Blog

Healthy Habits and the Optimal Living Daily – Vibely Challenge

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new year. I know, I know… it’s just like any other day and we shouldn’t “wait” to start improving ourselves, but I just get so much MoJo on January 1rst! And, honestly, I let my normally disciplined-self slack a bit in the last two weeks of the year. You know the drill… over-eat, over-drink, and generally slack on all my “goals”.. with the knowledge I’ll be super-motivated in the New Year to get back to my healthy habits!

One of those healthy habits that I’ve developed in the past couple of years is walking regularly, often while listening to inspiring podcasts. One of those podcasts is Optimal Living Daily where it was announced that 15 lucky people would receive a free OLD workbook for talking about self-care practices that have worked. I’m supposed to respond via Vibely, which is a fun app that offers challenges to the community, but.. this would be too long to type in an app! I’ll just send a link!

I’ve figured out that living a meaningful life is not just about where we physically go or what we do, but what is occupying our minds. We only have a finite number of days on this earth and I want to spend those days wisely by making intentional decisions about how I’m spending my time and who I’m spending it with. When I’m alone, my brain is still thinking and I want those to be POSITIVE thoughts!

By listening to Podcasts about positive life-style habits (such as Optimal Living Daily) and participating in various positive communities (such as those offered at Vibely) I’m regularly feeding my mind with positive ideas! I subscribe to positive newsletters, have taken 4 different really interesting courses about the Science of Happiness, have great self-help apps on my phone, and regularly interact with people who feed my soul.

Vibely, also, is fun, for people like me who love prompts and challenges! There’s an OLD (as in Optimal Living Daily.. not “senior”) community that you can find on Vibely and participating is just a really fun way to virtually meet like-minded people and follow through on your goals! My only feedback for this is that I wish there were a version for my laptop. I much prefer communicating with a full-size keyboard rather than the tiny keyboard on my (very small) phone.

All of this has changed my overall mindset to one which is much happier. Though I’ve heard it’s natural for our brains to first see the negative in the events of our day, these practices have helped me train my brain to naturally see the positive in each event… even things that in the past would have made me feel upset, I view as a challenge to find the positive. When I get criticism, it doesn’t feel good, but I now am much more able to be grateful rather than defensive about the feedback.

By the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve given a shout-out to the Optimal Living Daily podcast! It was also the spark that I needed to start my own podcast, Carpe Diem Connections!

What positive self-care habits do you have?

Joy and Technology

Technology (Zoom) let my Mom see all her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren on Easter, 2020.

It’s the end of the year and time to wrap up Season 2 of Carpe Diem Connections and the Joy Makeover. This week Becky Burns and I talk about the Love/Hate Relationship many people have with technology.

Though technology can be frustrating, I’m grateful that it allowed us to have virtual family gatherings throughout the Pandemic.

Ingrid Fetell Lee talks about 6 ways to use technology to cultivate joy and refers to her interview with Pamela Pavliscak, a futurist and designer who embraces a philosophy called positive technology.

With the New Year around the corner, you might want to check out Pamela’s suggestions for a year of positive technology with different themes each month.

The Joyspotters Society Facebook group is another great opportunity to experience social media at its finest. The posts are joyful, kind, and inspiring. So rather than “doomscrolling” why not do some “gleefreshing”? (For other new 2020 words, check out this quiz!)

We wrap up our podcast episode talking about the wonderful communities that are available that spread happiness, including ActionForHappiness.org.

This and other Websites that spread positivity can be found on the home page of this site, CarpeDiemDay.com.

Do you have a favorite Website, social media group, or app? Are there others you’d like featured on CarpeDiemDay.com? Join the discussion on the Carpe Diem Connections Facebook Group!

Finding Joy During the Holidays

Let’s face it, this holiday season is tough for many people this year. Even in “normal” years, holidays can be tough because we all want to create this magical feeling – we want to create and experience joy. When we can’t celebrate with the people we’re missing or practice our traditional rituals, we can get frustrated, sad, or just spiral into depression.

