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If you’ve spent more than five minutes on the Internet in the last decade, you know you should probably be food prepping. A few hours of work once or twice a week can open up your schedule and save you valuable time and money.

So why isn’t everyone doing it? Well, it’s true that food prepping can be intimidating. Sometimes it seems like such an undertaking that you don’t even know where to start. Don’t worry, though! We’ve broken the process down into simple steps to take some of that pressure off of you. Read on to find out how to start meal prepping like a pro!

1. Consider your goals. Why are you food prepping? Are you trying to lose weight or reach a fitness goal? Are you trying to save money? Reduce food waste? Save time? Whatever your goal is, it will have an impact on the way you food prep, so be clear on what you want this to accomplish!

2. Plan, plan, plan. As the old cliche goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That doesn’t mean you need to spend hours crafting spreadsheets or budgets. It simply means you shouldn’t go into this process blindly! First, pick your ideal food prep day – most people like to do it twice a week so their meals stay fresh and exciting (maybe Sunday and Wednesday nights?). Set aside a few hours to get everything done. Decide how many meals you want to make. Are you just taking lunch into work, or do you need a healthy, grab-and-go breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each day?

Next, make a list of meals and necessary ingredients. Be smart about your food – choose hardy items that will last for a few days and reheat nicely. Consider making a few base items and mixing them up so that you don’t get bored! If, for instance, you know you love rice and chicken, but you think you’ll get bored, try adding different sauces or vegetables to a couple of your meals so that things don’t get stagnant!

Think about cooking in bulk. This is a great time to break out the slow cooker or the Instant Pot. Curries, stews, soups – they all do well for meal prep. If you’re more into salad than hearty stews, don’t be discouraged. Strategic stacking (google mason jar salads!) and ingredient selection can make even lighter fare a possibility for multi-day storage.

3. Gather your supplies. You can go wild buying new containers, or, if you’re meal-prepping with a financial bent, you can always reuse things you already have around the house. Check to make sure any plastic you’re using is BPA-free, and microwave, freezer, and dishwasher safe (assuming you use each of these appliances). Be creative with your containers – all you truly need is an airtight lid, and enough jars, tubs, or Tupperwares to section your food into multiple meals. Some people swear by partitioned containers made specifically for this purpose, while others do just fine with repurposed yogurt tubs. The process is easiest if your containers are all of a similar size, but beyond that, it’s all up to you and what’s best for your particular situation.

Depending on your food prep goals, you may also want a food scale and some form of labeling.

4. Prep! You’ve planned and prepped mentally, now it’s time to prep for real. Try to multitask to save yourself time and dishes – use aluminum foil to partition sheet pans in the oven and bake or roast two things at once, or chop your fruits and veggies while your pasta is boiling. Soon enough, you’ll be ladling meals into your neatly arranged containers like a one-person assembly line.

5. Eat! Here’s the part where all your hard work pays off. Imagine eating a home-cooked meal for lunch at work instead of picking through a sad salad bar. Or maybe you’ve got a super busy evening – normally, you’d pick up some fast food or eat a candy bar. Now, you’ve got a healthy, budget-savvy meal ready to go in minutes! The convenience and benefits of meal prep far outweigh the few hours of planning and cooking it requires, as you’ll discover quickly.

What Shouldn’t I Do? While it’s true that food prep isn’t as daunting as it might seem, there are places where people can go wrong. Here are a few pointers to avoid food prep disaster.

• Don’t overdo it. It can be tempting to dive in head first, but if you try to make a full week’s worth of meals your first time around, odds are you’ll make something you don’t like, or something that can’t withstand that much time in the fridge. Start by prepping twice a week, and experiment until you know what foods you can eat forever, and what foods put you to sleep after two meals.
• Don’t overcook your food. Remember that you’re going to be reheating these meals – nothing will turn you off of prepped food more quickly than overcooked, stringy mush.
• Don’t ignore your freezer. If you’re making a huge casserole or lasagna, you’ll probably have more than enough for your weekly prep – freeze the rest! Even better, freeze it in individual portions. Hey! You’ve done half of your prep for next week already, too!

There you have it! This is just a basic roadmap to food prep, but if you follow these guidelines, you’ll be well on your way to eating healthier, more cost-effective meals!

