In Praise of Wrinkles!?!

No one really enjoys seeing wrinkles pop up, however… Beyond the science of the reduction of collagen and elastin, and the stress, worry, bad habits, and lack of sunscreen that helped put them there - why else do we have wrinkles?

Well, for starters... we made it! Here we are!

All the trials and tribulations. All the joys and sorrows the highs and lows, we’re still here.

Congratulations!

We’ve worked.
Under fluorescent lights and sunlight. In front of computer screens, hot ovens, and conveyor belts and we’ve put a roof over our heads and food on the table.

We’ve Mowed the lawn, raked the leaves, shoveled the snow, and painted the house.

We’ve played outside with our children, friends, and pets.

We’ve watched the sunrise and set. We’ve traveled, hiked, biked, kayaked, skied!

We’ve squinted in the sunshine. Cheered while our children, loved ones, alma maters, and beloved sports heroes battled it out on in the field, the court, the fairway. Sometimes we’ve been the ones being cheered on!

We’ve had backyard BBQs, pool parties, and clam bakes! We’ve baked our bodies on the beach, Had lunch outdoors. We’ve sat in sunny windows reading.

We’ve done all those things and more. And now, We’ve got wrinkles – I prefer laugh lines, smile lines - but it’s because we’ve LIVED! 

Aging is a privilege, as we all know, and lines, gray hair, age spots, and wrinkles are our badges of honor! 

Am I going to be thrilled watching everything continue to move south? No. But maybe feeling a little pride and respect isn’t entirely out of the question either.

So what are some of your most favorite moments that may have added to your "badges of honor"?

Let me know in the comments below!

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​Thanks for joining me today! I’ll see you next time!  xoAmie

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This week we have another deeply relaxing music video!

639 Hz balance and heal Heart Chakra energy. This frequency can be used to attract love, open communication, enable the creation of harmonious community and personal relationships, heal damaged relationships, heal human consciousness, extending to the people around us. Nature vibrates at 528 Hz. It is the frequency of all of life. This video uses Solfeggio Frequencies.

​Enjoy!  xoAmie

This weeks post - a YouTube companion video - will help you relax, de-stress, and deepen your meditation practice!

Enjoy beautiful, relaxing ambient music for sleep, study, meditation, peaceful and serene for stress relief.
Sleeping Fairies by Amie Gabriel

What do you do when you've made positive changes in your life but people don't or won't support you? No one can hold you prisoner for the mistakes of your past without guarding the gate and keeping track of the key. The inmate and the warden are trapped in the jail together. ​ If there are people in your life that refuse to support or recognize your growth, it may be time to let them go, or at least keep them at arm’s length. Their inability to move on isn’t about you it’s about them. They cannot recognize in others what they are unable to accomplish themselves. If they are determined to try and shame you, it is due to their own shame. If they keep bringing up your past, it is because that is where they live. People who feel good about themselves don’t try to make others feel bad. The trap, however, only exists in their mind. Wish them well and leave them to it. To free yourself, you only need to walk away.

​ xoAmie

This weeks blog is a deeply relaxing 15-minute guided meditation!

​Let the hypnotic rhythm of the lapping waves transport you to a private, misty cove in this deeply relaxing, multi-sensory guided meditation like nothing you've ever experienced! Allow yourself to be supported by positive affirmations as you drift away to your own cozy seaside sanctuary... and breathe...

Music & meditation written by Amie Gabriel.  Images by Canva Pro

Do you know what is really stressful?  Running late.  When we manage our day to include what I call “the luxury of time” everything runs much more smoothly and it is so much easier to remain calm, centered and, well, pleasant to be around.  This takes planning. What that plan includes is a time buffer.  Here’s what I mean.
 
