Month: January 2023

FYI: Free People Has a Super Secret In-House Beauty Line With Vegan Lip Gloss, Luxe Candles & Natural Deodorant


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While you’re at Free People grabbing perfect knits, flirty dresses and oversized cardigans, you might not have noticed the retailer has a huge beauty and wellness section. In fact, Free People even has a secret in-house beauty brand called Summary that trust us, you don’t want to overlook. In addition to Summary, the retailer also makes delicious-smelling candles, vegan lip balm and so much more. Who knew, right?

Of course, Free People also hawks other best-selling brands such as RMS, Kosas, HigherDose and DedCool. You already know and love these. The real surprise is how great Summary is, along with Free People’s other products they’re making in house. Summary is part of Free People’s Clean Beauty category, meaning each product is “consciously made” with “mindfully sourced ingredients.” If you’re looking for deodorant without aluminum, baking soda, talc, parabens, sulfates and synthetic fragrances — that actually works — Summary has it. And so much more.

Shop some Free People beauty favorites, below.

Free People. serum

Free People.

Summary Stress Less Antioxidant Priming Serum

This ultra-hydrating serum contains redness-reducing patchouli leaf extract and encapsulated micro-spheres containing omega-rich raspberry and hemp seed oil.

Free People. candle

Free People.

Free People Balsam Fir Candle

This luxe candle was hand-poured by Joya in Brooklyn, New York exclusively for Free People. The cozy balsam scent is perfect for all winter.

Free People. lip gloss

Free People.

Free People Vegan Lip Gloss

This sheer, pearly pink gloss contains hydrating castor seed oil, argan oil and sunflower seed wax.

Free People. deodorant

Free People.

Summary Cool Down Muscle Gel & Deodorant Set

This workout-ready set gets you antioxidant-rich deodorant and a cool-down muscle gel, which contains spearmint leaf oil, menthol, and magnesium.

summary mist

Free People.

Summary Reset Clarifying Body Mist

This cleansing and purifying body mist contains salicylic acid and witch hazel help keep breakouts at bay, as well as tone-evening rose flower and lotus root water,

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The Only Two New Year’s Resolutions You’ll Ever Need After 60

New-Year’s-Resolutions

What’s easy to do? Spend life in rigid countdown mode – ticking off backwards down to zero.

  • How many days until my child marries?
  • How many days until I become a grandmother?
  • How many days until my 65th birthday party?

We can lose track of ourselves while eagerly entangled in a waiting mode until we reach the next coveted milestone. This seems – as we get older – to be quite an appalling way to lead a life.

  • So many days until vacationing in the mountains.
  • So many days until visiting our aging parents.
  • So many days until reaching our goal weight.
  • So many days until retirement.

Getting Past the Same Old, Same Old

How many times have we vowed that the New Year will be different? That it won’t be rushed through, but savored. Have you made yourself a promise that life will not be held captive by the calendar and clock, and days won’t be viewed as something to be endured until reaching the next mile marker?

How many times have we vowed that we will zestfully relish each hour, each moment, as it unfolds and crystallizes? That we won’t be unduly influenced by the inherent messiness of life – its aches, aggravations and acrimony?

As this year rushes to a close, I wonder once again how we can best use the days and weeks and months in the new year to overcome some of life’s difficulties. How can we make our resolutions for change in the New Year have some sticking power?

Two Amazing Epiphanies for the New Year

Here are two epiphanies for the new year that I’d like us to embrace:

  • Do one thing that scares the hell out of us.
  • Do one thing we have tried and failed at numerous times before.

What scares me? Ditching the podium and my note cards when public speaking. What am I going to do? Register for the storytelling retreat at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

What have I repeatedly failed at? Embracing the concept of Intuitive Eating. What am I going to do differently? E-mail the author of Intuitive Eating and ask for guidance and advice.

Five Actions to Positively Impact the New Year Now

  • Pause more.
  • Rush less.
  • Allow ‘one of these days’ to give way to ‘now.’
  • Keep in mind that courage to face our adversity and devising a plan are more important than short-lived, dramatic, unsustainable actions.
  • Use, admire and cherish that which we have. Do not count anything anymore – except our blessings.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What tips can you share with us that might be valuable to someone yearning for change in the New Year? What actions did you take that led to your success and empowerment? Please join the conversation below.

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3 Ways to Effectively Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

type 2 diabetes lifestyle

Have you gotten your blood sugar checked recently? If not, you should consider doing so! Your chance of developing diabetes increases with age, and according to the CDC, 48.8% of adults over age 65 meet the criteria for prediabetes. That is an overwhelming statistic!

If you are one of the 26 million older adults that fall into this prediabetic category, chances are your doctor has told you they will “keep an eye on your blood sugar” because it is not yet high enough to be treated with medication. Does that sound familiar? If so, read on because this article is especially important for you!

Please note, however, that this article is for educational purposes only and is NOT to be taken as medical advice. You need to consult with your physician to determine if medication is right for your.

Lifestyle Intervention – Seriously?

