Meditation is a great stress reducer. You can meditate for a few minutes or even just thirty seconds. You don't need any tools other than yourself, and you can meditate anywhere!

In times of stress, taking a moment to clear your head, control your anxiety and increase your self-awareness makes a huge difference. During a natural disaster, there can be a lot of uncertainties. One aspect of disaster preparation you can certainly count on before, during and after is stress-reducing mental exercise. 

Essential oils and aromatherapy have been used for thousands of years as a way to improve sleep, relax moods and muscles, and even cure certain ailments. Inhaling essential oils can trigger stress relief and different memories for different individuals. Absorbing essential oils through the skin can carry treatment throughout your body via the bloodstream.

Decide which smells and reliefs you want most and create your own natural remedies. Then add them to your Wellness Kit. Consider placing a favorite combo in your kids' Wellness Kits as well.

You naturally have a baseline of happiness, but you can move the meter fairly far on your own. Try creating a routine or ritual around any of these suggestions and see if you can establish some new happiness rituals.

Remember, doing things like smiling and saying hi to people, writing in a gratitude journal, saying thank you, and doing a random acts of kindness are happiness multipliers. You have so much power to share happiness. So do it!

Why do you resist what’s good for you?

Maybe you want to exercise more but can always find reasons not to. Maybe you know you need to spend less time checking email and more time with your family but continue to find yourself distracted.

Preparing for natural disasters makes sense. It’s important and makes a huge difference when the unexpected occurs. Yet, could you truly say you’re prepared for a natural disaster?

When we know we should do something but haven’t, what holds us back?

Five minutes—the time it takes to make a pot of coffee, drive through a carwash, load the dishwasher. Our lives are full of little five minute segments. Every day they tick-tock by. Mundane. Average. Ordinary.

Now, imagine your life changing. Forever.
In 5 minutes.

Disaster preparation is often type-casted as too extreme or too much work. The first steps can feel intimidating or overwhelming. When you know natural disasters have or could occur in your area, where do you start? 

Terra Frma understands these feelings of resistance. We have built our entire system based on understanding feelings of resistance. None of us want to do tasks that make us feel like we might fail, like we might do a poor job, or that we simply don't like doing. The good news is you can learn from these thoughts of pessimism and feelings of uncertainty.