How to Safely Travel Internationally during Covid 19 - United States to ...

🌺🙏 In How to Safely Travel Internationally during Covid 19 - United States to Europe roundtrip, I go over my experience of traveling to Portugal from a train to an airplane, what you will need, how to prepare (what type of Covid test to take) and share tips on keeping you safe while you travel from keeping your hands free to sanitizing your space and maintaining social distancing. I will also go over how I unwind best on a plane. On the way back, I also had to stay in a hotel, will share some tips on that too and how long I quarantined and took another coronavirus test at my destination. 👉https://youtu.be/fTcfMXGxGO0

10 Christmas Essential Oils You Can Diffuse at Home this Season

🌺🙏 In 10 Christmas Essential Oils You Can Diffuse at Home this Season, I pick 10 essential oils perfect for the Christmas holiday season that you can diffuse at home to enhance the holiday spirit and bring about warm, soothing and relaxing aromas with versatile essential oil diffuser blends. From cinnamon to clove to the firs, you will have a holiday diffuser blend that is perfect for the season. 👉https://youtu.be/r8bQ87EOlWE

How to Use Frankincense Essential Oil for the Body, Mind and Spirit

Guess what I did a video on? Can you go like it and please leave a comment on there and share it on your social media, please?

🌺🙏 In How to Use Frankincense Essential Oil for the Body, Mind and Spirit, I, go over what Frankincense is, its history and uses, how you can use it today for your spirit and mind (meditation, stress management and sleep) as well as your body (skin, immune support and more).  

👉https://youtu.be/9_4KH62RE30

Top 20 Benefits of Lavender Essential Oil & How You Should Use It

New Video on LAVENDER! In the Top 20 Benefits of Lavender Essential Oil & How You Should Use It, I go over 20 of the top benefits of Lavender essential oil, some easy DIYs and easy ways to incorporate lavender essential oil for calm, stress management, sleep, skin, hair, and so much more. https://youtu.be/tVe223YnD0w

Let me know what you think. Has any of it been a surprise for you in this video? Comment on the channel directly! I would appreciate it greatly.

5 Essential Oils to Express and Enhance Gratitude

Hi All, I hope you had a nice holiday. In honor of Thanksgiving and for all the things I am thankful for this year, I did this video that I just published. Let me know what you think.

In 5 Essential Oils to Express and Enhance Gratitude, I go over my favorite essential oil and oil blends to express and enhance your gratitude practice, go through gratitude affirmations and prompts and express your feelings of thankfulness during Thanksgiving times and beyond. You can combine essential oils to express your gratitude for your present and for your future and start manifesting some of your wishes. https://youtu.be/uIHn4FpSb5A

4 Best Nontoxic DIY Cleaners for the Home to Dust, Clean Wood and Vacuum

In 4 Best Nontoxic DIY Cleaners for the Home to Dust, Clean Wood and Vacuum, I show you how to make 4 (really 7) DIY green cleaners with essential oils and other natural ingredients for the home from dusting to cleaning your hardwood floors, polishing and cleaning wood furniture and pieces, and scent your carpet or rug with nontoxic options, so you or your loved ones do not have to cough up a lung.

https://youtu.be/FlU_GeuVEj8

9 Benefits of Essential Oils in the Bedroom

🌺🙏 In 9 Benefits of Essential Oils in the Bedroom, I go over 9 benefits of having essential oils in your bedroom from sleeping and scenting to massages and enhancing intimacy. Essential oils are a natural way to dramatically improve the quality of your health and your life without the toxicity and hasrshful chemicals. https://youtu.be/EM2uyowgbKw

How to Write Your Way Out of Stress and Anxiety with Bonus Prompts Going...

Anybody stressed out?? 🌺🙏 In How to Write Your Way Out of Stress and Anxiety with Bonus Prompts Going into 2021, I go over a list of tips for you to write your way out of stress and anxiety from journaling to writing about your fears so you can be free of them with the practice of writing. It might seem hard at first, but I will give a plethora of prompts to aid you in reducing your stress, appeasing your fears and soothe your anxieties. 

