A Beautiful Life A blog about anything and everything for a beautiful life.

Meditation is based on the latin word meditatio, which means consideration, pondering and contemplation. Meditation is a spiritual discipline, practiced since antiquity, whereby you attempt to move into a deeper state of conciousness and awareness. 

According to healthandyoga.com meditation provides a number of health benefits.  Some of these benefits are listed below:

• It lowers oxygen consumption.
• It decreases respiratory rate.
• It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
• Increases exercise tolerance in heart patients.
• Leads to a deeper level of relaxation.
• Good for people with high blood pressure as it brings the B.P. to normal.
• Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
• Decreases muscle tension (any pain due to tension) and headaches.
• Builds self-confidence.
• It increases serotonin production which influences mood and behaviour. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, obesity, insomnia and headaches.
• Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
• Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome.
• Helps in post-operative healing.
• Enhances the immune system. Research has revealed that meditation increases activity of 'natural-killer cells', which kill bacteria and cancer cells.
• Also reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress.

According to Dr Oz, "meditation seems to the release of melatonin to soothe your body (and protect your own tissue-friendly stem cells)." and can help you sleep.  So why not igve it a try today?

How do you meditate?
This video by Deepak Chopra on Dr Oz's website provides a good introduction to meditation.  Another good resource to review is healthandyoga.com's How To Meditate Guide.

"The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get."
Oprah


A gratitude journal is a place where you write things you are grateful for.  It is believed that keeping a gratitude journal is a great way to improve your outlook on life by banishing negativity and emphasising the positive things in your life. 
 
Dr. Robert Emmons is a pyschologist known for his studies into gratitude and his most recent research into the correlation of gratitude and happiness gives fascinating insight into the power of thought.  What he found was that people who kept gratitude journals felt better about their lives and were more optimistic.  Read more about the results of his fascinating study here.
 
There are a number of options available if you are looking at keeping a gratitude journal, which are listed below.
 
1. Keep a written journal
There are an unlimited number of options here.  Pick a beautiful journal to keep and record your gratitude daily.  This gratitude journal from amazon.com is a great option.
 
2. Online gratitude journal
Gratitude Log offers a free online option for keeping a gratitude journal.  Thankfulfor and ButterBeeHappy are other great options.
 
3. Gratitude apps for your iPhone
There are a number of gratitude apps available for the iPhone.  Gratitude is my favourite and I use it almost every day to record things I am grateful for.  Over the months I've kept a gratitude journal I have found, personally, it's increased my positivity and enjoyment of life.  I've also noticed it's had a strange side effect in that I now look for things to be grateful for and am more observant of things that make me feel gratitude or happiness.  One example is my daily drive to work.  Previously it was a daily chore that I didn't pay too much attention to but now I notice the beautiful river that I drive past and the beautiful sunsets on my way home.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How to keep a Gratitude Journal
 
Below are some guidelines on how to keep a gratitude journal, however I suggest going with what is right for you.  Keeping a gratitude journal should not be a chore, but something that makes you happy.   
 
1.  Keep your Gratitude Journal handy, ideally on your bedside table to write in each night.
 
2. During the day look out for things to be grateful for and make a mental note to record them later.  Or do as I do and spend 5 minutes thinking about things that happened during the day that made your happy. 
 
3. List 5 things that you are grateful for.  They can be big or small.  For example, a baby's smile, a beautiful sunset, a hug from your child.
 
4. As you start the next day read the previous days journal entry to savour them.

Grocery shopping is something many of us loathe and some of us love.  The undeniable fact is that it uses up time out of our life (getting to the shops, browsing the aisles, waiting at the checkout) that could be put to better use.  eHow has this article that explains the benefits, and the savings to be made, by doing your grocery shopping online.

Mid last year I discovered the joys of doing my grocery shopping online and haven't looked back.  I worked out that it saved me, on average, at least 2 hours out of my weekends which is when I did my grocery shopping.  I also found that by shopping online I saved more money as you aren't tempted by in store displays, and you are able to sort grocery items by unit price making it easier to make direct price comparissons than by standing in front of the supermarket shelves.  More importantly, I didn't have the frustrations of having to deal with the inevitable fact of not enough check outs being open, or shoppers sending partners/children to grab more and more items as they are already going through the check out.  Even better, through online shopping you can schedule deliveries to suit you (instead of waiting until the weekend I now get my groceries delivered after I get home from work during the week), you also often receive samples of new products, and finally, you can have your groceries delivered to your kitchen bench.

Check out Coles and Woolworths to see if they deliver in your area.

Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sometimes we take the people we love for granted. Not deliberately of course. My boyfriend has a favourite joke that relates to this that we heard from a male comedian whinging about his girlfriends "constant need to be reminded that she was loved". "I told you loved you when we met and you'll be the first to know if that changes." Sadly, it's not just men that fall into this trap, it's women too. (By the way, I should add that my boyfriend is not the type to tell me he loves me once and never again, we tell each other every day).

Taking the time to remind your loved ones how much they are loved not only makes them feel better, but also makes you feel good too.

Reminding a loved one that they are loved can be achieved in a number of obvious and not so obvious ways.

1. Telling them. This one is obvious of course, but do it with intent. Look into their eyes when you tell them. Don't say it while you are watching tv.

2. Send them a text. Think about how you would feel to receive an out of the blue text from your boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife. I guarantee you it will put a smile on your face.

3. Leave them a note and tell them WHAT you love about them. Is it their sense of humour, their smile, the way they make you feel better after a bad day?

I leave notes for my boyfriend occassionally, and on one day in particular he came home from work in a very frustrated and annoyed mood. He said that all changed when he found my notes and what was a bad mood quickly changed to a good mood.

Check out these cute little adhesive love notes from Kikki K which are perfect for the occassion.





4. Do something to show them that you love them. Go out of your way to do something that you know will make the other person feel happy and/or special.

My boyfriend demonstrates this to me by making me strawberry pancakes for breakfast occassionally, complete with a handmade chocolate heart! *bless*


So, have a think about the last time you told your partner you loved them, and if it's so long ago you can't remember, tell them today.