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What the heck is eudaimonia? It is a gorgeous word of Greek origin that means the state of being in a “good spirit” and flourishing in life! Our daily rituals, practices, meals, and experiences and how we process those experiences all have the remarkable power to build up our good spirits.

Read on for ways to make the journey more full of vitality and joy: 

Change your relationship with yourself

We often can have an adversarial relationship with ourselves. Approaching our lives with judgment and without mercy and understanding opens the door for tremendous heartache and strain. Think of the grandparent or dog or cat or friend who has loved you the most–think of the souls who see you as your highest and best version. Give yourself a chance and love yourself with that sort of grace and faithfulness.

Sure, we all have weeds we need to pluck from the landscape of our minds–habits, compulsions, and addictions that we can do without. But we also have some great things going for us, and giving ourselves some space to see our light, instead of just our shadows, is ESSENTIAL to our mental wellbeing. Love you.

That’s right–love YOU. Don’t worry, you won’t become a heinous narcissist–you will most likely love others in bigger ways just by ending the self-loathing loop. For a little help with recreating a healthier relationship with yourself, try a coaching session with Dr. Adam Gries!

More Bob Marley and less Chicken Little

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In our world of a frenetic 24-hour news cycle, email notifications, and schedules that aren’t connected to the natural rhythms of existence, some of us have to make extra strides to keep the joy-bells ringing and hold the energy-sucking gremlins of anxiety at bay.

My favorite mantra these days is, “More Bob Marley and less Chicken Little.” We all could use a little of Bob Marley singing “Don’t worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright,” and far less of “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” a la Chicken Little.

When we are in the hyped-up and over-amped fear zone, we aren’t productive or creative or perhaps even courteous in our problem-solving. Find what helps you reach your Inner Good Place when the world may feel like it’s crumbling. Maybe stop and take 3 minutes to just breathe and drop the shoulders or take a 5-minute walk or close your door and just connect to your inner strength.

And whether it’s the Bach cello suites, Dolly Parton or Bob Marley, tune into some music therapy to lower the stress hormone, cortisol.

Try hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is a tool for gently accessing the source of emotional discomfort and moving past blocks. Our in-house hypnotherapist, Debra Collins, says “Emotions originate as sensations in the body. Feelings are influenced by our emotions but are generated from our mental thoughts.

Hypnotherapy bypasses the critical factor of the conscious mind and opens communication with the more powerful subconscious mind, speaking its language to change our relationship to past associations and beliefs. We reframe events to diminish anger and fear and reclaim power and confidence. We move beyond past messages of shame or guilt and replace sadness with acceptance and love. We remember states of peace and wholeness.”

Find your oxytocin sweet spot

The marvels and miracles of Mother Nature know no bounds. Oxytocin is one of those wild and mysterious little chemicals common to humanity. It is a “happy hormone” that boosts feelings of well-being and helps us to connect with others.

We all produce oxytocin naturally and can boost our supply with hugs, physical intimacy, music, yoga, acupuncture, volunteering and giving to others, and certain forms of meditation. The timeless lovingkindness meditation, or metta, has been shown to cause the oxytocin levels to rise and oxytocin receptors to grow. Here is a favorite lovingkindness meditation from Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Mood food & Reboot your biome

How you feel and experience your day-to-day life is deeply rooted in the food and drinks you consume. The wonderful news is that a fresh and colorful diet of fruits and vegetables not only contributes to your mental health but is a boon to your creativity!

In one study researchers happily discovered that upping the carrots and cukes and apples not only boosted feelings of well-being but also seemed to contribute to curiosity and creativity! Oh, and top those salads with some extra virgin olive oil and the news gets even better–olive oil, unlike inflammatory oils and fake fats–makes life brighter. 

And what is deeply connected to our inner-wellness that researchers have only recently discovered? Our microbiome! Yes, the health of our guts and the quality of the colonies of vital bacteria that abide there can make or break our mental health.

To get a wild and wonderful microbiome cultivated and flourishing makes eating more beautiful with color–colorful fruits and vegetables greatly enhance the microbiome. Think of collards and cabbage and carrots and tomatoes and all sorts of berries. Liven up each meal with at least 2 servings of raw or lightly cooked produce, seasonal if possible. 

Make friends with Brother Sun

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Did you know that a daily morning mega-dose of our favorite star’s rays can reboot your glands to produce more happy chemicals? With the weather getting warmer, consider having your morning tea, coffee, and breakfast sitting on the back porch or by an eastern window.  The power of a little natural light is miraculous. Dr. Normal Rosenthal of Georgetown University encourages daily sunshine exposure to prevent depression and to help prevent the blues. 

Creativity

You are an artist. Whether you cook, tell side-splitting jokes or drop jewels of dry humor gold along the path, tell great yarns or knit with yarns, plink away at the piano, garden, sing, interior decorate, write poems, shutterbug or jitterbug, sing in a choir, teach, ballroom dance, raise children, sketch, arrange flowers, strum instruments, keep a journal, rescue animals, or change the atmosphere with your uplifting presence,  or myriad other ways you express yourself, you are an artist.

Say it with me–I AM AN ARTIST.

Explore what zests up your life. What creative things do you do that enhance your good vibes? Do more and more of that to boost your emotional health. And a part of being a creative soul is knowing what buzzkills to dispense with.

Ditch the buzzkills and thrill destroyers

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Whatever harshes your mellow needs to be put in its place. You know it, I know it–c’mon, let’s dig a big old hole and bury the buzzkills. Life is challenging enough without adding politicians bloviating, social media posturing, numbing and dumbing entertainment, spending our life supply on gossip, ghosters, and cynics, and staring into a lifeless cellphone.

We have 1440 precious fleeting moments in a day. That’s it. How can we gently weed out those things that bring us down and stoke the fires of what makes life worth living? Even small incremental changes can brighten our lives.

The Power of Plant Medicine, try CBD or hemp products

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Hemp! It’s a federally legal, non-psychoactive that promotes powerful healing for the body and mind. Various studies have shown that for many it can help with mood regulation and improve sleep. Over the years a few of my friends have benefitted from CBD helping them downshift their use of various psychotropic pharmaceuticals for depression and anxiety. Please be careful of where you find your hemp, though.

We highly recommend Modern Apotheca of Raleigh. Owners Corey and Eric Stahl seek out quality, ethically sourced products. Corey says that one of the biggest issues that customers come to them with is anxiety:

“For the past 3 years, we’ve seen countless success stories from people who’ve gotten off or reduced their intake of pharmaceutical medication. CBD has also been so helpful for regulating emotions and moods for many of our customers. It brings us so much joy to see how CBD helps our customers live their best lives possible.”

If you’d like to schedule a session with Awakenings Health and pursue eudaimonia, click here.

Article by Deana Vassar of Awakenings Health. Deana is also a local ordained minister who teaches workshops on creativity and writing as a healing tool.