The months sure are flying past. With all that we do each day, it’s no wonder all you ever hear about is stress and how to combat it. One of the ways that I use is meditation. A couple of years ago, I was doing meditation every morning. I’d wake up, have my warm lemon water, do some yoga/pilates, meditate, and then get to writing. Life has a way of interrupting things by sending a hurricane my way and flooding the area (including my house). I stopped my meditation when I most needed it simply because there was so much to deal with the last thing I thought about was my mental state. At a time when I should have been thinking about it the most.

After that, I’d meditate off and on, and always I’d remark on how much better I felt when I was meditating. Yet, it was always the first thing I stopped doing when life got in the way. This year, I’m determined not to do that. In an effort to help, I read somewhere about meditation pillows to help keep my back straight and stop any discomfort from sitting on the floor. I was immediately intrigued and went looking. It didn’t take long before I bought one. I LOVE this pillow. It’s so comfortable and does exactly what it said it would.

While doing some more research into meditation, I’ve learned that it’s better to do it twice a day (though, let’s be honest, if we can get in once a day, that’s a  huge step, right?). There are arguments for doing mediation in the morning when you wake up before your mind starts going off in all different directions. There are arguments for meditating at night, which will help calm your mind so you can sleep. I’ve actually been mediating in the morning and evenings. Doing both has helped, but there are some days that I can’t fit in it. And I feel it. To me, meditating is like eating right and exercise, it’s something we need to do.

On that topic, there are tons and tons of apps you can download on your phone for meditating. I highly recommend using headphones/earbuds when meditating. You don’t want anything distracting you. You need to find a quiet place where the kids – or animals – won’t bother you, you can’t hear the TV, people talking, etc. I use two apps frequently for mediation. The first is Calm. There are free guided meditations or you can pay to unlock many others. I use the free version.

The other app I use daily is Chakra Pro. You can cleanse your chakra, align them, or specifically meditate on one in particular. There are plenty of backgrounds to use from thunder storms, waves, and forest. The vibrations frequency for each chakra is so calming. There is no guided meditation for this one, and in many cases this is my favorite. It’s not easy for me to silence my mind (I’m a writer. There are soooooo many voices in my head!) but the vibrations and frequencies work great for me. Another benefit to this app is that they go into detail for each chakra so you can figure out what you might want to work on.

The second thing I’d like to tell you about is my vitamins. Gems are unique and different than anything I’ve had before. They’re touted as “The first real food multi-vitamin built for women, by women.” I just started taking vitamins a little over a year ago. (I know, I know!!). I also have difficulty swallowing big pills, so the gummies were my friends. I went out of my way to find the ones as all natural as I could, but let’s face it, so much of the ingredients are synthetic. Then, I got a FB ad (damn FB gets me every time!) about the Gem vitamins. I read about adrenal fatigue, hormonal balance, mood swings, and everything we women deal with. Then I read the ingredients. As soon as I got to synthetic-free, I was pretty much sold. There are 13 real ingredients inside, and they come in three flavors: cacao, peppermint, and lemon. I’m allergic to chocolate, so I chose the lemon sample.

These aren’t pills or gummies. They are larger than you think, and the lemon was…well, not good. And 95% of reviewers were loving these vitamins. I drink warm lemon water every morning. I love the lemon starbursts, so lemon is usually a win for me. Not this time. I read more reviews and paid attention to what flavor they had tried. That’s when I tried the peppermint and found my flavor. You can get a sample pack of 5 Gems to try, which I’ve done twice now, but I’m going to a full subscription. I love knowing what’s going in my body, and these vitamins make that very easy to do.

Another plus – the customer service is SUPERB!

It’s your turn. Have any all-natural products you want to share? We’re all eagerly waiting to find more.

xoxox,

DG