Lower Your Shoulders

An instant stress buster -- whenever you think of it, relax your shoulders and lower them down. It is amazing how powerful this small movement is. Add to it a slow, deep inhale and exhale, and you are ready for anything!

Best Advice I Ever Got

The best advice I ever got in my whole life was from my sister's old boyfriend from a million years ago.

I had just started working at a job on a private estate as a gardener. I hated it. I was sunburned, my hands were a wreck, my back hurt, and it was boring. I'll never forget what he told me. He said to get down on my hands and knees and dig my hands into the soil and smell the earth and really get into it. He said to do it with relish!

That might not sound like a major announcement, but it was an epiphany for me. I realized that the power is all in my mind.

I apply that advice to whatever I'm doing when I feel underwhelmed. It's kind of a zen-ful approach to doing what you do. Smell the earth, feel the earth on your hands, see what you're doing, experience it.

Chia Drink

Every day I make a delicious drink that has chia seeds in it. I discovered this drink at the health food store -- it's called Mama Chia, and it's amazing, but way too expensive for me ($3.99 a bottle!). So, I figured out how to make it for myself on the cheap.

1.  Use an empty glass bottle with a cap from a drink like Snapple and wash it well.

2.  Fill it 3/4 of the way full with spring water.

3.  Pour some juice into the bottle, leaving about an inch of empty space at the top. My favorite is the natural strawberry juice. This works best with a juice that has some body to it. Peach is good, too.

4.  Now, pour one to two tablespoons of chia seeds into the top of the bottle. Put the cap on and shake very well.

5.  You will have to keep giving the bottle a shake every now and then for a few minutes or else the hydrating chia seeds will clump together and you cannot unclump them.

After about 15 to 20 minutes, when the chia seeds are nice and hydrated, you can start drinking it. The seeds should be floating in the bottle nicely.

Chia seeds are incredibly healthy for you. Drink up!

Eastern Painted Turtles

I didn't know that on a warm sunny day in the spring, the painted turtles all climb out onto grass clumps in shallow water and sun themselves blissfully. I saw it today for the first time . . . and it is a very peaceful sight.

Take a Chance

This morning I wanted very much to speak to someone that I had a disagreement with. I was holding out to be contacted by this person, but the call never came. I couldn't take it any more, so I called and blurted out how I felt, and then we had a conversation that led to a good understanding, and now there was no more anxiety or anger! I learned that it's better to communicate than to drag it out with a head game.

Adobe InDesign Tip

I have been using Adobe InDesign for years, but I still learn new little things all the time that I wish someone would have shared with me -- so now I can share it with you. I apologize to those people who do not use this design software.

Today I was working on an ad journal for a local event, placing the full page ads at the front, half-page ads next, and quarter pages at the end. Although the booklet is not quite complete, I wanted to print it out to see how it looked. There were still blank pages where ads had not been placed in yet. When I went to print it as a booklet, the paging was off, and the last page was not printing opposite the first page, etc. It was driving me crazy, because I had carefully made the document in multiples of four in order to fill all the pages.

All of a sudden a lightbulb went off in my head. I thought that maybe InDesign thinks the blank pages don't exist, so I put some text on the blank pages and voila! Fixed the booklet printing problem.

My friend told me I should make a vision board and add all the things I want for my future -- salary, career, personal things, etc. She said I should put up a photo of myself that I really like -- a photo that makes me feel good about myself. I just googled it, and apparently everyone in the world knew about vision boards except me, so I'm happy to learn about it. I think it's an excellent idea. I need to stop floating and have some direction.