25 Tips for Improving Your Mind, Body, and Soul

Eating our vegetables, getting enough exercise, and avoiding too much sugar are great places to start, but they are only a small fraction of the things we should be doing to keep ourselves well.Hanging out with animals, talking to strangers, and making time to dance are just as important when it comes to fully nurturing ourselves.

It's easy to get swept up in our daily routines of work, eat, sleep and focus on the bare minimum, but here is a list of 25 ways to take care of your mind, body, and soul.

MIND

1. Make Time to Have FunPlay time is crucial whether you're a child or an adult. Motivational speaker, RonCulberson, uses this motto: “Do it well, make it fun.” He realized that when he was beingproductive and making it fun, the end result was always a significantly better product. 2. Set Aside Time for YourselfThis is probably on every list of “How to Take Better Care of Yourself” and that's sayingsomething. Having alone time gives our minds a chance to recharge and take a break.Whether you take a nap, go for a walk, or curl up with a good book, make sure you havesome quality time with the #1 person in your life. 3. Get Plenty of SleepWe all know we need sleep to function well, but it's easy to forget that as adults weshould be getting an average of seven hours of sleep a night at least. It boosts our immunesystems, improves our memory, and has countless other health benefits. 4. Turn Off Your TechnologyA decade ago, this may not have been so prevalent on a list like this, but today it'sdifficult for most people to unplug and just be present. In particular, this becomes a problemwhen people fail “to leave work at work.” It's easy to continue answering emails long after thework day ends in an effort to be our best. Forbes magazine recommends putting your phoneaway for the first hour after you get home. Just plug it up in the other room and put it onvibrate and go do something else. 5. Find a ProjectHobbies are great and can even be therapeutic. Personally, I love to knit and sew, butthe options are limitless. And thanks to Pinterest, suggestions are readily available. My onlyadvice before visiting your local crafts store? Set a budget for yourself, because it is easy toget carried away in those places and that would not be taking care of yourself financially.6. Get Physical!Olivia Newton-John provided us with great advice, as well as a great jam to work outto, when she recorded, “Let's Get Physical.” Being physically active does more than give yourbody a work out, it also gets the blood flowing to your brain and improves all over function. 7. Learn One New Thing A DayI've realized that I am more of a student now, than I ever was when I was actually in aclassroom. Learning new things keeps your mind active and helps keep memory functionstrong. Check out zidbits.com for answers to a variety of questions, (“does hot water freezefaster than cold water?”), or try iTunes U for hundreds of different courses from legitimatecolleges and universities like Yale or Oxford. 8. Clean Up At HomeA clean space allows your mind to focus on things other than how big the pile of dirtydishes in the sink is. The concept is simple and straight-forward: “Unclutter your space and itwill unclutter your mind.” 

BODY

1. Go OutsidePhysical activity is clearly important for a healthy body. But don't forget to step outsidethe gym and soak up that vitamin D, a lack of which can lead to things like depression andpoor nourishment. People in places that don't get much sunlight during parts of the year, (likethe Netherlands), will buy machines for the home that simulate sunlight. It might be easy toretreat into nice air-conditioned buildings during the warm summer months, but try to resistand go outside. (Just remember the sunblock.) 2. Be Selective with Your Food ChoicesLet's be clear – I am not saying that anyone should be “dieting.” Rather, I'm suggestingto be mindful of meal choices. The easiest option may be to stock up on frozen pizzas and thefixings for deli sandwiches, but try to switch it up and incorporate different things into yourfood choices. Maybe nine meals out of ten, do the responsible thing and choose the healthieror more nutritious choice, but then the tenth time, go for the burger and fries…you deserve it! 3. Go Out Dancing (Or Just Put On Music At Home and Rock Out)Dancing is about more than just being physical. In fact, many hospitals have adopteddance therapy programs because the benefits are so abundant. They include, but are notlimited to: “Reduced feelings of depression, anxiety and stress, and it boosts self-esteem,body image, coping ability and overall sense of well-being.” 4. Get Exercise In A Group SettingAccording to Joe Decker of Active Magazine, there are three straight-forward reasonsto work out in a group: 1. Motivation 2. Accountability 3. Group Camaraderie. And beyond allof these, it's just fun and social to work out with friends. 5. Give Yourself 1-Week ChallengesMentally, we may love patterns and routines, but our bodies like variety. Which is whyat the gym, trainers always encourage you to alternate workouts throughout the week toactivate different muscles and parts of your body. So each week, challenge yourself and makea game of it! Maybe cut out all sugars or promise to do fifty jumping-jacks a day. Plus, whenyou succeed, you've got a perfectly good reason to celebrate yourself at the end of the week,(as if you need an excuse to celebrate how awesome you are). 6. Treat Yourself OccasionallyFor instance, after you finish a personal challenge or goal... Seriously, though,indulgence isn't always a terrible thing. The happiness we experience from small indulgencescan have multiple health benefits, including releasing happy chemicals, like endorphins, in ourbrain and the release of such chemicals can improve bodily functions.7. Take a NapUnfortunately, not everyone benefits from nap taking, because some people functionbetter without them and a nap can actually slow them down by causing things like sleepinertia and nighttime sleep problems. However, most people would function significantly betterif they took some time for a nap. In addition to improved cognitive functions, it helps lowerblood pressure, too. 8. BreatheBelieve it or not, there is a right and a wrong (or rather, “less right”), way to breathe.“Breathing from the diaphragm rather than shallow 'chest breathing,' promotes a multitude ofhealth benefits.” By using your diaphragm, your just living up to your full breathing potential,and once you've nailed that, take a few minutes a day to just take a couple slow, deepbreaths. 

