A Recipe For Tough Times Anyone?

With all the baking and cooking many of us are doing these days, (and if you are like us...EATING!) and perhaps adding a few lb's (also like us), we should probably go on and add a recipe for Tough Times to boot, don't ya think? Especially since the ingredients can be found without even leaving your own home and they're free! And, it also happens to be in accordance with the Stay at Home orders! Ha!

How so you ask? Because... It's all within us!

That's right! The recipe for Tough Times is easily accessible and has no price tag. And, like many recipes, it can use similar ingredients as substitutes, because it's truly about a state of mind. The KEY 🗝 to that state of mind is AWARENESS.  Staying AWARE of your thoughts is like your heat or your oven. No recipe can be made, no baking or cooking can be done, without heat or an oven! Being AWARE and noticing when your thoughts begin to no longer serve you, is your first step.

It can be SO easy to slip down into a spiral of negative thoughts of judgment and expectation. We've all been there... judging how much we are accomplishing during this time at home, questioning if we are doing the right thing in regards to parenting and homeschooling, criticizing ourselves for not showering every day, etc, etc, etc. It's a very slippery slope. But, again, the key 🗝will be to STAY AWARE of our thoughts during those times, and noticing how these negative thoughts only lower our vibration and perpetuate more negative thought. It's at that moment of awareness that we can choose to shift our thoughts towards those that better serve us; which in turn, will lead us to a much happier state of being.

What do those better serving thoughts look like? Or shall we say those "ingredients" or the "recipe" for Tough Times?

• Warm-up your mind (oven) to a healthy degree of AWARENESS. Staying consciously aware of your thoughts is the first ingredient!
• A couple cups of COMPASSION. Being GENTLER with yourself and your self-criticism. There is no rule book for how to act right now. So, don't beat yourself up. Just allow yourself to "be" - whatever that means.
• An ounce of COMMUNITY. Remembering that the whole world is going through this tough time TOGETHER. We are NOT ALONE.
• And lastly, a healthy dash of FAITH; trusting this messy, but magical journey we are all on.

Happy Baking/Cooking!

~Downtown Amanda Brown