In My Everyday Life

Hello wonderful you, hope all is well and you’re great!!!

Today I want to share with you my, go-to, stress buster method.

My number one priority is keeping myself healthy, nourishing my body, mind and soul with love, joy, and living stress free.  This is my responsibility and my commitment to myself, and as hard as I try to live stress free, it creeps in, because life happens, and as you probably know stress is a killer, and it can trigger a host of health problems. 

Over the years I’ve used different ways to manage stress naturally. What I’m sharing with you today, is a simple but a very effective way to relieve stress. It’s been a great stress buster for me, it only takes a few minutes, and really calms my body and mind.

When I feel stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, annoyed, just having one of those days that can totally stress me out…I breathe in calm and breathe out ahhhhhhhh.

This is what I do:

I stop for a moment, close my eyes and mindfully breathe in as deep as I can, and as I am breathing in, I’m thinking to myself – I  a m  c a l m – I am inhaling calm into me, and as I breathe out, I think to myself – a h h h h h h h – I’m exhaling out of me all the stress, I’m letting it out of me. I’ll do this about three times, sometimes more, and with every deep breath, as I’m breathing I feel my body relaxing, and I feel myself filling up with calm and releasing out of me all the stress and tension and whatever else I’m carrying in me, that is not serving my wellbeing.

Breathe in – I  a m  c a l m – breathe out – a h h h h h h h . . .

You can do this anytime, whenever you need to, as many times as you need. (do this only when in a safe environment, not while driving 🙂 )

You are the powerful creator of your reality, you can mindfully remove stress from yourself, and fill yourself with calm.

Intentional deep breathing to release stress and regain calm, is one way to cultivate and stay in optimum health.

I’d love to hear what you think, what works for you, leave a comment let me know.

Have a wonderful calm weekend.

Love & blessings

COPYRIGHT MASHA G. ELLMAN 2021

Hello wonderful you, hope all is well and you’re great!!!

Today I’d like to talk about the moments in our days and pears.

Our days are filled with moments, all kinds of moments, and I love finding the moments that are filled with wonder and joy that every day has to offer. If we tune ourselves in to notice, we will find the moments that are calling to us, that are offering their special gift of joy to us. 

Today, my days’ moment were these pears I got form Sprouts.  They’re not ripe for eating yet, but they bring me joy just looking at them.

And I’m so grateful that I can eat them because since I was diagnosed with IC my diet is restricted, but pears is a fruit I can eat.

While I’ve been buying organic for over 10 years now, having IC has made me be even more aware of what I put into my body.  Part of my commitment to my own self-care is what I eat and how I treat my body.   Supporting my body with fruit and vegetables that have not been heavily sprayed with toxic chemicals is really important.  The more clean I eat the more good I feel.  Pesticides don’t just stay on the surface they seep into the fruit and vegetables, so even if you peel off the outer layer, you’re not removing all the pesticides and as you’re eating, you’re ingesting this toxic stuff into your system. So, especially fruit and vegetables whatever I can find organic, I’m buying it.

A couple of alternatives:

I know that organic can be a little pricey, so another option to organic is to visit your local farmer’s market and ask the vendors how they grow their fruit and vegetables, and what, or if, they use pesticides.  And believe it or not, frozen is good too. I’ve been yelling (well not really yelling) at my son about this, especially now during the pandemic he was buying more frozen than fresh. I always believed that fresh is best, but actually buying frozen is also an option. Because the fruit and vegetables are frozen immediately after harvesting, they do retain nutritional value. But, I still say there’s nothing like fresh when it comes to nutritional value, taste and flavor.

My feeling is that even if you’re not 100% organic, and I’m not, every little bit does make a difference.

Benefits of pears:

Pears offer a rich source of minerals, they’re an excellent source of antioxidants, and they are especially rich in vitamin C, potassium and copper, which helps with the immune system. Also, they are such a great source of soluble and insoluble fiber, for one thing soluble fiber helps to feed the healthy bacteria in our gut which is also thought to help with aging and the immune system, and who wouldn’t want that? They also have anti-inflammatory properties, good for the heart…and oh, let’s not forget that pears are, d e l i c i o u s!!!!! A google search and you’ll find lots of great information.

Tending to our self-care:

A few moments of joy every day, and some fruit and vegetables (happiness :)) supports our wellbeing and helps us to maintain our bodies in optimum health.

When we open our heart and tune in to our surroundings, we can find joy, sometimes in the most unlikely things, in the most simple moments, like in a couple of everyday pears – how delightfully delicious!!!

What has been your moment of joy? What’s your thought on organic? Leave a comment, love to hear from you.

Blessings

COPYRIGHT MASHA G. ELLMAN 2021

This week give yourself permission to dream big, don’t restrict, let it be as big as your imagination can take you to.