As we age, our bodies go through varying metabolic stages. You may remember as a child being able to eat vats of mac’n’cheese and craving sugar as if it were a food group, something that would make most adults balk, but children also have very little appreciation for subtle healthy flavors like mushrooms or baked fish. As a teenager, most people go through cycles of being hungry all the time to fuel the drastic body changes and growth spurts and picky eating as the metabolism shifts. Another major change occurs somewhere in the mid-twenties as the body settles into its adult mode, replacing the need for fats and sugars with a desire for what is classically thought of as the “well-balanced meal” of lean proteins, vegetables, and starches in quantities based on how much physical labor you do each day.

Metabolism Slows Down

Finally, somewhere around 50, your body begins to slow down. You have less energy to do a lot of labor and in response, your body also needs less food. This doesn’t just mean that you need to cut back on your normal portions, seniors often find that they need to completely rebalance their diets to provide more vitamins and minerals and fewer energy-fueling starches. The less energetic your lifestyle becomes, the fewer calories you will be able to ‘burn off’ with rigorous activity

Healthy Digestion

It’s also important to remember that what you eat has to go through your digestive system. What you eat needs to agree with your stomach and be comfortable all the way through or you’ll regret it “down the line”. This means that whatever you eat, it should contain the right balance of spices, fats, and perhaps most importantly, fiber. Fiber acts as a scrubbing agent and can clean residual food particles from your digestive tract which makes you lighter and healthier, but too much can be dangerous and uncomfortable. Therefore you want a small amount of fibrous foods like vegetables, cereals, oatmeal, and beans or lentils, with every meal.

Don’t Forget to Exercise

Many seniors struggle with small portions, having lived most of their lives as physically active adults with matching appetites. The good news is that you can still eat larger portions and stay healthy as long as you match those portions with physical activity. The more active you are, the more food you need and can effectively digest. This is a good time to mention that a digestive system is a machine run by the hips. Humans were made to walk everywhere and doing so is like turning the gears for your insides. If you want to eat more and feel good doing it, consider taking long walks around your neighborhood or the track of your local gym. If your hips or knees aren’t up to it, you might consider swimming or low-impact stationary biking instead. Many seniors also use an active hobby like gardening to keep their bodies moving and work up a healthy sweat a few times a week, which always makes a hearty meal more enjoyable and helps keep your muscles strong.

Building a Healthy Diet

So what exactly should you be eating? As a senior, it’s all about nutrition. While the food groups mattered in your middle adult years, they matter much more now. You don’t just need meat, you need a variety of lean meats to provide the right secondary mineral balances beyond the protein itself. A serving of any vegetable is no longer sufficient, now you need to ensure that all the vegetable colors and textures are included in your diet. Milk isn’t just a good idea, it’s practically necessary to help maintain your bone health, something most seniors should be worried about. As your appetite diminishes, it may be tempting to save the few calories you’ll intake only for your favorite foods, but if you don’t achieve the right nutritional balance, your body won’t reward you with the energy and self-maintenance you need for a long and happy retirement.

The Right Proteins

Protein is a great way to load up on energy-rich foods without adding too many calories. If you like to snack, foods that are high in protein will keep you alert and energetic all day while minimizing the risk of weight gain from traditional snack foods. Aim for lean red meat, poultry, and fish as the center of each meal, though beans, eggs, and nuts are also excellent sources of healthy protein. Fish in particular also has the right kind of fats and oils to keep you healthy without raising cholesterol.

All the Vegetables

Everyone has favorite vegetables and those they wouldn’t touch with a with a ten-foot fork and you’re more than welcome to maintain these preferences in your old age. However, if your favorites are a very limited list, it may be time to try a few new things. Try to include five or more servings of fruits or vegetables each day, including various colors and textures to ensure that you get the right balance of vitamins and minerals.

Healthy Carbs

Carbohydrates provide energy and burn cleanly as long as you’ve got the right amount of them. Make sure to eat at least a small portion of carbs with each meal and go for higher fiber options whenever available. Leave the skins on your potatoes, stick with whole wheat bread, and don’t be shy about cereals (oats and barley, not Lucky Charms) and grains.

Finally, we know that a lot of unhealthy things are both delicious and motivating. Retiring doesn’t mean that you have to stop eating cake or salty snack foods, as long as you do so in moderation. Try to keep your empty-calorie servings down to less than once a day and in smaller portions and remember to exercise more to balance yourself out. With these helpful nutrition tips, you should be all set for a long and healthy retirement.

