Hello. Hello. Hello. Welcome to my wellness to success podcast. My name is Dr. Martine Canal and I am a self care strategist as well as a nurse for over 27 years. This is my expert opinion. It is no way, shape or form any medical advice. So, if you feel the need to get medical help, please, please reach out to your medical professional. Now in today's podcast, I'm going to talk about self care and visualization. As we stand at the brink of a new year, I think it is important that we Think about what we want our life, what we want our health, you know, physical, mental, social health to be. What do we dream about? So I'm going to go a little bit deeper into that because I think it's very important as we sit down and write our goals as we journal, as we Foresee our future that we have this at the forefront so that we can reach that dream. We can reach that goal because in our busy lives, it is essential to remember what we want physically, mentally, and socially. Because we want our wellbeing to be at the upmost level. And the way we can achieve that is by visualization. Visualization can be an efficient tool to help us reach our goals. So when I talk about visualization, what is visualization? It is a picture. That you have in your mind of what you actually want to be of what you actually want to feel. So if you think about your physical health, what do you want your physical health to look like? How do you want to look physically now? I picture myself going into 2024. I picture myself at my. Peak physical condition. I want to be full of vitality, full of energy. And, and the way that I do that, I picture in my mind myself, the way that I want to look like, you know, I don't want to be that skinny little girl. And the way that the, the size, Two models are no, that's not me, but I want to be healthy so that I can accomplish what I need to do Physically and that if something would happen to me if life would throw any throw balls at me Then I will be able to bounce back physically. I would have that resilience that will help me to go through any Challenges in my life and I want to be physically Fit I want my weight To be within the, the normal BMI for my height and relate relative to my weight. I want my energy level, like I said, to be strong and I want to visualize me looking good. I want to look great. I want to feel great. I want to look great. And, uh, yeah, that's what I want physically. And having that visualization will help motivate me to take the steps that I need to take to reach my goals, my health, physical goal. How about mental health? How do you see yourself mentally, personally? I imagine I see myself being calm, having a stress free mind. And being able to, again, bounce back from anything life throws at me to like to be ready to tackle any challenges that will come my way. So either you visualize inner peace, either you visualize, Um, success in your career, or you pursuing your passion, visualization can help you have that resilient mental state that will make you be a stronger person, have more confidence in yourself, and that will boost you mentally. And have and help you have positive thoughts. Now in terms of social health, how do you visualize yourself to be with people around you? I envision that I'm thriving within my social circle. That I'm, I'm having meaningful relationships with others, with my family, with my friends, that I'm making new bonds and that I'm straightening the bonds that I already have. And I have, I see myself as having a supportive social life. So having that. Visualization will inspire you to connect with others at a deeper level. So remember these visions that you have that you may, you will have, I should say, it's what going to create the path to your future. See yourself how you want to live. See yourself how you want to be. See yourself how you want to feel and don't just Visualize it one time. No, you have to continuously, continuously revisit these dreams or these visions, make a plan and then share your goals with others. Talk about your visions with others because you will get the support that you need to keep feeding into these visions. And then with determination and belief, you know, you have to believe in yourself. You have. The confidence to move toward the life you've always dreamed of. I have this affirmation that I tell myself every single day, multiple times a day. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. That's all vision guys. That's all vision. And I actually I'm living the life that I've imagined. If you follow me on social media, you will see that I've always gone somewhere because traveling is my passion. And I actually now get to live my dreams. I'm leaving. This weekend to go on another trip and this is all to do with self care because I Combine two of the things that I believe the most in my life, which is self care and traveling and I make it one so that I can take care of myself While I'm traveling it is a great way for me to take care of my physical my mental and social health I visualize this Before I go anywhere, I can visualize where I'm going, what I'm going to do and who I'm going to socialize with so that I can have a meaningful time, a productive time where I'm going, right? And this is part of me growing to the next level. It is part of me reaching into my inner self. To say that I have enjoyed my life and I'm not waiting till I'm older to do what I want to do. I want to do it now. So I'm getting to do all of this because this is what I envisioned, right? So again, physical health, things you can ask yourself. What is your fitness goal? What is your ideal weight? How energetic how invigorated you want to be and then you would close your eyes and this is for everything that you're doing with a visualization you would close your eyes to have a vivid picture of yourself engaging in that physical activity and It could be anything, it could be a run, it could be swimming, or it could be you eating a healthy meal, or you drinking water. Then you visualize yourself drinking water, and the more you do it, the more your mind, your subconscious mind is going to think that it is something normal that you do, and you will be doing it. After a while you will be doing it and then you won't even have to think about it. It will become a habit for you, right? And as far as mental health, you can visualize, I'm talking about it again because I think it's important. You can visualize yourself being calm, not having any stress or anxiety. You can see yourself surrounded by peaceful people, people that are supporting you, that are embracing you, Your positivity and that are nurturing your mental health. Okay. You're not gonna sit around and be around people that are driving you crazy all the time. And then you also gonna, you could see yourself if you have a very stressful work situation, environment, you can visualize yourself handling the challenges. You can foresee them coming. So when those challenges come your way, you will be able to. Fix what the issue is, what the problem is, and then you be able to, and people will see you as this great boss or employee that they're going to see you as a leader that have control of situations that can be very stressful to others, and they probably will come to you whenever they have any kind of challenge at work because they know that you know how to handle them. a stressful situation. Now, as you close your eyes and visualize yourself in this mental state, you will see yourself confident. You will be able to take on life's challenges, embrace positivity, and take care of your mental health. It's going to steer you toward your dreams, towards your goals and towards you being powerful, strong and confident as far as your mind is concerned. So visualization, again, it's you taking the time to step away from any noise. Maybe you have to create some boundaries, closing your eyes and seeing yourself in that environment that you want. In that physical state that you want to be in, in that mental state that you want to feel, in that social state that you want to be amongst. So as we start the year, the new year, 2024, step back, look back at the past, see where have you been, reflect on what worked for you and what goals you achieved, and then visualize yourself. In the future, which is 2024 and set those goals. Once you have those goals, then you plan. Once you plan, once you have a plan, then it's a matter of you taking action. Because once you take action, then you will have the result that you want. I know it's easier said than done, but that's basically what it is. That's basically what it is. Set your self care goals, visualize them on a daily basis and you will see that your goals, your dreams, your aspiration, anything that you want will come true because you made it happen. Not only physically, but mentally, right? Because you know what guys at the end of the day, it's all about us living a productive, passionate and joyful life. Now, I thank you for listening to my podcast. Now, I have this, uh, Self Care Empowerment Circle, which is a Facebook group, where women over 40, we come together in a community where we support self care. This is what we believe in. And we believe in having a productive and meaningful life, so we do what we need to do to make sure that we live our best life. At the end of the day because once we reach the end of our time and you know, we all gonna get there You want to look back and say yes. Yes, we did it. We lived a powerful meaningful Life so until next time you guys take care of yourself So if you want to reach if you want to join the Facebook group, please SelfCareEmpowermentCircle. com. Join our Facebook group today for tips and strategies on self care, on health and wellness and, um, support because sometime we have to have accountability for us to do anything, even visualization. So join the group. And until next time, please take care because at the end of the day, it's all about us. You and me living our best life.