Bonjour, my friends!
So so so, haven’t seen you for a while. How are my little philosophers doing? Let’s start with our usual short intro. Another “month” of Ph. L. has come to an end and that means it's time to bring updates once again with three new chapters. If you're new to my blog or this is the first post you're reading about Philosophical Life then you definitely need to go check out previous parts (First , Second and Third). To be short, this is a monthly series where you can join me on a journey to a better life and better you, it's never too late to start getting things together and loving yourself. Now back to you, my fellow people. I know that I kinda procrastinated this month with posting updates and several posts but stay with me, I’ll bring it all back and give you everything I promised. Even if you have just been following my so-to-say instructions from Part 3 then you totally felt how intense the past month has been compared to any other one of Ph. L. For that matter I wanted to make these 30 days more light and simple to give us some time to relax and enjoy last bits of summer.
Also, don’t come at me saying that “new “month” should’ve started on 28th” ‘cause there’s no such rule. I just thought I’d leave those few days free and start fresh from Monday that’s why I’m calling it July 31 aka the first day of the fourth “month”.
(P.S. - people of the future, just ignore these dates and come up with your own start and end of the “month”)
Volume I
"mens sana in corpore sano"
Body
Healthy food
As usual our point of departure for Philosophical Life journey is Body dimension and it’s first chapter Healthy Food. I can now say without a doubt that my personal relationship with food changed throughout past months but most importantly this last one. It’s no secret that food is a humongous part of our lives and therefore there are countless themes that we can talk about. I mean we already established some basics, like Water, Salt and Sugar consumption, talked about dairy and alcohol and some other things but today I’m bringing light on a different aspect. Fourth “month” of Ph. L. is going to be dedicated to how much we eat rather than what (although don’t get me wrong, all these healthy habits we already acquired aren’t going anywhere). One thought that visits my mind palace on regular bases is “food cheating” aka craving junk and sugary food when you’ve been trying to lead a healthy life. After being excruciated by an urge to have a big fat burger I finally gave in but felt no shame (should be noted that my stomach didn’t agree with me tho) because you know what, Calories, Bitch! I managed to stay within a range of my daily calorie intake (and all the nutrients stuff isn’t that important in this particular situation). Yes, you heard me right, We Are Counting Calories. “Omg, this is so stupid and restricting” - you may say but hear me out. I’ve never been a fan of this thing as well until I tried it myself. Truth be told, after my May Spain adventures I came back with a new friend. It’s the first time in my life when I put on actual visible weight and it got me so confused. I didn’t know if I should start dieting or exercising or whatnot? Most of June I spent contemplating my life and my newly found kilograms. Gradually, I started running and doing some yoga but couldn’t figure our if it actually helped. That’s when I stumbled upon an app called MyFitnessPal (not sponsored but I wish I were) in the commentaries under some youtube video and decided to give it a try. This app basically helps you loose, maintain or gain weight by consuming a certain amount of calories everyday. It also counts in all your daily activity including steps and exercises and can be connected with other health/fitness related apps. I wouldn’t recommend it to you unless I like it myself, don’t worry. Atm I’m at the end of my second week and so far I’m beyond satisfied. I was able to loose 1kg already (I choose o,5kg a week plan) and I’m feeling fine. Note: Of course exercising came through and helped. Most important thing is that I don’t really restrict myself from eating. Yes, I eat a little bit less than usual but it’s barely noticeable. Also, no, I’m not giving up “bad” food, I just had a piece of flawless nutty cake yesterday. The thing with counting calories is that you don’t need to be constantly stressed by what you consume, you just stay within your healthy relationship with food and learn a lot about food as well. I don’t pay a lot of attention to nutrients because it’s too much of a hustle and I know I’m generally not breaking the balance. This is my experience so far. I’ll definitely go visit a professional in near future for a consultation and I recommend you do the same but for now that’s it. Your goal (and mine) for this “month” is to look after how much you eat and record it (be it a paper diary or an app).
Note: don’t forget to get that extra calories on a day when you exercise.
The Plank
Last month was full of plank and other exercises in general. Did you manage to stay within our routine? How are you feeling now? You guys know that I’m trying to be as realistic and honest with you as possible and in reality, I didn’t finish the whole routine but I found something more interesting and maybe practical instead. I did kinda encourage you to do 30 Days of Yoga last time and that’s what I did myself in the begging but soon I realised that doing Yoga, Ballet Barre, Plank and Running at the same time as nearly impossible (at least for me). Instead I developed a new routine on which you’re going to join me this “month”. It will vary depending on if you can run or you can’t but it’s not too problematic. Plank won’t exist as a separate exercise for these 30 Days, it’s going to be a part of Yoga (plank is essentially a yoga pose after all) instead. You can relax and read next chapter now.