👉 https://youtu.be/W2xqon9wdYU

5 Easy Writing Prompts to Boost your Self Confidence and Quiet the Haters

🌺🙏 In 5 Easy Writing Prompts to Boost your Self Confidence and Quiet the Haters, I, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials, give you 5 writing prompts to boost your self confidence and help you develop a self esteem habit through writing. Whether it's prose or poetry, you will be able to gain self confidence on paper and develop your inner voice with these writing exercises. Your self esteem will skyrocket! You can do it!

https://youtu.be/LVTzoIY1Fy8

9 Tips on How to Handle Pet Grief to Minimize the Pain of Loss and the P...

🌺🙏 In 9 Tips on How to Handle Pet Grief to Minimize the Pain of Loss and the Pang of Guilt, I, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials, go over the stress of pet grieving, namely my experience of losing a pet, how I have dealt with pet grief, and the 9 ways that can help you cope with pet loss and pet loss guilt.

https://youtu.be/ogVc9DmNHv4

4 Bathroom Cleaners to Stop Buying that You Can Make at Home Using Essen...

🌺🙏 In 4 Bathroom Cleaners to Stop Buying that You Can Make at Home Using Essential Oils (nontoxic + safe), I, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials, go over the 4 green cleaners you can make at home that will save you money and your health! DIYs for bathroom cleaning can be super easy and these 4 natural bathroom cleaners have very limited ingredients, are easy to make, and I also show you which containers and accessories I use. You do not need ingredients that make you cough and your eyes water or emit toxic fumes!! It doesn't have to be complicated and the toughest thing will be the actual elbow grease that you will need to clean your bathroom!! 🚽🚿🛁

👉👉 https://youtu.be/p_A3FMMP1LU

4 Kitchen Cleaners You must Stop Buying at the Store and Start Making (c...

🌺🙏 In 4 Kitchen Cleaners You must Stop Buying at the Store and Start Making (cheaper, safer + nontoxic), I, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials, show you how to make 4 basic kitchen non-toxic cleaners, with variations and a Bonus 5th cleaner. Green cleaning DIYs never looked so easy and they will save your pocketbook some cash and will not generate toxic fumes for your home or your lungs!

Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer with Essential Oils

🌺🙏 In Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer with Essential Oils, I go over why you should be making your own nontoxic hand sanitizer, how easy it is, how you can save money doing it and what 4 ingredients go in it and why. Whether you keep your hand sanitizer in your purse and use it in between running errands, spraying door handles and shopping carts, having the best ingredients will save your hands from getting dry.

How to Protect Yourself from Covid-19 when Going to the Doctor

🌺🙏 In How to Protect Yourself from Covid-19 when Going to the Doctor, I, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials, talk about the stress of going to the doctor, how to avoid it if you can, how to stay safe at the doctor's office and the several ways you can protect yourself from getting COVID-19. I share my experiences of going to see the doctor several times and what I did to protect myself, including the mistakes I made. If you haven't subscribed, please do so!

👉https://youtu.be/TMdkuz0uXdY

13 Things Women Can Do to Cope with Migraines Naturally in 2020

In 13 Things Women Can Do to Cope with Migraines Naturally in 2020, I, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials, go over the alarming statistics of migraines, my journey with migraines, and the 13 ways I have tried to cope with migraines naturally from ice to essential oils to acupuncture. Maybe one of these ways will be new to you or your loved one who suffers from debilitating migraine attacks.

Why Essential Oils are so bad for you in 2020 and what to Research instead

🌺🙏 In Why Essential Oils are so bad for you in 2020 and what to Research instead, I, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials, go over how in stressful times, we may look to natural solutions, one of which being essential oils. I explore the current trend that essential oils are, why they are bad for you, and how to pick an essential oil company. I also cover what adulteration is, and where not to buy essential oils.

Top 8 Essential Oils for Anxious Feelings

🌺🙏 In the Top 8 Essential Oils for Anxious Feelings, I, Mónica Fernandes, cover a plethora of reasons why you can experience anxious feelings, how essential oils have helped me with emotions, my Top 8 Essential Oils for Anxious Feelings and how to use them.

These 8 oils are natural solutions for you to deal with stress and crisis, they are simple ways to de-stress and reduce anxiety, so you can feel more like yourself and be able to better manage stress.

👉 https://youtu.be/_jUncLqN6WE



Please let me know what other content you'd like me to cover!

How to Tackle 9 Types of Pandemic Stress

🙌💕 In How to Tackle 9 Types of Pandemic Stress, I cover the 9 different types of pandemic stress you may be experiencing during COVID-19. I share self care tips, ways to de-stress, reduce your stress and anxiety levels, and not feel so anxious and overwhelmed during these challenging times. Let me know what you think.



https://youtu.be/Y8h8wke73hM

5 Ways Women Can Manage Stress at Work in 2020 Part 2

NEW - PART 2 airs NOW 🌺🙏 5 Ways Women Can Manage Stress at Work in 2020 Part 2 is part of the series "How to Deal with Stress and Crisis" of Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials. HR guru Jessie Wilkie shares her 5 ways to manage and reduce stress at work in 2020, whether it's in pandemic times or not.🔥 https://youtu.be/D1WBGvwWVE8



Let me know which tip Jessie shares you resonate the best with.

