Health

Weekly Wellness Roundup:
December 3rd - 7th

By Paige Reist | Posted: December 05, 2018

When was the last time you sat down and checked in with yourself? When was the last time you paid attention to how your body was feeling, or to the health of your relationships?

This week’s Wellness Roundup is all about self-improvement during a time when it’s hard to focus on the self. From dealing with toxic relationships to changing the stories you tell yourself about your life, these posts will help you ride out the excitement of December and start January off feeling strong and self-assured.

5 Ways to Improve Your Life Before 2018 Comes to an End

Denisse Soto for Thought Catalog

Sometimes, we tend to use the last month of the year as an excuse to get all of those bad habits out of our systems. This usually means one thing: indulgence to the point of excess, in everything from overeating to overspending to being, well, less than a stellar person. In this article, Denisse Soto helps us banish that little voice in our head urging us to give up and give in, and reminds us to keep our personal goals on track with a few practical and inspirational tips. As she says, “Learn to prioritize, but never forget to include yourself in the list.”

7 Ways Mentally Strong People Deal With Toxic People

Amy Morin for Psychology Today

For many of us, unfortunately, the holidays can be an exhausting time, a time when we’re forced to deal with toxic personalities and damaged relationships. In this article, Amy Morin shares a few tried-and-true tactics that mentally strong people employ to keep those relationships in check. Here’s a quick overview of her points:

  • Setting physical boundaries
  • Establishing emotional boundaries
  • Controlling yourself, not others
  • Following through on what you say
  • Regulating your thoughts
  • Learning healthy coping skills
  • Staying true to your values

The Ayurveda Dosha and You: Balancing Your Health and Dosha Types

Elizabeth Herman for Art of Living

If you’re a regular Art of Living reader, you know how much we believe in the power of Ayurveda. This is because it’s a sustainable system of health that focuses on balance, moderation, and personal constitution, rather than a one-size-fits-all philosophy. In this article, Elizabeth Herman brings us through the different doshas, or constitutions, and how we can recognize an imbalance in all and begin to rectify the energies working inside of us. These work on both physical and behavioral levels--for instance, if you’re feeling agitated and impatient, and also notice that you’re experiencing dehydration and dry and rough skin, you might have an imbalance of vata. Click through to learn more!

How the Stories We Tell Ourselves Control Our Lives

Peter Crone for mindbodygreen

What is the story that you tell yourself about your life? Are you a victim, a hero, an innocent bystander? Peter Crone dives into our egos and personas to help us understand the vantage point from which we’re looking at our lives--and reminds us that that vantage point can change. According to Peter, “[t]rue awakening is to realize that we're not who we think we are. We're not the stories we tell ourselves and others. We're not a series of narratives we've unwittingly allowed to define us. At the most fundamental level, we're not defined by words, regardless of how accurately they might describe the events of our life.”

This week, remember that self-improvement is a year-round venture! We encourage you to sit down with yourself, crack open a fresh journal, and begin a new journey of self-discovery.

Have a suggestion for our Weekly Wellness Roundup? Send your article to blog@us.artofliving.org.

Paige Leigh Reist is a writer, editor, blogger, and writing instructor.

 

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