Spanista » Self Care Rituals, Reflections & Resources for Joyful Living by Ginny Shiverdecker

  • Spa Style & Self Care Reflections, Rituals and Resources for Joyful Living

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  • About Spanista

    Ginny Shiverdecker, Creator of Spanista is Spa Wellness Enthusiast, Adventurer Seeker and Brand Builder.
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Dear Wellness Seekers,

Friday Wellness Tip: Joyful Play is a Self Care Summer theme Spanista suggests to embrace today and into the weekend. No matter where we are children appear demonstrating the ability to be free of mind and heart through play. They express themselves from the inside out – exposing how their imaginations see things, not how they world expects them to see things. And happiness is revealed.

See my little fairy friend here. She was the spotlight of the event we attended at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts – not because she was a professional performer but because she was a real life charming fairy who loved to sing and dance  and took command of her stage in the lobby where we all enjoyed her express herself joyfully.  She made me think how right it is to stop and observe children with fresh eyes whether you are in an airport, in a park or at home with the family. We can learn so much that will help bring our passing moments back in focus so we can enjoy the rest of summer ahead.

Children live in a world of imagination, wonder, and joy. They find pleasure in simple things: playful squirrels, dandelion bouquets, and dancing with wild abandon to their inner soundtrack. Joy is the essence of who they are.

Like a carefree child, one can choose to live life connected to the unbounded joy within. For example, following my bliss, I sing, I draw, I write. I play with the little ones around me. The reward? I am uplifted, inspired, and healed through joyful play.

Friday Wellness Tip: Joyful Play helps us regain control over our lives in a fun way. If you are distracted by thoughts of the past or concerns for the future, gently focus your mind to the joy of the present moment of play. As you do, stress and fear dissolve. This helps us live with the joy and wonder of a child. As a result Spanista sees the beauty in everyone and everything around me – chances are this will happen for you too. So find a child to enjoy your summer weekend of play.

To Your Self Care Journey To Joy,

Ginny

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Dear Wellness Seekers,

Create In Me A Pure Heart is the right message at the right time. This summer I find myself amidst some very inspiring new people who are taking me to new places. It is funny how the universe brings you opportunities that can rock your world.

With this come travel and interaction time to explore what new connections can mean and potentially develop into that can make a positive difference in the world.

While gathering in a local grinder coffee shop that was new to me I saw this piece a hand crafted artistry with a thought-provoking bible verse – At that moment the message called out to me.

Create In Me A Pure Heart      Psalm 51:10

While this new group of individuals sat in the round chatting about new innovative opportunities I could not help but reflect on its meaning as it relates to Self Care. Here is the insight suddenly that scrolled across my heart.

Clear your heart so you focused and able to:

1. Honor new acquaintances by being gentle and kind.

2. Express true interest in who they are, their story, their point of view.

3. Be open to the greatness in others dreams while helping them if they ask.

This is what I practiced for the rest of the day and it took my interactions to the next level with all the new wonderful people – who not I call friends. Paying it forward by helping will enhance your good karma and something good will come back to you.

Create In Me A Pure Heart is a message with real life impact. If we are alert The Art of Self Care signals are all around us – slow down and observe the setting you are in where ever you are. It can enhance any situation for the better.

To Your Self Care Journey To Joy,

Ginny

 

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Dear Wellness Seekers,

Mushroom Into Something is a discovery I made on a Southwest Airlines flight from Orlando to Kansas City. I was sitting next to my new friend Zoey, who is going to be 11 on August 24th and we were talking about flying and how stressful it can be. (For her especially when she is flying alone – so I adopted her for the next two hours to help her ride go easier.) Zoey told me, ‘Once you are in the air it is fine but the take off’s can make your tummy feel like your dropping in mid air. That’s stressful!’ Isn’t she adorable?

