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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Frank Lipman
Read between
February 4 - October 2, 2019
closed). Household cleaners are not regulated by law or required to meet legal safety standards. Nor is it a requirement that their ingredients be listed, even though many of the most commonly used ones have been linked to asthma, cancer, reproductive disorders, hormone disruption, and neurotoxicity.
Fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Both have been shown to cause allergies or asthma and can irritate the lungs. Add a little vinegar in the rinse cycle instead.
2. Substitute parchment paper or beeswax cloth for plastic food wrap, which contains endocrine-disruptive compounds.
and/or mason jars instead of using plastic food containers, because they also contain endocrine-disruptive compounds.
Household dust and dirt is thought to be one of the biggest sources of exposure to endocrine disruptors. Take off your shoes when you come in from outside to minimize bringing in toxins like herbicides.
When you take off your shoes and walk on the earth, or simply sit or lie on the grass, you are harnessing the natural negative electrical charge of the earth.
it’s also been shown to be an effective way to restore orderly rhythms of wake and sleep because it helps resynchronize cortisol to its proper patterns.
I’m not sure we even need science to point us in the right direction here because it’s common sense: When you feel the ground under your naked feet, you begin to relax, you breathe better, and your nervous system settles down.
The lexicon of personal-care ingredients can make your mind melt, so here’s a quick cheat to use as you shop: If the first few ingredients listed contain sodium lauryl (or laureth) sulfate or petrochemicals like propylene glycol, paraffin, mineral oil, butylene glycol, isopropyl alcohol, and/or petrolatum, or if the bottom
ingredients contain fragrance (or parfum), DEA (diethanolamine), MEA (monoethanolamine), TEA (triethanolamine), and/or any parabens (butylparaben, propylparaben, methylparaben, and ethylparaben), it’s a sign to put the product down and look for something cleaner.
Mitochondrial deterioration is at the root of the fatigue we associate with getting older and is possibly related to heart disease, lung disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and age-related diseases,
In sunless months, most people will need extra vitamin D supplementation in addition to a multivitamin. Aim for a combined total amount of at least 2,000 IUs a day unless blood tests indicate greater need.
It’s important to buy supplements that use the best ingredients and are free of harmful preservatives, fillers, binders, excipients, anticaking agents, shellacs, coloring agents, gluten, yeast, and lactose and other allergens.
The microbiome is a flexible, living ecosystem that changes constantly, and the cells in the intestinal lining replace themselves every three to six days.
Just invite some low-intensity into every day.
And know that these quieter habits are not pampering or self-indulgent.
they are two sides of ...
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Organization experts believe that space and mind work seamlessly together, so it’s tough to know which came first, the clutter or the overwhelm.
Every time you glance at that growing peak of laundry/dishes/papers, it’s easy to think, I’ll never get my life together. I’m always behind. Everyone else is doing better than me.
Conscious breathing disrupts the swirling vortex of anxiety that’s become a fixture of our go-go-go culture; it slows emotional reactivity and gives us access to our intuition, helping us make better decisions. When your breath is deep and steady, you are grounded, clear, and focused.
Breathing this way will help to quiet spinning and anxious thinking, and bring you back into your body and the present moment.
To start, place the tip of your tongue behind your top front teeth at the gum line. Purse your lips as if you are going to blow out a candle and exhale completely through your mouth, making a whooshing or sighing sound. Then close your mouth and inhale through your nose for four counts, hold the breath for seven counts, and exhale back through the mouth for eight counts. Repeat this breathing cycle for ten rounds.
The more we gaze longingly at our colleague’s dreamy-looking Caribbean vacation, the more we feed a cycle of unmet desires powered by a super-savvy algorithm.
We are effectively marketed to by corporations that exist to make you feel you must purchase, strive, and improve at all times. We are not encouraged to do the things that make us love the ones that we live with and be content with what we have.”
Whether you call it gratitude, appreciation, or thankfulness, become accountable to yourself by deciding to appreciate what you have instead of lamenting what seems to be lacking.
The music must have fewer beats per minute than your resting heart rate to guide you into space of calm and healing.
Scientists who study the multitasking brain are finding that doing more than one thing at a time actually makes us feel less like a productivity superstar and more like a failure.
monotasking. Cultivating this skill will help to reduce brain overload and will actually help you tackle each task with more efficiency by training your brain to focus on doing one thing really well.
With time, mindfulness helps you begin to develop clearer awareness of your inner experience, in particular the dance of emotions and the swirl of urges that spur unhelpful actions
A regular meditation practice helps create a foundation from which you can never be fully rocked.
The practice has a remarkably positive influence on the brain, helping to improve attention, memory, processing speed, and creativity,
Building a relationship with a teacher will help you develop and maintain a lifelong practice.
When you say no, it’s like you are drawing a protective force field around yourself and what you have to offer.
rest.” You’re not doing nothing when you give yourself a restorative break. You’re giving your body a chance to rebuild resilience, return to homeostasis, and get back in tune with its natural rhythms.
Abhyanga also brings mental, emotional, and physical balance. Regular practice can improve muscle tone, increase circulation, calm the nervous system, and assist the lymph in detoxification—it’s considered a purifying treatment in India.
Studies are finding a direct link between artistic activities and reduced levels of cortisol (the stress hormone).
Regular chuckles really are great medicine, helping to lower blood pressure and cortisol levels, decrease pain, and even stabilize blood sugar.
He explained that forgiveness is not about disregarding the offense you experienced at the hand of another, but about liberating yourself from the steely grip of anger. The archbishop reminded me that when you forgive, you are liberating yourself from the rage or resentment churning within you. In forgiving, you release yourself.
The parasympathetic nervous system switches on, cortisol drops, and the brain’s prefrontal cortex—your hard-driving command center—takes a break as you drift into a soft-focus state of awareness. This allows you to shift from information overload to a state of pleasure, let go of negative thought cycles, rejuvenate your mental energy, and even access a wellspring of creativity and concentration.
Exercising in green and wild spaces is shown to trump indoor workouts in terms of lower perceived effort, greater motivation, and higher pleasure levels.
Compassion and mindfulness go hand in hand.
By flooding you with relaxing and uplifting chemistry, a good hug can reconnect you to your feeling self—your emotional experience—which can be hard to access otherwise.
we are wired to progress and evolve.
Every time we take on the challenge of understanding a new concept, we push ourselves to grow and live a bigger life, and when we expand like this we feel inspired, capable, and more alive.
every moment is an opportunity to learn and grow; some spiritual traditions even believe we are reborn in every minute. For
Writing freely, with no editing, sculpting, or judging, can lead you to some genuine epiphanies and help you release pent-up emotions. If left unaddressed these emotions can lodge inside us, taking up space, sapping us of energy, or even making us sick.
According to Julia Cameron, it’s because it connects you to yourself in a deeper way as your brain slows down to match the speed of your hand.
Barbara Biziou suggests using three key phrases and writing to each: “I feel . . .” “I need . . .” “I want
When time is up, put your pen down. Biziou suggests ending with the question “What do I need to know right now?” in order to connect with your inner knowing, and you’ll soon find that you won’t need to ask yourself. What you “need to know” might very well come spilling out onto the page and surprise you with its insight.
Gratitude is the practice of turning your attention to the goodness that is already in your life.