5 Ways Women can Manage stress at Work in 2020 Part 1

🌺🙏 5 Ways Women can Manage stress at Work in 2020 Part 1 is part of the series "How to Deal with Stress and Crisis" of Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials. We learn from HR guru Jessie Wilkie on how to manage and reduce stress at work in 2020. Jessie and I go over different scenarios that can produce workplace stress, whether it's in pandemic times or not.



Jessie and I are also going LIVE on Facebook today at 2 PM to tackle 8 Ways Work can Stress YOU Out!

https://www.facebook.com/events/697914084125322/

How can Couples Struggling Support Each Other during Pandemic Times

🌺🙏 In How can Couples Struggling Support Each Other during Pandemic Time, I have a conversation with licensed mental health clinician Gina Rezendes about the struggles of couples during pandemic or challenging times, and address several ways on how to improve the relationship with your partner.

How to Overcome the Stress of Job Transition from Corporate to Entrepren...

👙 In this video, we learn from Lana Medurić on How to Overcome the Stress of Job Transition from Corporate to Entrepreneurship, whether it's in pandemic times or not. Lana went from corporate human resources management to becoming a bikini designer and fully immerse herself in her new company Abacaxi Keeni. She shares with us some advice on making that jump.

What Essential Oils to Use when your Cat is Sick in 2020

🌺🙏 In What Essential Oils to Use when your Cat is Sick in 2020, I go over my cat Lucky's journey of being diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and what essential oils I use on him. I give some basic information on how much, where and which essentials to apply on cats. I list off common ailments cats may have and how you can support your fur baby with essential oils.

👉👉https://youtu.be/cHqy_NRJSZc

How to Make a Transition Career Move after Being Laid Off during a Pande...

🎈NEW VIDEO How to Make a Transition Career Move after Being Laid Off during a Pandemic in 2020.
In this video, we hear career advice from recruiter Barbara Indiaan, a talent acquisition specialist on How to Make a Transition Career Move after Being Laid Off during a Pandemic in 2020, whether it's in pandemic times or not. Barbara talks about the reasons one might change careers, how to go about it and how to prepare accordingly. She gives specific tips on how you can make a career change.

Top 5 Essential Oils for Sleeping Soundly and Longer

Hey Guys! Check out my new video!
🌺🙏 In Top 5 Essential Oils for Sleeping Soundly and Longer, Monica Fernandes with Evolution Essentials discusses what essential oils are good for sleep. Monica goes over which essential oils to put in your diffuser, some deep sleep essential oil blends and she goes through each of the top 5, plus 2 bonus ones, that means her favorite 7 essential oils to help you sleep.

Will you change a life?

With everything that is going on in the world right now, I feel life has greatly shifted. The past few months with COVID-19, the world has stopped in mushroomed attempts to put out this invisible fire. I felt the calling to help. With a compromised immune system, my options were limited, so I thought about reaching out to friends in different continents, different countries and ask them how they were dealing with stress in times of crisis. You see, these friends and networking contacts are experts in their fields: from doctors and life coaches to teachers, healers and business managers.

The strangest thing happened though: I thought their advice would overlap and that they would have the same stress-reducing tips. Boy was I wrong. I realized through this process that because everyone is unique, that they are also unique on how they deal with stress. Some turn to music or nature, others to meditation or exercise. The list is really endless. And speaking of lists, a few even talked about lists: gratitude lists, to-do lists, 6-12 months plan for a future crisis.

https://youtu.be/vA7dPNCRRKk

I will be forever grateful for these generous souls who took the time in their day to chat with me over Zoom. My technological learning curve is steep: not because I wanted it to be, but because I realized that for me to help those that are having a hard time, struggling with stress and overwhelm during the coronavirus months, and probably in the aftermath, I needed to grow my brand new channel. These Evolution Talks, as I named them, are part of this series of How to Deal with Stress and Crisis, and for them to be useful, I need your help.

I need your help in sharing the channel. I am not a celebrity, and my reach is limited. So, if you share it with your loved ones, friends and communities, and someone you know watches it and they are secretly struggling with pandemic stress, they might feel inspired or not alone, or maybe they take one of those tips and implement it into their routine, it could change a life. Will you help me change one life?

Here is the link to my YouTube Channel: https://rb.gy/lwmt9d

You will be in my gratitude list. Thank you.

When the crisis is over

How do you define yourself before, during and after a pandemic?

I can’t say that the common person was prepared or even thought about the possibility of one occurring. I bet lots of people who weren’t paying attention in school won't even remember that 1918 saw a pandemic. 1918 seems so long ago, over 100 years and so much has changed since then. The world had seen its first World War, and we had a second one, even more devastating.