If your blood sugar is in the prediabetic range, your doctor will typically monitor it until it inevitably creeps up into the diabetic range. At that point, a medication such as Metformin is often prescribed to lower glucose levels. Yet, what if you could stop the progression to type 2 diabetes and avoid medication altogether?

It turns out this is possible! Research has shown that prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are lifestyle related diseases that can often be prevented with lifestyle-based interventions. In fact, lifestyle interventions have outperformed Metformin (the most commonly prescribed medication for type 2 diabetes) time and time again for the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

For example, The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group completed a study called Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin which demonstrated the superiority of lifestyle interventions over Metformin.

The results were significant, showing a 39% lower incidence of diabetes in the lifestyle intervention group compared to the Metformin group! Here are the three components that made this lifestyle-intervention program more successful than metformin for preventing type 2 diabetes (#3 might surprise you!):

Never Disregard Exercise

First, EXERCISE of moderate intensity, such as brisk walking, was recommended for at least 150 minutes per week. It is widely accepted that exercise is a key component for blood sugar regulation, and walking is feasible for many people.

However, more recent research has shown that a combination of aerobic exercise (such as walking) and resistance training with weights is even more effective for improving blood sugar than it is to do either on its own. The current ADA guidelines also reflect this and now recommend a combination of aerobic and resistance training.

Nutrition Is Key

Secondly, NUTRITION education was provided to the participants. It is clear that diet is on the forefront when it comes to blood sugar regulation and was a crucial part of the study. In this study, participants were instructed to eat a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet. However, the American Diabetes Association has since adopted the idea that a lower carbohydrate approach may be better for diabetes.

Yet, despite the outdated nutritional recommendations provided in this study, the intervention was STILL more effective than the Metformin group! Perhaps an improved nutritional approach could foster even better results.

Ignite Social Life

Last but certainly not least, the third factor that made the study successful was the fact that it was done in a GROUP setting. Perhaps this helped because it provided a social component or perhaps because it encouraged accountability.

In a group setting, individuals can lean on one another for support, hold each other accountable, bounce ideas off of one another, ask questions, and simply have more fun. Working toward health goals within a group often makes lifestyle changes more enjoyable and less daunting. Research has certainly supported the benefits of working toward goals with a group or at least with a partner by your side.

It’s Worth to Go for Prevention

As the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – in other words, it’s much easier to stop something from happening in the first place than it is to reverse it once it has happened.

The same certainly goes for type 2 diabetes!

Lifestyle interventions such as diet, exercise, and being part of a group, are all effective prevention methods, even in comparison to popular drugs like Metformin. Moreover, lifestyle interventions only have healthy “side-effects” unlike the negative side effects often associated with medications.

Now that you have an idea of what to do to prevent diabetes, find a friend or join a group and get started today!

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you found that being part of a group helps hold you accountable to your health goals? Have you been told you are prediabetic? Did your doctor suggest changing your diet or exercise routine to balance your blood sugar? Do you regularly get 150 minutes of exercise per week?

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How Feng Shui Can Help You Welcome Wealth in Shades of Purple and Gold

How Feng Shui Can Help You Welcome Wealth in Shades of Purple and Gold

What does
abundance mean to you at this time in your life? Enough money to take a nice
vacation once a year? Or to do work or pursue an interest that you truly love? Is
it a home that’s just the right size for your comfort, but not so big that it
sucks away your time, money, and peace of mind?

Or maybe you
want to go for that one big bucket-list splurge you’ve dreamed of for years. Beyond
paying our bills to keep body and soul together, we all hold some wishes,
desires, or hopes in our hearts that we would achieve or enjoy, if only…

Money is the
one issue that keeps us from many experiences, events, and things we don’t need,
but do want at this time in our lives. We may be afraid to spend any of
our nest egg, because, you never know… And that’s true.

Unexpected
costs can rob us of some of the comfort, peace, and joy we looked forward to
earlier in our lives. So, we pay our bills, mind our budget, and hope for the
best. Sometimes we’re lucky and sometimes we’re not so lucky.

The Flow of Abundance

Feng Shui is
all about the flow of energy in your home. If the energy is impeded, its flow
gets sluggish or even completely stuck. The energy needs to flow, unobstructed,
at a Goldilocks rate – not too
fast, not too slow – throughout
your home in order to facilitate what we call good luck.

If the good
stuff – love, creative expression, people to assist you, travel, work, or
pastimes you enjoy, intellectual and spiritual growth, harmony and well-being
in your family, good health, a stellar reputation, and abundance – can’t get to you, it may indicate a problem in the corresponding
area of your home.

One specific area of your home is designated as the center for Wealth, including blessings, abundance, and prosperity. This does not mean the money you need to live on, to pay for the basic necessities of life. Instead, it offers you more than you need. It’s about what you want.

When you
divide your home into a nine-square grid, look at the wall which has your front
door on it as the bottom of the grid and the back wall as the top. The Wealth
area is the left back (top) corner.

