Month: March 2020

When last year I was setting up a business and recovering from an injury, my only contact with the outside world for 2 months was via social networks. After 3 weeks alone, I experienced a big wave of depression.

Everybody seemed to have projects, to move forward, to have great ideas and I felt like a wreck.

To get out of it, I created a big poster noting on it everything I had already achieved in my life that I was proud of. I put it in front of my bed and every morning when I got up I would see it.

I had already gotten out of trouble a few times before, so there was no reason for me to remain there this time.

I invite you to take 20 minutes today, no less, and to write down xour achievements that you are proud of and to plunge back into the joy that you felt when you succeded.You will see that your mood will change.

With Joy
Marilène

Tip of the Day: Cultivate Gratitude

🙏 Anywhere and anytime, there is always something to be grateful for.

🏠We are confined to our homes, we have a roof over our heads.

📲We do not see our relatives anymore, we can communicate via social networks

We still have access to supermarkets

✍️Depuis 3 years old, I have a gratitude notebook next to my bed where I write down three things I am thankful for every day. During difficult times, I also write three things in the morning.

😁Un daily ritual that I encourage you to adopt, because it lifts our spirits and our ability to be positive!

With joy
Marilène

Tip of the day: I surround myself with good energy.

If we have to stay locked down at home, we might as well create a nice atmosphere.

We are lucky (for the Luxembourgers who read me 🙂 ) that the weather is nice. So let’s open the curtains and let this light in, light has the power to purify and invigorate an interior.

We can create a cosy place in the house, for example a reading corner, with blankets, cushions, candles and plants. Why not create a corner just under the sun rays coming in through the window.

At the beginning of the week we saw the power of music to put us in a good mood, so why not play inspiring, joyful music all day long.

For those who have a bathtub, there’s nothing like a nice warm bath to relax.

In short, it’s the weekend, you take care of yourself and make yourself feel good at home, in a nice place.

A few weeks ago I rediscovered essential oils. Since then I have been using them daily and I have discovered their beneficial effect on my mood. I don’t believe in coïncidences, I got my first delivery at the beginning of the confinement and since then I use them daily. I use the Young Living brand and their combination of oils ready to use gives another vibration to my home.

Here are a few tips of the most common essential oils that can help you during confinement:

Lavender: use for soothing, sleeping and bathing.
Lemon: good mood and immune boosting
Sage: purification of the home
Peppermint: refreshing and headache relief
Eucalypthus Radiated: to clear the respiratory tract
Tea tree: my favourite, anti-bacterial, which I use with my toothpaste.

Essential oils should be used with care.

Take care of yourself,

With Joy,

Marilène

Tip of the day: I’m adopting new habits

Since we’re housebound, why not adopt new habits.

One change I would like to propose is to switch from bottled water to tap water. I made the change 1 1/2 years ago when I sold my car and it became impossible for me to carry the water packs, especially since I was buying glass bottles.

In some communes, you have to get used to the taste. At first I would add a slice of lemon or mint from the garden. There are also filters to buy to put on the tap if you are in an area where there is a lot of limestone.

We are very lucky to live in a part of the world where the water is drinkable when it comes out of the tap, why drink water from the other side of Europe? Plus, it reduces your bills and your ecological footprint.

Take care of yourself,
Marilène

Tip of the day: I organise my living space

🏠 When we go out and come back home 5 days a week, we don’t really realize how our living space is organised, if we feel good in it.

😻 When I started teleworking last year, after being there 24 hours a day, I realized that some aspects of my home were no longer to my liking, it was overdecorated or no longer to my liking.

🎍I redecorated some places to render them more inspiring. I need order to think. I’ve cleaned up the space. What was very important was to dedicate a place for teleworking. Every night I tidy this place up. Otherwise, it is very difficult for me to disconnect.

💻So if you are teleworking at home, make sure you dedicate a place where you do it and keep this place tidy. If you are working on a laptop a good idea is to store it in a place that is not visible once the working day is over.

📦You can also take advantage of this period of confinement to sort through your stuff, what’s still useful to you and what you can give away. Maybe even change the layout of your furniture, you will feel like you are in a new home 😉.

