Nature is waking up after winter, everything is blooming 🌸, spring is here and with that – spring fever…
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Spring fever is any of a number of mood, physical, or behavioral changes, which may be experienced coinciding with the arrival of spring, particularly restlessness, laziness, and even amorousness 🙄.
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Symptoms:
🔸️feeling week, powerless 😮💨
🔸️sleepiness 😴
🔸️mood swings 😵💫
🔸️headaches 🤕
🔸️trouble with sleeping 😵
Have you experienced it? I gotta say that I am feeling sleepy/powerless and can’t get a good sleep lately 🤷♀️.
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How can we fix/avoid that? 🤔
➡️ Stay physically active! 💪 Go for walks 🚶♀️, bike rides 🚴♂️, jogging – try spending as much time outside as possible. This way you expand capacity of your lungs and get your breath deeper 🤗. You also boost release of endorphins – happy hormones and lower release of stress hormones – cortisol 🤩.
➡️ Make sure you sleep well 🛌 – sleep 7-8h, try making a routine and go to sleep same time every night. If you have time – take 15-20min naps during the day too, they are proved to be very healthy! ☺️ Remember to relax in the evening, avoid blue light (no phone in bed!), make yourself a tea ☕️, have a bath 🛀 and/or light a scented candle
➡️ Remember about vitamins! 🔆 Supply your organism with as many vitamins as possible and do it in a natural way (no pills 💊) – drink smoothies and/or fresh squeezed juices – mix fresh fruit 🍒 and vegetables 🥕 but also mix various vitamins (e.g. vitamin C that you’ll get from parsley, kiwi 🥝 or lemon 🍋; vitamin E present in nuts 🥜 or olive oil; vitamin A from kale, spinach 🍃 or carrot; magnesium from banana 🍌, dates or avocado 🥑)
➡️ Last but not least: drink water! 💧 Make sure to drink 2-2,5 l of water (fresh water, juices, tea etc. don’t count 😉). Drink regularly throughout the day (e.g. 1 glass every hour)
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Easy right? 😉
Category: Health
SELF LOVE: Magical herbs
Lets continue our series of self-care and working on being/staying calm.
You know what works when you’re trying to calm down? A blanket, candle and a nice cup of tea. So today I got 5 magical herbs for you that work great on reducing stress:
🌱 Saint John’s wort: It contains many chemicals that act on messengers in the brain that regulate mood.
People most commonly use St. John’s wort for depression and mood disorders (but consult it with doctor as it often gets in reaction with others drugs!!!)
🌱 Aloe vera for cuts and burns: It is used to treat burns and alleviate the symptoms of over-exposure to the sun by pouring the tea on the affected area. Aloe can also help treat skin conditions such as rashes or insect bites.
🌱 Chamomile for sleeplessness and to reduce anxiety
🌱 Echinacea for colds and sore throat and to boost immune system
🌱 Ginger for nausea and motion sickness.
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So how do you feel today? Do you need some tea? 😊
How to stay calm now?
Last 2 years have been hard to us all. First pandemic, now war (next door for us here in Poland 😬).
We’re all tired, stressed, tired of being stressed…we need to take care of ourselves 🙏 we need to take care of our minds ❤
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How to stay calm now?
🔸️ First of all, if watching news boosts your anxiety stop watching it! Either go online only for 10-15min to catch up on most important things to know what’s happening or, even better, ask your family/friends to inform you if there’d be something you really need to know about. Don’t spend hours watching photos/videos from the war.
🔸️ Instead of constant reading about next victims 💔 read how you can help. There’s plenty foundations where you can donate. If you live in Poland, Moldova or Romania you can donate food, clothes, cosmetics, blankets for the refugees.
🔸️ If that’s all too much for you you can cut off from all of that completely and keep on living your normal life, that’s totally fine and understandable. Focus on yourself and practice self-care.
🔸️ If you find yourself panicking, take slow deep breaths, try meditating, go for a walk or soak in a warm bath. Do whatever makes you calm.
🔸️Write down all your questions, all your anxieties, let it all out.
🔸️ Talk to your close ones about your concerns, hear them out (but please talk to people who know what they’re talking about, don’t spread fake news etc). Remember that you can always message me ❤
Cheers to health!
I love reading inspirational stories/bios of successful people 🤩. I love getting to know how they got to the place where they are. And I often read that some of those who succeeded and are millionaires today💰 had to sacrifice it all to get there 😔. That they had to put their work first, that they worked 16-18h a day/ 7 days a week. That they put family and friends aside to work work work 😌.
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I am ALL about following dreams, working hard etc 🤗. I think you know me that well already and you know that I work a lot 😉. I’ve always had some ‘extra projects’ (having some extra jobs, being a coordinator in a students volunteer society 👩🎓, having a music agency and booking gigs for 5 bands 🎶, writing and publishing a book 📖, now this blog…) since I turned 16. I never was this kind of person who comes back from school/work and just chills 🤷♀️.
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BUT
I could never pay such price as putting my family aside or putting health over work/my projects 🤷♀️.
