When You Fear The Quiet Season, It Could Just be Your Attunement With Spiritual Awakening

January 11, 2023 Brandi Jackson

The Quiet Season Is Your Attunement & Integration Opportunity

Have you ever looked up and noticed that your life was calm and there really wasn’t anything going wrong or worth complaining about. If you grew up with more stress and chaos in your life, the calm seasons can actually put you on edge waiting “for the other shoe to drop”. Most people experience anxiety for life’s stressful situations and others will also experience stress from the absence of stressors. It’s a stress that is considered anticipatory. The quiet season is really a wonderful season of integration of knowledge and attunement in spiritual awakening. Today, I want to share some possible reframes or different considerations for folks who experience discomfort in the quieter seasons of their lives.

What’s It Feels Like?

Let’s start by looking at what a quiet season looks and feels like. A quiet season usually shows up after a life transition closes or nears a closing point. You could have changed jobs, homes, friends, relationship status or some other element and when all of the smaller and larger events have come to a steady place of adjustment and acknowledgement, you’ll notice more quiet as the “dust” of change has settled.

There’s Too Much Quiet

You might even feel a little on the bored side because there’s no need to rush and do anything in the moment. You are in a time and space where time slows down a bit which can be a mental and physical adjustment, There’s not rush to fix, communicate, or resolve so what do you do? Some will look for the next transition because there’s no action happening.

Maybe This Instead Of That

There’s another option here, instead of looking for the next transition or goal to tackle it could be an opportunity to observe your quiet season. Imagine just luxuriating in the quiet and calm that is intermittent at most. Many people design their life to be calm and consistent and nonetheless there is still going to be transition and change that is the one true unchanging experience for all. We can all make ourselves at home in the quiet season and it’s a bit easier when you consider the concepts I will share with you now.

7 Ways To Explore Your Quiet Season

This is a window to celebrate - now’s a great time to look at what your transition was and to celebrate getting through it to feel resolution or completion.
This is a time to change expectations/ patterns- is there anything you want to acknowledge or change about how you think, feel, or behave? Now could be a great time to get aligned in self work.
Learn something new now that you have the time- now is a wonderful time to learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby.
Are you having fun instead of being bored- avoid just letting yourself be bored. If you feel bored t means it’s time to have fun or to tap into your creativity.
Is your bucket list bucketing? Now can be a great time to pull an item of even a few items from your bucket list. Today is always the day to live your most present life.
Your self care reset awaits- are you taking good care of yourself? Are you caught up on your personal grooming, mani-pedi’s, skin care etc? If not let’s get back to the basics.
Health check 1212- now’s also a great time to make sure to look at your health practices of eating healthy, getting movement, and working preventative health practices as well.

So these 7 actions are a great match for better enjoying the quieter seasons of your life where you can stay healthy and grow into your evolving self. I’m wishing you a great journey ahead.

MY #1 HOPE: I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your mindset, mental health, or spiritual health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

DID YOU LOVE IT? Did you enjoy this Spiritual and Mind Therapy Post? Comment below! Help me pick my next topic by sharing suggestions in the comments, or contact me directly to share other ideas for future posts!

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8 Best Spiritual Rituals To Bring in The New Year: Spirituality & Spiritual Awakening For Beginners

December 30, 2022 Brandi Jackson

It’s New Years And That Means It’s Manifestation Prep Time!

Lets talk about the best 8 New Years spiritual practices to increase abundance and manifestations. I’ve been working on implementing the 8 practices I will be sharing with you over the last decade and they have created such wonderful manifestations that I feel it can benefit you if you are serious about transforming and improving your life.

The first concept that one must consider when it comes to manifestation is to expect change and that can sound nice but often times people don’t see what change means beyond accomplishing the goal they wish to manifest. Normally change happens well before the manifestation will materialize. If change does not occur before the manifestation arrives you may not have the needed tools to sustain the manifestation when it arrives.

I don’t want to be all “hard work first” and what not but in honestly, I rather you gain success long term and feel the best quality of life so I won’t butter you up telling you just the fun parts of manifestation, I’m gonna help you prepare to receive and retain your manifestations as well.

Alright now that you know I’m here to help and I can help you build, I want to share my favorite 8 Manifestation rituals for ringing in the New Year for best and brightest abundance. Try the tools below and you’ll likely feel increased clarity, flow, sense of hope, sense of organization and feeling like you’ve got the sauce to beast out on your manifestations! So let’s get to it then.

Practice Numerology: The first ritual is to observe numerology for the year incoming year. I like to work with angels numbers, numerology and intuition to best understand possible frames for each New Year. For example 2023 is 2 (divine co- collaboration) + 0 (new beginnings) + 2 ( divine co-collaboration) + 3 ( mind, body, spirit, divine protection and guidance). The numerology implies 2023 will likely be a year of strong co-collaboration, physical, mental, and emotional balance and new beginnings.

But wait, theres more! When we put the numbers 2 + 0 + 2 + 3 = 7 and seven is the number of divine luck and abundance opportunities, alignment, progress, success and advancement. It’s important to apply your own intuition for numerology to forecast your personal experience with the new year as well so be sure to look at the numbers and observe what the numbers mean to you.

2. Write Down & Review Your Completed Manifestations: be sure to take a moment as you prepare to welcome in the new year to focus on review of your completed manifestations of the year and all of the wonderful things that have come into your life. Take a moment to look at your written accomplishments and celebrate your success. It’s a good habit to feel excitement for what you have accomplished to remind you of what you can accomplish. It’s also a good practice to celebrate your progress before launching into the next manifestation. It’s all about being present to enjoy the journey.

3. Re-script & Re-petition Any Manifestations That are Still In Progress: There’s no better feeling than knowing you can continue to evolve scripts and petitions that are live and in progress. I think it’s a powerful tool for abundance manifestations to re-write your scripts and petitions to make sure you can stay connected with incoming manifestations. You also get a nice options to edit your petitions to add more detail and key information as your scripts and petitions will evolve as the year continues to change and you will likely continue to grow and change too. New Years is the perfect time to edit petitions to make sure your in alignment for your incoming manifestations.

4. Clean, Declutter, Florida Wash, And Declutter Your Home: Spiritually and physically cleansing your home is a great way to increase energy vibrations to receive more abundance. A clean home is so much more than a happy home. A clean home has less friction, distractions, stagnation energy which means better alignment for manifestations.

5. Eat New Years Eve/ New Years Day Abundance Ritual Foods: In my culture black eyed peas, collard greens, and corn bread are significant for new years abundance. You can also consider your unique cultural heritage and intuition for eating foods that feel most symbolic of abundance during the new year. Eating new years abundance food increase feeling of embodiment when you are being intentional and present as you eat. Be sure to eat slowly and focus on abundance while you’re enjoying your meal.

6. Update Your Vision Board, Reconnect, & Recommit: I believe that your vision board is meant to be a living document for your manifestations so it’s important that you don’t treat your vision solely as a piece of beautiful art but as something that you update and review and stay connected to see visually what has completed and what is still being manifested. You can make updates and also confirm that the vision you set is still true for you in the present.

7. Pick a Theme, Power Word, Power Color: Each year it great to give your incoming year a theme of what you plan to explore, where you intend to grow and explore. The power word and theme may actually be the same word. If you are a person who is open to color psychology and color manifestation, you can consider adding a power color each year which is a great way to add nice items to your wardrobe. If you’re not familiar with color psychology, there examples like this one, to help you select a color for the year based on the energy signature you’d like to embody.

8. Hire A Coach, A Therapist, Join An Accountability Circle, Join A supporting Community: It’s important show up and invest in yourself and to treat your personal growth and development as non- negotiable. New years is a great time to hire a coach for any area where you need support. Also consider working with a therapist if you have emotional blocks and healing work to do. If you can’t see yourself working with a coach or therapist you may consider taking classes, joining an accountability circle, or connecting with a supportive community to create progress and health as you welcome in new manifestations.

Watch my video here so you can get even more juicy details:

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your mindset, mental health, or spiritual health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

DID YOU LOVE IT?

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The 5 Benefits Of Wellness Walking: Free 7-Day Wellness Walk Challenge: You're Invited! FREE PDF

July 17, 2022 Brandi Jackson

The 5 Benefits Of Wellness Walking: Free 7-Day Wellness Walk Challenge

Wellness walking is something I recommend to all of my clients as a holistic and spiritual mental health therapist and that’s because it actually works. And don't get me wrong, there’s always a good reason to not want to go outside for a walk with a full schedule, self-care needs, or feeling frazzled from work, family, or just life in general.

I DON’T WANNA WALK:

I understand the validity for any hesitation and perhaps feeling like wellness walking is just one more thing to do that will be an expense on your time and energy. The goal of this article is to talk to you about why wellness walking is beneficial and worth the time and the effort.

HEY FREEBIE, HOW YOU DOIN?

