Relaxing Activities for Self Care and Wellness

 It is great that you are coloring zen images, but there are more than one way to relax the mind and take care of your self.  Remember the travel frog iPhone game that the world loved? We can also use some relaxing, me time. Here are some creative ideas to get you started:

• Draw your travel. Use concise bullet like journaling techniques and mapping techniques to draw and document your travel. There's something magical about drawing subjects. You will notice more details and enjoy the trip even more.
• Steam eye masks. Popularized by Japan and Asian beauty trends, use a hot mask for your social media "otterly" exhausted eyes. There are instant eye masks, gel forms, also organic ones made of toasted red beans!
• Explorer zen, outdoor zen. During the early days of America, explorers like John Muir found consolation, surprises, and peace in nature. You can always share nature with love ones, men's best friends - dogs, and even cats now. May you find peace and harmony in the grand nature, a sense of calmness, vastness, encompassing warmth and beauty of the sun, the moon and the stars.
• Bring the nature home with California, coastal redwood, pines and Juniper essential oils like the ones we talked about in our aromatherapy video. 
• If there's anything our body is programmed to enjoy, is food, nutrients and nourishment. By the nature of evolution, humans love good food. You can find delicious, seasonal food, that are particularly ripe and fresh in the current moment. There are quite a few French restaurants that practiced 52 season menu, because chefs believed there are 52 seasons (weeks) of food in a year rather than 4. 
• There's always the local zen garden, or just about any garden will bring the joy the discovery, scent and romantic encounters. You can bring the gardening experience home. Zen sand art was made famous beautiful pictures of Japanese zen temples including the Silver Pavilion in Kyoto, the old capital and cultural center. Japanese zen sand plates, sand art mini rakes and stamps make great gifts.
• The KonMari organization method is very zen. Cleaning and organization can bring joy and calmness to an otherwise chaotic life. Mari Kondo emphasizes that her method is not equivalent to minimalism, so go ahead and keep that object which brings you joy and let go of the stress of organizing. 
• Listen to relaxation music. YouTube and Spotify makes relaxation music, deep sleep, study music, code music easy to access. 
• Arrange a staycation. Much like when we were kids, we can have pillow forts. We can have zen tents as adults. Carve out a peaceful space, sanctuary in your home, beautifully decorated. There are a few house rules : talks of work, politics and stress not allowed inside.
• New self-care trend: divorce registry, breakup shopping registry, singing songs at restaurants for recent breakup