By enhancing
this area of your home, you can enhance the wealth part of your life. However,
there are other improvements you can do throughout your home that can help
abundance find you.

Put Out the Welcome Mat

Let’s start
at the front door. This is where all blessings and opportunities for abundance
enter the space. It should be clean, attractive, and welcoming. Everything –
door hinges, windows, lights, steps – should be in
good working order.

Replace any
burned out light bulbs and freshen up the paint and hardware, if needed. Placing
“greeters” on either side of the door, such as matching plants or statuary, can
help create a welcoming vibe. If you have a water feature here, make sure the
water is flowing toward the home, not away from it.

Inside the
door, a picture or water feature can also attract abundance, and again, make
sure the flow is moving (or appearing to move) into the home.

Now look at
the pathway from your front door to the Wealth area. Is it blocked? Do you have
to pass through cluttered areas on the way to your Wealth area? The path needs
to be unobstructed, tidy, and well-organized.

The Power of Purple

In the Wealth
area of your home, the power color is purple, including all shades and
variations of this hue. You can decorate using this color in paint, furniture,
fabrics, rugs, artwork, knickknacks, flowers, or even book covers.

Water is a
powerful Feng Shui enhancement for wealth, and this is a good place for a water
feature or picture of a body of water or koi fish.

It’s also a
great place for a money tree plant or any healthy plant that bears leaves in
the shape of coins. A bowl of coins (real currency or not) in the area or on a
window ledge here can also help attract money energy.

This is a
perfect spot for a small box filled with little pieces of paper on which you
have written your wealth dreams, wishes, desires, and goals, or pictures of
what you want, whether it be an event, experience, or object.

This box can
be purple, but gold is the other color symbolizing wealth and prosperity, and I
found a very inexpensive gift box in sparkly gold that I love for this purpose.
You can also add gold accents throughout this space.

Pictures or
other items that symbolize wealth, prosperity, or luxury to you can also offer
a boost of energy here.

For example,
a jewelry box, a crown or tiara, a picture of a boat, car, or house, a small
replica of the Eiffel Tower, or an empty (you can imagine whatever you want it
to hold), beautifully decorated or beribboned gift box may spark a feeling of
abundance. This is personal, so use whatever feels right to you.

Traditional
Chinese Feng Shui items for wealth include gold-colored coins (often tied with
red string), a three-legged toad with a coin in its mouth, or lucky cat (left
hand up) and laughing Buddha statues. But you do not have to use them if they
do not hold cultural significance for you.

In your home,
it’s about how you define Wealth so choose items that symbolize abundance
to you. What is most important is that you LOVE this part of your home and
everything in it.

Spread the Wealth

You don’t
want to indiscriminately spread symbolic Wealth items all over your home,
because sometimes, Feng Shui symbols can clash with each other, and you don’t
want to dilute or douse another energetic area while trying to enhance
abundance energy.

Instead, find
the Wealth area of each room, seeing the room’s entrance as you do your front
door. So, the farthest left-hand part of the room corresponds to the Wealth
area, and you can place small items symbolizing wealth in these spots
throughout your home for an added boost to the Wealth energy of the entire
space.

However, you can
do some things throughout your home to keep Wealth energy from leaking away. Close
or cover all sink, tub, and shower drains when you’re not using them. Tie a red
ribbon on each of the outflowing water pipes under your sinks. Keep bathroom
doors closed and toilet lids down.

Having a
bathroom in the Wealth area of your home is considered inauspicious in
Feng Shui, but there are some things you can do if this is your situation.

Instead of
using all the enhancements described above that you would use if this were
another kind of space, make sure everything in this bathroom is in perfect
working order.

Keep the
entire room super clean, decluttered, well-lit, well-ventilated, and
well-organized (yes, even under the sink and in drawers and cupboards), and
keep the countertops as clear as possible, displaying only your favorite,
loveliest perfume bottles and skincare jars.

Add plants
and colors like green and brown, bringing in the Wood element (water feeds
wood, creating a nice balance with the abundance of the Water element).

Go for luxury
in this bathroom, using the most beautiful fixtures, linens, and accessories
possible. Remember, it’s not about quantity, but rather quality
and elegance.

Let the Good Stuff Flow

Are the
pathways on which abundance can find you blocked? Feng Shui can help open the
inflowing and outflowing of prosperity energy in your home and your life. And
yes, I said “outflowing,” because abundance does not come to you and get stuck
there. It moves through you and your life.

You want
money to buy something, which gives that money to someone else. Giving items
you may have once longed for, received, used, and loved, to others who are now
longing for them, keeps the flow moving.

Generosity is
a great form of thankfulness, and the
more you are open to letting the good stuff flow to you and through you
to others, the easier it becomes for the energy to make its way to you,
bringing your most cherished dreams, wishes, and hopes.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What can you
say about your finances beyond the basic needs? Do you want more money for
extras in your life? Are there some specific kinds of abundance you long for?
Try some of these Feng Shui enhancements and let the good stuff flow! Join in
the conversation and tell us about your Wealth experiences!

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