June | 2017 | Tejomaya Wellness

Month: June 2017

Gratitude Review: June

Hey There, Well-Beings!

It’s hard to believe it’s the last week of June. It’s been a pretty busy month for me. I typically opt to curl up at home with a good book, but was able to connect with a few good friends and my family to celebrate my birthday this month, and am really thankful for each of those moments.

Speaking of birthdays, my fella got us both Kindles this year! I’ve been wanting one for a while, but wasn’t as focused as I wanted to be for Black Friday last year, so I was really surprised when he showed up on Saturday with one for the both of us. We used to go to the library, or hit up the local book fairs and charity sales and then spend one hour of our Saturday together reading. I’m not sure how we got out of the habit, but it was something we both enjoyed doing because we could devote some uninterrupted time to our book of choice, but still be together. I’m thankful that we will be picking up where we left off, and maybe also a little grateful (okay, a lot) that I can watch Netflix in bed! I’ve got new seasons of three of my faves to catch up on.

This month, I also joined a really amazing essential oil group that’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Even with my 20 years of experience in aromatherapy, I am still learning something new almost every day and I am surrounded by the most amazing women who are holistic health professionals, body and energy workers, creative business owners, and some of the coolest and most supportive people in the industry. I am incredibly fortunate to have been pointed there and even more excited about all of the inspiration I’ve gained and will be able to direct toward an abandoned project that I thought was lost for good. This has been life changing for me, and I’m only a month in! I can’t wait to see where I am in a year from now.

My outdoor photo shoots have been ramping up lately, too. In fact I’m even looking at adding a fourth camera to my collection and am squirreling away a little cash here and there to make that a reality. (You should see the pictures this thing takes! I cannot wait to take it out for a spin!) I’m even exploring the option of taking an evening class to enhance my skills and get better behind the lens and am having so much fun taking day trips out to practice my craft. I don’t know where I’m headed with this quite yet, but I’m really enjoying the journey and am thankful for the outlet.

What has been making you so happy that you just want to tell the world? Do you have any good news to share? What is the single most gratitude inspiring thing to happen to you in the last few weeks? Share in the comments below and let’s celebrate each other’s happy moments this past month!

Wishing You Total Well-Being,

Jennifer

You Know What They Say About Assumptions…

June 18, 2017 / tejomayawellness / 0 Comments

Hey There, Well-Beings!

My friend and mentor pointed me to this article on the Zen concept of Shoshin, and it helped me find peace in a time where I really needed it. I’d been having some troubles in one of my daily interactions with someone and it’s helped me approach the entire situation from a place of calm empowerment, rather than one of heartbreak, misgiving, and tightening of the solar plexus. As someone with a maybe overly soft-heart that’s often broken by the goings-on of the world, I’m grateful to add it to my growing arsenal of stress management tools.

Shoshin means “beginner’s mind” and in its purest definition encourages us to approach subjects without preconceptions; as if we know nothing, because an expert’s perceived knowledge of a topic limits them experiencing things with the openness and eagerness that a new student might. Of course that can be a bit of a preconception in and of itself, so I prefer to simplify it further by thinking of it as going into all things with a blank slate. It’s taught generally, but for me, it’s had many applications in my dealings with other people, and has helped me to avoid making assumptions when I don’t, and probably will never have, the entire picture.

Say for instance you’re pulling out into traffic, and you end up behind someone reluctant to turn. Now, you could lay on the horn and extend your digitis medius, but you might not be aware that the person in the car in front of you has just received tragic news about a loved one, and is attempting to remain functional while also processing a great deal of shock and grief. I’ve quite literally been in both driver’s seats at one point in my life. It’s easy to just mutter the word asshole under our breath, but better to show a second of patience and compassion for the person in front of us because, sure they might just be texting and not paying attention, but on the off chance that they aren’t, it’s better to give everyone a little room and come from a loving place.

