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Mindful Mastery of Self-Talk
Let Your HeartMatters Journey take you to positive and affirming self-talk.
Posted in Mindfulness, Video, Your HeartMatters Journey | 
Tags: mindful, positive self-talk, video series, Your HeartMatters Journey | 
No Comments »February is National Heart Month…Heartmatters will be there!
January 27th: Thursday, I’ll be on KNCO 830 AM, Talk of the Town to discuss National Heart Month, how to embody a heart-healthy lifestyle, and what resources are available for the journey to optimal health and well-being.
February 3: HeartMatters and In the Kitchen team up for this HeartLovers cooking class. We’ll be sharing the preparation of several dishes that invite romance, while discussing opportunities to integrate daily behaviors that are health-promoting.
February 9: Eat Well In Your Busy Life cooking demo and tasting at Nevada Union High School for the district teachers and staff. It is an honor to support those who give of themselves to help us to grow our children. I’m looking forward to sharing ideas and opportunities with them so they can become and stay well-nourished throughout their busy days!
February 15: I am so pleased to have been asked to present a workshop at the Cardiac Symposium and health fair, sponsored by Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. I’ll be speaking on a topic about which I am very passionate–Mindful Eating! How perfect is that?
February, all month: Your HeartMatters Journey continues. The positive feedback for this series and the fun I am having making the videos and writing the blog posts is keeping me highly and pleasantly motivated. Thank you for traveling with me on this journey!
And who knows what else I will come up with for the month…stay tuned!
Mindful Morning Musings…
With a busy day ahead, I went out early for my morning walk with Grace the dog, taking with me the intention of enjoying the morning sky. I started out in the dark, using a headlamp, marveling at the delicate scattering of stars, the brightest of which illuminated the thin clouds. The path I walk each morning opens up in one spot to a large Manzanita grove, affording me a big view of the expansive sky beyond the forest.
I gave myself permission to just be. I stood still–perhaps it was five or eight minutes–and savored the awakening of morning. I watched the clouds spread sensuously to cover the sky, shifting from feathery streaks to tissue paper wispiness. The stars began to fade, although that brightest light remained as the herald to the sunrise. Birds began to tweet and sing from the treetops in celebration of the new day. A gaggle of geese flew overhead. A most gorgeous blue crept into the sky, the color of which is unique to nature–surely that blue cannot be duplicated in a pencil or paint pot. The clouds turned from dawn-gray to soft white with just a hint of pink. The birds sang more robustly, serenading the sun…
In the several moments I spent in a state of mindful observation of the morning sky, my heart was open and receptive, slowly filling with joy and calm. My soon-to-be-busy day has begun with the gift of quieting through intentional attentiveness to the details.
As I share the journey to optimal health and well-being with you, I find that I have become so much more aware of the opportunities for mindfulness throughout the day. What about you–what mindful experiences are you savoring?
Posted in Mindfulness, Your HeartMatters Journey | Tags: Mindfulness, Your HeartMatters Journey | No Comments »Robin’s reassurance…was invaluable
“After thirty years of eating healthy foods and participating in regular, vigorous exercise, I was astounded to discover I have Coronary Artery Disease. In March of 2010, I had two stents placed in my Left Anterior Descending Artery- this was big. I consulted Robin Mallery, RN, knowing she is a local expert on Cardiac Rehabilitation. I especially respected her lifestyle of nutrition and physical fitness. Robin’s reassurance that I was doing many things correctly, and her instructions on how to fine-tune my program to deal with this life-threatening disease, was invaluable. Robin’s exquisite grasp of balancing traditional medicine with diet, exercise, relaxation and fun has helped me through this medical crisis”. –Maiya Gralia, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and cross-country ski instructor and coach
Pay Attention!
This familiar phrase that we heard as kids from our teachers and parents, in retrospect now seems that they were on to something…and as adults, we can apply this wisdom to becoming Mindful.
When we live in mindfulness, we pay attention. We notice the details. We give ourselves permission to slow down, so that we can create an awareness of what is occurring in this very moment. The details are rich and colorful and delicious and…so incredibly varied from one minute to the next, that our brains become soothed in the attentiveness.
Being mindful brings depth to so many aspects of our lives. We listen more fully. We speak with clarity. We eat slowly. We walk in nature with reverence. We savor the flavor. We love completely. We see without judgment. We share with compassion. We express gratitude. We move our bodies with appreciation. We sleep deeply. We come to know ourselves.
As we move forward in Your HeartMatters Journey, mindfulness remains a central component of integrating new and healthful behaviors. In the state of being soothed, the brain literally grows new decision-making pathways that allow for a pleasant and subtle shift to daily choices that support optimal health and well-being.
Take a moment to look around you. Pay attention. What do you find when you slow down to look and listen?
Posted in Mindfulness, Your HeartMatters Journey | Tags: Mindfulness, Your HeartMatters Journey | No Comments »Mindfulness as your GPS for the journey…
A video offered as the starting point for Your HeartMatters Journey. I can’t wait to know of the richness of your experiences as you create the opportunity for inviting mindfulness into your day.
It’s not all or nothing. Being mindful is the gift that keeps on giving–your familiarity with this delicious way of observing events during your day will make long-lasting, positive brain changes. As we move forward together on this optimal health journey, the practice of mindfulness will lend itself to a practice of quieting the brain through intentional elicitation of the relaxation response. Stay tuned for more! I will continue to work on keeping these weekly video posts under 4 minutes–this one was close!
Posted in Mindfulness, Video, Your HeartMatters Journey | Tags: Mindfulness, Video, Your HeartMatters Journey | No Comments »Your HeartMatters Journey
On my morning walk in the fresh-fallen snow yesterday, I was inspired with the idea to initiate an open online program to support your journey to achieve and maintain optimal health and well-being. Admittedly, the inspiration was spontaneous–I shot a quick video about my idea–and have spent a lot of time since then thinking about what I have put out into the universe!
This morning, I’ve written a detailed outline that captures my vision for this online program/series. My enthusiasm for the possibilities is quite robust! I am savoring this container I have opened in my mind and heart that is filling with ideas, opportunities, and yes the possible challenges as well.
My vision is that the series will go for a minimum of three months, be comprised of weekly video posts accompanied by blog posts and links for more information, and an open exchange of ideas, experiences, and feedback via email and responses on the HeartMatters.pro blog. The excitement of this dynamic idea being shared with the world, being shaped by interactions and feedback from the participants is a truly motivating gift to me, and one that I am honored to respond to.
Stay tuned for the first video tomorrow! Now, I’ve got to read up on how to overlay text onto a video recording…
Happy New Year!
Posted in Your HeartMatters Journey | Tags: behavior change, HeartMatters, online video/blog series | 2 Comments »
