How do you start your day? Intentionally or Incidentally?

How are you taking care of yourself today? Often time I hear from people.."Your always so positive!"..."You and Jon absolutely shine with happiness"..."You guys look great!". Well, that's not always truth lol!! There are days and mornings that are questionable but Jon loves me anyway 😉 I have to admit though that those times are fewer and farther between these days. Why? What's changed over the past few years? We we have but also our outlook on self care has changed drastically. We intentionally do things now to take care of ourselves holistically. That means we take a daily overall approach to our health and happiness in every aspect of our health vs. addressing problems only when they show up.

This means making a conscious effort to do things like reading books 📖 or participating in events/meetings that help us keep a clear, positive and healthy mental and emotional attitude. Also, doing what we can to help our physical well being by trying to eat better, getting physical exercise in and taking supplements to compliment our lives.

Here come the eye rolls from ya'll right. Your thinking in your head...Uh huh girl I ain't got that kinda time and your gonna tell me you make time for what's important, blah, blah, blah...etc, etc. We've all heard it...trust me I know. Just read on peeps because I'm not that kinda cowgirl 🤠

Truth 🤚

Look we aren't some cross fit gurus, yoga sunshine risers or even 5k people. We live in Rural West Central MN about 25-30 miles from most fitness centers and honestly most days we are just trying to keep up with the home, day jobs, animals and maintenance on the farm. We are real people with regular 40 hr week jobs. Finding time to work out isn't our strong suit either. Honestly, we are just average "Joe's" for the most part physically. What I mean when I say physical is fitting in as much as you reasonably can for your lifestyle. For us that means walking the dogs every night, doing most of our farm work without big equipment, ground working our horses instead of always riding them and taking good quality supplements. That's what fits our lifestyle and our schedule.

What are other simple things you can do to help yourself be holistically healthy?

If your a member of Young Living you have some great tools to help you easily get started. Even if you just joined and only have the starter kit you've got some powerful products to help. Look at the oils in there and ask...what can I use today to help me emotionally and physically?

You have Thieves Vitality, so you have your go to for supporting your immune system. Lemon Vitality 🍋 oil is also great way to start the day! Grab a glass of water and add a few drops of this powerful oil to help jump start the day. What about the others?

Quick guide here to some of the benefits you can get from the oils in your starter kit 👇

Valor= Grounding/Confidence, Peppermint= Wake Up Oil (great for diffusing to get the energy flowing), Frankincense=Focus, Lavender=Calm, Raven=Respiratory Support, Digize=Gastrointestinal Support, Panaway=Chases Away Aches and Pains, Citrus Vitality= Uplifting Positive Feels, Peace and Calming & Stress Away…that’s all in the name people ;) Don’t forget your Ningxia Red 🌱 for your antioxidant and immune support as well as energy and grab your Thieves Hand Purifier and Mini-Thieves Spray for your purse to keep those germs at bay all day!

Discover Young Living with the Premium Starter Kit featuring the Desert Mist Diffuser

There you go your starter kit oils broken down into simple, daily, intentional uses!!

Do I use all these everyday? Not quite each one everyday, but I do use several of them daily.

To give you an idea here is what my simple morning routine consisted of before I've left the house today...and I mean simple. I'm not an early riser....keeping it real here people ✋ Truth again is I'm NOT one of those get up and at em' 5 a.m. Hoorah girls. I'm more like one of those sleep in till the last minute and hit the snooze button about 3 times kinda girls. So I keep it SIMPLE in the a.m. on work days.

🍃 First things first. All my toiletry products are either Young Living or locally based all natural products. We only use Thieves Dentranome Ultra Toothpaste and Young Living Meadow Mist Deodorant. Our shampoo and body wash is a bar of all natural ingredient soap made in MN from a local company and if I need conditioner (which I find I don't any more now that I stopped using commercial shampoo) I use organic apple cider vinegar.

Why? Commercial over the counter toiletry products are not regulated by the FDA and blatantly contain chemicals that are banned in other countries because they are KNOWN to cause cancer, allergies, hormone and mood disruption, skin conditions and more. Google the ingredients on the back of your bathroom products and see. I prefer to keep as many toxic chemicals out of my body as possible so I start here and keep it simple.

🍃 Next our supplements! These are all Young Living supplements. Why…Bioavailability people! There is a HUGE difference between Young Living supplements and regular store-bought supplements. Young Living supplements have an 80% absorption rate compared to conventional supplements, which only have a 30% absorption rate! 🤯🤯 That is a 50% increase you guys!! So you get way more bang for your buck AND the supplements are more effective?? YES! Are you wondering how it works? Essential oils help increase the assimilation (absorption) of other nutrients on a cellular level and they help remove waste from the cells, which helps detoxify them, in turn causing the cells to function at a higher level! It also acts faster than over the counter supplements. You don’t have to build up YL supplements in your system to start feeling the effect; it is often felt the same day.

I take Sulferzyme every morning as well as Mutligreens most of the year. Jon takes Sulferzyme and BLM (Bone, Ligament and Muscle).

🍃 Sulferzyme contains MSM, a naturally occurring organic form of dietary sulfur needed by our bodies every day to maintain the structure of proteins, protect cells and cell membranes, replenish the connections between cells, and preserve the molecular framework of connective tissue. It also contains wolfberries. Wolfberries are going to help free radicals get out of your body. I’m all for that! The combo of MSM and Wolfberries in the same supplement is by design! Wolfberries contain minerals and coenzymes that support the assimilation and metabolism of sulfur. Did you know it also supports your hair, skin, and nails?! 💇‍♀️💅 I don’t know about you, but I love that as a side benefit👏 This supplement also supports your liver, circulatory system, and the immune system.

