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Spirit, Mind, Body

"Spirit, Mind, Body" is a collection of intentional actions that are helping to guide me to my highest self. I always hear people say "mind, body, spirit," but I feel that those three elements go in a different order. In order to connect with the mind and body, we first have to take care of our spirit. Have you ever heard the phrase "my spirit is low"? This is what I am talking about. If our spirit is low, we often feel stuck, stagnant, hopeless and emotionally drained. This is no place to start a new habit. The first step in this three-part commitment is to lift our spirit. Once our spirit is high, we can then shape our thoughts and desires (mind) to be pure and intentional. Once our intentions are set, we can then make conscious choices to keep the (body) balanced.

1. Spirit - setting intentions to live a purposeful, peaceful life / sharing positivity with myself and others

2. Mind - exercising my mind with creativity, knowledge, and making mental health improvements

3. Body - taking care of my vessel

Each month, I plan to share with you the ways I work with my Spirit, Mind and Body to make conscious choices that lift my vibration and set me on a path to become my highest self. Part of the reason why I am sharing this with you is to keep myself accountable. Let's be real, this won't always be easy! But the other reason is because maybe someone needs help getting started on their path. Maybe if I set the example, other people will be inspired and will join me. If you do, please share your experiences with me! I would love to hear about your progress or bounce ideas and recommendations off each other.

January 2023

Spirit:
This month I made intentions to lift my Spirit in a number of ways. In 2022 I lost touch with the social aspect of myself, as well as the part of me that is playful, creative, and full of youth. This month I made an effort to spend time socializing, as well as get back to nurturing my inner child with play time & home updates. This meant breakfast dates with friends, time on the farm, and a new "Courtney" corner. I even said yes to a spontaneous last minute road-trip to Florida for a week with my family! I didn't realize how much I needed that until I went.

Mind:
I put my mind to work this month by specifically focusing on art and reading. My goal is to read one book from start to finish per month. This month I chose Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book is such a helpful tool for anyone looking to implement healthier habits and routines into their day to day life. I also got back to drawing, collaging, and working with watercolor paint. I have been stagnant with my art for months because I keep convincing myself that I have to paint with oils and I have to paint things that will generate an income. Taking the pressure off my creations led to creating some really fun pieces that went beyond my comfort zone!

Body:
The body was the most difficult of the three aspects to put in motion, but I did my best! For fitness, I didn't want to just show up at the gym not knowing what to do. Before I signed up for anything I thought about what I wanted to accomplish in a workout and I decided that cardio, a good stretch and some muscle toning were my three biggest goals. With that in mind, I joined my local YMCA to take advantage of their yoga classes. With my membership I am able to join 99% of the classes for free whenever I want. A class setting is so much better for me because I find that I succeed in environments that surround me with like-minded people. This has given me a HUGE boost of confidence. For cardio, beach walks always! That hasn't changed and it probably never will. In addition to fitness, I have spent this month focused on my consumption. I think it's so important to be mindful of the ingredients I put in and on my body. I was introduced to an app called Yuka, which is not only so much fun to use in the grocery store, but also very informative. The Yuka app scans foods & cosmetics and scales the nutritional value and/or ingredients from 0-100 to tell you how clean and good for you it is. This has opened my eyes to some of the harmful ingredients I have been consuming, and the recommendation tab on the app has made it easy to find alternatives. Lastly, I have started drinking Karma water and nettle leaf tea every single day. So delicious, so good for you.

I hope the changes I have made can help anyone who may not know where to start! By breaking things down into these three categories, I have found it much easier to act with intention rather than to throw darts at ideas and hope that something sticks. January was a great start and I am looking forward to keeping up the progress as February gets started. See you next month!

February 2023

Spirit:
The month of February for me was all about getting more comfortable with my identity. I have always thought it was necessary for me to be on the go all the time, and to be honest the fast-paced lifestyle truly exhausts me. I don't like city life, it's very over-stimulating, and I also prefer a quiet, slow-paced day outdoors more than anything else. This month I spent lots of time on nature walks, collecting shells and pine cones for my collection. I even made terrariums! I made a Youtube video about that, which you can watch by clicking Here. I also found a girl on YouTube named Paola, who goes by "The Cottage Fairy" on her channel. Her videos soothe me in more ways than I can explain and capture the lifestyle I have always seen myself living.

