Source: http://greatist.com/live/healthy-habits-tips-that-finally-made-habits-stick?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

“I’m just not a routine person.”
“I guess I’m just a free spirit.”
“But I don’t want to be boring!”

These were the excuses I made when I failed—yet again—to keep up a new habit. These were the things I’d tell myself when I thought about the things I wanted to do daily—journal, meditate, go to the gym—but never did.

I had an excuse for everything. I had a reason to control every failure. The road to success may be full of curves, but the path to failure is much easier to predict. And I like to stay in control.

Over the last few months, I went from not being able to be consistent with anything to genuinely doing the damn things I wanted to do. It wasn’t a matter of forcing myself, and it wasn’t a quick fix. It was a diligent, conscious, intentional, and vigilant process to bring about new, healthier habits into my life.

Bottoming Out

Late last year, I hit a breaking point. If I continued on the path I was on, I realized that in two, five, or 10 years I’d only have regrets, frustration, and a gnawing sense that I could have done better. I was tired of dreaming up goals and never achieving them.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

I hate to be stereotypical and quote Gandhi, but hear him out: “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” The problem was that I was in disharmony with myself. I’d…

Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/06/08/hiking-lake-louise-in-banff-national-park/

Hello my friends! What a wonderful time we had exploring the Canadian Rockies and Vancouver over the past week and a half! As I mentioned, I have so many pictures from the trip that I’m going to break them up into a bunch of smaller posts (rather than doing just a few enormous recaps) featuring some of the main hikes or series of smaller nearby hikes in the different areas we visited. I’ll share the posts over the next few weeks, mixing in some of my normal lifestyle content too, for those who aren’t into the travel stuff! First up: hiking Lake Louise in Banff National Park.

(p.s. – Want to know our full itinerary in the case you’re interested in planning a trip too? Check it out: western Canada hiking trip itinerary. Also, our travel buddy Melli wrote a great post about some of our adventures: 10 Things to Do in Banff and Jasper National Parks.)

Matt and I spent the first 4 days of our trip hiking in Banff National Park, which is about an hour and a half drive from Calgary, where we flew in. We had heard Banff was gorgeous and the rumors were true – it was stunning.

If you ask anyone where to go in Banff National Pa…

Source: http://www.theptdc.com/2016/06/leveraging-new-info-fitness-convention-to-grow-your-business/

My continued personal development and professional education as a trainer are important to me, as I’m sure they are for you. One way I continue to develop my knowledge and skills is to attend conferences, conventions, and seminars–you know, places where some of the brightest minds share their knowledge for you to absorb like a sponge.

So I’d attend conferences and conventions, one after another, until I had stacks of legal pads full of notes and ideas. I thought I was making a solid investment, but there was a problem: I never did anything with them.

I missed out on opportunities to improve. I had all of these ideas, but having no follow-through was making me waste time and money.

Then I realized what was holding me back: It was a case of having too much information all at once, with no plan for putting knowledge into action. After all, there’s a difference between knowing something and actually doing it. So, I finally figured out a way to act on these ideas.

1. It starts at the educational venue.

Wherever you are–a conference, seminar, a class, whatever–take great notes by focusing on what really matters, as opposed to transcribing the presentation verbatim. Use keywords and short phrases written in your own words to improve efficiency.

…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/08/481081074/copycake-when-food-art-ideas-get-swiped?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

The Oculus cake now being sold by the new caterer running the SFMOMA’s upstairs cafe. The cake was inspired by the distinctive tower at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It is similar in design and spirit to a cake prepared by Caitlin Freeman and her baking team for a museum event several years ago. (See below.)

Connor Radnovich/ Courtesy of The San Francisco Chronicle

Where do you draw the line between inspiration and straight-up imitation when it comes to food?

A few years ago, we brought you the story of Caitlin Freeman, a pastry chef baking innovative…

Source: http://www.runningonrealfood.com/get-started-with-flexible-dieting/

I’ve been at this quite a while now and I get a lot of emails and questions about how to get started with flexible dieting. Today I’m sharing the simple steps required for getting started. It’s really easy to get going, so let’s go! How to Get Started with Flexible Dieting Step One: Calculate your…
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The post How to Get Started with Flexible Dieting appeared first on Running on Real Food.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/sdpQmQmBBYg/

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”~Anna Quindlen

“I’m not actually happy,” I heard myself saying.

They were words I hadn’t yet admitted to myself, but I found myself sharing with a friend and mentor several years ago.

At the time, I was deeply identified with living a happy life. I was also deeply identified with the views of what you might call a cult, something I’ll explain more in a moment.

I was always working on bettering myself, and I devoted my life to living with purpose. The sentiment I shared with my mentor didn’t fit with the life I thought I had created, and it certainly didn’t fit with the notion of being on the leading edge of consciousness and culture, my organization’s motto.

He listened without judgment, and then he said this:

“This is your life and your spiritual path. It can be anything you want it to be, but it should be joyful.”

