theadaptive.org

Aloneness VS Loneliness

Posted by in Conversation Starters, Inspiration, Life Hacks, News, The Adaptive, Uncategorized

If you search the meaning of aloneness, oogly-googley comes up with some definitions that are a bit off from my own.

To me, aloneness is feeling content when alone. Having a tendency to choose peace and self care instead of frivolously giving away my own personal energy.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/aloneness

Loneliness is the lack of feeling content when alone.

I choose aloneness: )

I have many wonderful friends and I think they are growing their love of aloneness as well.

Choosing quality time with anyone, especially family, is a key component to my whole “best day ever!” Life motto.

I am so grateful for the #selfcare my family has taught me to seek out.

Tarahdeen y’all! (You win! I win!)

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Holly – Youga

Posted by in Beauty Mode, Conversation Starters, Family, Life Hacks, News

I don’t just do Yoga… I’m not into that 🙄. Just kidding…😆 I just mean that I do muh-own thang! – because I’m like that!

Youga… to me, is whatever YOUga-na make it!

I don’t know the yoga beginning like I’d like. I even took the beginning course for being a certified yoga teacher, but decided that I didn’t give a f@ck 🤭 about labels or accreditations.

I was a certified baby sitter and certified puppy trainer when I was 12 years old. It taught me that I like to babysit my own dogs more than anything.

A year into college, I got married which led to my parents quitting paying my tuition. I ended up quitting school. – I was studying how to be an entrepreneur anyway. The internet was becoming more useful and I was optimistic that school wasn’t right for me.

I kept planning on taking Yoga as one of my college classes. I even signed up for one that didn’t have enough students to justify their first class, so they shut it down. No traditional “Yoga” for me, it seems. Which is fine with me.

Luckily, I had been in ballet and gymnastics since I was around 4 years old so I always remembered stretching and certain moves. I was fit until 18 when I felt like life was a bit out of my control (I’m a Virgo) .

I also wore that horrible birth control patch and saw stretch marks in the first week. I hadn’t even had a boyfriend yet, but my sis took me to the clinic, and sure enough. Strip naked. Get on a cold table. Get violated and probed. Get a prescription. Lovely day that was….😵😩😶

Thankfully, after wearing the patch for a week and suffering severe mood swings and weight gain, I tore the patch off and never looked back.

Lucky for me, I’m married now and after 3 boys, my husband got a vasectomy. So no birth control needed. Until that rogue seed goes savage and decides to change my fate, but they went the extra mile when they did my husbands procedure so it would literally take a miracle.

With no worries of kids in my near future, I wanna stay fit. As fit as makes me happy. Enhanced Holly-O, in a sense. Sounds like a cereal. But it’s just optimal-me.

So as 1 part of a multifaceted self-care ritual, Youga, is my version. I make names up randomly for just about everything, and if you’ve heard it somewhere else, let me know because I say Youga, with the thought that I’m doing my own yoga based off of my own flow.

So every time you go rogue, doing exercise just know, that’s your version of Holly-Youga – to me : )

Do you call your practice something unique? Share in a comment below or find me on social media for a real life person!

Have an awesome night! I’m going to go do some pre-bedtime Holly-Youga : )

Happy Stretching!

-Holly

Working With Distractions In The Modern World

Posted by in Conversation Starters, Life Hacks, News, Uncategorized

I’ve been thinking about every aspect of life lately. I’m a thinker. That’s what I’m guaranteed to have time for. My own thoughts. If I’m busy, working for ‘The Man‘ (or three, four, or more) then.. my body may be busy, but my soul is conversing with me internally.

I may be focused intently on what I’m physically doing, but I can guarantee you that, mentally, I’m all over the map.

When I am finished with my fun and “chores” is when I make time to do this. ..Ya know, “blog”. I’d like to call what I do something different, just because I am that way. So I’m going to come up with a name for random thought blogging. Maybe you can let me know, if there’s already a name for it.

“Plog” ….

This is more of a personal log of anything I feel compelled to write about. So far, I don’t even know what I want it to be labeled. I prefer no labels. I just like to be good at anything and everything, make money from it ethically somehow, and then put the money to good use via sustainable farm. Hiring whoever I meet and can encourage along the way. Joyfully living our family adventure along the way.

I realize how much time can get lost on playing the social media game. I fall into the entertainment-wormhole on occasion…Write post. Share. Fwd. Research “how to make blogging easier on an iPhone 6 Plus”. Watching YouTube videos. Getting called to action #IRL for my kids or other family… and when I come out of it, I find that a few days of electronic rest is desirable, for me. My hands actually ache after holding the slender yet moderately sized phone for any longer than 20 minutes -after doing it everyday for the past 5 years. Rigorously searching for any info, pertinent to my life and how to reach my dream of a happy, successful, sustainable family farm. It taught me a lot about everything. My life taught me the rest.

