Tag: mindfulness

Sunday, July 16,

Shifting to Sunday, July 16, 2023. Enjoying the opportunities to find peaceful moments.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: Take a moment to reflect back and make a list of 3 moments when you felt happiness and joy. Consider, what allowed that? Was it the environment? Time to yourself? Completing something? Being with a certain person or a group? After exercise? Among the trees? What made those happy and joyful moments possible?

A quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

Thank you to Ashe Walker for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Saturday, July 8

Today is Saturday, July 8, 2023. July is a great time to reflect on the first half of the year.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: Take a piece of blank paper, the largest size you can find, and think back to the first half of the year from January 1st.

Write down all the positive things that have happened, that you have experienced, that are in progress. Think through each month, maybe even peek at your calendar to refresh your memory of all the positives, the good things.

Now, if you haven’t already, add the people that are connected to any of those positives in your life. They might have had a role to play in creating that positive moment or they might just have been there to share in it with you. Make note of the person or persons who add positive ripples into your life and let them know.

A quote by Kevin Ansbro, “Focus on an ocean of positives, not a puddle of negatives.”

Thank you to Geran De Klerk for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Saturday, July 1

Today is Saturday, July 1, 2023. Relationships activate strong feelings.  

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: Notice when you spend time with others, what feelings help activate you be your best self.

A quote by Eva Gabor, “Love is a game that two can play and both win.”

Thank you to awmleer for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Saturday, June 24

Today is Saturday, June 24, 2023. Reflecting with a compassionate heart helps learning and personal growth.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: Last week, if you were writing things down, look back at where your mind was at those times you chose to jot down some notes.

Now, whether you wrote things down last week or not, write, “Current Reflections” at the top of the next sheet and write down everything on your mind right now. Some of it may be influenced from last week or maybe not.

Finally, write, “Upcoming Week” and write your thoughts about this week coming up. It might be a to do list, your schedule, what you hope for, what you want to accomplish, or just what is on your mind. Let your mind get oriented to the week and let it be comfortable.

A quote by Flannery O’Connor, “I write to discover what I know.”

Thank you to K8 for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Saturday, June 17

Today is Saturday, June 17, 2023. Sometimes, it helps to write everything down. Maybe today is that day.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: This week, practice writing things down. When something comes up, jot it down somewhere you can find it later. It might be something you have to remember, that you want to remember, or something you have to do later. Sometimes, you just have a thought or feeling that needs to be parked somewhere to rest your mind. Write it down. Later, look it over and see what you collected.

A quote by Robert Louis Stevenson, “I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.”

Thank you to Anja Bauermann for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Friday, June 2

Today is Friday, June 2, 2023. Everyday is something new. We start today by simplifying.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: This week, start each day with a reflection. Reflect on what is going right, what is working well, what is progress. Write it down so you can return to it and read it in the future.

A quote by Christopher Moore, “Children see magic because they look for it.”

Thank you to Nico Knaack for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Friday, May 26

Today is Friday, May 26, 2023. As we continue onto week 3 of moving towards dreams, aspirations, goals, you can continue to work on establishing your sleep ritual as we shift to awake times.

Think about this: As part of your daily routine, maybe even with your brain dump from last week, consider a reflection about instant pleasure vs. deep satisfaction in your day or week. Instant pleasure is short acting and immediate. It does not last. It lights up certain areas of the brain that drive us to want more if “that.” It doesn’t care if it is good for you or not, that kind of instant pleasure lights up specific brain cells.

Deep satisfaction lights up the whole brain and creates a warm glow that lasts. It is recharging. It feels good and nourishes the soul. It is good for your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Bottom line, it is so very good for you.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: For this next week, reflect on the people, places and things that cause you to experience deep satisfaction. Make a list and then see if you can figure out what are some similarities about the items on the list. What causes you deep satisfaction? Maybe you can find ways to increase opportunities for more of those deeply satisfying experiences.

A quote by Michael Franti, “Love is the action of soul satisfaction.”

Thank you to Benjamin Lehman for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Friday, May 19

Today is Friday, May 19, 2023. As we continue- from last week-moving towards dreams, aspirations, goals, we may better understand our best awake and rest times. We offer a pre-sleep tool.

Think about this: During awake hours, there are lots of experiences and thoughts and feelings. The brain and mind are appropriately busy. Worries and fears about the future may surface. Future dreams, plans and action items develop. Where does all this go? What happens to it?

Sometimes, the start of sleep is delayed due to the brain and mind trying to sort through the day and prepare for the future. It does not want to forget anything important, but it does not know what is important and what is not, so it might try to cycle through everything and that can interfere with sleep. Good news, you can train your brain to rest by creating a ritual before you need to sleep.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: For this next week, before your desired sleep time, perform a brain dump. Write down everything on your mind in a notebook so that you can return to it in the morning. Let your brain watch you writing down all the things on your mind so that it can be reassured that you will not forget it and that you can return to it and organize your thoughts tomorrow. Then, when you are ready tomorrow, return to it and review your brain dump. Your mind will have solved much of it overnight while asleep. With regular practice, over time, your brain will learn to let your brain rest when you are ready to sleep.  

A quote by Queen Rania al-Abdullah, “We are stronger when we listen, and smarter when we share.”

Thank you to Gregoire Jeanneau for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Friday, May 12

Today is Friday, May 12, 2023. This beautiful time of year is a great time to move towards dreams, aspirations, goals. Motivated for progress: planting something to grow, building upon and developing skills, advancing forward and trying something new.

Think about this: We start with the gardener’s analogy, not sure who to attribute this to. To grow a beautiful lush garden that can provide shelter, food, beauty and pleasure, the soil matters. There must be organic matter in the soil to provide nutrients, to hold water. Adequate sunlight and darkness, warmth and coolness, the worms, birds and bees all work together to support the soil and create a fertile space for a garden to grow. In that enriched space, then we can choose the seeds to plant and support that environment until the plant sprouts and grows to its fullest potential, whether a tree that provides shelter and shade, a plant that provides food and nutrients or flowers and herbs that provide beauty and pleasure.

We will start with small tips on enriching our own soil so that each of us can thrive and grow into our fullest potential.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: For this next week, examine your daily rhythms – the time you are naturally most awake and the time you can best sleep. It turns out that within 24 hours, some people do better with 2 sleep times (usually 1 longer and 1 shorter) and some are best with 1 longer sleep time. Write down when you are awake and when you are asleep. Include when you feel like you want to be asleep or when you want to stay awake longer. Just be curious.

A quote by Audrey Hepburn, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

Thank you to Javardh for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP 

Friday, May 5

Today is Friday, May 5, 2023. A great day to celebrate children.

Think about this: Listen to children laughing uncontrollably and it is hard not to smile. Joyful laughter is healthy, boosts others and changes the atmosphere and our internal physiology as well as those around us.

DGoV (Daily Gift of Vitality) Activity: Find opportunities to laugh out loud with joy. Let it release. Notice people having fun, laughing. Help others laugh too.

A quote by Charles Dickens, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”

Thank you to Kulli Kittus for sharing this photo.

With gratitude and appreciation for all beings,

Naomi Parrella, MD & Fran Lee, FNP