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To distract us we started paging through the Southwest Airlines Magazine until she found a sudoku puzzle and I came upon this great article about the power of mushrooms to combat stress. An emerging company called Dream Brands combines natural ingredients from mushrooms such as reishi, shitake, cordyceps, and maitake along with adaptogens, a class of herbal remedies help bodies cope with stress. Blending both herb and mushroom extracts to balance hormone levels, keeps us young, vibrant and healthy.
Through Mushroom Into Something, Dream Brands has created a simple, natural solution for managing cortisol levels and recharging the adrenal glands. Such products are welcome to  the world of Spanista.
Check out DreamBrands.com where you can learn more about how their offerings enhance our human experience by creating powerful connections points between nature and science, maturity and youth, men and women.  Their mission is particularly interesting. I especially find this statement one that resonates with me:
‘Life is a collection of moments and we want to help people engage in these moments longer……to get back your strength, stamina and desire without hormones or steroids. All founded on deep research and science knowledge and experience.’
My family always professed the health virtues of the magic mushroom – glad it is evolving into powerful new products with benefits. Maybe someday Zoey will benefit from the next generation of the magical mushroom too.
To Your Self Care Journey To Joy,

Ginny

 

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Dear Wellness Seekers,

Woman of Wonderlust Amelia Earhardt, What Wisdom Would You Share? Wednesday we explored The Power of Courage in today’s world as character study of Nate Boyer of the Seattle Seahawks. Today I would like to explore The Power of Courage from a historical perspective. This character study is about one of my heroes since I was a girl – iconic aviator, Amelia Earhardt. A person whose wonderlust defined her life completely.
Fourth of July weekend marks the Anniversary of her MIA mystery – July 2nd is the date her attempted 22,000 mile light around the world mysteriously ended over the South Pacific in 1937. While the mystery about her disappearance remains, last September a piece of her airplane, the Lockheed Electra was found in 1991 was confirmed to be an aluminum window piece that had been added to the plane in Miami, thanks to advancements in technology. See Discovery.com for more.
Amelia was an Extreme Sports Rock Star of her age — A symbol to men and women alike of celebrity power and perseverance of the most elegant kind — the kind of adventuresome spirit that is so essential to the American persona. Where are these heroes of today?
In today’s terms, courage of this nature is supported by loads of technological breakthroughs and many inspiring examples of people stepping outside their comfort zones to set about accomplishing something no one has ever done before. Back in the early 1900s courage was also supported technological advances mostly spawned from intellectual energies channeled to fight and win WWI. But for women — exploring courage was a vastly new horizon that came about as result of the WWI when our men were deployed to the war effort in Europe and women were required to step in to run businesses and work in all for of labor to produce the progressive munitions needed to fight Germany. Flight was the new frontier for all — the newest battleground where technology spread its wings.
Amelia was a product of the times. She became smitten with the power of flight while she was a nurse at the Spadina Military Hospital in Toronto, Canada tending the wounded returning from the war. Many patients were the first pilots to experience the perils of war. So she saw the trauma first hand. One would think it would have deterred her but it had just the opposite effect. She fell in LOVE with airplanes and every aspect of piloting. And she stepped into her world of Self Care and never looked back as she defined her pursuit of happiness and the American Dream.
Amelia’s Self Care style ran deep. Her calling to explore the world on her terms seems to have come from a place inside her that defied logic. Let’s reflect on some of her courageous firsts:
  1. First person to fly solo across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans — note she did this before anybody did it.
  2. First female to purchase her own airplane in 1922. With the help of female friends and family who believed in her quest.
  3. Amelia was the first female passenger on the first transatlantic flight by invitation of George P. Putman, who became smitten with her and eventually they married. There are some fascinating accounts of the nature of their relationship worth reading.
  4. First female aviator to capture the attention of Vogue magazine with her unique aviator style – flight suits, leather jackets carves and pleated flight pants.
  5. First aviator, as a result to have a commercial fashion collection based upon her lifestyle that was sold at top line departments stores Marshall Fields and Macy’s. The first woman to attract a powerful portfolio of sponsors.
Amelia was a tour de force and George P. Putman knew it and to a degree enabled it. But in the end she was the driver at every turn.
Woman of Wonderlust Amelia Earhardt, What Wisdom Would You Share? I wonder about this when I look up at the stars on summer nights during July 4th celebrations. While the recent discovery about her Lockheed Electra indicates she and Fred Noonan her navigator most likely landed on an uninhabited island in the South pacific, it is left to the imagination as to what actually occurred. Was she marooned with Fred on this remote island? Had they crashed and been injured? It seems less likely now that they crashed in the Pacific Ocean believed after all. See Discovery.com for more.
Recently I was on the campus of Purdue University where she became an honorary professor and the Engineering School of Innovation building is dedicated. Her airplane hangs from the rafters. And the cafe is named after her with wonderful large-scale image don the walls.
I thought I heard her whispering to me while I gazed at her airplane suspended in the air….’Freedom to explore your dreams is the true source of happiness’. I am so glad I was born in America. Happy Fourth of July!
To Your Self Care Journey To Joy,