I also want to make sure to invite you to join our 7-Miles in 7-Days Wellness Walking Challenge for Mental & Spiritual Health! Here’s a free instant downloadable Wellness walking guide I created to track your daily mileage and to remind you daily of the benefits for wellness walking and showing up for yourself.

Free wellness walking guide! Print now, thank me later!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FREE 7-DAY CHALLENGE

WATCH THIS!

You can watch this video here to find out more about the 7-Day Challenge and to participate in our future wellness challenges. Feel free to join us; we host new Spiritual And Mind Health and wellness challenges every month.

ONE MORE FREEBIE:

Because I love setting you up for success I designed a free custom “I Am” Motivational Mindset Affirmation meditation that you can listen to daily while completing your daily walk for the challenge. The guided meditation was designed to inspire increased motivation and self-confidence to manifest an abundant CEO life mindset. The motivational mindset guided meditation was designed to complete in 20-minutes, which also happens to be a walking span that equates to a 1-mile walk at average pace.

Okay Let’s Talk About It

Okay, now on to the remaining good stuff. Let’s talk through the 5 best benefits for wellness walking. These 5 reasons alone should pull you right out of your seat and over to your walking shoes for that first 20-minute stroll pronto.

It’s Medicinal

Wellness walking has big benefits for anxiety reduction and depression relief as well. In addition, walking can also help reduce day-to-day stress response triggers. Because walking involves physical movement and improved blood circulation you additionally obtain more energy and more oxygen when making time daily for your wellness stroll. Folks who take time for regular walking can improve brain health and prevent premature cognitive decline associated with aging.

2. It’s Great For Mental Health

Wellness walking is also great for mental health. Wellness walking outside is best when possible as a change of environment is great for mental health and creating mental emotional refreshment. If you can’t get outside to walk you can walk inside around your home or if you happen to have a treadmill, you can go for a walk indoors. Also consider walking without external stimulus (music with words, talking on the phone, watching videos, or scrolling). While you walk consider listening to calming instrumental music, guided meditations, or forgoing music/ sound altogether.

3. It’s Great For Spiritual Health

When you walk you are also increasing your potential for spiritual clarity. You can set a spiritual intention before setting out for your walk. You can also say a prayer seeking guidance from your spirit team before walking to see what spiritual symbolism appears while you stroll.

4. It’s Great For Physical Health

Wellness walking is also great for weight loss and weight management. You can reduce your blood pressure from regular walking, burn calories, improve digestion for proper elimination and boost your body’s general functionality.

5. It’s Independent Self-Care/ Confidence Building

Wellness walking is best done independently because it’s best time to connect with yourself and to enjoy your own company. The more we create time for self and honor and appreciate the time we make, the more we reflect this value of self acceptance and self value to others. When we treat ourselves well, others will be more likely to mirror the pattern or potentially self select out of your path by default. There’s beauty in having your loved ones learn from you how you care for yourself to also be a guidebook/ expectation of how others will also show their care of you to you.

I hope this article got you thinking, walking, and maybe sharing this challenge with a friend, family, or loved one. See you next month for the next 7-day challenge.

MY #1 HOPE: I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your mindset, mental health, or spiritual health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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Spiritual Symbolism For Shark Spirit (Shark Energy Meaning): Spiritual Awakening For Beginners

April 21, 2022 Brandi Jackson

Shark Energy Am I Right

Let’s talk about spiritual symbolism for the great Shark Spirit also known as Shark Energy.

Diving into the spiritual meaning of sharks and I have to tell you like I've been wanting to put this symbolism video and blog together for a while. I happened to be at the dentist office for like a super long appointment got some oral surgery and dental officer offices excited to see a lot of information about sharks as an option because I've been saying 1 to put this together for some time and when I finally had time because I couldn't go anywhere but sit there for my dental appointment there was an option to find out more about sharks and their history which can relate to spiritual symbolism so I'm going to share a combination of facts as well as my intuitive understanding of what sharks are really meant to represent spiritually speaking okay so the apply your intuition for any spiritual symbolism that resonates with you very very much have our own understanding and association with any spiritual symbolism so for sharks here's what we know.

The OG’s Are In The Building

Sharks actually pre-date dinosaurs by several million years which was quite a surprise to me so this is one of the eldest living organisms/ OG status. I also believe that is interesting that if you are spiritually connected and feeling shark energy perhaps you are in the process of figuring something out that is important for your personal growth and development.

Another interesting thing about sharks is that they have varied personalities so there's lots of different types/ bread types of sharks and there's not just one type of shark. There's a sub species of great white white shark, hammerhead shark, and other different species/ subspecies within the shark family so we can also see the spiritually as similar to be your own type of sharp so if your feelings Shark Energy please know that you might be a very specific type of shark as well.

More Facts On facts

Another thing about sharks and that they have a scanning patterns so whenever they are in the water they're always scanning and looking around and being aware of their surroundings. They have more than one way to do this of course they use their senses are able to assess their environments that's what I'm really trying to say if you're feeling shark energy perhaps you are assessing your environment and you're looking at what's happening around you more closely.

Another thing that is really interesting for sure is that we all know is the sharks sense of smell which is immaculate and their senses actually help guide them to be nourished to feed and to prey you know to stay alive so their survival is based on their sense of smell be aware and use their senses allows them to practice survival so this may also apply spiritually speaking of being aware of your surroundings apply in your senses and intuition in order to ensure survival and health.

I also really thought it was interesting that the sharks of the number one predator of the sea spiritually speaking the sea and water always indicate emotions so perhaps this is where you may find that you are really in an experience of personal Mastery of emotions or awareness of emotions as well.

More About Sharks

To hear all of my thoughts regarding shark energy and spiritual symbolism please consider watching the video I created (posted above) to share more details as you consider spiritual symbolism and spiritual awakening.

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your mindset, mental health, or spiritual health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

DID YOU LOVE IT?

Did you enjoy this Spiritual and Mind Therapy Post? Comment below! Help me pick my next topic by sharing suggestions in the comments, or contact me directly to share other ideas for future posts!

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How To End A Twin Flame Or Soulmate Connection

April 13, 2022 Brandi Jackson

The Twin Flame & Soulmate Connection

I wanted to do an article about twin flame soulmate connections because I have had a lot of time to research also personal experience connections. I wanted to share some important things to consider if you don't want to have your twin flame connection at this time.

Many on the Twin Flame journey don't want to continue the connection if it’s unhealthy or not moving in a positive direction. Some on the journey will ask “how do I get it to go away” or they may say “I don't want to be thinking about this person any longer”. I want to offer some tools because severing like the connection in your twin flame connection or your soulmate connection is possible.

Some will say “well if this is a real twin flame relationship or potential soul mate; you can't technically sever the relationship because you two are automatically connected that as you are the same soul” and what I would say to that is yes and you can still decline to have the attention or the energy overlap with the other party. You can reduce that in my opinion, it does take some work in practice. There are different tools that really help.

No Denial Required

It's not about being in denial about the connection, it’s just using using your vote power and your freedom of will to not engage in the energy if you don't want to. That is something that is within you to decide. When you have an energy overlap and kind of back and forth energy sharing; you can transfer energy back and forth. You may feel like you know what they are experiencing in their life even if you're not talking to them regularly. For example, you might say hey I don't know why I don't really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but I really want one out of the blue. You might find that you can hear their thoughts or words ( if you experience clairaudience).

Clairaudience tends to have it’s own path for clarity vs. being an at will experience. If so might hear specific things that your twin flame may be thinking or saying or potentially also as they are listening to something you might here something hear something or someone that they are listening to.

Energetic Portals

Sometimes humans can't always control when they open up energetically and may not always know when they're opening up energetically speaking so you do have to pay more time and consideration of what's going on with you as an individual to figure that part out a little bit more. When you feel that your wish for your person is to wish your person success , happiness, gratitude and to bring the connection to a close please consider a few closing recommendations before closing the connection.

Temporary Goodbyes

Please remember in some way there's a life lesson that is attached to any soulmate connection that you have, you don't want to sever the lesson of the connection because if you don't know the lesson you were meant to learn, it may show up in your future relationships. I recommend is that you ask your spirit team to protect and limit access for the connection by asking your spirit team (that's God your angels are archangels your ancestors if you have a spiritual practice and have a spiritual Guardian also calling your spiritual Guardian who guards your energy and ask them) to protect you from access to that person and to remove access from your soulmate so that way it is all about you and your spirit team determining what is appropriate energy and you will notice potentially if you're really authentic about that and it's not a game your spirit team will step in and support you.

Next consider speaking with your twin flame sometimes with twin flames and soulmates there’s a telepathic energy link so you can speak with your twin flame and have the talk and you could have a talk out loud you can feel like telepathically linked but you want to be able to express whatever it is you need to express which may have not been able to express directly before. So have the talk even if you're not talking on the phone or texting or emailing or whatever. The talk may sound like thank you very much I wish this could have worked out differently but I respect you and the journey and I appreciate you. I wish you well blah blah blah you could also write potentially a goodbye letter.