In this week’s podcast, Becky Burns and I talk about our holiday experiences and how we hope to find joy during this season.

For those who are grieving:

We recognize that many are experiencing grief.. I mentioned being interviewed by Dr. Patti Ashley in November about grief.

I also want to mention this Webinar about combatting holiday loneliness.

Creating new traditions or celebrating in new ways:

In the podcast, Becky talks about Kwanzaa being celebrated from Dec.26-Jan.1 and how each day represents a theme that we can use as a prompt to take action and find joy and meaning in our lives.

I also mentioned how my friend, Shalini shared her Rangoli art in her Covid-safe celebration of Diwali on the Quiet Value Women forum.

I love learning about new traditions and celebrations and hearing how people are finding joy in creatively celebrating.

Ideas for celebrating:

We usually end our podcast episode with suggestions of how our listeners can find more joy. This week, I’m pulling from Pamela Gail Johnson’s Society of Happy People (SOHP) newsletter:

  • Count your blessings if your healthy enough to breath, eat, and get out of bed — because that’s loving yourself. 
  • Ask someone how they are REALLY doing in a private conversation? Sometimes people are hurting but don’t post it on social media or tell you if you don’t ask. We simply assume they are okay because they appear content or show a happy face.
  • Say kind words to someone — we could all use a little more kindness right now.
  • Watch your religious services online.
  • Spend time in meditation or prayer so you can personally connect with God or your idea of the universal power that’s bigger than you.
  • Be a Secret Santa — bake cookies for a neighbor, drop off a plant, or send someone a card.
  • If you can afford it — donate to a food bank, toy drive, or give a gift card to someone you know is financially challenged.
  • Share one of your signature holiday recipes with those who won’t get to eat that dish at one of your annual gathers so they can still enjoy it. Food is love that nourishes the body and soul. 
  • Look the people in your physical bubble in the eye and TELL them how much you love them. And call or zoom with your family and friends to do the same. One day those will be words they’ll rehear when they need to hear your voice–and there’s no better message than letting someone you love know you love them. 

Joy and Food

Food! It brings me joy just thinking about it!

This week on the Carpe Diem Connections podcast, Becky Burns and I continue with the next topic in The Joy Makeover. We talk about foods that bring us joy and energy and how to be intentional about our eating habits.

We discuss the video interview between Ingrid Fetell Lee and Sarah Copeland and how coming from a mindset of abundance can help us resist overeating.

We each set goals for ourselves about how we could increase our joy with food and mine was to have a weekly new, healthy recipe. Becky suggested we check into Sarah Copeland’s recipes. What a great idea!

Another excellent resource for happiness is Happify. In my daily newsletter yesterday, there was an Infographic about why savoring makes us happier with a section about food!

What foods bring you joy? What foods energize you? Come join the discussion in the Carpe Diem Connections Facebook Group!

Making Room for Joy

How do you make room in your home for Joy? Listen to this week’s episode of Carpe Diem Connections where we are talking about decluttering to make space for the things that bring us the most joy.

On this week’s episode of Carpe Diem Connections, Becky Burns and I continue exploring the link between Joy and our “stuff.”

Last week, we talked about finding more joy in experiences than things. This week in The Joy Makeover , Ingrid Fetell Lee talks to Gretchen Rubin, author of Outer Order, Inner Calm, about decluttering and how that can help us make more space for joy.

Tune in to hear our thoughts about clutter and how we plan to make more space in our homes. Then chime in with some of your own ideas on the Carpe Diem Connections Facebook Group page.

Meet my adopted flamingo, Kazi

  • Flamingos at Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Flamingos have been my personal mascot for many years now. When Sarasota Jungle Gardens offered the opportunity to Adopt a Flamingo last April, I was so excited! 