Ginny

 

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At 5-10 and 216 pounds, Boyer is consider to be a long shot to make the Seahawks roster. (Elaine Thompson/AP)PINIMAGE

Dear Wellness Seekers,

Courage Is A Super Power Check Out Nate Boyer’s Story begs the question, have you heard or read the story of NFL Seattle Seahawks player Nate Boyer? Photo above of #48 Nate at 5″ 10″ by Elaine Thompson, AP.

Yesterday Spanista started a conversation about ‘What it means to be Adventuresome?’ and its potential impact on their lives. Today I want to take that one step further by sharing an inspiring link that was sent to me. On a personal note, this summer I am exploring the depths of my ability to take my humanitarian work to the next level. Once I read Nate’s essay – not one, twice but three times, I knew I could find the courage with in to take the next steps into uncharted territory.

Nate’s is an extraordinary story of courage. Courage on so many levels when I read it, I was rendered humble and speechless. Nate is not afraid to turn himself inside out and explore the recesses of his heart, mind and soul. His spirit inspired body responds accordingly, not the other way around.

Spanista often speaks of Self Care – Self Care can draw a direct correlation of Emotional Wellness and Self Worth. Do you think this is true?

It is clear that Nat Boyer does. He takes what is means to be adventuresome off the map. But in genuine pursuit of understanding what it means to live a meaningful life and be an American Today – Free to make choices no matter the circumstances while honoring what so many of us take for granted in this country.

Motivated by Shia LaBeouf’s recent viral video, ‘Do it.’ via You Tube, Nate Boyer tells HIS story for the first time in the essay ‘The American Dream’. In it he explains what moved him to leave his comfort zone in the U.S. and how that propelled him to serve in the Army, walk on at the University of Texas to be a first time football player and try to make an NFL team as a 34-year-old rookie. This is no ordinary NFL player story of humble beginnings with focus talent and hard work makes the big time. It is much, more than that.
You can read Nate Boyer’s ‘The American Dream’ essay as it appears in Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) by Peter King, Sports Illustrated here: http://mmqb.si.com/2015/06/29/nate-boyer-seahawks-shia-lebeouf-american-dream-nfl/
Courage Is A Super Power, Check Out Nate Boyer’s Story makes me think of Super Man the comic character. What gave him his real strength? Nate may have found it within. It seems taking extreme action to realize your deepest desires and explore who you are – getting out of your comfort zone – can help you tap into your Super Power. It certainly is the case for Nate – one step into an extreme realm of purpose brought out a true understanding of the depth of his courage. And once he realized his inner strength from one experience he was able to draw upon this personal courage to expand it to help him tackle the next dream. That level of courage allowed him to take this Super Power to the next level for the next adventure. And so on. As we come upon the July 4th national holiday in celebration of America’s Freedom it is a blessing to see the world through Nate’s eyes. If you do one thing this weekend to honor our country I hope it is to read it.

Spanista Takeaway: Rather than spin through life, hurrying about to someone else’s agenda, Nate honors his time on earth by caring for himself in the deepest ways. What can we learn here? The most important person to focus on is you. Caring for yourself is honoring Spirit within and opens your heart. It starts with resting, breathing, and stepping away from pressures or worries. Take time to connect with your higher power through prayer and reflection. Seek to discover what you are really made of inside and life will unfold for you in unexpected ways. Caring for yourself does not take away from your ability to care for others. It energizes you and strengthens you. He proves Courage Is A Super Power!

Tomorrow come back for another story about ‘What it means to be adventuresome?’ It’s about one of my historic heros – someone I admire greatly. See you tomorrow!

To Your Self Care Journey To Joy,

Gin

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