Are you a positive person? Optimism and thinking positively can affect your life in so many ways. It makes sense that people who have a positive attitude are happier and more confident. But you may not know that there are several other ways a positive attitude can benefit and add value to your life.

But don’t just take our word for it. Here are six ways positive thinking benefits your physical and mental health–and the scientific results to back up these claims.

1. A Better Immune System

A positive attitude may be able to protect you from germs, such as the common cold. A study from the University of Kentucky found that a positive attitude plays a role in immune system health. Researchers found that first-year law students’ optimistic attitudes and immune system responses corresponded. The more optimistic a student was feeling, the stronger their immune system. The less optimistic a student felt, the weaker their immune system became. One interesting thing about this study was that it observed differences in attitude and immune response within the same person. This shows that adopting a positive attitude each day can change your health, even if you have held a negative attitude in the past.

2. Less Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular, or heart, disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. But a good attitude could reduce your risk for this common disease. A 2015 study from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana found that optimism had a strong effect on cardiovascular disease. Using data on patients ages 52 to 84, the study found that those who rated themselves as highly optimistic were more likely to have intermediate or ideal cardiovascular health, as compared to less optimistic patients.

3. Breast Cancer Prevention

Can having a good attitude prevent breast cancer? Yes, according to a study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. Researchers questioned 255 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, as well as 367 women without the disease. They found that past attitudes had an effect on whether the women got breast cancer or not. Head researcher Ronit Peled said, “a general feeling of happiness and optimism can play a protective role [against breast cancer]”.

4. Increased Creativity

Are happier people more creative? A 2010 study published in the journal Psychological Science found that participants who listened to happy music and watched a video of a laughing baby were able to better recognize a pattern. Other participants, who watched and listened to neutral and sad music and videos, did not score as well as the “happy” group. Listening to happy music or watching a video that makes you laugh are easy ways to increase your happiness and creativity each day.

5. Better Ability to Deal with Stress

In a review on Psychological Resilience, Positive Emotions, and Successful Adaptation to Stress in Later Life, researchers showed how a positive attitude can help seniors deal with stress, including the death of a loved one. Subjects who had a good attitude were able to adapt to stress in order to recover from it more quickly. It makes sense: Optimistic people are better able to cope with whatever happens in their lives, including negative events.

6. A Longer Life

Could an optimistic attitude be the secret to living a longer life? Recent research implies it could. An analysis published in the January 2017 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology found that women with a highly optimistic attitude had a lower rate of mortality overall. The most optimistic women were 30 percent less likely to die from common diseases, such as respiratory disease, cancer, infection, and heart disease.

Positive thinking is very powerful. Work towards increasing the positivity of your thoughts, and you can enjoy its many benefits.

Everyone is talking about the benefits of essential oils. But in order to enjoy those benefits, you need to know what essential oils are and how you can use them. Essential oils are natural oils distilled from plants. They are a highly concentrated essence of the plant and contain its fragrance as well as healing properties.

It is important to understand the difference between pure, therapeutic grade essential oils and synthetic fragrance oils. Synthetic fragrance oils may include some essential oils, but may also include various chemicals and synthesizers, including known toxins. But even essential oils can vary in quality, due to factors such as growing conditions, harvesting distillation and storage. When choosing an essential oil, look for 100% essential oil. This means it has not been altered, diluted, or combined with another substance.

Beyond the fact that they smell wonderful, different essential oils have different theraputic qualities, so do your research.  Once you have chosen one or more essential oils, how are you going to use them? The possibilities are endless and differ from one person to the next. Here are some great ideas to get you started.

Morning Routine

Make a refreshing mouthwash by mixing 1/2 cup of water with two teaspoons of baking soda and 4-6 drops of essential oil, such as spearmint, peppermint, lemon or grapefruit. You can also put a drop of your essential oil on your finger and thumb, then run your dental floss through it before flossing.

Get your day off to a nice, toxin-free start by making your own natural deodorant. Start by melting three tablesppons of coconut oil and two tablespoons of shea or cacao butter. Stir in three tablespoons of baking soda and twenty drops of essential oil. Try lavender, geranium, lemon or lime. Store in a glass jar.