A very humbling lesson came my way a few years ago after catching up with old coworker. We’d all assumed that our former boss was just a terrible person. Her behavior was erratic and unpredictable, and made for some truly infuriating experiences. Sometimes she’d tell you at the beginning of a shift that you could leave early, and then threaten to write you up for packing up before dinner service had ended. Other times she’d tell you to do a task a certain way, and then would be upset when you had completed it according to her exact specifications. I’d finally and personally had enough after explaining that my schedule would be changing when I went back to school in the fall and was only available to work weekends, but had been consistently scheduled to work weeknights. I reluctantly worked my weeknight schedule for the duration of my two weeks notice, but hung on to that resentment for a number of years until learning recently that my former boss had succumbed to a brain tumor that had been affecting her mood and behavior for quite some time. I’d been bitterly angry with a woman who had a then undiagnosed cancer raging inside her mind and assumed it was about me. Take it from me; you do not ever know what it is like to be somebody else.

You won’t be able to control what someone whispers about you when you leave a room, but you can control your response and the lingering sting from it by realizing that perspective is only helpful when it’s wide and without conjecture. It might help you give that grumpy person in front of you at Starbucks enough grace to soften and find sweetness, but even if it doesn’t, it will at the very least allow you to hang on to yours.

Wishing You Total Well-Being,

Jennifer

Beautiful Benefits: Supplements That Turn Back the Clock

June 4, 2017 / tejomayawellness / 0 Comments

Hey There, Well-Beings!

I had the pleasure of writing this article for Inner Child Magazine a couple of months back and wanted to share it with you this week, because Summer is drawing nearer. Season changes are a good time for me to assess my skincare steps to see what’s working and what needs tweaking, so it might be the right time to look at your own routine and see if it’s still giving you the results that you want, or if you don’t have a routine, to establish a personalized self-care ritual that you look forward to twice each day. Get glowing!

Wishing You Total Well-Being,

Jennifer

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There are plenty of things we can do while we’re young to keep our skin from aging too quickly. We’ve all been told to drink plenty of water and use our sunscreen, but at some point, time catches up with us and begins to show on our face. While we may not be able to stop the aging process entirely, there are some natural options out there to help us keep our youthful glow that won’t break the bank or give you worry lines.

Collagen – When we start losing collagen, we start seeing wrinkles. Your first inclination may be to reach for a collagen cream, and while it will provide skin with essential moisture, the molecules are often too large to truly plump up collagen supplies. This is where supplements and collagen producing foods shine. Bone broth is all the rage for a variety of wonderful health reasons, but did you know that it contains collagen which will help with the effects of aging? You can also look to brightly colored fruits like tomatoes and watermelon, which contain lycopene, to protect collagen stores. Collagen is also available in capsule form at your local health food store.

Antioxidants – We are exposed to free radicals 24 hours a day. Even if we never smoked or consumed alcohol and always used our sunscreen, we’d still be subject to stress and pollution and that’s enough to produce evidence on the skin. Scientifically speaking, free radicals are atoms that are missing an electron and in order to recoup their losses, they steal our skin’s electrons. If you want to counter free radical damage, you want to use an antioxidant, which fights free radicals by giving an extra electron to the process, keeping our skin protected. We can introduce antioxidants into our systems internally, by eating a variety of fresh fruits and veggies and drinking green and white teas. You can even make your own antioxidant skincare treatments with ingredients you likely already have on hand.

Hyaluronic Acid – Hyaluronic Acid is a gel like molecule that holds water. Our bodies produce it naturally, but that production starts to decline as we age. When we’re in our prime, Hyaluronic Acid fills and protects our eyes, cushions our nerves and joints, and it keeps our skin, hair and nails hydrated, and as we age its loss is something we are likely to notice not just in the way we feel, but as we glance in the mirror. The good news is, Hyaluronic Acid is available in both supplement form and in many skincare products. Because the loss of Hyaluronic Acid is likely evident on both the skin and in other areas of the body, it may be a good idea to double up on its benefits by utilizing a serum or skin cream as well as taking a capsule or liquid form internally.

Time ticks by no matter what we do, but taking steps to nourish, protect, and replenish ourselves now can keep people guessing about exactly how much time has passed. Eating a clean diet, supplementing where needed, and maintaining a good skincare routine may be all that’s necessary to keep Father Time at an arm’s length and leave your worry lines in the past. Beautiful skin is here to stay!