That's the next suggestion write a goodbye letter; in your letter write all the things that happened and all the thoughts that you have had and the lessons you have learned. Share what makes you grateful for the connection.

After that ask Spirit to sever the 5D connection which means the astral plane connection for how you and your soulmate twin flame have an ongoing amount of connection. You can ask your spiritual team to sever the connection until you are ready or interested move forward. You're essentially asking that the connection will have reduced or no access for your soulmate coming into your dreams, coming into your energy, coming into your memory. You can ask your spirit team to support access for your best and highest good.

Refocus & Replenish

Next, refocus on something that is centered on you, the soulmate and twin flame relationships are meant to teach you to pull back into yourself for your energy and attention back to you and what you're working on what your legacy will be what your life purpose is so get back to you.

Even like the synchronicities around the person hearing or seeing their name all the place all that should also slow and calm down more naturally and then the other thing that I like to do personally because I have an issue about having a spiritual downloads when I'm sleeping and the dreamlike state is I intend to sleep with like Onyx crystals for dream protection and guardianship.

If you say you're done and you're about what you're saying then you're going to be fine but you have to decide to be done and you have to mean that with authenticity. Severing your connection works but if you can't do that to be honest with yourself about where you're at emotionally in your journey then that will lead you to the space of getting overwhelmed.

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your mindset, mental health, or spiritual health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

DID YOU LOVE IT?

Did you enjoy this Spiritual and Mind Therapy Post? Comment below! Help me pick my next topic by sharing suggestions in the comments, or contact me directly to share other ideas for future posts!

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Spiritual Awakening For Parents: Spiritual Awakening For Beginners

March 21, 2022 Brandi Jackson

Spiritual Awakening for Parents: Spiritual Awakening For Beginners

In the journey of spiritual awakening process and journey as a parent you may find some interesting ways that parenting practices have or will change from the previous defaults that have become comfortable or normal for you as a parent or guardian.

What Is Spiritual Awakening

But before we dig into spiritual awakening for parents I think it’s important to first define what spiritual awakening actually is. Spiritual Awakening is a term that really focuses on the process of self-actualization, which happens throughout the human lifespan in several episodes. You will find personal enlightenment of self, personal relationships, and social human truths.

For parents in Spiritual Awakening you may find that you awaken to the knowledge that everything is not about absolutes. All parents were once children being led by their guardians and parents Some children grow up learning from their parents behaviors or beliefs that do not serve the child or parent in healthy ways. Sometimes life can be so busy for both the adult and child that it’s hard to catch when the teaching and learning may need to be changed, or that an absolute that existed for the parent from childhood is no longer valid for the next generation.

When You Just Want To Yell Or Cuss

These moments can be difficult; they happen as we live real life and not normally when we are feeling calm and collected. Each generation has a similar but unique experience to the last generation. Over time parents start to notice this in the exchanges they have with their children. This can challenge your parenting and it’s worth noting an open perspective can help more than clinging to being in a state of ego when parenting where you default to “because I said so” as a final answer. Although your children do need to respect what you say, sometimes these are the moments you can have a meaningful conversation for both yourself and your child.

What do you want to pass on (educate) to your children?

The question of what teachings and behaviors you want to pass on to your children is an important one. Is it the same things you learned emotionally, physically, mentally, financially, and so on? What are you teaching your children consistently? How can you help them to learn from you as much as they will learn from the world and society? It’s important to guide your children to expect good things, to feel positive about themselves, to feel safe and supported, to feel heard (even if you don’t give them their way).

What battles are tied to your ego vs. what is true?

It’s important to consider what is happening in your ego as a parent vs. what is authentically true and helpful for your child to become a well rounded free thinking individual. No parent will get that perfect but it’s really important to avoid egoic projections on your children that cause them to be distracted with your “work”. These are the lessons that I personally have had to learn and face in order to parent my children and see them thrive and be more of themselves. Yes, they still have chores and will be grounded from privileges on our journey together but it’s helped open up our relationship to let my children have space to see possibility without always involving the ego or the path of “it’s always been this way”.

Is your parenting bringing up your healed or unhealed inner child?

This is a daunting and magnificent question isn’t it? What we do as parents to parent our children does not always reflect our healed inner child, sometimes it’s our unhealed inner child that will make it’s appearance when there’s dirty socks on the floor, or half eaten food on the dining room table long after dinner time, sometimes it’s a matter of seeing your child wearing something that you “would never walk out the house in” that awakens the unhealed inner child. These are great moments to slow down and evaluate the way you want to respond, the language that feels right and based in healing. Parenting is a wonderful gift of a journey where we can reparent ourselves and parent our children to be healed and whole as we see opportunities.

There’s More!

I have some other great tips that I know you’re going to really love! I added them to a recent episode of Spiritual And Mind. Please give it a watch to see more practical tools inside the video. Also be sure to subscribe and turn on your notification bell to access the subscriber monthly giveaway!

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your mindset, mental health, or spiritual health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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Did you enjoy this Spiritual and Mind Therapy Post? Comment below! Help me pick my next topic by sharing suggestions in the comments, or contact me directly to share other ideas for future posts!

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Therapist Shares How To Stop Binge, Comfort, Stress, And Emotional Eating Patterns

March 13, 2022 Brandi Jackson

How To Stop Binge, Stress, Emotional, And Comforting Eating Patterns

Let’s Talk About Binge Eating

It’s a ongoing conversation where at times stress and emotions can take over and create a reaction of eating for self soothing. The article that I’m offering here is not in place of working with a health professional or therapist. If you have moderate, severe, chronic patterns with binge eating please consider first working with a eating disorder specialist.

This Article Can Help If…

However, if you have mild, moderate, or intermittent binge eating patterns, this article can be of help to you on your journey for recovery. I hope to share some effective tools that can benefit you to learn healthy coping skills for self-soothing emotions. I as a Therapist am aware of the logical path for recovery for binge eating patterns and it’s worth being completely transparent to share that I personally have also experience binge eating patterns in the past and on very rare occasions have to continue to work at recovering from binge eating episodes that happen even now.

What Is Binge Eating

Let’s start by defining binge eating, what is binge eating exactly? Binge eating is eating an unhealthy serving of food (more often junk food, carbs, sugars, alcohol) when experiencing emotions that require self-soothing or comfort. For example after a stressful day of work feeling an impulse wish to eat something that you would otherwise avoid on a day of feeling more healthy and balanced.

Binge Eating Example

You might choose to eat a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a milkshake on a stressful day and on a healthy and balanced day instead choose to eat roasted chicken, broccoli, and brown rice. One is healthy and increases healthy mood stabilization and nutrition. The other option reduces healthy mood stabilization and will spike insulin, which just increases mood disruption.

What Can Be Done?

There are some great options for managing binge eating patterns. The first option is to consider first admitting that you have a problem and don’t feel control. The reason this helps so much is because it removes the denial of the problem which actually increases the option to work on managing the problem more authentically vs. just on the surface.

After you practice self-honesty regarding the binge-eating pattern, it helps to consider where you can locate examples of others being successful with recovery. This may mean reading books about binge eating recovery, watching YouTube videos, reading more binge eating recovery articles like this one.

The next thing to consider is to better understand your emotional association with binge eating patterns. What emotions do you feel most when you practice binge eating? Challenge yourself to start finding alternative ways to feel, express, and sooth the emotions that you medicate with binge eating. This may be something that will be easier to do with the support of a knowledgeable therapist or health coach.

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Spiritual Symbolism Of The Black Crow In Spiritual Awakening

January 14, 2022 Brandi Jackson

What Is Spiritual Symbolism About?

Spiritual awakening is such a beautiful journey where your intuition is elevated to guide you forward on your correct life path. Along the journey you will come into an awareness for spiritual symbols that show up on your journey of awakening. You can thank you spiritual team for bringing you symbols.

More On Spiritual Awakening

Spiritual Awaking is an experience of outgrowing previous patterns of thought, emotions, and behavior that align you with the next path of your journey. Your spiritual awakening experience usually includes an element of purging low vibrational patterns and people and adopting new ways of being. Many describe the Spiritual Awakening Journey as “ it just feels right” and to continue to do what you did before no longer feels comfortable.

Remember Your Intuition Is Golden

Before jumping into the spiritual symbolism content below, I want to start with a gentle reminder to always use and trust your intuition first in order to make best meaning for all spiritual symbolism when in Spiritual Awakening. To get the most growth in your Spiritual Awakening Journey be sure to meditate daily and your intuition will be stronger which will give you even more confidence and self trust on your journey.