Skincare

It is easy to add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to your skin cleansers, creams and other skin care products. A non-greasy carrier oil, such as jojoba or apricot kernel, leaves your skin healthy and glowing. Try lavender or thyme for sensitive or acne-prone skin. To get really relaxed, get a message. Start with almond or sesame as a base oil and add a sensual or soothing scent, such as chamomile, ylang ylang, or neroli.When trying for the first time, it is a good idea to try a small amount of the oil on your skin.

Bath

For a relaxing bath, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil. You can also make your own scrubs. Take one cup of salt or brown sugar, cover it with sesame, apricot kernel or almond oils (cover to about 1/4 inch) and add your essential oils. It’s fun to make in small batches and experiment with your own essential oil blends.

Diffusion

Diffusion distributes molecules of essential oil into the air, so that you can inhale it. There are many kinds of diffusers on the market, from inexpensive lamp rings to electric or ultrasound models. Nebulizers breaksdown the essential oils into tiny particles and uses a high velocity, pressurized air stream to disburse it. You can also use simple methods such as opening the bottle and breathing, or putting a few drops in your hand, rubbing your  hands together, then breathing in the aroma

Around the house

Add a few drops of lavender or other essential oil to your laundry load. Your clothes and your bed linens will smell deliciously clean and fresh. To keep the scent going, you can make your own sachets for your closet and dresser. Make a few extra for gifts, using real lavender buds (available online) and a pretty bag.

Take charge of your wellness. Start using essential oils today.

Exercise is a powerful personal tool for taking control of both your health and your emotions.  One of the best ways to deal with feeling down, especially if you feel down a lot, with this is to flood your system with energetic healthy endorphins produced by exercise. This not only helps to get rid of feelings of sadness and frustration, your body will also reward you with positive feelings like pride and confidence when you’re physically healthy. Even getting a little healthier than you are right now can feel surprisingly good.

The change in sensation may be strange and even difficult at firstand you might even feel like quitting before you’ve even worked up a sweat but it’s important to push through. Pretty soon your muscles will get used to working out, and your emotions will get used to the sensation of feeling good and you’ll start feeling better when you’re not exercising, too. Ready to get in motion? With just a few daily exercises, you can get healthier and feel amazing every day.

1) Jumping Jacks

Perhaps the least exotic exercise we could start with, but not to be underestimated. The humble jumping jack works out much of your entire body including your calves, thighs, glutes (butt), core (tummy) and of course your shoulders and arms. While we’re sure you know the general way to do a jumping jack, for best results keep your elbows mostly straight and bring your arms up straight above your head. Keep your head looking straight out without turning your neck or looking down. Start with ten per set and try to do at least five sets before resting. Then, each day work on doing either more sets or five to ten more per set.

2) Kicks

Kicks are a great exercise to do while cooling off from intense arm exercises like pushups and can be done in a variety of ways. You can stand in the middle of the floor kicking up to your waistline while using your other muscles to stabilize or you can hold onto something like a chair or wall. You can also lie down and kick one leg at a time as high as you can. Kicks are relatively easy so start with ten to fifteen per set and ten sets per session. Just make sure to do the same number of kicks of approximately the same quality with both legs to keep things even.

3) Jazzercise

There’s nothing quite like dancing your heart out to your favorite energetic music to get your blood pumping and your mood lifting. You don’t have to join an official jazzercise program or even prefer jazz to get all the benefit of a good rockout. Whether you do normal exercises to music or really cut loose and bust a few moves, as long as you work up a sweat the exercise is doing it’s job. We would like to advise you (from experience) to be careful about things like socks on hard floors remind you to clear furniture out of your dance space before getting started.

4) Crunches

Crunches focus primarily on your core muscles and take very little space to set up because you won’t be throwing your limbs around like many other exercises. All you need is a towel and a wall. Set the towel up lengthwise away from the wall so one end touches the baseboard and you can lay on it. Position yourself so that your rear is almost touching the wall and criss-cross your legs propped up against the wall. Now place your hand behind your head and curl upward as far as you are comfortable. Try starting with sets of ten at ten sets per session.

5) Bicycles

Bicycling is wonderful exercise but not everyone has a bike or elliptical machine at home and that’s okay. Instead, you can ‘do bicycles’ which are a great floor exercise. To bicycle comfortably, lie on your back with your feet in the air and brace your tail-bone with a folded towel. Now pedal the air like mad, using your hands for balance or braced behind your head.

