New year, new you? Yeah, we’ve all heard that one before. But guess what? You don’t need to create a new version of yourself to be happy - you just need to know how to support what you’ve already got going for you. And maybe make a few gentle habit changes.
You see, forcing a massive overhaul on yourself is rarely the answer. Instead, it's all about finding balance - in work and play, focused self-care and reckless abandon, diet and drink. Once you achieve balance in all areas of life, perhaps most importantly within your own body, everything will fall into place.
So this year, rather than setting yourself gargantuan goals and stressing about hitting milestones, take things one step at a time and ease yourself into a better way of being.
Wondering how? Here are some things to try to support your newly-centred self.
Did you know that simply being by a large body of water (particularly the sea, if you're anywhere near it) literally changes your brain for the better?
Marine biologist Dr Wallace J Nichols has called this change ‘Blue Mind’, which he describes as ‘the mildly meditative state characterised by calm, peacefulness, unity, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life in the moment we experience as a result of being by a body of water'. However, it's more than 'just a feeling'. There’s actually something quite transformational happening here, as revealed by a range of methods used to measure electrical activity (EEG) and oxygen flow (fMRI) to the brain as subjects engage with water.
The research suggests that just being by water, even soaking in a bath at home, has the potential to alleviate cognitive conditions as effectively as anti-depressants and many physical ailments too. And regular trips to water, whatever that water may be, can help rewire the brain into a default calmer, happier state.
In stark contrast, most of us will be living in a 'Red Mind' state, described by Nichols as an 'edgy high, characterised by stress, anxiety, fear, and maybe even a little bit of anger and despair', which is believed to be a result of 'an extreme bombardment of constant information' - think emails, social media, WhatsApp, phone calls…
Fortunately, if we take time to switch off and tune in to what water can offer us, our breathing and heart rate slow and the brain is allowed allowing our brain to move into a different mode where creativity, insight and connections with others are enhanced.
Your endocannabinoid system is quite literally your internal body balancer. Keeping this system healthy and working as it should will help keep all bodily processes, mental and physical, balanced. So if you do one thing to support yourself in restoring harmony this year, take care of your ECS!
How? I hear you ask. There are many ways. Consider whole plant cannabis an ECS supplement (cannabinoids such as THC mimic our naturally produced endocannabinoids and activate ECS receptors with or without them), and CBD oil a multi-vitamin for this system (CBD supports the ECS by encouraging synthesis and release of endocannabinoids). Take your daily dose to keep your endocannabinoid tone up to scratch.
You can also support your ECS with diet (dark chocolate, turmeric, and cinnamon are all good additions, while refined sugar and trans fats are detrimental), meditation, exercise and yoga.
So much stress can be attributed to overwhelming. This is always exacerbated through disorganisation, which is why creating a schedule is a powerful tool to spur productivity.
But we’re not just talking about a work schedule here - start organising your mind with a full-day program and include (even prioritise!) your cannabis time or whatever you do to relax or take care of yourself!
Set up your whole year by making the routine a crucial part of your lifestyle. Start your day as you intend to go on with a list of positive rituals you stick to daily. In the book 'What the most successful people do before breakfast", it's noted that many successful and highly productive people begin their day with a workout, cold immersion (a cold shower will do!) or a meditative exercise, all of which also kick-start your ECS!
Schedule the rest of your day with mini goals, focusing on three things. And remember to reward yourself and plan to take regular breaks too. For example, you could try the Pomodoro technique (a productivity-boosting, time-management hack), where you work for 25-40 minutes, take a 5-minute break and repeat. After doing this four times, take a more extended break of 20 minutes and then get back to it!
A new year doesn't have to bring resolutions, but it presents an opportunity to start afresh and treat yourself right. Make 2023 so much more than a year of self-care. Make this the year where you support your body and mind in the ways it needs.
Please get in touch with a team member if we can help you with the development towards delivering products that focus on the customer’s Need-States`, or join our newsletter for product ideas. Here's to a New Year and a better you!
• Slight nudge: water positively impacts our mental health with its alleviating, stress-relieving benefits. When combined with Cannabinoids, it’s an added benefit.
• Replicating feelings of calmness: using terpenes and fragrances in your formulations could help trigger the olfactory into being around water, offering additional opportunities to stand out.
• Dial in a `Mood to order`: In a US study, 62% of fragrance wearers use fragrance to boost their mood.
• Using natural, botanical, and sustainability terpenes will bring focus on additional claims and functions.
•Aromatherapeutic Terpenes and fragrances can `premiumise` products by emphasising secondary elements.