Spiritual Symbolism For The Black Crow

The Black Crow is a majestic Spirit Totem and Animal that demonstrates in action and behavior observation, movement, communication, transition, high intellect, overseeing, community, connection with your ancestors, support, protection, guidance, energy fusion, and collective team work.

When you see a crow, observe what behaviors they present. They fly, they observe, and they commune with their social group, and they move according to strategy to eat and migrate. Crows behave as being comfortable and free. Crows emit an energy of wisdom that can be palpable for individuals in spiritual growth. For some in Spiritual Awakening the Crow may indicate an opportunity to be emboldened to move forward in the life changes that you feel a calling to transform for your best and highest good.

Interesting Facts About Crows

Crows are said to have an amazing memory and intellect
Crows are known for their ability to communicate and are well know for their powerful caws
Crows are resources and have been observed making tools to aid in survival and basic needs
Crows are giving and have been reported to exchange gifts when befriending humans
Crows are considered to have psychic awareness and ability
Crows are known for spiritual awakening only when you intuitively begin to notice them without prompting

What Actions Are Aligned

When you begin to notice and connect with Black Crows as a possible Spiritual Guide consider stepping back to observe your life from a distant view. The Crow may indicate a change in perspective.Additionally consider what supported actions and approaches you can initiate for problem solving on your life path. And finally, be sure to consider continuing on your life path as your visiting Crow is reminding you to know you are supported.

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I hope you enjoyed learning about spiritual health concepts to improve your spiritual and mind journey.

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Holistic 1-Hour Meal Prep: Holistic Nutrition (Seasonal Meals For Fall & Winter)

November 15, 2021 Brandi Jackson

Today lets talk about holistic nutrition and meal prep. I have been working on observing and understanding the ebbs and flow of each season and how to stay grounded in nutrition as our season and environment shifts. Sometime it can feel extremely overwhelming and exhausting to figure out healthy holistic and nutritious food choices for yourself and your household but with inspiration all things become more possible.

I’ve decided that I want to share monthly inspiration for healthy nutrition via the blog in order to give us all a chance to think about easy ways to practice nutrition without feeling overwhelm or overworked. Let’s make it easy and then we’ll be more likely to make it consistent.

This month I have been investing in seasonal eating for produce, which can be such a great benefit for our physical health and mental health too. Something foods that can be great for fall and winter season is going to be sweet potato, onion, carrots, apples, oranges, pears, dates, greens, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, garlic, clementine’s, squash and persimmons.

Granola, It’s What’s For Breakfast

This month I felt like granola cereal would be a perfect quick, healthy and hearty breakfast. I also love homemade granola cereal because you can add all the good spices and I tend to go heavy on the ginger and cinnamon. I also love oats for their health factor of keeping your body nourished and sustained for longer periods of time when you have a busier on the go lifestyle starting your day with oats can be such a great power move. If you want to be even more of breakfast champion consider adding fresh strawberries or chopped banana to your granola cereal for a delicious breakfast or you can also take the granola and add it to a cashew or almond milk yogurt with fresh fruit to mix up the breakfast routine or to make a good mid day snack.

Granola Cereal Recipe:

4 C. Old Fashioned Oats

1 C. Golden Raisins

1 C. Walnuts

1 C. Crushed Almonds, Cashews, or Walnuts

2-3  Tsp. Cinnamon

2-3 Tsp. Ground Ginger

1 Tsp. Nutmeg

2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 C. Coconut Oil or Olive Oil

1/2 C. Honey

Directions: Pour all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix all dry ingredients. Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Apply non-stick oil to a baking tray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes based on the brown texture you prefer. Allow the Granola to set for one hour before serving. It has amazing flavor and tastes great with fresh sliced strawberries or bananas with almond milk. My favorite cereal!

Green Protein Smoothie

Next, I love keeping a batch smoothie blend ready to go in the fridge to drink whenever the mood strikes or after my workouts to make sure I’m getting enough protein. I believe in green smoothies because they are amazing and packed with good for you nutrition. In the smoothie recipe below, I’m using the same mixed greens that I enjoy year around but I do love adding lemon for healthy digestion and increasing the flavor quality of the smoothie. I like to add vanilla protein to my green smoothie just to make the benefits more multi-use and multi-purpose and so far it’s been my easiest green smoothie and very satisfying to drink daily.

Green Protein Smoothie Recipe:

2 Cups Water

2 -4 scoops Vanilla Protein

2 Cups Mixed Greens

1/4 Ripe Avocado

1 Lemon Fresh Squeezed Juice

2 Servings Sea moss Gel

Directions: Add all ingredients. Blend ingredients in a high speed blender for a few minutes until the smoothie is consistent in texture. You can make a few batches of this smoothie and store in air tight glass containers. The smoothie mixture will expire in 5-7 days.

Warm Chicken Curry All The Time

Finally, my favorite recipe for the colder month’s is going to be golden chicken or tofu curry because it’s so hearty and like a stew but the flavor is amazing and makes you feel like you’re cuddled up in front of a fire place with a warm blanket even though your just eating a really good bowl of curry over jasmine rice but for all things we must find gratitude and enjoy life’s simplest pleasures. I also really love this curry recipe because it’s made in a crock-pot so you don’t have to do much but “set it and forget it”. I’m a big fan of crock-pot meals especially when you want to have a easy meal prep session.

Golden Curry Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Pound of Chicken or Tofu (optional)

2 Sweet Potatoes (chopped)

1 Large Yellow Onion

2 Tbsp. Garlic

2 Carrots (chopped)

1 Can Coconut Cream

1 tsp. Red Chili Flakes

4 Tsp. Soy Aminos

1 Tsp. Sea Salt

32 oz. Vegetable Broth

4 Tbsp. Curry Powder (Yellow)

2 Tbsp. red Curry Paste

1/8 Tsp. Black Pepper

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a crock pot with exception of coconut milk. Allow for soup mixture to slow cook for 6-8 hours on “low” setting or 3-4 hours on “high” setting. Add coconut cream, sea salt and pepper to taste. This recipe is great to enjoy as a soup or served over brown rice.

I hope you enjoyed all of the recipes for this month’s Holistic Nutrition Meal prep. I’m so looking forward to coming back next month with a new 3-part meal prep where we can put the blender, oven, and crock-pot to use. Let’s save tome and also get our best health and nutrition, and we’ll keep it simple and easy!

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My OMAD (One Meal A Day) Intermittent Fasting Results & What I Eat In A Day Week 1

May 21, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

I have been participating in the OMAD fasting practice and have noticed lots of changes happening. I’ll be going over that in this post as well as what I eat in a day as part of this new routine.

ADJUSTING

The first two days of this new routine went well but day three was a little different. I teach a virtual class called Wellness School and being in teacher mode takes a lot of mental energy. I realized that I was hungry and not just mentally hungry I was physically hungry as well after my class. I did break my fast and ate within a two hour window so it wasn’t my best day fasting however I knew I needed to listen to my body. It was a good learning experience because I know I need to figure out how this will work going forward when I have therapy clients to assist and classes to teach. On these days I normally need more energy so I’m formulating a plan as to what is the best option for me. During my fasting experience I give myself room to be flexible with my eating times, etc. Especially being a mom and starting a new role where I need to learn new things, I know that some days will require more energy and likely more food and I’m okay with letting this happen. I listen to my body and what it needs above anything else. I know that it doesn’t need to be perfect to be beneficial for my life.

WHAT I EAT

I normally have what I call a victory salad which consists of hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, mixed with fish sauce, soy aminos, white wine vinegar, sesame oil on a bed of dark leafy greens. The salad is normally accompanied with roasted garlic sweet potatoes, spaghetti or pesto sauce, meat, parmesan cheese and seasoning. After my meals I like to enjoy a dessert of some kind as well. These are normally quite healthy unlike your typical desserts. Some things that I have been loving lately are chocolate covered stuffed dates, oatmeal cookies or homemade ice cream with fruit. I always try to have a healthy balanced meal that includes fruits, vegetables, clean protein, healthy fats and carbs.

A WEEK OF OMAD RESULTS

Although I don’t use the scale as a main way of measuring my progress with my fasting journey, it can be beneficial to check in on it. To get the most accurate results when weighing yourself you should aim to weigh yourself at the same time everyday ideally on an empty stomach and after you’ve already used the bathroom for the day. When I first started I weighed 174 pounds and after a week of OMAD when I weighed myself I was 169 pounds. During the first week of my OMAD fasting I mainly hiked, walked and biked as forms of exercise but going forward I’ll incorporate more workouts. I wanted to give my body time to adjust to OMAD before doing the workouts I would normally do. I’ll be curious to see how the next few weeks go especially after incorporating more workouts.

If you are curious about trying fasting for yourself I have created an ebook called Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health if you’d like to purchase it and do the challenge for yourself.

