Being understood, valued, & respected validates us. Active listening skills empowers you to make the other person feel just that. Click to read why & how to become an effective listener. Don’t forget to download the helpful Free ‘becoming a better listener’ worksheets.
Life satisfaction & happiness comes from staying revved up to take on every new day. These 5 simple ways to reignite a zest for life on NandyzSoulshine.com will help lead a happy & fulfilling life full of joy, excitement, & wonder.
Ever felt you can’t take it anymore & simply need a break? It’s your body signalling you need a lazy day break. If you wonder how to be fit when you don’t have the time or heart for it, then this post will show you how to sneak in effortless fitness even on a lazy day.
Do you like your décor to be bespoke with personal touches? Creating little design accents that reflect treasured memories and glimpses of our life tend to do exactly that. I usually prefer creating fine art pieces and sprinkling them around the house. But, I also like creating nifty DIY items that require learning a new technique or craft. Keeping the learning curve up while having fun, not bad right? Here’s how the idea for this string art came about. I had been looking for some new craft to learn and found this really cool technique of using strings to create interesting designs. Also, the other day I was going through the baby videos of my son and was really surprised! Because among all the sweat and tears (both mine and the baby’s), feeding, cleaning and lack of sleep, what shone through my memory was his angelic smile and how it made my heart go all mushy and awww. It sparked the idea for a décor accent for my kid’s room that would be a reminder of what actually lies beneath all this ‘why-there-is-no-handbook-for-bringing-up-kids’ mess 🙂 . Which string art are we making: String art nursery/kids’ room accent What do we need: Rectangular piece of wood about 12 x 24 inches, iron nails, hammer, acrylic or any type of paint (even nail paint would do), strings, scissors, glue, pencil, paper, sticking tape Got everything? Let’s get started then: Clean the wooden board with a dry piece of cloth and decide on the message you want to write. Either use free-hand technique or select some calligraphic font if you are feeling particularly artistic. Make the fonts big enough to be visible from a distance and also manageable with a paintbrush. Go crazy with paint on the letters. I used acrylic paint because it was handy, but you can use any sort of paint that you feel comfortable working with. I also sprayed a protective layer of art-grade spray to protect it from any liquid that decides to get splashed on it later on. After all, it is for the kid’s room where anything can happen, right? However, if you are using water-resistant paint, you can do away with this step. Now, comes the design part. You can either opt for a printable design, which are easily available online or you can create one of your own. Remember to customize these for string art. Which means that make sure they are manageable enough to be filled with stretched string and not too detailed if it is your first attempt. Tape this on to the wooden board. Mark the positions where you would be hammering in the iron nails. Hammer in all the pins and tear the paper off. Remember to tidy up the knotted ends with glue. I decided to shimmer up the edges of the board with silver tape, but you can decide to leave it natural. Starting from one corner, tie the string to one of the nails and make your way through the rest of the design. It would be a nice idea to first make a sort of outline with the string and then fill it up. This would give a clean look to the whole thing. And…you are done. All that remains now is to find the perfect place to show it off! Involving kids in the project can create new memories adding more personal significance to your décor items. Though I feel the calligraphic writing gives a bit polished and professional feel to the piece, you can also choose to do away with it for smaller projects. String art is versatile and can be placed anywhere in the house created with different themes. Have you tried using string art to express your creativity? Which new craft technique have you recently explored? This article first appeared as a guest post on April Does That. Follow my blog with Bloglovin
One of the main pillars of your personal growth journey is your home. Our surroundings influence our thoughts & approach to life. Bring positive energy into your home to feel rejuvenated, relaxed & inspired. Click to read how to do it easily & effectively. #positivity #self-improvement #bringPositiveEnergy #happiness #growthmindset