Mind:
I'm really loving the habit of reading each night before bed. I don't have a tv in my home and I actually prefer it this way. As I spend time uncovering my identity and learning about all the things I love, I have found that it's much easier for me to focus on creating and learning when I lessen the distractions around me. This month I was on a reading rampage and I finished the first three books in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series of five. The last two are written by a different author, and I hope that they live up to the thrill of the first three books when I get to them!
I also spent lots of time with flowers this month. Peter is the sweetest and brings home flowers each week for our kitchen counter and my desk, and this month I found that I can use the stamens of tulips to make yellow watercolor paint! This is a great way to make longer use of fresh flowers that don't last too long, and it makes my flower art feel full circle!
Lastly, I decided to challenge myself this month and paint on much smaller surfaces. I spent many nights painting shells on small canvases and making them into magnets! This makes collecting my own shells even more fun. I will be at the DC Flea in Virginia from March 4th and 5th selling a few if anyone is in the area and interested!

Body:
Resting was probably the biggest challenge for me this month. As you know from my January post, I have recently begun going to yoga and pilates regularly. I love it, but this month there were circumstances that came up such as getting sick for a week and traveling that prevented me from being able to work out the way I had been the month before. At first I was worried that my consistency was going to fall short. But then I realized the only way it will fall short is if I let it. The key to practicing consistency is to remain intentional. Resting is so important, and we often forget about its benefits when we become too focused on the opposite end of the spectrum. This month I practiced balance and intention by being consistent in my workouts and also being consistent with my rest. I scheduled my weeks so that I could work out the same number of times each week, but rearranged the workout days to make sure I was well-rested during the time I was sick, as well as on the days where I was on the road.
In addition to incorporating rest, I also incorporated cleanliness! This month I switched to products that are as clean as possible. I said goodbye to Aveeno and Pantene and welcomed Native into my shower. Their products are made with 10 ingredients or less, they smell amazing and they are so sudsy! I also switched to aluminum free deodorant by a brand called Nothing Bad. This has been an adjustment (especially at hot yoga!) but the scent is Moroccan Rose and made for sensitive skin, which I love. Unless I am stressed out, working out, or on the phone I am finding that I don't experience perspiration as much as I expected! Lastly, I switched to clean toothpaste. Coconut oil is so good for extracting bacteria from the mouth and the ingredients in the toothpaste by Desert Essence give my mouth & teeth a deep clean while tasting delicious! The toothpaste is flouride free, SLS free, Gluten Free and Vegan.
I also cleaned my makeup brushes this month and if you haven't in a while, this is your sign! I soaked them in Dawn dish soap for a little bit and then rinsed them out with warm water. So simple! I'm sure there are makeup brush cleaners that may work better, but this was my strategy and it worked just fine!
I'll wrap things up here with my last adventure of the month, which was collecting my own Eastern White Pine to make tea! I am not a professional so please do your research when collecting any local herbs. I live in an area with a plethora of Eastern White Pine trees. I learned this month that you can pick the pine needles off the trees, clean them, trim them, and steep them into your tea! I tried it this month and the tea was phenomenal. You can also pick the needles and boil them on your stove top to fill your home with the aroma if interested! Let me know if you try this!

Feel free to reach out if you want to share your own Spirit, Mind and Body practices that help you live more authentically each day! I am having so much fun with this series and it is doing a great job of keeping me accountable! Thanks for reading and I'll see you next month!