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Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health: For Beginners - Mental Clarity, Reduce Stress, Boost Mood - Week 3

May 19, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health For Beginners, Part 3.png

Welcome to Week 3 of my Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health Challenge. In Week 1 and Week 2 we touched on how to prep for a fast and how to maintain a fasted state. This week we will talk about how to break your fast. I’ll be using the ebook I created called Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health as a guide if you’d like to purchase it and do the challenge for yourself.

The first thing you want to do when breaking your fast is to consider healthy options. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t have any treats. I think it’s most paramount to begin eating healthy when you break your fast. Think things like healthy fats, clean protein, fruits and vegetables. If you have a day that you have been exercising I recommend adding more protein. When it comes to carbs it will largely depend on your body type but for most people this can not seem like enough nutritional value or can cause reactions such as spikes in blood sugar. Some people like to break their fast beginning with a bone or vegetable broth. This can be a good smooth transition from fasting to consuming calories. I personally don’t feel this is necessary except in instances where you are doing extreme fasting such as a 36 hour fast. This is something worth exploring for yourself personally. Sometimes I do like to break my fast with half of a fat bomb so I'm not overly hungry and overindulging when I do break my fast completely.

CHEAT DAYS

Many people have two ways of seeing cheat days, they will either consider a full cheat day or just a cheat meal which is more ideal. Normally your cheat meal will not be back to back with another cheat meal day if you can help it. If you spread out these meals then you give your body the chance to benefit from recovery and recover faster. Through my work as a Holistic Nutritionist I have seen many of my clients have cheat days on the weekends and eat clean throughout the week. In my experience it’s better to split up the days so your body can recover. I have also found that moderation works much better than forbidding yourself to eat certain foods. Having a cheat meal twice a week is a good way to satisfy the things we may want but may not be the healthiest options for us while also balancing healthy eating. If we don’t balance this then we tend to abandon our new healthy habits quite quickly. Another way to satisfy cravings is to create healthier versions of the thing that you want. For example, if you are craving a burger and fries you could cook something like a turkey burger with avocado, hot sauce, mustard, oven roasted fries and in a low calorie or no calorie bun option. This way you can eat the thing that you want while providing much more nutrients to yourself. This gets easier as you go along. You intuitively will reach for healthy options and begin to crave those. When you are making the transition to healthier options it can feel overwhelming to do it all at once. To make sustainable changes I recommend swapping out a less healthy meal or ingredient for a healthier alternative.

IDENTITY SHIFTS

Mindfulness also plays a big factor when it comes to eating habits. Many people can get an identity around how they eat. You might be someone who says something like “I just can’t eat healthy”. This becomes your identity so as much as you need to make physical changes you also need to make mental changes to shift your identity to that of a healthy person. Whatever we tell ourselves our mind and body will respond to. If we are building a habit of saying I can’t do something then your actions will reflect that however if we also tell ourselves we can do something then our actions will reflect that as well.

TOOLS

In last week’s challenge post I mentioned that there are apps that can assist you with your fasting journey. One of the apps is called Simple Fasting. Another good option is the Zero fasting app. While doing my research about fasting I also came across this interesting article about leptin/ghrelin ratio and how it affects our feelings of hunger, mentally and physically. This study may not necessarily be focused on women or women of color which is important when it comes to weight, fasting and BMI however it is a good food for thought article to get you started. Ghrelin helps to determine your hunger cues and the intensity of them. Leptin is a hormone that helps balance energy by inhibiting hunger. As you continue fasting your body will get adjusted to your new routine and the mental hunger pangs will subside.

I’ve noticed that the last thing I eat within my feeding window makes a significant difference in how well my fast goes. The thing I eat is a large, low calorie oatmeal cookie. The oatmeal is packed with vitamins and nutrients. It also helps me stay full for longer. I created an oatmeal three ways video where I share recipes on ways you can incorporate oatmeal into your diet.

EATING WITH OTHERS

Whether you are a mom or you live with other individuals that you are used to eating with, it can feel like a lot of pressure to not eat while they are eating. My biggest tip for this is to choose an eating window that aligns with the time the others in your house would be eating. I choose to have my eating window during dinner time so I am still able to enjoy that time with my family. If you are present during times that others are eating but you aren’t you can also use that as an opportunity to become a great conversationalist and focus on building relationships instead of eating. In some cultures it can seem rude if you do not try the food being offered. In these cases you can say something along the lines of “Yes, I’d love to try so please save me some as I’m focusing on my health until 4pm”. This way you can still say yes without seeming rude while also keeping in line with your health goals. This is a great opportunity to set boundaries. Sharing why you are fasting is a great way to help people understand as well. It can also inspire others to try fasting for themselves. If eating socially is a large part of your interactions with people this can be a great opportunity to suggest other activities like crafts of hiking.

I encourage you to apply these tools that we discussed above and know that this is a fluctuating life practice and it doesn’t need to be perfect. You can adjust however you’d like so it best suits your needs.

WATCH THIS VIDEO TO LEARN MORE:

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Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health: For Beginners - Clarity, Reduce Stress, Boost Mood - Week 2

May 14, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health For Beginners, Part 2.png

The purpose of this post is to be a follow up to my previous post about fasting for mental health. In this post we will go deeper into how to stay in a fasted state and what it feels like to be in a fasted state. Throughout the challenge I referenced the ebook I created called Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health if you’d like to purchase it and do the challenge for yourself.

TYPES OF FASTING

I’m currently trying the OMAD style of fasting which I’ve been enjoying as it has been a great way to kickstart my mental health and body cleansing. When I began getting my fitness back into a solid routine in April until now I have lost 5 pounds. 3 of those I lost once I started OMAD. if you are someone who would like to lose a large number of pounds then fasting might be a good idea. You’ll notice that as you fast you will start losing more weight because you have more fat to burn so it’s easier for your body to get rid of.

HCO which stands for Hydrate, Caffeinate and Oil Intake happens to be my favorite method of fasting. This is something that I’ve been doing for awhile because it makes the most sense to me. Hydration is very important whether we are fasting or not so it’s essential that we hydrate before anything else. Drinking water first thing in the morning is a great way to kickstart your body functions. Something like lemon water or water with apple cider vinegar is a good choice as opposed to coffee which dehydrates you. I average 16-32 ounces of water first thing in the morning. I’ve been on an ayurvedic kick later so i’ve been drinking copper water. The caffeine part of HCO is optional as some people don’t like to have caffeine. If you are someone who drinks coffee this can be beneficial because it does help suppress your appetite and give you an additional energy boost. You can also get caffeine from green tea which provides additional benefits such as antioxidants. The O of the HCO method is for oil intake, this is where we want to consider MCT oil or coconut oil as part of your drink routine. If you haven’t heard of bulletproof coffee it’s a brand that has created the method of mixing coffee and coconut or MCT oil. These oils are great because you are able to consume them during your fasting periods without breaking your fast. You also get the benefit of consuming some calories which can alleviate hunger pains. You can even buy to-go packs of oil to eat as you feel hunger pains during your fast. Start with 1tsp of oil and up it to 2 tsps if you feel like you need it. When I first started fasting I wasn’t aware that you could consume oil so now I try to limit it as an insurance method but it’s nice to know I have that option. I have also gotten into the habit of creating “fat bombs” which are comprised of coconut oil/butter or MCT oil and zero calorie ingredients.

HOW TO STAY FASTED

There are a few pieces that contribute to staying in a fasted state. One of the things to note about trying to remain in a fasted state is that you can actually apply a few techniques that I will go through that allow you to have some calorie intake but not eating a meal as you normally would.

WHAT TO EXPECT

When you are fasting it typically takes up to a month before you feel the long term benefits of fasting. During the calibration period of your body adjusting to the fast you can expect your body temperature to fluctuate, you may sweat more, you are likely to feel restless, distracted, headaches and low energy. When it comes to energy you may feel sluggish but should still be able to do things and not feel completely exhausted. These symptoms are a normal response to your body making adjustments to fasting. Your body is also used to eating at certain times like breakfast or lunch so it will give you mental cues that make you seem hungry. I recommend making a tea or coffee with oil in it or having a fat bomb 30 minutes before you would normally eat to prevent the feelings of hunger.

WHAT TO DO DURING YOUR FAST

One thing to consider is the duration of your fast to determine what your energy ratio will be for the day. This becomes easier the more you fast. You can workout during your fast but it’s important to be mindful of the intensity level. Walking is a great form of movement to do during fasting periods. I also enjoy doing inversion therapy. What I do is only partial inversion therapy where I sit with my feet up the wall. This is a way to recalibrate the energy and get blood flowing. Performing self care is also beneficial especially on the days where you are experiencing low energy. When you have reached an intermediate stage of fasting it may be a good time to start incorporating moderate workouts again starting with twenty minutes and seeing how it feels. It’s good to prepare a plan for keeping focused on things other than eating during your fast as well. Some of these activities can be journaling, completing things around your house, crafts, meditation, etc.