6) Calf Lifts

Calf lifts work out your calves, the back of your thighs, and your glutes all at once and can be done anywhere, even the office, with people hardly aware that you are working out. Simply grasp the back of a chair or stabilize yourself on a table or wall and lift up on your toes then set yourself gently back down. Do this as many times as you can stand until your calves are very tense and hot, then walk it off so you don’t stiffen up. While it may seem trivial, this will get you calves and buns of steel if done frequently for several months.

Feeling good and being healthy are often synonymous as the body rewards you for treating it right. By remembering to do even a few of these simple exercises each day you will start feeling better about yourself and the world around you.

Do other people think you’re slightly crazy when you talk to yourself? Do you find it odd when your own thoughts move from your mind to your mouth as you organize and categorize them?

The truth is that whether you say the words out loud or they remain as inner dialogue, everyone talks to themselves. And these monologues are not a sign that the crazy train has made a stop at our house; it’s actually a sign of intelligence. Talking to yourself organizes your thoughts, boosts brain power, trains memory and modulates our emotions.

Inner dialogue, consisting of your personal thoughts within your mind, those in a paper journal or list and in the digital age, those recorded on your smart device, are the daily reminder to take notes for your life. Your plans, hopes, dreams, goals and expectations develop detail and direction based your collective contemplation. There is a need to be aware of both positive and negative influences of that dialogue, and how to change our inner conversation to reflect better on our outer selves.

Four reasons why the way you address yourself matters:

• The decision to change: Going from “I should” or “I would” to “I can” or “I no longer…” takes daily practice. Many people are unwilling to have the tough conversation with themselves, admitting that the words “should” and “would” are the decision equivalent of sitting in the middle of the seesaw; you’re not going anywhere or gaining any advantage stuck in the middle. It’s comfortable not making a move, but you don’t learn and grow as a person without taking chances.
• Thoughts matched to actions: How you think reflects in your actions. If you tell yourself you’re incapable of running five kilometers, climbing a mountain, finishing the day’s office paperwork or driving long-distance to see Grandma, you’ll likely succeed in talking yourself out of those actions. Motivational inner dialogue works both ways:
• The brain believes what it’s told: We admit out loud that we are bad at certain things: arriving on time, quitting smoking, losing weight, finding our car keys. We say these things over and over, laugh and roll our eyes and acquiesce to the inevitable: that we cannot change. Said often enough, these self-truth statements become the only truths to our brain, and we don’t change because we don’t believe there is a way towards change.
• One rough patch, and it never gets better: We all run into tough times and deal with difficult situations where we find ourselves lacking control, out of our intellectual depth or just not feeling like a good fit. We tell ourselves that if it happened once, the problem is permanent. The contextual self-truth takes over: every time we find ourselves in this context, we remind ourselves how uncool we are forever and how we don’t belong in this place, ever.

How to really use your inside voice

Speak out loud to yourself, record it and play back: Listen to how you sound talking to yourself. Do you sound assertive, confident and decisive? Or are you scared, angry and uncertain? Do you sound like a leader of your own desires and destiny, or someone willing to float along until whatever might look promising pops up? Do you sound mean and petty when you address yourself, as if your own opinions don’t count, or do you consider your thoughts part of the perfect process you are?

Focus abilities, not limitations: Our liabilities and limitations are not the center of who we are. We make a lot of “If only…” statements, wishing we could change things, thinking if we could fix just one thing about ourselves, everything in our lives would be better. Often the one thing we would fix has been either a lifelong constant (“I wish I were thinner”) or completely abstract ideal (I wish I was funny”), so it’s unlikely to go anywhere. Ignore those aspects of yourself, and focus on what you can change.

Motivate yourself towards action, not away from it: Scientific studies show that along with training, motivation with inner affirmation goes a long way towards greater performance. The positive words and phrases are usually short, personal and repeated often, as a reminder than win, lose or draw, the goal is to keep moving forward and achieving positive results.

It is far too easy for us to look at ourselves with disdain. Maybe we have heard disparaging comments made by others about our personality or our body. Or maybe we just look in the mirror every morning and allow the negative thoughts to start piling up. Either way, we become uncomfortable with who we are. We begin to tell ourselves lies about our value. And the more we dislike ourselves, the more we try to hide from the world around us. But Open Eye Wellness has good news. You don’t have to live like that! It is time to get comfortable in your own skin.

