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In This Issue:
Featured Wellness Message: Celebrating Togetherness
Recommended Resource: A Meditation to Calm Your Nerves
My Featured Post: Are You Ready for Summer 2022?
Celebrating Togetherness
What are your plans for this summer? Will you be seeing friends or family? Spending time with loved ones can be incredibly uplifting. But it can also be a little anxiety inducing with the pressure to set aside enough time, plan well, and consider everyone's needs.
The good news is that you can use the 3 C’s strategy—connection, compassion, and celebration—to deepen your relationships and expand the memorable moments.
Focus on connecting in ways that spark joy. If things don't go as planned, or if your loved ones are struggling, try to offer compassion. This means respecting your own boundaries as well. Finally, top off the visit with some form of celebration. This makes your time extra special, whether the celebratory marker is a giant heart balloon, homemade goodies, a toast at the dinner table, or an all-out party.
One lesson I’ve (re)learned during this pandemic is the importance of making time for experiencing the life-affirming, simple pleasures that come from togetherness. I wish that for you too.
I hope that you'll have safe adventures this summer and make meaningful memories along the way.
XO,
Dr. Gia
"Always keep an eye on the tiny epic moments… little rays of sunlight that the world offers you if only you are aware. To pull you out of rough times, but in good times they are silently there, too."
—Virginia Woolf
A Meditation to Calm Your Nerves
Balance your energy by creating calm in your body
As the long days of summer approach, you might be surprised to find that you feel burned out rather than energized. Recent research revealed that Americans are working 48 minutes more per day on average than before the pandemic.
So how will you respond if sunny days stir up feelings of worry or dread rather than hope, adventure, or ease? You may need ways to restore your inner calm. If so, I think I have found just the thing for you.
Studies tell us that a regular meditation habit can help us improve symptoms of depression, reduce chronic stress and binge eating, and find more joy in life. That’s why the meditation to calm your nervous system created by the team at The Mindful Movement caught my eye. In less than 15-minutes, you will be instructed through a guided meditation that is mindful, slow, and energy-balancing.
Founders Sara and Les Raymond offer many free mindfulness resources through their YouTube channel, as well as their Foundations of Meditation Course.
If you’re ready to slow down, press pause, and be in the present moment, start by making your body a place where you feel safe.
Are You Ready for Summer 2022?
Get 10 intuitive eating tips for a healthier relationship to food
This time of year, books, advertisements, and social media influencers will try to lure you into starting a diet. But diet culture is damaging, inundating you with false hope and moving you further away from knowing your own unique body.
So, how will you respond to the call to diet as summer gets under way? Here’s my suggestion: follow the principles of intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating is a simple, natural, and powerful way to eat. It’s a way of integrating your innate instincts, emotions, and rational thinking process to nourish your body, without using the diet guidelines that usually lead to losing control later.
Here are a few ways you can improve your healthy eating just in time for your shift into summer.
1. It may seem radical, but let go of dieting.
2. Notice your physical hunger signals.
3. Stop treating food as a potential enemy.
4. Get rid of judgmental, shaming messages when it comes to food.
5. Recognize that your body is not a bank account.
For the other five tips, read my full blog post. Remember that giving up dieting and ending the cycle of disordered eating is worth the effort. Intuitive eating is the epitome of good self-care.
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