🍃Next are my MultiGreen capsules 💚 Made with spirulina, alfalfa sprouts, barley grass, bee pollen, Pacific kelp, and therapeutic-grade essential oils. Each of these ingredients is perfect for keeping you awake and feeling your best.

Let's break down WHY: 🌿 Spirulina is a source of chlorophyll, a magnesium-rich pigment that has been linked to support healthy energy levels and metabolism. 🌿 Barley grass juice concentrate is an antioxidant that is rich in minerals. 🌿 Bee pollen is high in protein and low in fat and sodium. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals, including potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, copper, and B vitamins. 🌿 Eleuthero root, also known as Siberian Ginseng Root, enhances physical and mental vitality and endurance. 🌿 Kelp contains iodine that is needed for a healthy thyroid. (Think hormone support!)

As soon as I started taking these I noticed the benefit of more energy physically and more alertness mentally, it helped clear the brain fog I’d been fighting. For me this is my go to for “Cabin Fever” or the "Winter Blues".

Jon takes Sulferzyme and BLM every morning as his choices for his physical health routine. Jon has had several issues with his knees and some surgeries as well. His left knee issues were his gateway 🌉 into Young Living. It would swell and get sore with lots of use or lots of time in the saddle. I convinced him to apply Panaway, Frankincense and Copaiba on it and the fast and effective results sold him on the “Voodoo” oils 😉 He did those oils for a while until he found BLM. Now he takes BLM daily as a preventative to any issues.

🍃The BLM formula 💫 combines powerful natural ingredients, such as type II collagen, MSM, glucosamine sulfate, and manganese citrate, enhanced with therapeutic-grade essential oils. These ingredients help support normal bone and joint health

Finally we both round out our supplement routine with something most people probably wouldn’t consider a supplement…but we do. Thieves essential oil roll on. The 💪 protector! From the day school starts till it ends we are pretty faithful to put this oil on the bottoms of our feet before getting socks and shoes on. I consider this a supplement because it boosts our immune system and help us to stay strong physically as the cold 😷 and flu 🤮 season starts making it’s mark on everyone else. If the season is really rough and closing in on us we add an extra boost with a couple capsules of Inner Defense until the worst of it has run its course through family, co-workers and friends. Young Living's Inner Defense™ reinforces systemic defenses, creates unfriendly terrain for yeast/fungus, promotes healthy respiratory function, and contains potent essential oils that are rich in thymol, carvacrol, and eugenol for immune support. Bam…double whammy to the systems defenses!

Lastly, I also enjoy a drop or two of Digize vitality internally to help keep my gut function rolling smooth all day long.

All the above has taken merely minutes ⌚️ to complete each morning because we make it an intention to do this. We set those oils and those products on our bathroom counters and in our cupboards so they are there in site and ready to use…not closed up in our premium starter kit box or still packed in last month’s delivery box.

So grab your kit, or your last order, and put it out on counters or where you’ll need and use them. Make them visible 👀 and make an intention to start using them and see how you feel.

Now onto mental health 🧠🧘‍♀️ which is not the easiest thing to fit in that’s for sure. I’ll readily admit 🙋‍♀️ I’m more likely to notice and take care of my physical health than my emotional, mental and spiritual. Truth again is It’s harder to take note of things you don’t “see”….so you gotta remember the feels 💛💛 people!

My morning oil routine may change depending on the time of year ❄️🍂🎋🌞, and what I’m going through in my day, but today we started with Valor. I place Valor on my feet, jaw line and back of my neck for a grounding feeling as well as confidence to face the day. As a participating member of Al-Anon I also inhale Valor while reciting the Al-Anon prayer for Serenity 🙏 This gets my head in the game of staying focused, owning what’s mine to change and staying out of what’s not. The Founder of Young Living, Gary D. Young, used Valor everyday as well as part of his routine for mental/emotional health as well.

My next oil lately I’ve been working with is Highest Potential. This oil has a great smell and helps promote feelings of increased capacity to achieve your goals 🏆 and bring greater unity of purpose and balance to your life ⚖️ I chose to rub 1 drop on my forehead, 1 on the crown of my head and 1 on the base of my skull. These 3 points line up to meet in the middle of the inside of your head, or in the area of your limbic system known as the Amygdala. The Amygdala plays a key role in your emotions, behavior and memory. This action I believe helps me trigger my Amygdala into the emotion I want to have for the day by using the frequency of the oil. Once I’ve finished applying this oil I take my hands and make a “scent tent” around my nose and inhale the scent deeply while I take that moment to connect with my higher power. I ask🙏 my higher power to help me make a successful day today for myself and others, to help guide me in his/her plan for me and to help me carryout his/her plan for me to bless others in their journey.

After this it’s my coffee ☕️ and out the door for a day filled with the exciting world of computer work, phone calls and all the other fun 9-5 grind life stuff 🙄 we all do to get where we are going.

Once you step out that door people you do not have control of what life throws at you, but you DO have control of what happens before that in your home. How you start the day, not when, is important 🙌 So start it with intention of being the best emotionally and physically healthy person you can be at this part of your journey. The rest will grow from there!

So back to your excuse of about I don't have that kinda time in the morning!! Yes, you do!!! Your just not making it because you think it has to be this big block of time to do amazing things!!! I'm not saying that isn't the goal someday, that would be nice I agree. I wish I had time every morning to do yoga 🧘‍♀️ meditate and always take in my daily readings 📖 but I just don't have that life right now. So, in my routine there is not a 🎱 magic time lapse to create more time for this stuff BUT I’m telling you it's not needed. Everything I described here take me between 5-10 minutes to accomplish for my daily physical and mental health, but the way they set and effect my intention for the rest of my day goes for hours after!