1. Stop trying to become other people. You are a unique individual. There is nobody in the entire world quite like you! Many times, when we aren’t satisfied with who we are, we try to turn ourselves into somebody else. Not only does this subconsciously tell you that you aren’t good enough, it also deprives the world of a beautiful person! Obviously, we all have role models that we look up to and try to emulate in some ways. But it’s time to quit wasting time wishing you were exactly like this or that person. You need to be you!

2. Assess yourself in light of your situations. Often,  we feel out of place, and attribute it to our personality or looks. But we have to realize that perhaps we feel uncomfortable or inadequate is because we are trying to do something that we were not made to do. It’s time to be realistic. Are you putting yourself in situations that you really want to be in? How close is the job you work now to your dream job? Is your major in college what you really want to be doing with your life? Perhaps you would feel completely at ease in a different situation. If you feel uncomfortable, it might not be about you at all.

3. Be open to constructive criticism. Nobody is perfect. And those who are most at peace with who they are are the ones who realize this and ask for help. Ask others to help identify which areas you could improve yourself in. This is not saying you should listen to snide comments that were meant to be insulting. This kind of feedback is most likely inspired from jealousy or pure rudeness and isn’t helpful. Instead, find a trusted friend who cares about you and let them speak into your life. Ask specifically, “Do I have any bad habits that I should break?” Take their answers to heart, knowing that you can do something about it.

4. Be diligent. Don’t be discouraged if you find things that you really want to change about yourself. Any good and healthy change will be attainable. You simply have to set your mind to it! Do you have a bad habit of complaining? Make a point to express gratitude to someone when you are feeling frustrated. Do you feel sedentary all the time and thus are not in shape? Set your alarm forty minutes earlier and take some time to work out before you begin your day. Remember, you don’t have to do this on your own. Get a close friend to keep you accountable.    

5. Identify and make use of your good qualities. We know that everyone has some flaws. But we have to realize that everyone has their strengths as well. And you have your fair share. Identify what you are good at and what you enjoy doing (they are often one and the same). You will be surprising and how many strengths you really have once you think about it. Then figure out ways you can put all that talent to good use! Find niches that you can fill and people that you can help.

The way you view yourself is important. Let your self-image be realistic, but also accepting. You are who you are, and you are a beautiful and gifted person!

The holidays are an exciting and wonderful time for families across the plant, especially if you’re going to visit distant relatives to spend this special season together. Of course, as fun as the holdiays are, they’re also one of the most stress-inducing events of the year and the month between Thanksgiving and New Years is always more than a little hectic. After a hectic couple of days wrapping presents, packing up the family, and traveling to your destination, most people are more than a little frazzled, but that’s now how you want to meet your relatives. One of the best ways to get rid of that stress, get your head together, and be calm for the family gatherings is simply to meditate. The key is to find just the right moments.

1) In the Airport and On the Plane

If you’re flying in during the holiday season to visit relatives or even just to take a special winter vacation, one of the most stressful and boring parts of the trip is waiting in the airport and then sitting quietly on the plane for the length of your journey whether it’s one hour or twenty. These times tend to be full of a combination of hassle and long stretches of nothing and therefore become the perfect time to meditate.

Once you’re settled and your bags are safe, sit back and close your eyes. Let your mind wander over your holiday worries and sort them out, one by one. This is a great opportunity to settle any lingering feelings about family members you’re going to see and to make an action plan to handle anything you’re worried about.

2) On Long Car Trips

Not every family flies to see distant relatives in the winter. If road trips are a family tradition or if your relatives only live a few cities away, a family car ride may well be in your future. When this happens, everyone is likely to get restless and anxious about the trip ahead. While listening to the radio or a favorite podcast has some reprieve from the stressful boredom, meditation is a great way to make the time go by if you’re not the driver.

If you have children, one great method to keep them quiet and help them stay calm during the trip is to lead a guided meditation session with them, painting a word-picture of a quiet journey through a meadow or a mountain pass for your children to visualize. You can then use this later to calm the kids down before bed or when they get cranky during visiting time.

3) In Your Hotel Room

When everyone gets to the hotel or the guest rooms with family, it’s time to unpack and unwind. Once everyone else is settled, take moment to explore the hotel room, then settle down for a few minutes of quiet meditation. Focus on the task at hand, what you need to do next, and how to get creative with what’s available. Spend some time listening to the sounds of your lodgings, smelling the smells, and feeling the movment of air. This will help you familiarize yourself with the new living space which will make it easier to feel like it’s yours and relax when you need to.