I really and truly believe in balance. So, if you’re looking for advice on using your phone for business and destraction, beware that it is as limited to the amount of time you put in to your research. If you use YouTube to gather as much info as you can on all the subjects you need to learn, you will be saving massive amounts of time, energy, and personal resources. I have seen and done a lot and seen YouTube videos on a wide array of genres (I prefer comedy and music). Setting a personal limit of how much phone, computer, tablet, iPad, etc. was in my best interest though. Set reminders. Do the work. Hire yourself. You get it.

I find that some people can get restless if I am not immediately available, but in the kindest way, tough!

I’m me no-matter what the weather.

So don’t get lost while reading this. Remember what you came online searching for.

Re-claim that distracted brain. Feed that gut flora a rainbow of foods (mostly vegetables!). And emerge an enhanced version of yourself.

Randomly yours,

Holly

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3 Rules I Use To Keep Pets Safe In The Desert

Posted by in Family, Life Hacks, News, Pets, Pixel

Anyone who really knows me, knows I have three chihuahuas. Mango, Mojo, and Pixel.

I also have three boys, each celebrated coincidentally with a chihuahua.

My first dog was a mini dachshund, Pip. -Total bitch, but she was smart and awesome! She cured our family of bickering in no time when she was still a puppy.

…Which kind of brings me to my point. Pip was 11 years old when she mysteriously disappeared while barking outside, yet still inside my parents courtyard… All that remained of Pip was a little bit of blood on the ground.

We are left to assume it was either a bobcat, coyote, mountain lion, eagle, or some other bird of prey.

It was a harsh lesson for us all. Pip was small. 11 pounds of hot dog sausage fury. Delicious sounding to the average predator, I’m sure.

She died 10 years ago this year and now that I have three kids and three dogs, I am continuing to improve upon my proactive approach of keeping my loved ones safe.

How to keep your beloved pets and things safe in the desert according to Holly:

Rule #1: Never leave your pets alone outside. Just don’t risk it. Sure a pack of giant breed dogs are pretty safe, but even a large dog can become a victim in the wrong situation. …Coyotes run in packs, mountain lions are amazingly strong and fierce (especially when hangry), owls are clever, snakes are sneaky, dare I go on..?

Rule#2: Minimize the reasons an animal might be interested in being near your property. Consider if you’re inadvertently inviting predators by leaving pet or human food outside, or not picking/cleaning up enough after outdoor feasts. I say again: Minimize danger.

-Forethought. Learn it. Live it. Love it!

Is it dark? Use man made lights to your advantage. It blinds or discourages sneak attacks because the lights are too bright in contrast to the natural darkness the wildlife is used to.

Rule #3 Don’t get too comfortable. I mean, predators are obviously good at observing their surroundings and checking for holes in the fence, animals alone, distractions, or learned responses. …Say if every time a door creeks there’s a little doggy that goes outside with a clanky metal collar, does it’s smelly business, barks, draws attention… Predators are smart and resourceful. They will pick up on habitual behavior and look for an opportunity- a weakness.

It may be best to have fencing that is tall, but that will not guarantee any real safety. It adds a level of security, but flying animals won’t even think about a wall or fence and I’ve seen mountain lions and bobcats on the roof, so a 6 foot stucco wall won’t do enough to keep them out.

All the tips and prep in the world aren’t as good as your undivided attention for keeping your pets safe.

Stay alert and your pets are more likely to stay alive!

Have a desert animal story?

Tell me about it in the comments!

Homemade Essential Oil Facial Scrub

Posted by in Beauty Mode

I surprisingly get asked my age a lot. I grew up watching and learning from other women that it was rude to ask your age.

I never really minded because I was the youngest in almost all of my family circles.

Just a few days ago my mom told me, “You could be 16 for all they know!” After people were staring at us load my Honda Pilot. After we finished a jaunt to Costco for some recycled rubber tire/mulch mixture that we used to cover cardboard boxes to keep the weeds down and hide the cardboard so it looks ‘classy-like’ (…yet another post ; )

All I know, is that everyone I know is concentrating on looking younger than they are and it can be nearly impossible to hide your age, but you can always do things to help look younger. For this, you do not have to go under the knife, just follow some natural remedies and you can easily avoid aging signs that appear on your skin.

Today’s post contains one such natural remedy to keep on hand. One that promises to scrub and remove aging signs like wrinkles or dark spots from your skin in just a few applications.

Make sure to let me know how it goes in the comments!

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Baking Soda

½ Tablespoon Honey

1 Drop Lavender Essential Oil (EO)

1 Drop Frankincense EO

After Application and rinse:

Rose Water or Witch Hazel

Directions:

1 Combine the baking soda and honey together until it looks like a paste. Add one drop each of lavender and frankincense essential oils.