Actually, let it be – OUTRAGEOUSLY UNBELIEVABLE BIG – Don’t talk about it, don’t show it, just dream it…

And my flowers – last week I had a small surgery and my wonderful daughter in law surprised me with these beautiful flowers, so sweet and special. I’ve been taking photos of them every day, love them. 🙂

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Feel free to leave a comment, love to hear from you 🙂

COPYRIGHT MASHA G. ELLMAN 2021

If you’ve been following me for a while you may have noticed that I haven’t been very present.  Especially this past year with the pandemic and all, it’s been a challenge to get creative. Also, I’ve been going through inner changes that made everything unclear and complicated which didn’t leave me very inspired or committed and it was a real challenge to write content that I wanted to for my blog.  In the meantime, I did continue to put all my energy into writing great articles for The Inspired Guide magazine, I was a regular monthly contributor, and I loved writing for the magazine, but I’m sorry to say that the publisher just announced that she’s closing the magazine. 

Like I said, last year especially, I’ve been going through my own inner growth and transformation, and I no longer feel that the name ‘A Sweeter Life’ is in alignment with my vision and who I’m becoming, which in my opinion is a good thing.  Life is always moving us and when that happens we need to go with it and let ourselves bloom, or we don’t evolve.

One of my greatest joys is to always be learning, moving, growing, transforming and getting to know who I am on a deeper level.  Letting go of what no longer serves my highest good and opening myself more and more to the light that wants to shine through me.  That means letting go of old ways so I can move forward, be the highest best version of me, and in this way, is the only way that I want to serve you.   I love sharing all that I have and am learning about life in my everyday.

So, I’m changing the name to – In My Everyday Life – Finding joy, magick, and meaning. I’m really excited about this new beginning that I feel called to.  I don’t know where this new path is taking me to, but I am trusting in the guidance of this amazing universe and I am willing and excited to step into it, be open to receive, do the work and share what i know to be the truth, write from the heart and with delight.

I’m excited for my blog to evolve to be an exciting, nourishing and welcoming place. A place of gathering, of new ideas, of joy, a place that feels like home.

You’re always welcomed here, feel free to leave a comment, love to hear from you.

Much love and blessings, have a wonderful weekend.

COPYRIGHT MASHA G. ELLMAN 2021

“The ways we live life, the habits we keep, the delight with which we celebrate and see our moments will shape our hearts, minds and souls for life.”  Sally Clarkson

Let’s start this week with some flower power. As I stand here admiring these gorgeous pink carnations, thinking of a creative way to photograph them to show off their beauty, I am filled with joy and gratitude. Buying flowers for myself has become a part of my self-care that really fills my heart with beauty, elevates my soul, cheers me up, and puts me in a higher vibrational state.   And I’m thinking how much I love these flowers, how grateful I am for them, for my home and for everything that I have.

I didn’t always buy myself flowers, the idea came to me one day when I was at a friend’s house and she had a gorgeous bouquet of flowers I was admiring. When I asked who gave them to her, she very matter of factly said, she did, she bought them from a vendor in the street on her way home from work.  Oh WOW, what an idea, I never thought of it. I always thought flowers was just something you got from someone else. It was in that moment of clarity that I knew that I was going to do the same. That was many years ago and buying flowers for myself has become a part of my life, a thing I do for myself. A way of appreciating myself, of caring for me, a delight that I will continue and am so grateful for. 

I’ve always loved flowers, I remember as a child picking the flowers, (I think they were weeds) that were growing in the empty lot next to where we lived and giving them to my mother. At first it felt a bit strange to be buying flowers for myself, but with time it’s become a sacred act, a way of reminding myself to slow down, to be present and to savor the moments in the day.

If buying yourself flowers is not part of your self-care, here are just a few reasons why they should be –

Flowers will uplift your mood.

They are a stress buster; they will give you a feeling of calm.

Brighten up your home.

Increase creativity.

They will fill you with a feeling of happy.

It’s easy to find a bunch of beautiful flowers, most supermarkets carry them, so don’t wait for someone else to give you, and you don’t need a reason, buy them for yourself just because. You deserve and are worthy of the joy of flowers.

I hope I’ve inspired you to go out and get yourself a bunch of flowers, leave a comment, love to hear from you.

Blessings

COPYRIGHT MASHA G. ELLMAN 2021

Hey everyone, it’s April and I’m feeling happy and joyful, hope you are too.

I love the color yellow, you can just feel it’s energy, it screams HAPPY!!! 

I really miss so many things, little every day things that I, like so many of us, haven’t been able to do during this pandemic. Things like just going out to the supermarket and finding a bunch of flowers, picking out vegetables that speak to my soul that day, or just going for a short trip to visit family. I took this photo a couple of years ago when I was in Las Vegas and we went to the Bellagio to look at their display for the Chinese new year.

Like I said I love the color yellow, but for the last couple of weeks yellow has been pulling at me, and it’s kind of been percolating in me waiting to be let out. Today I found out that yellow is the first prompt in Susanna Conway’s (here), April Love (here), one of her yearly photo challenges to bring some mindfulness into your day. So I joined in, makes me happy.

The color symbolizes friendship, happiness, joy, sunshine, hope, I can’t think of a better way to start the month of April.

How about you? How does yellow make you feel? I’d love to hear from you.

April Blessings

COPYRIGHT MASHA G. ELLMAN 2021