Let’s say dinner is at 6 pm and the stuffed peppers you’ve made need to cook for 1 hour.  You’ve gone   trough the trouble of prepping your meal in advance and all you need to do is pop the pan in the oven.  You can’t head to the kitchen at 5 pm and expect the peppers to be ready to serve at 6.  You have to stop whatever your doing (we’ll get to that in a minute) turn on the oven - check what temperature you need to set the oven if you don’t remember offhand – let it pre-heat.   If you haven’t made them several times before you’ll want to leave a little bit of extra time just in case they’re not fully cooked in the allotted time. Once they’re done you’ll want a few minutes to let them set when they come out of the oven, plate them and get them to the table.  It’s impossible to do that in an hour if they need an hour to cook.  I start the process 15 minutes before hand, at 4:45.  If they happen to be done early it’s a lot easier to keep something warm for a few minutes than to will it to cook faster.  I know, I’ve tried. 
 
If you have to be somewhere at 3:00 and your GPS says it takes 15 minutes to get there, if you leave the house at 2:45 you’re probably going to be a little late.  If you’re not concerned about this perhaps you may want to expand your focus a bit to include the importance of other people’s time, just sayin’!  You have to exit your home, get to the car, turn it on, back it out and get on the road…. The 15 minutes is actual drive time from address to address and it doesn’t allow for red lights, being behind a slow driver, parking or getting yourself physically to where you’re supposed to be, so you should do it in stead.  The amount of buffer time is going to vary depending upon where you live and where you’re going.  If you live in an apartment building and you have to take an elevator down to the parking garage you’re obviously going to have to allow more time than if your car is parked 3 feet from your door on the curb of a quiet street.  Or if you live in a quiet town or a major city.  If you’ve been to the place before and know exactly how to get there or your relying on directions or if you can park right in from or have to search for a spot with a parking meter or in a garage.  When I lived in a small town I’d leave at least 10 mins early and when I lived in LA I’d often head out a half an hour early.  It just depends.
 
There’s also the time – as my mother used to say – to start moving toward the door.  Is it winter time?  Do you have to put on a coat, scarf and gloves?  Do you know where they are?  Are you certain you’ll like how they look when you put them on?  Where are your purse and keys?  How about that file you absolutely have to take with you?  Are they all neatly assembled near the door?  They should be!  


Are you always on time or chronically late?

Do you have any time saving tricks you'd like to share?  Post them in the comments below!

xoAmie

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​Post 10 - Move a Muscle Change a Thought

Going on a personal, long term self-retreat requires commitment and discipline.   You need time and quite to focus inward and to practice self-care.  The goal is to develop a true sense of self and figure out who you are as an individual.  To get to know yourself and to be autonomous.  Who are you when you have the freedom to act independently… without the input, judgement or opinions of others whispering in your ear?
 
As we first discussed in part 3, you must learn be kind to yourself, practice self-respect, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and there is to be no negative self-talk.  No putting yourself down or calling yourself bad names.  Like the saying goes, if you don’t have anything nice to say, we should say nothing at all.  If you are going to change the way you feel about yourself, you need to treat yourself like you are important and worthy, and you must to rewrite your internal dialogue.
 
Once you cut out the clutter and the noise, you’ll be amazed at how much time you discover.  Go for walks but go in silence.  No music in your headphones.  Listen to the birds singing, look at the sky and the trees.  If you find it impossible to turn off the negative chatter in your head then it’s ok to listen to meditations with positive affirmations, light classical or meditation music especially those with sounds of nature in the background, but keep the volume low and relaxing.  But use this only as a bridge.  Your goal is to be able to spend quiet time with yourself without noise and distractions.  I suggest that you use the same refocusing technique for walking as you do for meditation.  When your thoughts begin to wander bring the focus back to the breath.  There’s no hurry to this goal it’s a marathon not a sprint.
 
Also, the ultimate goal here is not to walk without thought, it’s to walk without “noise” and/or negative thought.  Moving the body is one of the best ways to clear your head and consider where you’d like your life to go and come up with plans on how best to get there.  I’ve had some of my best ideas and greatest epiphanies while hiking and walking!
 
Here’s an exercise.