In that moment I felt liberated, and I realized that I had unconsciously bound myself to a life my mind had created.

I thought all of my hard work and dedication would bring me to some final place of happiness and didn’t realize that happiness is not a future goal to attain. It’s a relat…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/relationship-advice-how-to-deal-with-a-jealous-friend?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Q: My friend and I both recently went through a breakup. One month ago, I started seeing someone new, while she’s still not ready to date. She told me I was a bad friend for spending so much time with my new S.O. (although I’ve tried to see her when I’m free), but figuring out this new relationship is important to me. Am I really being a bad friend, or could she just be taking her disappointment out on me?

A: You don’t have a problem; your friend does. She is upset and lonely since she doesn’t have a new person in her life—and you do.

When you were both grieving the loss of your relationships and pissed off together, she had company in her misery. Sadly she doesn’t want to (or can’t) see that this new guy and relationship might be really good for you!

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be empathetic. Be proactive and find time to discuss the following three topics so that she knows she’s still special to you.

1. Tell your friend how important she is to you.

Communicate that you truly want and need her in your life—via phone, email, text, or in-person—and remind her how much you value her friendship. Bring up that ridiculous spring break trip to Miami in college or other fun times you’ve shared together. Recall a time when you shared other good news with her (like that promotion you got last year). You can also remind her about a difficult time when she stood by you and provided support and encouragement (maybe even this rece…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/the-chemical-burn-that-can-happen-after-spilling-margaritas?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Nothing beats a summer day with a margarita in hand and sand between your toes. But spill some of that margarita while lying out in the sun, and you could end up with a nasty chemical burn like this one:

Eek! Just looking at that makes us hurt. Lime juice is usually the culprit for the reaction, known as phytophotodermatitis but often cheekily referred to as “lime disease” (not to be confused with Lyme disease).

Limes—and other fruits and veggies, including carrots, celery, and lemons—contain furocoumarins, which cause skin damage (chemical burns and blisters) when exposed to UVA light, says A. Yasmine Kirkorian, M.D., a dermatologist at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Unfortunately there isn’t research that shows how many limes (or lemons) you can squeeze before you should be worried. “I suspect that casual contact with limes or other fruits—one or two squeezes—is less likely to result in phytophotodermatitis than squeezing a huge batch of limes,” Kirkorian says. “But the exact amount of contact that will result in a rash is unknown.”

This is one of those cases where it’s better to be safe than sorry. Lucky for us citrus lovers, these bizarre burns are relatively easy to prevent. The best defense: Wash your hands really well with soap and water after handling the fruit. Lathering on sunscreen can also help, since it protects your skin from UVA rays.

We know getting out of you…

Source: http://zenhabits.net/some-days/

By Leo Babauta

Yesterday wasn’t a great day for me.

I woke up late after too little sleep. Someone I love is mad at me, and doesn’t seem to want to talk to me, which put me in a down mood. I couldn’t get focused to do any writing, so I answered emails, read stuff online, took a nap. My kids weren’t around to cuddle with me.

I did a workout, but couldn’t finish it because my wrist hurt. I rode my bike to the grocery store on a warm summer evening, which was nice. I cooked a healthy dinner for myself. Had a strong beer.

Then I made the mistake of reading some comments on a blog post that was critical of me. The blog post was mildly critical, but the comments piled on top of each other, talking about how hypocritical I am, how repetitious my writing has become … with each negative comment, I could feel my heart drop lower and lower.

It wasn’t a great day, and my mood descended as I thought about how badly so many people thought of me …

Some days, you don’t have anything. Some days, you don’t knock it out of the park.

On a day like this, I sat still. It was all I could do.

I looked inward, and faced the hurt.

I stayed with it, just giving it my attention.

I noticed the story I was telling myself, that was causing the pain. It wasn’t a good story. The more I got stuck telling myself this story, the more I was stuck in the pain.

So I turned to t…

Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/06/07/western-canada-hiking-trip-itinerary/

By popular demand, here is our western Canada hiking trip itinerary! We’re in no way experts on the area but here’s what we did, where we stayed, and the best places we ate, since many of you asked. I hope this is helpful for those of you planning similar trips! We packed a TON into every day but we didn’t want to miss out and there was so much to see. For the first part of our trip (Banff + Jasper), we traveled with our German friends Melli and Mortiz (Melli and I met as random roommates while I was teaching English in Prague in 2008 and have been good friends ever since). It was so fun to see them, and a HUGE thank you to Moritz for doing a lot of research for all of us in terms of the best hiking spots and affordable places to stay in Banff and Jasper! Matt and I basically showed up like: “We’re up for whatever you have planned!” Lol. We’re jealous because they have a couple more weeks of Canadian adventures ahead of them – wish we could have stayed longer!

Much more in-depth recap posts on the hikes and Vancouver to come throughout the month – I’ll update this post with links to them as I share them, too, so you’ll be a…