TOOLS

There are a few apps that assist you with your fasting journey. You can track when you start and stop your fasting and set reminders for those. There are also apps that help monitor your energy output to get a best estimate as you are starting your fasting.

Fasting is great because you can adjust it to your own personal needs whether that’s consuming oil or changing the times of your fast to best suit you. Don’t give up on your fast because you feel like you haven’t done it perfectly. Remember that is a human practice and some days it will go better than others. I do think the modern approach of incorporating oil into fasting is better for beginners because you don’t have the sensation of struggling to get to your eating window and helps you to feel more balanced.

WATCH THIS VIDEO TO LEARN MORE:

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I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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OMAD Day 1: How To Start - Beginner Reaction & Intermittent Fasting 24-Hour Before & After Results

May 12, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

Although I’ve tried different types of fasting over the years I haven’t tried OMAD yet so this post will focus on what OMAD is, how to get started and my experience on the first day. If you’re interested in trying fasting for yourself I am running a four week fasting for mental health challenge so I encourage you to join.

STARTING OUT

Although I’m not really a person who uses the scale often I did want to check in on what my current weight was before I started the process. I’ll be participating in OMAD for seven days to start and if I like it I will do thirty days. If I continue with the thirty day challenge I’ll check back in once a week to see what my weight is on the scale. My main goal in fasting is not weight loss, it’s mostly about structure and order. I noticed that my skin was looking dull so I did a full examination of my sleep hygiene, skincare routine, eating and exercise habits. OMAD is a good opportunity for my body to reset and improve the previous areas I mentioned as well as my mental health.

BREAKFAST

During breakfast time I had green tea as well as a coffee replacement. For my coffee replacement I blended it with coconut oil, cocoa powder, stevia and a pinch of salt to create a bulletproof hot cocoa. I also had my 32 ounces of water which I added lemon, apple cider vinegar, and stevia. I planned to have my meal around 3PM. The beverages that I had for breakfast definitely helped me to feel less fazed by the fast.

BREAKING THE FAST

I had planned to break my fast at 3PM however the day I started my OMAD journey I had a work conference scheduled for that time so instead of eating something just to eat I decided I wanted my first meal to be delicious and I waited a bit longer to break the fast. I did feel mentally hungry but not physically hungry nor did I feel like I needed to eat immediately. Throughout the day I was also drinking a lot of water and I had another green tea. When I did break my fast I made sure it was a well balanced and nutritious meal. It consisted of spaghetti squash, italian sausage, a large mixed greens salad and a berry cobbler for dessert.

THE NEXT DAY

Although I did sleep moderately the night I started OMAD it was more of a circumstantial thing due to me having to get up and check on my puppy. I don’t think the mild sleep was a result of the OMAD. I felt great when I woke up and my body felt light. I do feel as though the challenge is doable at least for seven days. Stay tuned to see if I do a two week OMAD challenge. I did check in on the scale the morning after but I won’t be doing that often as I mentioned. I find it less valuable than being aware of your own body and checking in with that.

I recognize that many people participating in OMAD are mainly interested in losing weight but as I mentioned in the beginning that is not my main goal. I’m more interested in doing this as a lifestyle. I’m going to be paying attention to how this challenge affects my time, my mental health and my overall body health. I look forward to updating you with my progress in all those areas.

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Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health: For Beginners - Mental Clarity, Reduce Stress, Boost Mood - Week 1

May 7, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

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Today's blog post is all about intermittent fasting and the benefits it can have on mental health.

WHY INTERMITTENT FAST?

I think it’s important to touch on the benefits of fasting as it applies to mental health. When we fast our brain is able to scrubbed clean of toxins. This is helpful in improving our clarity, our ability to recall information and to recover at a cellular level. There are the added benefits like losing weight if that is your goal. Since our bodies are no longer burning sugar during a fast they are able to burn fat. This process is called ketosis. When we give our cells a chance to recover they are able to improve our anti-aging abilities so our skin gets better as well as taking preventative measures for cancer, Alzheimer's and improved immune function. If you get sick often or are at risk for cancer for example, this can take a toll on your mental health. Things like aging prematurely or struggling with weight management can affect your confidence and ultimately your mental health state as well.

I created an ebook for the four week intermittent fast challenge I ran called Intermittent Fasting For Mental Health if you’d like to purchase it and do the challenge for yourself.

DRAWBACKS

There are many benefits of fasting however when your body is acclimating to a regular fasting practice, it can be tough to start out. On average it takes approximately one month of consistent practice to achieve the results I’m going to share.

RESULTS

1. MENTAL CLARITY

The first benefit of fasting is having a clear memory and the ability to think clearly. The people who fast often say that they have an improved mental sharpness and increased concentration. You may even have a sense of increased spiritual clarity.

2. ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

This one is powerful because most of us have an awareness of what’s happening around us especially women. When you fast this increases even more than usual. Your awareness of your environment is heightened because you aren’t having any food. You may notice a stronger sense of hearing, improved eyesight and sense of smell.

3. MENTAL & EMOTIONAL WILLPOWER

You will find that you have more range to handle stress and emotionality when you’re fasting. I find your body isn’t willing to give into emotions as much as it would if you were not fasting.

There are many additional benefits that I go into inside the ebook such as reduced anxiety, increased spiritual awareness, improved sleep, reduced mood swings, a brighter mood and the ability for your body to process and eliminate toxins and buildup.

BREAKING INTO YOUR FAST

There are two key components that are worth your time and attention regarding fasting. The first point is that you need to prepare. You want to prepare for your fast before you start. Consider what ways will make you successful in achieving your fast. You want to first begin by eating properly the day before you go into your fast. It’s good to have a balanced meal with healthy fats, protein and vegetables. Whatever you would normally have that makes you feel satiated. You don’t need to feel stuffed but you do need to have a meal that is substantially nutritious. The next step is getting good quality sleep. When you begin with good sleep you are much more likely to withstand a fasting period. Of course if we don’t have good sleep hygiene then we are more likely to reach for junk food and we are more impulsive with our decision making.

One thing that is worth considering in advance is how you are prepping. A lot of the people that I work with as a holistic nutritionist are moms or women that have partners, etc who will not be fasting with them. In these situations you need to consider how you are approaching food. If your kids or your partner are asking you to make breakfast for example that might be tricky because you will want to avoid triggers. During the times that I’m choosing to fast I make my kids food that I wouldn’t enjoy eating to help avoid temptation. You may also want to consider pre-making the meals you need to have made so you don’t have to worry about cooking during your fast. If you don’t have to cook for anyone else then consider removing all the food from your line of sight.

In addition to removing food you should think about what it is that you will be drinking and eating during your fast and feeding periods. You can have water or tea. There are some approaches that only allow water but I like to take a modernist approach to fasting so I allow for bulletproof hot cocoa and other drinks. I like having these options so I can continue my fasts even during times where it seems difficult.

The next consideration would be how long you will be fasting for so you can plan for that. If you are going to fast for longer periods of time it is important that you decide to put your rigorous fitness routine on hold closer to the point that you are going to break your fast. I’m a person who enjoys working out in the morning but if I’m fasting until 3pm I won’t workout until 1pm or 2pm because I don’t want the reaction of hunger in the morning and potentially risk ruining my fast.

When you’re fasting you will have extra time on your hands since you won’t be preparing food or sitting down to eat. I find it helpful to create a to-do list to focus on throughout the day and take your mind off the feeling of mental hunger pangs. Mental hunger is different from physically feeling hungry. Mental is more about your mind thinking that you have specific times to eat and sending signals to your body to entice you to eat during those times whether or not you are actually physically hungry.

Step two involves a shift in your mental state. You need to change your mindset to prepare for your fasting period. When you break into your fast you need to mentally break into your face as well.

STYLES OF FASTING

There are several different styles of fasting you can choose from. My preferred method if you are a beginner is the 16:8 method. You will fast for 16 hours and be able to eat during an 8 hour window. You want to be able to eat all your meals during that 8 hour time period. You could also try a 14:10 method if you want less time fasting while you’re starting out. There are also methods such as 5:2. This is where you would eat normally for 5 days out of the week then for 2 days you are only eating a restricted amount of calories typically that is 500-800 calories although it will vary for each person. The method that I am personally practicing during our challenge is the OMAD style. In this style you only eat one meal per day. Another method I have tried in the past is the warrior fast where you fast for 20 hours and eat within a 4 hour window.

Fasting has many benefits as we touched on in this post. I also like that it is flexible. You can play around with the different styles you like and what works best for your lifestyle and body. It’s a powerful experience to take your health into your own hands. This confidence carries over into other parts of life, you may find that you feel more empowered at work or in your relationships from doing challenges such as these.