Maybe that’s why I’m not as successful as others 😬 but I prefer to have a long and healthy life full of laughs and love ❤ instead of just working till I hit a burnout 🙄.
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That’s why I stepped aside a bit in January. As you may know I didn’t feel good most of the time and didn’t want to do something ‘because I HAVE TO’. I just waited for my energy to come back to me.
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The choice whether you choose work over all or you choose a bit slower life is yours but make sure that it is good for you 😘
Eat rainbow!
Eat rainbow! 😋
Eating all the colours of the rainbow can help boost brain health and reduce the risk of heart disease 😃🧠
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With the new year we’ve got new researches, new polls and new rankings 📈 but in ‘Top Diets’ list we don’t see anything new – Mediterranean diet has been chosen best diet, again! 😎
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Mediterranean diet contains a lot of fruit 🍊🍍🍌🫐, vegetables 🍆🥦🍅🥕 and healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil but it’s not only healthy…it’s colorful! And that’s another ‘healthy’ aspect of it! 😉
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The more color you eat the more vital and nutritious it is 🤗.
➡️ “If we’re missing a colour of the rainbow, we may be missing a function of that food,” says Deanna Minich, functional nutritionist at the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon.
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This is because plant foods contain thousands of natural compounds called phytonutrients, including carotenoids and flavonoids, which have anti-inflammatory benefits. And different coloured plants come with different benefits 😃.
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💙💜 Blue and purple foods, such as blueberries 🫐, have a high content of the plant pigment anthocyanin, which has been linked to lowering the risk of heart disease and type two diabetes 😀.
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💛 Flavones, which give foods a yellow colour, may reduce the risk of heart disease ☺️.
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🧡 Research has found that orange juice is associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline 😄.
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Eating a variety of colours could mean we eat more fruit and vegetables overall 😃. One study found that prompting people to eat a colourful meal increased their consumption of healthy food as we need to add more and more vegetables to make it colorful 🤗!
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Source (reserach data): http://www.bbc.com
5 tips how to have more energy!
Check out my Smiley Advent Calendar on Instagram to see how to make 3D stars out of paper, gnomes out of wool, vintage decoupage Christmas ornament and more!
There are so many great ideas for homemade Christmas decorations!!! Are you making some? What do you have ready for Christmas already? Or maybe you’re missing energy this winter? 😔
Here’s 5 tips that you need to practice to get more energetic! 💪
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➡️ START YOUR DAY WELL
Good morning routine is very important! You could start with a glass of fresh squeezed lemon with hot water & honey (that’s what I do) 🍋, maybe try yoga to calm your mind 🧘♀️ or jogging to boost your energy! 💪
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➡️ BE ACTIVE
You can combine nr 1 with nr 2 but if you don’t have the time to move your body in the morning do it in the afternoon/evening! Go for a walk, hit the gym or simply do couple fitness excercises at home 💪
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➡️ EAT HEALTHY
That’s probably the most important rule ⚠️. You NEED TO provide good nurtitous food to your organizm so that it can change it into energy 💪
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➡️ DRINK WATER
Drink at least 2l of water per day! Remember, your body is made 78% of water so you need to keep that number!
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➡️ GET SUNLIGHT
Go for walks whenever you can, especially when the Sun is out! It is very important to get at least 20min of sunlight per day to get vitamine D into your body 🌞
Healthy habits challenge
Why do people succeed? Because of the healthy habits they have! 😉
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Healthy habits define your attitude, your mindset but, most importantly, they help you succeed! 💪
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You probably think that you don’t have enough time in the day to start new things or to work on some new healthy habits but the truth is that plenty healthy habits that we should all have take only couple minutes a day yet can change a lot in a long period 🤗.
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Join me in my 21-Day Healthy Habits Challenge on Instagram to form plenty healthy habits to benefit your body and mind! 🤗
Remember, healthy body + healthy mind = a happy life! 😉
Week 1 – let’s focus on the body
Week 2 – let’s focus on the mind
Week 3 – let’s mix it all and form new habits
+ checkboxes to mark your results!
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RULES
After accomplishing the task don’t set it aside. This is your new habit now and you’ll be doing it everyday now 😀.
Next day work on your new task and repeat the task from day 1.
Day 1 – task nr 1
Day 2 – task nr 1 + task nr 2
Day 3 – task nr 1 + task nr 2 + task nr 3
And so on
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Here’s all the tasks from week 1, join me on Instagram for week 2 about mind!
How to boost happiness!