Because of Covid, the park was closed at that time, but I was very impressed with all the paperwork I received in the mail, telling me about my adopted flamingo, Kamikaze – “Kazi” #38.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Amy Sargent, posted a cute picture on Facebook of a flamingo “kissing” her and, upon further inspection of its tag with a photo zoom, we found out it was none other than #38 – Kazi!   Imagine that! Without Amy even knowing I’d adopted a flamingo, she posts a very cute closeup picture with Kazi! Out of all the flamingos in the world, what are the chances?

There are many beautiful flamingos and birds at Sarasota Jungle Gardens and many that didn’t come out to greet the park visitors. How lucky for me that Kazi is so sociable and photogenic!

I get a chance to “flamingle” with Kazi and friends. I had them eating out of my hand!

I’ve been especially lonely for a pet lately. With all the travel that I usually do, it’s not very practical for me to own a pet, but this is a very cool alternative! Since I hope to make Sarasota a regular winter destination, I’ll be able to visit Kazi and his friends at least every year. 

Spending Money for Joy

Our topic this week on the Carpe Diem Connections Podcast is about Joy and Money. We’re doing a deeper dive on the topics found from Ingrid Fetell Lee’s Joy Makeover.

The material from the Joy Makeover includes an informative interview with Elizabeth Dunn, author of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending.

In this season of gift-giving, we’re all hit with decisions about how we’re going to be spending our money.

Tune in to this week’s podcast about Joy and Money to hear some thoughts from my co-host, Becky Burns and me, as we explore our own history with money and spending.

Join us in the Carpe Diem Connections Facebook Group and share your own thoughts! Are you a spender or a saver? Experiences or things? What were some of your favorite gifts – both those you gave and those you received?

Finding Joy in Relationships During the Holidays Despite Covid19

Ideas for making the holidays fun with creativity in finding Joy in Connections during the holiday season.

In this week’s Carpe Diem Connections podcast Becky and I continue exploring the Joy Makeover and the topic is Joy and Relationships. We talk specifically about ways to connect with others during this 2020 holiday season when stress levels are high. Many of us are doing Thanksgiving a little differently this year due to Covid 19 restrictions.

Here’s an article I read just yesterday with some creative suggestions for new Thanksgiving traditions.

One new activity that I’ve been doing a lot more of during the pandemic is writing cards the old fashioned way! I had sealing wax as a kid and I wanted to give that a try again and discovered now the sealing wax comes in all these different colors that you can mix together! I also ordered a “Carpe Diem” stamp, ordered up beautiful postage stamps and other goodies, and now I look forward to my monthly cards and letters tradition!

This month, I sent out Thanksgiving cards to my family. Even though I won’t be able to be with them personally, it’s fun to send the cards, and do online games.

Wanna go above and beyond?

You can participate in sending cards to isolated seniors, check out: https://loveforourelders.org/letters.

Another nonprofit that is sending cards and letters to those in need is http://www.moreloveletters.com/

Do you make time for joy?

Do you prioritize joy?

The second episode in Season 2 of Carpe Diem Connections focuses on Time and Joy. Join Becky Burns and me as we do a deeper dive into The Joy Makeover.

Ingrid talks with Time Management guru, Laura Vanderkam in her Joy Makeover video series. Laura gives suggestions about how we can all make some intentional time for joy each day.

The Joy Workbook asks us:

“What would you do if you had an extra hour each week just for yourself?”

I had to laugh a little at this because at this stage of my life, I have so much (dare I say it… too much?) time for myself! I’m an empty-nester and retired from the corporate world and I’ve been isolating (for the most part) for months! I definitely have had more than my share of “me-time”!

I remember the days of being a busy working mother of three, though, and feeling like I never had enough time for myself.

It really is such a JOY to have complete control over my time, but now I’m recognizing that joy is usually much better when shared with someone else.

Tune in to listen to the podcast and let us know how you feel by chiming in on the Facebook Carpe Diem Connections Group page.