4) Before Meeting Family

Meeting family for the holidays is exciting and wonderful but not every relative is perfect. If you’re worried about encountering someone who maybe you have not always gotten along with, the best way to avoid an unpleasant encounter is to prepare yourself. Meditate before gathering with family to help keep your mind calm. If there’s someone that always annoys you, resolve to be peaceful and unable to be annoyed. If someone always picks fun at you, meditate on their insecurity and prepare to remain like a stone, impervious to their picking. If you remain serene, you might even find that troublesome relatives really aren’t that much trouble after all.

5) When Things Get Stressful

Finally, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to schedule a meditation break. You can take one whenever you like. If things start to get stressful over the holidays and you feel like you need some time to yourself, feel free to take it. Find a quiet place in your room, on the back porch, or even just a few moments in the bathroom if the house is packed to close your eyes and let your stress flow away from you and into the air or earth where it will harmlessly dissipate. If your children start to get overwhelmed or cranky, consider taking them on another guided meditation which will either lead to a nice mood recovery or a relaxing nap.

With a little stress-relieving meditation, you can shake off the holiday worries, ignore problematic relatives, and keep everything nice and calm while you and your family enjoy each other over a series of meals, gatherings, card games, and cups of hot cocoa. When you bring meditation to your holiday routine, this could become your least stressful family celebration yet.

Many of us feel that we can never reach our goals. We have a hard time dealing with performance anxiety or even social anxiety. We are intimidated by the success of others and by our own seeming inadequacies. And as a result, we become all too well acquainted with a feeling of defeat. The truth, however, is that the battle is often lost in our minds – long before we actually “fail” outwardly. This, believe it or not, is something that we can change.

Visualization is a very powerful tool in helping us reach our goals. Instead of setting yourself up for failure, gently guide yourself toward the biggest success story of your life by envisioning your success beforehand. Instead of filling your mind with negative thoughts that will only make you doubt yourself more, allow yourself some positive and healthy motivation. Below are five tips to help you learn the skill of visualization.

1. Identify exactly what you want your success to be. One of the greatest steps toward success is figuring out what success means to each of us. You can’t get what you want if you don’t know what you want. So you need to identify what would make you feel successful. What is it exactly that you are trying to attain? A stunning musical or theatrical performance? A strong, healthy body? A positive response to a job interview? You need to have a specific event in mind and a specific outcome that you want.

2. Envision what your success will look like. Now it is time to start actually writing the story. What would your life be like if you succeeded? This is the place where your imagination can go wild. Let yourself see those enormous muscles flexing. Let yourself hear the audience bursting into applause. Let yourself feel the joy and excitement that you will feel upon reaching your goal. Visualize how things will play out when you succeed.

3. Be specific. Don’t let your visualization stay on a general level. Instead, get into all the nitty-gritty details. It’s okay to imagine specific conversations, facial expressions, or even touches. Give your mind a particular context and a location in which to create your success. Take time to imagine every step of the way – the planning, the preparation, and the outcome.

4. Write down your success. Next comes the step that many people shy away from – but is absolutely crucial! It is time to get your success out of your mind and begin making it a part of reality. You can express your success in any way you feel most powerful. It is probably simplest just to write it down. But if you prefer to draw or even act it out, go for it. Either way, let your success become something tangible that you can read or see or feel.

5. Constantly focus your mind on the positive. You have laid a great foundation for actualizing your goal. Now you just need to keep your eye on the prize and press forward! Let the positive thoughts and feelings surround you as you visualize your success and motivate you as you work toward your goal. You need to be strict with your mind and leave no room for negative or demeaning thoughts. Instead, fill your mind with encouraging thoughts and never lose sight of how it looked and felt when you visualized your success.

Much of what we can or cannot do is based on what our minds tell us. If you mentally tear yourself down before any situation, you will be most likely to fail. However, by building a success story even before the event, you set yourself up for victory! And victory is what Open Eye Wellness is all about!