Want to boost happiness but don’t know how? 🤔 You’ve tried many methods, new things but still don’t know exactly what to do to be happier? 🤷🏼♀️ You’d like less abstract tips and more scientific facts and useful tips on happiness? Look no further! 😀
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As you may know there are 4 basic hormones that impact our mood and feeling of happiness:
🔅dopamine
🔅endorphins
🔅oxytocin
🔅serotonin
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Now how to make them work and make you happy? Easy! Just try out the activities that boost those hormones! ☺
For dopamine, the reward chemical, try:
➡️ eating yummy food (this is why I can’t get through any diet, eating gives me too much joy! 😅)
➡️ achieving a goal
➡️ completing a task (with last two remember to set small goals and small tasks – this way you’ll get a dose of dopamine)
➡️ self-care activities (check out self-care challenge we did in February – you’ll find it in my Stories Highlights)
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For endorphin, the pain killer you’ll need:
➡️ exercising 💪
➡️ listening to music 🎶
➡️ watching a movie 🎬 (I think you know by know where and when to look for Positive Movies Recommendations! If you don’t – I post them here every Sunday)
➡️ laughter 😂
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To boost oxytocin, known as the love hormone, those activities will work:
➡️ socializing
➡️ physical touch
➡️ petting animals 🐶🐈
➡️ helping others
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And last but not least – serotonin, the mood stabilizers:
➡️ Sun exposure 🌞
➡️ mindfullness (see Chill Sessions in my Stories Highlights) 🙏
➡️ be with nature (spring is here, enjoy it!)
➡️ meditation 🧘🏼♀️
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As you can see, with Smiley Society I try to boost all those hormones for you! 🤗 We have self-care Thursdays 🧖♀️ and plenty healthy recipes 🥑 for dopamine, positive movie recommendations 🎬 on Sundays to boost endorphins, Smiley talks 💬 and e.g. Fun challenge we did in May for oxytocin (there will be definitely a challenge about helping others soon) and I post videos for mindfullness 🙏 and meditation 🧘🏼♀️ from time to time too for serotonin!
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Let me know what else can I do and how can I help to make you happy! 🤗
SELF LOVE: Magical blue flowers
There’s black tea, green tea…but did you know there’s blue tea too? 😀
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Blue Tea is made by seeping dried butterfly-pea flowers in water and can be enjoyed both hot and cold. It is also said to have weight loss benefits 😉
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Blue tea, or butterfly pea flower tea, is a caffeine-free herbal concoction, made by seeping dried or fresh leaves of the Clitoria ternatea plant.
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Blue tea contains catechins, which are said to be instrumental in burning belly fat and aiding weight loss 😀. Drinking butterfly-pea flowers seeped in warm water is said to be an effective way to rev up the metabolism, which in turn, makes the body burn more calories.
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Here are some other benefits of blue tea that you may want to know, before trying it out:
➡️1. The tea is rich in antioxidants, which makes it a great beverage to include in your detox diet.
➡️2. The earthy flavour of butterfly-pea flower tea is said to be a mood enhancer. The tea is said to have stress busting effects that may also help reduce symptoms of anxiety 😀. It is also known to refresh the brain and helps keep you energised and happy throughout the day 🤩
➡️3. Blue tea is said to help in losing water weight as it is a natural diuretic drink.
➡️4. Blue tea is also said to have a role in regulating blood sugar levels.
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Blue Tea For Hair, Skin & Beauty
➡️1. This tea is well-known for its anti-ageing benefits, due to its high antioxidant content 🧖♀️. This makes the skin look younger and healthier from within.
➡️2. The flavonoids present in blue tea may also stimulate collagen production.
➡️3. Stress-relieving properties of blue tea are also helpful in overall maintainenace of skin and beauty.
➡️4. Blue pea flower is excellent for the hair too, as it contains anthocyanin – a compound known to increase blood circulation in the head and therefore maintain a healthy scalp. It also helps in strengthening the hair follicles from within.
Source: https://food.ndtv.com
SELF LOVE: Recipes for immune-boosting drinks
💥Immune Booster Shot Recipe
This immune booster shot recipe has everything you need to raise that immune system 🤩! It’s jam packed with immune boosting ingredients 😉
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Ingredients
🔸️ 1 tablespoon honey 🍯
🔸️ juice of 1 lemon 🍋
🔸️ juice of 1 orange 🍊
🔸️1-2 cloves garlic minced
🔸️1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
🔸️1 dash of cayenne pepper
🔸️1 dash of real sea salt
🔸️1 dash cinnamon
🔸️¼ teaspoon turmeric
🔸️Grind of black pepper
🔸️1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar
🔸️1 tablespoon hot water
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➡️Mince the garlic (ideally put through a garlic press) and set aside for 10 minutes ⏰. This gives the enzymes a chance to form and ensures maximum benefits 😍.
➡️Whisk together the honey, turmeric, and hot water, until the honey is incorporated and smooth.Then you just stir in everything else and drink! 🤗
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💥 Glow Boosting Apple Carrot Juice 😋
Carrots, apples, and oranges are a winning combination for helping your body protect itself and fight off infections 😁
The apples and oranges give you your vitamin C 🤩
Vitamin A, which is also critical to a healthy immune system, is present in carrots in the form of the antioxidant beta carotene 😍.
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Ingredients:
🔸️2 large carrots 🥕
🔸️2-3 apples 🍎
🔸️2 oranges 🍊
Optional: You can also add a thumb of ginger and/or lemon (great if you’re feeling under the weather)
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Instructions:
➡️ Cut carrots and apples into pieces.
➡️Start juicing! Begin by adding the carrots into the juicer.
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Source: https://www.healthline.com and https://40aprons.com/
How to be HAPPY 