Health and beauty are inextricably intertwined, be it of the body or mind. Feeling full of sunshine makes you feel beautiful and that attitude of self-assurance and confidence mirrors in how you look. The age-old adage “a healthy body houses a healthy mind” truly holds true when it comes to looking good because make-up can do only that much for you. The little something that lures the eyes and brings forth the “wow”, trickles from your feeling good about yourself. Now you may well ask, “That’s all fine, but where does water come in all of this?” Let me just say, that approximately 60% of human body is aqua. So, it goes to show how much this life sustaining fluid is important for maintaining our body as it is meant to be. However, I have a few handy tips listed here for you to look your gorgeous self using water in some very interesting ways. 10 Healthy Beauty Hacks Using Water Water and Hugs – Work Best When Warm: Shedding those extra pounds with warm water is easier, as it will increase your metabolic rate to burn calories faster. The best habit you can develop is having a glass of warm water first thing in the morning. Not only will it wake you up gently yet properly, but will also provide a good jump start for your internal organs. The result, better heart health for your morning jog and exercise routine, healthy tummy with better digestion and “regular motions”. The baseline – an overall smooth functioning machinery to keep you smoothly on the go. Drinking warm H2O is also one of the best natural cures for stomach cramps and muscle spasms. A glass of warm water every morning keeps common cold at bay and if you actually do catch cold, it will be remarkably less severe. I personally like this trick the best because there is nothing like a bad cold. It make you feel as if the end of world is just round the corner, however silly it may feel later on. “The easiest health routine to adopt is having a glass of warm water first thing in the morning.” (click to Tweet) Detox to Get that Blushing Glow: Routinely detoxifying your body will not only keep serious health issues and pesky skin problems at bay but would also give you an enviously glowing complexion. These 5-minute recipes are quick and super easy and are great detox routines. Take a bottle full of sparkling water that you can carry around with you throughout the day. Add to it any one of the following delectable combinations that fancy your palate. A few slices of apple with an inch of cinnamon stick. A couple of sliced strawberry, an inch of ginger with a few mint sprigs. 5-6 slices of cucumber with rosemary, thyme or mint. A few slices of cilantro would also work as an anti-cholesterol agent along with giving you a healthy dose of vitamin C. Blackberry and a few mint leaves would lower cholesterol and help in digestion. Put a few slices of lemon in with either cucumber, raspberries or orange. Kiwi slices with basil would give you vitamin K, vitamin C, copper and fiber boost. Now simply sip your way to a detoxified healthy body, glowing skin and sparkling eyes. Detox Body from Outside: Let’s take a sheet out of the famous bathhouses of Rome. The basic idea – opening up the pores with hot steam to detox through one of the biggest organs of our body, skin, followed by cold water plunges to close the pores up for silky glowing skin. You don’t need a sauna at home to detox your way to gorgeousness. A simple steaming hot towel wrap for 10-20 minutes followed immediately by cold shower can do the trick with much less hassle and expense. Another way to detox is mixing 1 cup of apple cider vinegar in 1 liter of hot water. Dip your feet in for 20-30 minutes and relax your way to more energy, better health and minty fresh looks. Apple cider vinegar has loads of goodness and I would love to share those with you in my next post (after this water series), so look out! Water for Gorgeous Hair: Water makes up for approximately 1/4th weight of a hair strand. So drinking more water and staying hydrated not only helps keep them healthy and glossy but also keeps the scalp dandruff-free for better hair root support. Cold water rinses also help the shine factor by constricting hair cuticles. Ocean water with red algae and sea lettuce strengthens and adds much-valued moisture to your hair. A simple trick is mixing essential oils with distilled water to be used as leave-on hair serum. Additionally, you can even mix one part of your regular conditioner with three parts of water in a spray bottle and use it as leave-on conditioner to control frizz. Dry and brittle hair slow down growth rate, so keep them hydrated along with good hair cuticle care for long luscious locks. Eyes: Water is the best way to care for your peepers. Splash cold water or rose water to get the sparkling naughtiness back in them after a tiring day. Eye puffiness after staring long hours at the computer monitor can be vamoosed with cold water splashes followed by cold tea bag compression. For longer-lasting effect, you can also go for water-rich under-eye gels. Also, it is easy to revive your favorite mascara with a few drops of saline water. Gorgeous Skin: For a well-rounded action plan to get Cleopatra-worthy skin, adopt an easily followed schedule of A glass of warm water in the morning. Replace caffeine and soda drinks with green teas. One bottle of detox aqua mix sipped throughout the day. Just put slices of cucumber, ginger, lemon and a few mint sprigs to a bottle of water. Let it sit overnight and sip it throughout the next day. Or, you can use
Staying well-hydrated is the key to fending off loads of ailments. Staying in shipshape is just an added benefit for enjoying life to the hilt. We have already seen how water can work hard to keep you looking pristinely gorgeous. If you missed that, here’s where you can check it out. Now let’s explore how hydration can make you feel good and keep you out of the doctor’s office. How much hydration you actually need every day depends on your age, health, sex, tendency to sweat and your routine. So, it is a good idea to consult a nutritionist or general physician before increasing your fluid intake. I know it sounds weird, visiting a doctor to stay out of a doctor’s office, but it’s really spending a bit now to save a lot in the future. Let’s check out some of the benefits of staying properly hydrated. Medical Benefits of