SOUL

1. Pay-It-ForwardBesides being a heart-breaking movie and book, this concept is probably one you'veexperienced. For me, it always happens at Starbucks. The barista will inform me that thecustomer before me bought my coffee, and in response, I will pay for the customer behindme, and this will usually continue until the line ends. A lot of interesting studies have beendone concerning this charitable concept and the results show that the effects are both positiveand contagious. 2. Talk To A StrangerI know this sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out – interacting with new people is agood thing. As a society, we've become comfortable with this idea as long as it's indirectly,such as through apps like Tinder or Snapchat. Next time you're getting coffee, try makingsmall talk with the barista IRL. A journalist for the NY Times did an experiment withcommuters on the subway. He asked half of them to ride like they normally would, by avoidingeye contact and any interaction with their fellow riders. He told the other half to talk towhoever sat down next to them. The results? Those who interacted with their new neighborswere pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed it. 3. Visit an Animal ShelterMore and more places are incorporating shelter animals into their work space andwhile they provide therapeutic outlets, the process also helps lead the animals to their foreverhomes. Talk about a win-win situation! An office in New Mexico recently had some photos goviral because of their “cat library,” and colleges all over the country welcome shelter cats anddogs onto campus during finals, and as a result, stress and anxiety levels among studentshas been shown to decrease.4. Do What Makes You HappyAs long as it's not harmful to yourself or others, there is no reason to deny yourself thething that makes you happy. This concept has no secret benefits or scientific reason behind it,it's really as simple as it sounds. 5. Connect With Your Feelings – For RealWhether you watch a feel good movie and cry it out or you keep a journal, it reallydoesn't matter, so long as you don't bottle up your emotions. When I was growing up, mymom had a rule for us before bed. We had to either read or write in a journal for one hourbefore going to sleep. Honestly, it was fantastic. It gave me time to focus on me and unwindbefore falling asleep and provided me with an opportunity to experience my feelings. 6. Change Your PerspectiveAccording to The Acorn Stash blog, there are 5 ways to change the way you look atthings: “1. Look for the positive in each situation. 2. Allow the improbable to become possible.3. Change your perspective of other people. 4. Keep an open mind. 5. Avoid falling back intoyour old patterns.” Changing our perspective effects everything about us, from how weapproach other people in our lives to how we value and care for ourselves. The blog onCreativity Post had a fantastic way of putting it: “We see no more than we expect to see.” 7. Take A VacationThis does not mean you need to book a ten-day trip to Hawaii. Just take a day trip outof town and go explore. This one goes hand-in-hand with changing your perspective and it'smuch easier to change your view if you change the scenery every once in a while and remindyourself how big the world is. 8. Stay PositiveThe power of positivity is most definitely a real phenomenon and we don't fullyunderstand the link between being optimistic and getting those better results. We do,however, understand that positivity does good things for us. According to The Atlantic,“'dispositional optimism'... is linked to everything from decreased feelings of loneliness toincreased pain tolerance.” 9. Love YourselfI'm going to keep this one simple and quote the smartest person I know. “Before youcan truly love anyone or anything else, you have to truly love yourself,” - My Mom.