2 Place a warm washcloth over your face and hold on skin for a minute or so to open up your pores.

3 Gently rub face with facial scrub using small circular motions (be gentle with your skin!). Keep massaging skin with scrub for 3-5 minutes to fully remove dead skin from face and to let the essential oils work their magic.

4 Rinse off with warm water.

5 Your face may be red for a bit but this will wear off.

6 Use this scrub no more than 1-2 times a week.

7 This scrub is alkaline to the skin, so to even out your pH it is a good idea to splash your face with rosewater or witch hazel afterwards. This will naturally balance your skin.

Most of all! Have fun in beauty mode!

#beautymode

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The Crystal Movie – By Spirit Science

Posted by in Conversation Starters, Inspiration, Life Hacks, News, The Adaptive

Now, at first glance, you might be thinking… “Crystals?”, but don’t pre-judge anything before you check out this wonderfully informative video on crystals and how they can benefit many aspects of your life.

I am currently testing out all of the things they discuss in this short movie and I’ll let you know after a little more time how it’s going. (Honestly, so far so cool!)

I started using crystals just a few weeks ago because I stumbled upon great information that stated how beneficial they are to add to ones life. Crystal information seemed to be popping out everywhere. I’ve been making it a point to pay more attention to syncranicities that happen around me.

My sister was on the crystal train already and doing her own in-depth research which has proved to be very rewarding to her life.

Enjoy this easy to digest video!

Do you own any crystals?

I’ve heard that crystals go where they are needed.

Tell us a story of how you came to hold your crystals.

Looking forward to your comments!

– Holly

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Everything Is Connected

Posted by in Conversation Starters, Inspiration, Life Hacks, The Adaptive

Hello hello!

Lately, I really enjoy looking up scientific info, even though I used to say I disliked science (I was a silly child), but now I love to watch videos from Brian Cox, David Attenborough, Stephen Hawking, and the like.

Today this video crossed my path and it didn’t disappoint.

Enjoy!

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Have a beautiful day!

-Holly

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Review Goals Regularly 

Posted by in Conversation Starters, Family, Inspiration, Life Hacks, News

I’ve been saying, for a few years now, that “This is the year! This is when all of our hard work rewards us with our goals!”

But the truth is, I know better.

As much as I want to be able to dictate when and where success will come, I know that luxury doesn’t happen on demand. 

I dream of being on my future-farm, able to sit in my office and get a few hours of un-interrupted writing done during daylight hours. That’s just not in the cards every day and that’s ok. Everyone deserves positive attention and guidance and I’m there for my children in that way. 

Since the new year, I have been practicing many new practices. One of which is learning how to manifest things using the power of positive thinking and using high vibrational frequencies to see if goals can be reached sooner. I’ll write more on this later, as today I’m just revisiting how well these manifesting practices are affecting my current life and situation. I will write whether or not they work at a later date. 

So, as much as I want to be an accomplished blogger, I recognize and realize that I will design, write blog posts, and books as much as I can until it opens up to do so more often.

After all, I am working on enjoying my children’s childhood, too! 

So, I am currently renouncing my stubborn ways and deciding to appreciate every moment I do get to work on what I want, when I want because, after all, that is my ultimate goal. To be able to do whatever I want when I want and I want that for everyone (as long as what you want does no harm to anyone or anything: )

Don’t worry! That usually means that I want to help those around me in any way I can without a negative impact. 

My children might interrupt me every few minutes on some days, but as they get older, they interrupt less and less, and I can sense and see that they really are doing well and becoming wonderful little human beings. 

We all enjoy excitedly talking about the entire family’s goals before bed each night and the family’s goals are great to discuss with the whole family, not just mom and dad deciding for the entire family, though there are times that is necessary, but not when you’re talking about goals. 

To let everyone speak up a bit about what they’re excited about in life is how we all start to connect or re-connect and connections are important your whole life, so why not cultivate an amazing relationship with your children from the start. 

Don’t get me wrong, bedtime still takes me way too long with three kids when I’m going solo, but the harder I have to work at life by myself, I get this sense that it’s adding something to a metaphorical piggy bank that will pay back in the future. 

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

-Holly 

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Trauma Release Exercise Technique

Posted by in Conversation Starters, Family, Inspiration, Life Hacks, The Adaptive

Hello everyone,

Today I want to share something that might look a bit odd, but it’s beneficial  none-the-less.

Most of us have suffered some form of trauma in our lives and there are many ways to deal with it. One of them being Trauma Releasing Exercise (TRE)

Check out the video below to learn more about how to release trauma from your body. It’s a great way to feel better when you can’t exactly figure out what’s bothering you.

If you do try it out, feel free to let me know how you feel afterwards.

Have an awesome day!

-Holly

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