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Oatmeal 3 Ways: How To Eat Healthy: Holistic Nutrition For Beginners

May 5, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

Today’s post is all about why we should all be incorporating more oatmeal into our daily nutrition plan. I have three recipes that I’ll be sharing at the end of this post. As a holistic nutritionist I realized I haven’t created much content around nutrition so I will try to do more of these. If you haven’t already you can check out the last video I did featuring a giant cookie recipe.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF EATING OATMEAL

Oatmeal is very nutritional dense and full of benefits which means it has a lot of nutritional value as opposed to foods that have low nutritional value like junk food. Oatmeal contains polyphenols which are great for your heart health and your blood pressure. These are essential for the functions of your body such as heating and cooling you. It is also packed with antioxidants much like green tea. These are important for cellular level anti-aging and give our bodies a chance to refresh and replenish. Oatmeal is also full of fibre which is needed for your general digestion as well as the sensation of feeling full or satisfied which can make you less likely to reach for food as often or choose foods that aren’t nutritious. You can improve and lower your cholesterol. You can also lower your blood sugar as well which is important for your body functions, concentration and memory. Oatmeal is also a low calorie food. I would recommend trying to eat at least ½ cup of oatmeal everyday. ½ cup is the amount that I personally feel satisfies me the most.

ADDITIONAL OATMEAL BENEFITS

Not only is oatmeal extremely good for us to eat it also contains properties that assist our skin as well. These properties can help soothe our skin and has the ability to work from the outside in. You may notice that there are things such as oatmeal soaks designed to help you improve your skin.

To get you started with your oatmeal journey, I’ve included three great recipes down below. These are ones that I rotate through on a regular basis. I like to enjoy a cookie after my meals for the day especially during the time of practicing OMAD so I don’t feel like I’m starving. Ending your day with a bit of oatmeal is a good strategy for anyone who fasts or participates in OMAD. If you enjoy this type of content with nutritional information as well as recipes let me know on my YouTube channel so I can continue to create more. What I did when I made these cookies is I made a base containing the same ingredients then I split the batter up and created different flavors so they could all cook at the same time and I didn’t need to do additional work. As with all my recipes please adjust the recipes in accordance to your own preferences. In addition to these recipes I occasionally add fruit, almond butter, peanut butter, cream cheese or yogurt to switch it up.

Oatmeal Chip

2C Oat Flour

1 Egg

1/2 C Almond Milk

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp. Sea Salt

1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2C- 3/4C Monk Fruit Sweetener

1/4C Unsweetened Applesauce

1/2 Mashed Banana

1/4C Cocoa Nibs

1/4C Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

Oatmeal Double Chocolate

2C Oat Flour

1 Egg

1/2 C Almond Milk

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp. Sea Salt

1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2C- 3/4C Monk Fruit Sweetener

1/4C Unsweetened Applesauce

1/2 Mashed Banana

1/4C Cocoa Nibs

1/4C Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

1/4C Cocoa Powder

Traditional Oatmeal

2C Oat Flour

1 Egg

1/2 C Almond Milk

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp. Sea Salt

1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2C- 3/4C Monk Fruit Sweetener

1/4C Unsweetened Applesauce

1/2 Mashed Banana

1/4C Raisins

1/4C Walnuts

2 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 Tsp. Ground Ginger

Directions: Mix all ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

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8-Minute At-Home KettleBell HIIT Workout, Low Calorie Big Cookie Recipe & Wellness Definition

April 30, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

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As a holistic therapist and wellness coach I always recommend some sort of movement especially when it comes to combating anxiety and depression so in today’s post I’ll be sharing an at home kettlebell workout that you can incorporate into your fitness routine. All you need to participate is a kettlebell of whichever weight works for you. If you want to start with 5lbs and work your way up that’s great, I’ll be doing the workout with a 10lb weight. I’ll include the moves in this post but if you prefer to watch the video you can scroll to the bottom of the post and follow along. Each move will be performed for 40 seconds followed by 20 seconds of rest. You can repeat the circuit two to three times depending on your

1. KETTLEBELL SWINGS

Kettlebell swings are quite simple, all you need to do is swing the kettlebell underneath the crotch area up and away from your body. Make sure your feet are pointed straight in front of you, slightly bend your knees and keep your back straight. Use your hips and pelvis as momentum to get the kettlebell up towards your shoulders.

2. KETTLEBELL DEADLIFTS

Stand with your feet shoulder length apart and bring the kettlebell down in between your feet. Your back should also be straight while you go into a deep squat. You should be feeling this movement in your glutes if you are doing it properly. When you come up be sure to squeeze your glutes. If you have a heavier kettlebell feel free to use it during this move

3. FIGURE EIGHTS

For this move a lighter kettlebell is better to ensure proper form. Starting in a center position with feet shoulder length apart, take the kettlebell and pass it through your legs then up to shoulder height then through the legs again and raise it to your opposite shoulder. It’s important that you take it slow if you’re new to this move and use a kettlebell where you are comfortable gauging the weight to avoid any flying kettlebells.

4. STEP-UPS

If you don’t have a step-up box at home you can use a sturdy chair. Hold your kettlebell against your chest and when you step up onto your surface you can press the kettlebell up then step back down. Alternate which leg you step-up with first.

Now that our workout is complete we have earned a treat. This recipe that I’m sharing will allow you to satisfy your sugar cravings while also keeping you on track for your nutrition and wellness goals. I make this whenever I want something sweet and I’ve still been losing a few pounds a week just by making small changes. I don't think this recipe is overly decadent but if you prefer it that way you can always alter the recipe.

Low Cal Big Cocoa Cookie Recipe:

2 cups oats/ oat flour 600 cal

1 vegan egg 30 cal

1/2 c almond milk 15 cal

1 tbsp olive oil 119

3/4 c Stevia 0 cal

2 tbsp Chocolate PB Powder 50 cal

1/2 c Unsweetened applesauce 70 calories

1/2 c Cocoa Powder 98 cal

1 Tsp. Sea salt 0 cal

1 Tsp. Baking powder 0 cal

1 Tsp. vanilla extract 0 cal

Cook the cookies for 15 minutes at 350F degrees

To close out this wellness post I want to talk about a wellness concept. I thought we could start this off with the definition of wellness itself. The definition that I found for wellness is “Wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you’re thriving”. I think thriving is the keyword here because that takes us from survival mode into a state where we are experiencing our life with peace, presence and health. This is what inspired me to create this wellness series so you can look forward to more in the future!

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Emotional Freedom Technique 101: How & Why To Use EFT For Healing, Stress, Anxiety, & Depression

April 28, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

I had posted recently asking my audience what they wanted to see me talk about next and the overwhelming response was EFT so today’s post will be all about EFT, what it is, how to use it, what the specific acupressure points are on the body and the healing statements.

WHAT IS EFT?

EFT is also known as Emotional Freedom Technique which is a healing method that can be used individually or you can work with a coach to receive EFT treatments. EFT can also be done in a group or partner format. A typical EFT session should be five to ten minutes if you are looking to get the full effect of benefits from it. It has become very popular because it is a tool that many people have found worked very well for them. EFT involves tapping on acupressure points throughout the body to release energy that may be stored there. Tapping has many benefits including feeling more relaxed, calm, balancing energy and releasing negative energy. Tapping paired with a healing statement becomes a powerful way to heal current or past pain. While EFT is a great resource, healing is a multi dynamic process so you often need to do multiple things on your healing journey to assist with complex trauma. We have tons of resources available to use for healing like therapy and self care so we should take advantage of all of them during our healing process. EFT is primarily used for PTSD but it’s also helpful for depression and anxiety. It can also be a way to visualize positive experiences that you would like to focus on. It can be used for increasing self confidence as well as goal setting.

HEALING STATEMENTS

Healing statements can be very fun to create and also very simple. My favorite one that I have learned throughout the years during my EFT training is “even though (fill in the blank) I still love and completely accept myself”. In the blank space you would insert whatever it is that you tend to be upset with yourself about or the thing that you are trying to heal. I have given my therapy clients healing statements in the past but I do think it’s very important to use your statement in your own language. Our own language and style of speech is so powerful for our own acceptance of the words we chose. If you are repeating words that someone else has chosen for you it may not be as valuable as words you have selected yourself. I invite you to create your own statement when you are participating in your own EFT practice.

ACUPRESSURE POINTS

There are many acupressure points located on the body but for the purpose of this post I will just point out the seven ones I normally use. When tapping you can use one finger or two fingers depending on the size of the meridian point.

Between your eyebrows and located on your third eye chakra is the first energy meridian point.
The second point is located just below the eyes around the eye socket bone.
The third point is under the nose and before your upper lip.
The fourth point is located on the chin.
On the wrists the fifth point is located.
The collarbone is the spot where the sixth point is located.
Under the armpit is another point for tapping.

If you would like to learn more you can watch the video below. In the video I also include a mini EFT practice for you to follow along with and get a better sense of how EFT works.