No one can eat fish like they do in Iceland. As an island culture, fish comes in an abundance of species including delicious cod, haddock, monkfish, herring, skate, and salmon. They prepare this bounty of fish in a large variety of ways, the most traditional being the saltfiskur (salt fish) while the most commonly seen are bags of dried fish-jerky. What may not have occured to anyone is that Icelandic people eat a lot more fish than people from landlocked and even coastal mainland regions. A recent study on this unique and beautiful island found that eating a large amount of fish in your youth can significantly decrease your chances of breast cancer, and a study before that suggested that prostate cancer is also much lower in frequent fish-eaters. This interesting revelation adds just one more reason why it’s great to live in Iceland, and why fish is good for you.

Breast Cancer and Fish

Fish consumption in the US is prevalent, but it’s not overwhelming. Unless they have a favorite fish-dish, most people eat fish more like once or twice a month than several times a week. Breast cancer hits about 1 in 8 women according to BreastCancer.org. This comes out to about 12% of all women at some point over the course of their lifetimes, and can range from benign to life-taking. Still just within the bounds of the US, about forty thousand women are expected to die of breast cancer during 2017. Men aren’t safe either, though their risk is much lower at about one in a thousand. With odds like these, it’s no wonder that scientists around the world are looking for ways to lower the risk of the most common kind of cancer in women. When taking histories of women with and without breast cancer, a recent study in Iceland revealed that women who ate more fatty fish as teenagers had an overall lower chance of contracting breast cancer in their later years. This study looked at a similar topic and concluded that fish oil has an inverse association with breast cancer rates.

Prostate Cancer and Fish

Prostate cancer is like the mirror-cancer to women’s breast cancer, as it is the most common cancer type among men and also tends to strike later in life. It has a similar strike-rate, as according to Cancer.net about 12% of all men are diagnosed with it at some point in their lifetimes. Prostate cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in men, and it’s been estimated that 26,000 men will die in 2017. Cancer as a whole is a terrifying prospect and for men who want to increase their chance to stay out of that 12%, there are constant studies about how to decrease your exposure to carcinogens. This mostly creates a huge list of things not to eat or do, but what about fun things to eat that help you avoid cancer instead? While eating fatty fish as teenagers may help women dodge breast cancer, this study suggests that men who consume fish oil in their later years can seriously decrease their chances for prostate cancer.

Foods and Cancer in General

With cancer being such a big issue, there have been thousands of studies on what does and does not increase your chances of growing rebellious tumors. Unfortunately for everyone, most of the really good stuff is on the ‘bad’ list and we all choose when and where to take our chances. Carcinogenic (cancer-causing) foods and drinks include:

• Alcoholic Anything – The first bummer.
• Processed Meats – This includes bacon, sausage, hot dogs, pepperoni, beef jerky, and prosciutto. Really anything that’s been preserved, cured, or salted.
• Grilled Foods – That delicious char is made of cancer, sorry.
• Red Meats – All red meats, including lamb, horse, and goat.
• Hot Beverages – Anything even approaching body temperature.
• Coffee – Even if you drink it cold.

With all these amazing and delicious foods “off the table” for a cancer-free life, we begin to see a picture in which cancer is probably inevitable. After all, even Shaolin monks don’t drink their tea cold if they can help it. When it comes to reducing your cancer risks, you may be better off seeking foods that help you, rather than trying to avoid every food that’s been associated with cancer. Other than delicious fatty fish, these helpful foods include:

• Garlic – Can actually reduce tumor growth, better fresh than powdered.
• Broccoli – Better raw, but definitely don’t microwave.
• Brazil Nuts – High in selenium, and can also help after you have cancer
• Citrus – Good for anything it touches, from your skin to your stomach lining.
• Saurkraut – The fermentation process is the key.
• Mushrooms – Healthy in a lot of ways and especially for breast and prostate cancer.

Fortunately, these are only a few of your anti-cancer options. Some are strange, many are delicious, and almost all of them are healthy. The unwritten rule that a healthy lifestyle helps you fight cancer is true, but you should still do your homework because the way you prepare these foods also has a fairly large effect on their cancer-fighting effects and grilling them with char, for instance, makes the point moot by adding carcinogens to your anti-cancer meal.

Like most diets, the Icelandic selection of fishy dishes runs the gambit from healthy to carcinogenic. While their favorite saltfiskur falls under the ‘anything cured’ rule, there are dozens of other recipes which do not. Fresh fish boiled, grilled (but not charred), and even fried can be chock full of the fatty fish oils that help fight breast and prostate cancer, so remember whether you’re vacationing in Iceland or shopping at home, eat more fish. No doubt the clever Icelandic scientists who did the research are doing so.