March 2023

Spirit:
March is when I start to get really antsy. At this point every year I am ready for winter to be over and for beautiful spring days. It's important for me to switch up my routine as much as possible and add some fun into the mix. To do this, I incorporated a few experiences this month that would get me out of my house and also out of my shell! At the beginning of the month I did my first ever antiques show. If you've been following along, you know that it turned out much different than I anticipated. If you want to know more about that, you can watch my Youtube video on that experience Here! In addition to the DC Flea, I also went to the Matt Fraser psychic show, which was quite entertaining, and to my first Bruins game in years! I have not been a sports fan in quite some time, but I have to say this game was so much fun! The atmosphere was so exciting and it was so much fun to be out and about in the city of Boston for a night. Adding some fun into the mix kept things interesting while the weather fluctuated from 30s and wintery, to a constant Spring tease of 50 degrees or more! Spring - I am READY for you!

Mind:
Reading has become one of my top priorities each month. I have always loved to read, but this year I am doing better than ever at consistently turning the pages. It helps having a book section in my favorite thrift shop around the corner! I picked up a stack at the beginning of the month that I am working my way through. I started the month by reading a book called Open the Door. It's an interesting read from the 1920s of a passed-over soul who speaks through his transcriber. After that I read a new favorite, which is called Ishmael. It's an eye-opening read about how the introduction of agriculture was a major turning point for mankind, and divided us up into "takers" and "leavers." Lastly, I haven't finished this one but I have begun "Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself" on Audible. I haven't read or listened to Joe Dispenza before this, so I decided to make this my treadmill sound distraction to get a feel for his work.
Grief has been another thing on my mind a lot this month. I'm dealing with a lot of my own grief, and I am noticing that others are too. I've done a lot of journaling about the topic this month, and I closed out the month with a YouTube video dedicated to the topic. You can watch that Here if you'd like!

Body:
I didn't change or add much this month when it comes to my body. I feel that if I don't give my body enough time to adjust to what I've done thus far, I'll end up overdoing it. I'm consistently using clean products and exercising when I feel like it. I went to the gym less, but I walked outside more. I'm also sleeping at least 8 hours a night, which is really making a difference in my energy levels and mood.
The one thing I did add to my life was dental floss. I admit, until this month I hadn't flossed in a very...very... long time. I won't talk about it. Earlier this month I went to my first dental cleaning in, once again, a very...very... long time. It's a big fear, okay?! I'm doing my best! It was the worst dental appointment of my life. It hurt, my gums bled, I was sore for two days, and this was just a cleaning. I decided that to avoid the amount of poking and prodding I endured, I would begin to floss every day. I am proud to share that so far, I have done just that! I find it enjoyable to clean my teeth now that I have a fresh start! If you don't floss, go buy some right now. It takes three minutes and makes a huge difference!
I am starting to feel the baking itch now that Spring is here. I love to bake in the spring, for some reason those two things go hand in hand for me. Since I love collecting herbs, I have begun exploring ways to use them. I discovered that I enjoy eating them, which led me to the cookie recipe that I would like to share! I made these rose petal, chamomile, and lavender shortbread cookies this month, and they are absolutely delicious. For those who want to bake with me, here is the recipe:

Rose Petal, Chamomile & Lavender Short Bread Cookies
Ingredients (makes 8-10 cookies):
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar into mix + additional spoonful for rolling
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch of lavender (size is your preference)
Pinch of chamomile (size is your preference)
Pinch of rose petals (size is your preference)

optional - parchment paper for cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix flour, butter, sugar and vanilla extract into a medium size bowl. The mix will feel a little dry, that's okay! It's supposed to.

Roll dough into balls (size is your preference) and coat the outside using the extra sugar. Place dough 1-2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Using the bottom of a cup or something round, press the dough into small circles. If you have cookie cutters, now is the time to shape them. Sprinkle your rose petal, chamomile and lavender on top of the cookies. Press the pieces gently into the dough to avoid them flaking off.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the edges start to slightly brown.

Let them cool for 10-15 minutes. (I mean it. Have patience <3 )

Enjoy!

I plan to add the recipes I love to cook and bake to their own page sometime in the next few months. Time in the kitchen is helping me learn a new creative craft, and it is also helping me build a healthy relationship with food!

Thanks so much for keeping up with my healing! This blog is doing such a good job of helping me stay accountable and reflective. It's so much fun trying new things and sharing what works for me. Can't wait to update you again next month !

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