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MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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7 Highly Effective Habits For Work From Home Moms: Self-Care, Cleaning, Cooking & Working Vlog

April 23, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

7 Highly Effective Habits For Work From Home Moms.png

This post was inspired by a YouTube video I watched so I felt compelled to share my own seven habits that allow me to be my best self as a work from home mom. I’ve recently created a list of powerful habits that stays beside my bed as a reminder of the things I can do throughout my day to make it better. I printed them off and put them in a frame so I’m able to mark them off as I do them throughout the day. I try to do all of them although some days I am not able to fit all ten habits in.

1. HYDRATE

The first habit that I do is hydrating. When I wake up I will drink water and I try to drink three of my 32oz bottles per day. My current go-to is water with a quarter cup of cranberry juice and sea salt.

2. MEDITATION

As a holistic therapist I’m a huge fan of incorporating meditation into the day. It allows you to think calmly and helps reduce stress and anxiety. I try to meditate in the morning as a way to refresh my mind. You don’t need to meditate for long to get the benefits either. If you only have time for a few minutes it is still very beneficial.

3. JOURNAL

I use my Holistic Planner to journal in the mornings or at any time during the day. I love journaling because it’s a great practice to curb anxiousness and helps you collect your thoughts. I also use my planner for goal setting, self celebration, meal tracking and much more.

4. MOVEMENT

In the morning I like to do some form of exercise whether that’s a workout or going for a walk and listening to music. It feels good to wake up my body slowly and enjoy the fresh air. Walking is a great way to get movement that is low impact and the alone time helps me get my thoughts organized so I can show up as my best self for my family during the day.

5. TIDYING

Throughout the day I will tidy my house to keep things organized. Recently I’ve been on a minimalistic journey and have been enjoying simplicity which makes cleaning and tidying much easier. In my kitchen I have packed away any extra dishes so I don’t spend extra time cleaning and putting things away. I find it easier to do small bursts of cleaning rather than spend hours trying to do it all.

6. MEAL PREPPING

After I’ve done my morning routine I like to plan what my family will have for dinner that night so I’m not stressed about what to make when it’s 5:00PM. I mentioned in a previous post about minimalism that I like to cook as minimalistically as possible. The approach that I use is to make the components of the dinner but not put it all together, that way my kids can eat the things they like and I don’t have to make separate meals for them.

7. WIND DOWN ROUTINE

In the evening I really enjoy having a routine that allows for great sleep hygiene. One of the first things I do is listen to an Audible book with my boys. I find this helps set the tone for relaxation. The last thing I do before getting into bed is say a prayer, celebrate a few things that I did throughout the day that went well and assess what habits I could work on the next day.

If you’re interested in using my ten powerful habits you can access a printable version of my list here or you can create your own. I hope this post provided you with ideas on habits that help you show up as your best self everyday.

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3 Ways To Heal Your Inner Child: How To Start Healing W/ Self-Care: Definition & Symptoms

April 21, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

Today I wanted to talk about inner child healing because this is something that I am currently working through with my Mindset Cultivation students. If you aren’t familiar with my course I host a bi-weekly class session around various wellness topics. I, as a holistic therapist have had years of practice helping clients work through inner child work as well as my own personal journey doing inner child work. I wanted to share three tips in this post for those who are interested in healing their inner child. In my experience, an inner child is speaking to a mindset that is linked to past experiences in your youth. This can range between the ages of three until eighteen give or take. You may have had experiences that have been imprinted into your life through trauma. An important thing to note is that inner child work does not always need to stem from negative experiences. However, when we speak about healing the inner child we are speaking more specifically about trauma based experiences. Inner child work is working through whatever traumatic experiences that occurred when we were younger and didn’t necessarily have the skills developed to manage what was happening during the time. Through my own journey and helping others I have come to realize that our inner child will usually develop tools to help us cope but they may not be the healthiest coping mechanisms we would use in adulthood. Sometimes inner child shows up as reverting to our younger years and behaviours that aren’t as productive as our mature adult self would practice. This can be a good way to determine if your inner child is in charge or if you are in charge. When we behave with maturity and thought that is our adult selves stepping forward whereas our inner child might cry, withdraw, jump to conclusions etc which is how your younger self would cope.

CONNECT

The first point that I want to make for anyone wanting to do inner child work is to practice connecting with your inner child. As a therapist I recommend going into a meditative state and practice having conversations with your inner child. You can also write letters to them. To do this you can write one letter as your inner child and write another as your adult self in response. Another way that you can practice connecting is thinking about what your inner child has experienced and writing about the experience. Write about the timeline of the event and the feelings that came with it. Many people will feel that this work can be very traumatic and can pull up a lot of wounded parts of their past which is true but it can be very powerful and empowering. It can be helpful to work with a therapist for this if you have a lot of trauma connected to your youth.

CHECK IN REGULARLY

It’s important to make checking in with yourself a regular practice. You don’t want to do an inner child practice once then not revisit it because once is likely not enough for proper healing to take place. You can continue to work with a therapist for this or you can choose to create your own practice where you are checking in on your healing progress on your own. By checking in regularly you can also help determine what the triggers are and how you can develop healthy coping mechanisms which brings me to the final point of creating awareness.

CREATE AWARENESS

I think the biggest thing that you can do during your practice of healing is creating awareness around what the triggers are for your inner child. What makes your younger self feel frustrated, rejected, ignored or any other feelings that may arise in situations. It’s a good opportunity to journal and write down the feelings and then the actions you can take to protect and support your inner child. For example if you feel anxious in certain scenarios you may revert to your inner child's coping mechanism which might not be the best choice in adulthood. When this occurs you want to think of what you can put into practice to remove these feelings. In this example if you were feeling anxious instead of jumping to conclusions or withdrawing you could ask questions so you can clarify what’s happening without spinning. I find that asking questions is such a powerful exercise. There are many more healthy coping mechanisms that you can use as well such as setting boundaries. As you do the work you will begin to determine what works best for you.

That sums up this post on inner child work. As I mentioned above this is just one of the many topics we cover in the school of Mindset Cultivation. This is a community for black women who are working to change, heal, grow and connect so I invite you into the classroom to join us. Your first class is 50% off! I look forward to sharing more of what we are learning because it allows you to know some of what we're doing in class and you are able to get a taste of what you can learn.

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Why I Broke Up With Instagram: 3 Health Reasons You Should Consider: Social Media & Quality Of Life

April 16, 2021 Taylor Hornbeck

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Today’s post is all about letting go of Instagram and disconnecting. The reason why I wanted to create this post and share this information with you all is because social media has been an increasingly useful tool to connect especially over the course of the pandemic. I can understand how there is an increase for a lot of us with how much we access social media tools, however it does have drawbacks in regards to how it affects our health so we will discuss those below. I have personally found that I preferred Instagram over Facebook but for the purpose of this post you can swap out whatever platform you prefer.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

Let's first talk about what happens when we have too much brain time. You might be familiar with the documentary called Social Dilemma but if you haven’t seen it I’ll sum up some points below. Social media can be very hard on our mental health. With social media you may notice over time that you have increased feelings of anxiety, overstimulation, comparison thinking, increased depression, lower confidence and more stress. Social media can be great. I love that I can create content that helps people on my YouTube channel but there can be too much of a good thing. As mentioned above there is some emotional baggage that comes with overly using social media.

INCREASED DISTRACTION

In my own experience I have found that Instagram happens to keep me in a distracted mindset. After I realized I was struggling with a distracted mind and slower memory recall I tested only being on Instagram every other day and setting a timer but for me those things didn’t work because I would still fall into the black hole that is social media. Being that I have a full schedule I don’t like the feeling of being distracted and I noticed my mood would dip after being on social media. I realized that I was letting a lot of things slip by like my self-care so I wanted to give myself time and attention back.

TAKE A BREAK

One thing that you can do if you aren’t wanting to fully let go of social media is to practice setting a timer so you feel in control of how much time you spend. If you find that the timer doesn’t work because you get sucked in then you can try to have one day where you use social media and one day where you don’t in an effort to create balance. When I work with my clients in my holistic therapy sessions I have them create a client assessment form when they first start. One of the things that I look at is how much time they spend on social media and this will help me when I am assessing the symptoms they are coming to me about and how it can correlate with their relationship to social media. If they are coming to see me with depression and anxiety symptoms and they have reported spending a lot of time on social media this helps to let me know that they are potentially related.

Ultimately I decided that me and Instagram needed to separate. I still have my account for the purpose of my business if there are ever collaborations that I would like to do with other brands but I did delete the app from my phone and I don’t plan to add it back. I want to spend more time practicing what I preach and teach as a wellness coach so this is a way to refocus on that goal. If you are struggling with how to achieve your goals as well then I would encourage you to take a break from social media as well. Social media will always be around and it’s a great tool to connect with people but it is beneficial to take a break.

WATCH THIS VIDEO TO LEARN MORE:

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I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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