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How I Spend as Much Time as Possible Outdoors

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Nature is good for you. We’ve been through this before so I won’t bore you with the details. We know it’s good for us. Science has proven it’s good for us. So get your outdoors on.

But it isn’t that easy, you say. It’s cold where I live. I’m too busy with other stuff. I’m glued to my cubicle. I have kids. I hate bugs. I really hate bugs. And dirt.

Excuses. All of them. Even if you don’t identify as outdoorsy, there are still ways to get your vitamin D that are easy and enjoyable. And dirt and bug free. Mostly.

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Do the Right Thing

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I try to keep it light (ish) here because therapy-stuff can be quite heavy at times and I don’t believe all healing and growth has to be so serious and weighty. But this is a day where I can’t do that. I started and stopped writing a number of other posts because they just didn’t seem right.

Societally, the division keeps growing and growing. Loneliness seems more common than deep connection. There’s very little actual listening going on. A lot of people don’t feel heard, understood, and supported. The powers that be or want to be need to make an effort to do this. Not just alienate those who don’t agree with them for a supposed win. You aren’t winning. No one’s winning.

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Mindful Mondays: Doing Chores

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Regardless, chores are an awesome way to practice mindfulness. They’re something you have to do so you might as well get something out of them other than cleanliness. They also involve repetitive actions that make it easier to bring your mind back to the present moment over and over, as many times as you need to.

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Getting Back on the Horse (Or Whatever You Fell Off Of)

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I tell most people that I moved out to southern California for grad school but really the surf was calling me. Grad school sounds like a much more reasonable explanation for traversing across the country to a place I knew no one. But I paddled out into the waves before I even started classes.

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Me Unplugged

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That’s why I have to remind myself to be mindful of my electronic use. When I recognize that it’s a problem, I consciously unplug depending on what I need at that time. It isn’t always easy (Especially when I have work to do that requires some sort of technology.) but it’s necessary so here’s how I make it happen:

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The Importance of Breathing Earnestly

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“Just breathe” is more than the refrain in the Anna Nalick song “Breathe (2AM).” Don’t worry if you don’t know the reference. I’ve had this hook stuck in my head for years and still had to Google who sang it.

“Just breathe” is probably the advice I most frequently give when someone is freaking out. And it’s definitely the advice I take most often when I’m freaking out.

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Social Media Tried to Kill Me!!!

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I’ve always lagged a bit behind the social media trends. I’ll blame that on a childhood without much technology. We didn’t have a TV until I was in late elementary school and rarely had cable after that. There wasn’t a computer until I was a high school senior and it was essentially a fancy word processor. No Internet. I swear to you I hand wrote letters until I went to college and then had to set up an email in order to attend.

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Mindful Eating

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I love to eat. I mean, really love to eat. I enjoy food in all its glory, the taste of a good meal, the energy it provides, the comfort at times. Often I find myself utterly disappointed that I’m not a foot taller so I can eat more. Yet the truth is I’m a low five footer and even though I can eat as much as my much taller comrades I shouldn’t.

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Creative Inspiration: Blackout Poetry

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Sometimes it’s hard to come up with the words. You know they’re in there. Just waiting to escape. You can feel it in the form of this anxiety. A volcano with lava waiting to explode.

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California Voters Vote Yes on Prop 68 for more Green Space

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Now, I don’t usually get political on here. There are many reasons for that. I’m a therapist. We’re supposed to be unbiased. Blah, blah, blah. Also, I can often see the many sides to things, which isn’t always so popular with the black and white thinkers out there. Or all that dramatic. Which I hear is good for the ratings. And I just haven’t. No promises for the future.