• If you cannot keep negative thoughts out of your head and find walking with soothing music much more calming that’s perfectly fine.  Let’s say you go for a one hour walk every day.
• Week One:  Walk with your calming music or meditation set to a low volume for your full walk.
• Week Two:  Walk with your calming music or meditation set to a low volume for the first 50 minutes and walk the last 10 minutes in silence.
• Week Three:  Walk with your calming music or meditation set to a low volume for the first 45 minutes and walk the last 15 minutes in silence.
• Continue doing this and every week add another 5 minutes of walking without and headphones.

 
I suggest that when you walk, you take your cell phone for safety but turn it to silent, turn off vibrate, and refrain from checking it for the duration of your walk. 
 
practice yoga and meditation. 
 
Conversely, I offer the same advice for meditation as I do for walking.  If you’re unable to “clear your head” as it were while meditating start with short, guided meditations. 

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PART 9 - FEED YOUR SOUL
 
What would you do if you could do whatever you wanted and had all day to do it?
 
When you get rid of the time vampires in your life you gain an enormous amount of time and when you’re on a quest to get to know yourself it is your divine right to find the answer to that question.
 
Every so often, take a day to feed your soul and do whatever makes you happy.  Every Sunday morning during my self-retreat – and for many years after - I went to “church”.  For me, nature is my church so I went on a long hike in the woods.  I had a book called “50 Hikes in Connecticut” by Mary Anne Hardy and each week – weather permitting - I’d pick a different hike and study up on it as Sunday approached.  Armed with the book, maps I’d printed at the library, my hiking pack, snacks, lunch and water, I’d let someone know where I was planning to go (for safety) and head out early in the morning.  It was my bliss.  I’d disappear onto a trail, hiking along immersed in the sounds and scents of the woods.  I’d picnic on rock with an overlook or picking table provided by the state parks, and I have myself a fine time!
 
Question:  What will you do to feed your soul? 
Answer: Anything you damn well please!  

What will you do to feed your soul?  Let me know in the comments below!  xoAmie
​
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Watch the companion Video! 

POST 10 - TAKING BACK YOUR POWER
 
We’ve spoken in terms of what you’d have to give up by letting go of some of the modern conveniences rather than what you will gain.  It’s time to flip that conversation.  Those of us old enough to remember the time before computers and cell phones… and even a time before email and answering machines may have an easier time of this.
 
The news was on in the evening.  If you needed more you could read the paper but there wasn’t a constant assault of noise and information.  If something really big happened, news wise, they’d break into programming to deliver it.  Often someone would call to ask if you’d heard it.  If you missed that, the news would get to you one way or another and not having instant knowledge didn’t change what happened.  News has a way of traveling with or without an app notification.  Speaking of notifications I have all of mine turned off.  I check them they don’t check me.
 
When I was younger we had a natural way of prioritizing and focusing on what was right in front of us.  If you were out playing and the phone rang you simply missed the call never even knowing that it came.  If it was important they’d call back.  We did things without interruption.  If we were out having a meal with a friend the words “sorry, I have to take this” never crossed our lips.  We just did the one thing.  What a concept! 
 
Believe it or not, we can return to this singleness of focus.  The cell phone, tv, and radio all have off buttons.  If we’re having a meal with a friend, going out for a walk, watching a movie or otherwise occupied, why not switch off your phone?  If this thought makes you uneasy ask yourself one question; Who’s in charge around here?  You or the phone.  The answer is YOU.  Turn the thing off.  You decide when you’ll receive information and when you won’t. Take back your power!
 
What you will gain by disconnecting:
 
Time
Money
Peace
Focus
Calmness
Stress reduction
Happiness
Self awareness
Absorption in a person, pet, project, task, activity
Increased attention span
Groundedness
 
What you’ll actually be giving up:
 
Cortisol, the stress hormone
Constant interruptions
Addiction/dependence on an appliance
The need for instant gratification
Being at servitude of a device
 
This is not deprivation it’s possession!  Empowerment!

Are YOU ready to take back you power?

What negative things will you be letting go of by unplugging?  Please let me know in the comments below!
 
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