Ballet Barre
I introduced this chapter last time and high-key hoped that we’d start taking it more seriously this month but as I just mentioned in the previous chapter, my plans changed. I found out that my body is too weak to keep up with such an intensive routine so first of all, I need to get back to being sporty. Therefore this “month” is up to you. If you want to continue doing it or you want to stick with me. I’m putting Ballet Barre in my mind box for some time.
However, if you feel like this exercise suites you well then just do it instead of Yoga or Running (in my routine) depending on your personal preferences.
Face
Waddup, welcome to a new chapter. Unexpected, I know. Why is she talking about an actual Body part in a Body dimension. What a crazy turn! Don’t exhale with relief just yet. If I say Face that doesn’t mean no exercise. On the contrary we’re are going to take good care of our pretty faces by doing exercises, massages and fancy treatments. Have you ever wondered if you’ll have a double-chin someday or do you already have it? Some of you may have a round “hamster” face like me and want to get some definition including cheek bones? This chapter is all about it. I don’t want to talk too much about it but in short: I’ve prepared some fat reducing and slimming stuff as well as Tips on How to Stay Looking Young. Look out for those posts and at the end of the “month” I’ll leave all the links as usual.
Soul
Moving on to another dimension. Although it’s different from two others, they all serve one purpose - helping you live your life happily. Mind needs exercises too.
Law of Attraction (new thought)
As we move to another chapter we come back to one of the first starting points of this journey. Law of Attraction can open your eyes on a lot of simple things that’ll make your life better. We’ve done so much already and even tried battling a Resting Bitch Face syndrome and challenging ourselves to five days of smiling. Looking back it kinda makes sense to me and people do really treat you differently sometimes but maybe it’s just because I live in Russia and it’s not common to “just smile” without a cause here.
An ongoing theme for this “month” is relaxation and I tried to make Soul dimension as simple and light as possible. So in this chapter I’m adding Gratitude. It’s something that’s been popular for a couple of years now especially in planner/journaling community and we’re going to sit down and write some stuff this “month” but specifically for this chapter it’s going to be a little different. As you know Law of Attraction is based on the theory that positive thinking attracts positive energy and therefore better, happier life and so I feel it’s time to start that mind process. We are ready for this, we can do it. I hope that you’ve been following the development of the chapters because right now it will help you a lot. The concept for this Gratitude is to enjoy little moments. Whenever and wherever you are just make a note in your mind to stop and appreciate the moment. Look around where are you? Is the sun out or is it raining, maybe it’s already dark outside? What can is so special about this moment? Are you with your friends or alone? Are you reading a nice book, listening to a beautiful song or watching your fav TV show? Even if it feels like there’s nothing to be happy about just remember that you’re alive, living and breathing and you are unique, there’s no one like you anywhere not even in parallel universe, you’re contributing to this world just by existing and should value yourself accordingly. Do it everyday until it becomes a habit and we’ll share our thoughts in 30 days time.
Meditation
Next step is meditation. Did you get some mindfulness? It’ll really help with Gratitude that we’re doing this “month”.
I always say that everyone’s different and some types of meditations may not suit you so I’m trying to look at as many different techniques as possible. However, this is not the case this time. I thought it would be nice to get some extra support and confidence this “month” and who could be your best supporter rather than you yourself. It’s good to discover all your inner demons but you’ll need to confront them someday and that calls for great strength and self-confidence. I’m going to attempt helping you gain this inner power. We’ll do something kinda strange but kinda not really. In short, I present you The Tree. Yep, we’re going to become a tree. Not a real tree of course but a spiritual representation of it. Every morning of these 30 days you should start with you standing up straight, closing your eyes and imagining that you’re a tree. Big strong tree, your arms and head are brunches, your spine and core is a big stem and your legs extend deeply into the ground becoming routes. Feel the wind blowing, feel how secure you are with your routes holding you on the ground. Feel that peace and relaxation. You’re not falling anywhere, you are strong and certain. This exercise, hopefully, will help you all types of anxiety and maybe even depression. It helps me for as long as I know.
Journaling
Slowly transitioning to another chapter that we’ve just started last “month” we haven’t yet explored it enough to something serious and we kinda need a nice base which I’m trying to form. Journaling is all about pouring your thoughts, dreams and other brain products on paper transferring it from spiritual into real physical world. Ultimately it can be used in many different (about which we already talked). I want you to start actually writing things down this “month”. Continuing on Gratitude from the other chapter we’re going to use it in a traditional way. Go grab a notebook or some paper and a pen and make it your 30 day log in thing where at the end of each day you will write one thing you’re grateful for. I don’t think I need to give you examples, you can figure it out on your own. One important thing that I would recommend is to write it all down in one place so you can look through it when you’re having bad times and need some motivation to live.