Hydration Before bed: Drink a glass of water, say half an hour before going to bed. The half hour is to give you time and avoid midnight trips to the bathroom. Proper hydration helps your heart work smoothly and put less stress on heart muscles – one of the best ways of limiting stroke and heart attack potential. Our body has a very intelligent mechanism. In case of mal-hydration, the body produces more cholesterol to save water loss from the cells. Though the bad effects of dehydration on our internal organs is minimized, the cholesterol creates other health hazards. Water, though frequently overlooked, is a very handy and effective tool for heart health. Before meals: Having half a glass of warm water 30 minutes before your day’s major meals will activate your digestive system. It gets food digested easily and properly. Replace the cold fizzy drink with a glass of warm water with your meals. It will not only help in better digestion, but break the fat up in your food to make it easier on your digestive system. If you are trying to lose weight, bulking up on water before meals is also a good way to limit your appetite. But be sure not to overdo it, as your body still needs food to function. Remember, too much of anything is never a good idea. Energy: Ever felt extremely tired even though you didn’t do much during the day? Well, it may very well be because of lack of proper fluid intake. The earliest signs of dehydration are tiredness and fatigue. Also, whenever you feel like you can’t concentrate on whatever you are doing, trying drinking a glass of water. You might very well be surprised with the result. Taking water along with you on your jogs and gym sessions is a good idea. It will keep you hydrated and boost your energy level. Cleansing and kidney health: If you do not have proper hydration, it becomes very hard for your kidneys and bladder to flush out all the acid waste and toxins efficiently. This will lead to chemical imbalance in your body. Also, it opens up the door to frequent infections and stone formation. The simple idea is to wash out harmful toxins from our body. After all, like any other cleaning company our body too needs a good supply of water to flush out dirt and muck. 🙂 Allergy and asthma: Being all stuffy in the face and head doesn’t make one feel any good during cold or allergy flare-ups. It is a good idea to drink warm water more when you are feeling all bogged down. It will not only replenish the fluid loss but also make your symptoms less severe. This is because when dehydrated, the body tends to constrict it’s airways to reserve water. Allergy and asthma attacks too tend to become a bit less uncomfortable and severe with proper hydration. Joint pain and stiffness: Well, this is not a very well-known goodness of water but works all the same. The cartilage padding supporting the joints is mainly made up of water. So, you can see why dehydration causes the pain and stiffness to go worse. Though staying well-dehydrated is not going to prevent them or cure them, it surely does take away some of the discomfort. Headache cure: Dehydration has a way of sparking off headaches. So, the next time you find your day getting ruined with a headache, just grab a glass of water. May be, that’s all you need and not frequent painkillers! Hydration ensures proper flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, keeping frequent headaches at bay. “Say goodbye to frequent headaches by staying hydrated because it’ll ease the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.” (click to Tweet) Banish skin problems: We have already indulged ourselves in this one at quite a length. However, let’s just recount these quickly. Water is your skin’s best friend whether you drink it on it’s own or mix up quick, easy and delicious concoctions. You can use it as mist spray or go for a Roman bathhouse technique. It helps even if you enjoy a relaxing foot dip after a tiring day. Dehydration causes all sorts of skin problems. With proper hydration, you can avoid frequent skin breakouts, psoriasis, dandruff and yes, you got it right – premature ageing. Have you ever seen a dehydrated fruit? That’s what happens to our skin too! Scary, isn’t it? Proper hydration and detoxing are the two famously ill-kept secrets for a youthful dewy glow. “Proper hydration and detoxing are the two famously ill-kept secrets for a youthful dewy glow.” (click to Tweet) 8 Smart Tips to Stay Hydrated Without Turning it into a Chore Carry a bottle whenever you go out and sip on it once in a while. It will make you feel refreshed and energized throughout the day. Do it for a few days and then try going out without a bottle of water for a day. You will be able to see the difference for yourself! Keep a bottle full
Did you know that de-stress & detox are quite interconnected? This super popular post will show you how they’re connected and 5 ways to de-stress & detox in a single go. Click to read more about coriander benefits for our physical, mental, & emotional health and how you can make it work for you.
Let’s be kind to ourselves! Let’s pursue healthiness and happiness. Let’s empower and encourage ourselves and our friends. Let’s spread love. Lets love our bodies even if we want to change them.
Ever felt really good stretching out after working for long? Bad posture can cause a lot of aches, pains and some more serious health issues. This detailed post will show you how to get good posture through simple tweaks to how you carry yourself. Look good & feel good too. Click to read more.