Take care of yourself
#Istayathome
Marilène

Tip of the Day: The Power of Music

I’m surrounded by music all day long. To motivate myself and boost my mood, I created a list of songs on spotify that put me in a good vibrations. I spent a morning doing it. I went through all my favorite songs and selected only those with positive lyrics and catchy melody.

Because the lyrics and the sounds of the songs we listen to influence us. If we listen to Radiohead’s Creep all day long (whose lyrics are I’m a creep, I’m weird, what the fuck am I doing here), it’s not going to help us keep our spirits up. Every moment has its appropriate songs, so in difficult times let’s try to listen to a cheerful and catchy tune.

Now with ipods, itunes, spotify and so on, it’s easy to create music lists and they also offer ready-made lists, which I readapt to make sure there’s nothing but positive stuff. Otherwise, you can also use the time to sort through your old CDs and records…
Another idea to stretch your legs, to take line dancing lessons!

To pass the time, every evening at 8 pm Luxembourg artists present songs, music, books and readings via the initiative LIVE aus der STUFF on Facebook.

Alone at home no need to be afraid, you can dance and sing at the top of your voice, nobody will see or hear you 😉

Stay fit and at home
Marilène

Every morning I meditate. We hear a lot about this word lately, but what is it really about?

It is certainly not about sitting for hours in a suit and thinking about nothing.On the contrary, it is an act of concentration. We focus on the present moment, letting go of our thoughts.
On the contrary, it is an act of concentration.

We refocus on oneself, one concentrates on one’s body, one’s breathing. Thoughts will keep coming and going, there is nothing we can do about it, that’s a human being and having the ability to think, analyze and think has given us a chatty mind.

Instead of trying not to think, we will concentrate on not holding on to our thoughts. It is a tool that increases our capacity for resilience, stress management and emotional management. Because we focus on what is there in the now.

Done during the morning, the benefits are the greatest because we start the day serenely. So instead of being in bed and thinking: “NOOOOO, again one day at home and it’s so beautiful outside, pppppffffffffff”, we can start our day by focusing on ourselves for a moment.

Sitting on a chair you can close your eyes and concentrate on your breath. As you breathe in, follow the breath coming in through your nose into your belly, feel how the belly inflates and as you breathe out, follow how the air leaves your belly and goes up to your nose. Stay focused on breathing and if a thought comes up, don’t get attached to it, let it pass. When you realize that you are still holding on to your thought, bring your attention back to your breathing.

Lying down in your bed you can also pay attention to each part of your body, starting at the feet up to your head and then go through each part of your body. How does it feel? tense, painful, relaxed, light? And likewise, if you realize that you are still clinging to a thought, bring your attention back to your breath.

If you are easily distracted, you can try square breathing, at the inspiration count to 4, hold the breath and count to 4, exhale counting to 4 and hold counting to 4. Then start again.

You can apply this at any time of the day.
10 to 15 minutes to start.

There are other forms of meditation to go further that I will detail soon.

Wishing you a good practice,
Stay healthy and safe,
With Joy
Marilène

Yesterday in my morning routine, I told you I read inspirational books every morning. Last year, at the time when I needed motivation the most, I read a chapter in 2 different books, 1 autobiography and 1 thought book:

• The Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Things you can see when you slow down, by Haemin Sunim

Autobiographies allow us to understand a person’s journey, how he or she has navigated through the ups and downs of life. They show us that life is not always a long, calm river and that behind every hard time lies a reward, a period of success. These stories give us another perspective and balm to our hearts.

There are plenty of books which I can recommend for this period:

• “Breaking the habit of being yourself” and “Becoming supranatural”, Dr Joe Dispenza
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Mark Manson
• Harnessing the infinite Power of Coïncidence, Deepak Chopra
• The power of Meaning, Crafting a life that Matters, Emily Esfahani Smith
• Daring Greatly, Brené Brown

On the screens I recommend looking at Gaia and chef’s table on Netflix, how great chef’s have achieved success after having experienced great periods of doubt.

I wish you a day full of good information. See you soon.

Marilène