Karma
Oh yeah, we’re doing that. I did specifically put it in the Soul dimension because most people found associate it with something spiritual. However, the basic principles of Karma (principle of cause and effect) are pretty real, that’s how most things work in the real physical world. Like you kick a ball and it moves, it’s that simple. Sadly, Karma isn’t as simple as kicking a ball but not as complicated as you think as well. I’m telling you right now that it’s going to be a long journey and you to have some patience and trust. Frankly speaking, I didn’t really know how to start this chapter and I don’t know if you guys understand the concept of Karma so if you have any questions just leave them down below and I’ll try to answer all of them or even do a separate post talking about bases of Karma. To sum it up, Karma works in two ways, if you do nice things and have positive thoughts then you get a happy, nice karmic future but if you do the opposite life will bring you a lot of suffering and problems in all imaginable ways. It has a strong connection with thinking, not just deeds, so maybe it’s time to take our talks about Law of Attraction seriously and make your mind a happier, safer space. I think there will a post in which we’ll analyse our Karmic situation and from there work out a plan.
Note: Have you watched My Name Is Earl? Give it a try, it’s funny and somewhat corresponds our theme
The Connection
Yoga
Ah, finally, last dimension. You're probably getting a little bit overwhelmed right now but stay with me for a little longer. Last “month” I didn't really add anything to Yoga except maybe a few encouragements to keep on doing it as often as you can. I, myself, attempted a 31 Day Yoga Challenge and failed, you can say, but I wouldn’t really call it a failure. It helped me develop a new easier regime combining a lot of exercises from Ph. L. life in one big routine. Okay, I’m going to explain but you’ll need to pay particular attention to the following sentences. First of, you know that Plank moved to Yoga (only for this “month”), Ballet Barre’s been put off for some time (or in my case replaced with some light overall body exercises) and so we’re left with Running and some face exercises as well as Yoga itself. As you may know I’m running 3 times a week (read more about in the corresponding chapter) so every day when I’m not I’ll do yoga and light workouts from time to time. Overall, you’re doing some exercise everyday alternating yoga, running and regular workouts. Did you get it? If not, don’t worry, I’ll make a post talking about my monthly routine and include a schedule in a few days.
Clean Life
Alrighty, we are nearly there. Clean Life has been one of my fav chapters so far and it honestly made life better and fixed my environment a little. I really want to do something different here but you’ll have to wait till next month to see it. As for now I’m continuing me Cleaning Guide series and Clean Body series by adding some face hacks and tips that go with the Face chapter from Body. Everything’s starting to connect and our three dimensions are finally coming closer together and forming a nice web of a decent lifestyle.
Running
Staying with that decent lifestyle thing, let’s talk about running. It’s been only one month since we’ve started it but I can already tell you, that it changed my life. I think I found my exercise. Today I finished the last run of the month for the Start Running program and it’s a true victory. I ran for 15 minutes and managed to do around 2,5 km. I can’t say that I don’t struggle when running, like for the first time I now get a proper red face, I can hardly finish the whole run and sometimes my muscles hurt but it all doesn’t matter when start to feel it. After about two weeks I started seeing changes, I lost some weight and my stretching really improved. I can now touch the ground with hands, yass. Anyhow, I’m not trying to brag or bore you, I’m sharing my story to motivate you. If I can do it then you can do it! Most importantly, don’t stop. Even after I finished this workout plan I’m now moving on to Running for weight loss and going to continue my journey connecting running with yoga and other exercises.
Adulting
Finally, we’re on the last chapter for this “month”. Just one more paragraph.
For most people August is the last month before they start learning/working again (I mean even if you work full time summer still more relaxed than any other season) so it’s time to relax and start get into a usual routine. This the reason why I decided to add Adulting. To be honest, I know nothing about adult life if though I technically am one now. I guess I would say that in some way it is becoming more aware of yourself and the world around, taking better care of your family and friends and, I think, doing boring stuff like taxes. Right now I can’t give any distinct lines to follow for this month so instead just settle that thought of Adulting in your mind and get ready to start discovering it with me.
Signing off
Previous parts:
I'm going to post every month bringing something new each time.
I'll pay more attention to previous topics as well as add some new ones.
I may also post some semi-posts during the month and maybe explain
more about each topic or catch you up on my progress
and how I'm feeling.
If you're still here and want to start this journey with me comment and post using #30daysofphilosophicallife
Stay true
XoXo
Ivana
