify and Enrich your Life During Hard Times appeared first on Life At Casa.

I often didn’t understand it until I was out of it.

But when I rise past those bad moments, I am able to see what happened to me.

Often times when I have been depressed I was believing the lies that the devil wants us to believe.

Some of these are:

1. The belief that I am not worth anything

2. The belief that no one cares about me

3. The belief that no one notices me

4. The belief that I should not be here

5. The belief that others can do this, but not me.

So how can I stop depression?

Satan cannot have a body. Therefore he does not want us to have a body either. And there where he will tempt us to do the same. But we need to believe that God will not tempt us above that which we can bear.

I have had many dark thoughts coming at me when I was depressed. Yet in a very distant way I have often felt the hands of my mom and aunt that have past own present on my shoulders.

Jesus Christ Himself was tempted to take His own life when Satan told Him to jump off a cliff during His 40 day fast.

Because of the fall, and because Satan does know us as well, he will often know what temptations are the ones we may personally be more susceptible to. That’s why different individuals struggle with different things. We all have different weaknesses.

I don’t see depression as a weakness. But what I am saying is that the adversary will use those moments of weakness to His advantage.

We don’t need to go through those moments alone. That’s why it’s so important to let our loved ones know it. A close friend. Have someone to fall upon to help us not go through hard times alone.

If others can do it so can we. When we realize that God truly is our creator and that we are not children of men, but children of Himself, we can start truly understanding that great things do pertain to us. That the promises made to others apply to ourselves, too.

Slowly we can switch those false beliefs and start walking out of the fog. We can start slowly seeing God’s light again and believe again. We can start recognizing His voice and His counsel, and we too can start walking in the sunshine. We can then start our walk away from the darkness of depression and see the not in life and the good things that are awaiting for us as well.

There is a bright future for us. We have to believe it. And if you think that aging is a curse, it’s not. It means that are getting closer and closer to our Heavenly home.

Sometimes I do think that depression is a longing to be with our Heavenly Father. We know that we are not complete here. This world is dark and cruel. This world thank goodness is not it. It yet we need to trust that are supposed to be here at this time for a reason. This is our time. It’s like a little board game. That last a life time. Then we will back with Heavenly Father and all our loved ones. And then our joy will be complete. It’s true that often our joy won’t be full here on earth. Because this is just not it. Thank goodness that there is something better awaiting for us.

This life truly often doesn’t give the best odds to everyone. And that’s why it’s not permanent. That’s why it’s ok to get scars. It’s ok to get old. It’s ok to lose things. To destroy things and build them up again. It’s the purpose of this earth. That why our bodies get stretch marks and turn soggy. Everything perishes here because it’s all just temporary. And thank goodness so that we don’t have to live with our mistakes forever that way.

I personally am happy that some day I’ll get a brand new body with no wrinkles, loose skin, and scars and large pores. I am grateful that all my mistakes even will remain behind.

I hope all of you can see and feel that sunshine and heavenly warmth that we will all receive some day. God knows our intents.

He knows us. He loves us. He forgives. What seems impossible only to us is not to Him.

Believe in the impossible. Magic is what God does and can do.

I hope you can try each day to tell yourself the exact opposite of the lies that Satan wants you to believe. And give yourself a chance. Believe in yourself!

The post Depression is the devil stopping you from doing the great that’s inside of you appeared first on Life At Casa.