Watch this episode to make sense of all of it

It seems like the more time goes by, man finds ways to be more belligerent and assert his power over others. Boasting this unrepentant superiority complex, we are not civilized at all. We consider ourselves to be the top of the food chain, but we treat others and the planet worse than any other species. We also suffer from selective memory as humanity as a whole obliterates much of the good it creates by harming others and nature. Nature that has given us so much bounty; nature, our savior, can also be our destroyer.

Why is COVID-19 happening? Why now? I am not talking about where it came from but referring to its existential cause. Could it be nature’s way of teaching us a lesson? Our karmic destiny? Will we change as a consequence? Will our leaders reassess priorities? It would certainly be the right time to do so.

There are many occasions I can be a positive person, but I fear, in this case, my skepticism is king. I fear that the powerful will, more than ever, want to hold on to it, and this carelessness about the future of the select few who could make drastic fundamental change will be guided by fear and the obsession with power, control and greed.

If this pandemic taught us anything positive thus far is that we are much more dependent on one another and that together we can really make a difference, even if our togetherness seems skewed and mostly done virtually. The commonality of love for others has propelled the essential workers to become superheroes and this planet may propel others to make changes, but is it strong enough or will others resume their selfish isolationist ways, where survival of the fittest is at the core of a species that cannot learn from catastrophe to save itself?

As we take our time to connect with our loved ones in different ways, I feel more than ever called to make some changes. I feel lots brewing in my brain, a cauldron of ideas spinning, and I have faith I am not the only one. Hope and love will always trump fear and hate.

Time, Gratitude and Daniela Ruah

Time is fleeting. It has been two months since any words made the page, except when my 19-year old cat had an emergency and we ended up making several trips to the vet.

As we (most of us, minus all the incredible essential workers tirelessly working during a pandemic) are all safe in our own homes, I reflect on how we all need connection, especially when our connections with others can only be made in words, calls and video communications.

For weeks, I have thought of the mental state of people and the psychological aftermath of COVID-19.

It’s at these times that the fear monster thrives and feeds off our worries, sucks our energy to the point of oblivion, making some of us apathetic, sad, anxious and desperate as if light could not permeate the avalanche of negative thoughts. We are bombarded by the daunting numbers and stories around the world. It's not easy.

Our minds are so powerful though. As fast as our spirit can feel dimmed, our thoughts can navigate us to more positive shores. We are the captains of our minds and we must accept the lack of control we have towards the virus itself. The extent of our control is in our actions of safety in quarantining, social distancing, washing our hands, using masks, and following other guidelines. We must focus on the things we can do and how we can wheel our actions to plant seeds of positivity.

The secret is focus. Focus on gratitude, on what we have and make an extra effort outward to connect with our loved ones virtually. When we focus on the love, the fear cannot penetrate. It will die, just as one day so will this virus.

Take the time that you have to be and to do, if so inclined. Remember to nurture yourself well: you have the chance to feed your body with beautiful foods, hydrate and rest. If sleep is not coming, try to quiet your mind with meditation, prayer, music and whatever else calms you. For me, it’s diffusing my essential oils, reiki and writing. Sometimes, I write just gibberish, other times, I do create something with words. Sow masks to donate, as I just saw on Instagram Portuguese-American actress Daniella Ruah do! I am a distant cousin of hers, according to my mother. Unfortunately, I do not have her sowing talent. Paint or draw if you love that. My friend Paula has the painting talent and her flowers on canvas are just spectacular. Exercise, move, get some fresh air, whether it’s opening a window or going outside responsibly. Make a call, connect, rearrange your closet or your house. Cook what you have always dreamed of.

In the meantime, I wish you all the best. If you shop online, make sure you leave the boxes outside and bring the contents to disinfect before allocating them. Stay safe and stay home, if you are not an essential worker. If you are an essential worker, I thank you for all that you do. My heart goes to the families of loved ones who have been affected by the pandemic. Remember, wherever you are, breathe. Do it again. Be grateful.

Are you crazy?

I heard that question a lot before I moved. I heard it from friends and family. If some of them had listened, they would have heard me talk over the years about how I would love to live near the beach and how I was sick and tired of shoveling snow.

When the snow fell during New England winters, especially when we would be hit by Nor’easters or some terrifying blizzard, I would be alone. My cats would not help me stock the house with wood. I kept the wood in the little shed in my front yard (the one with a red door I had painted a few years before), where I always would have to shovel a path to as the other main door was not near the driveway and the areas that would commonly get plowed or shoveled. I had to make sure there would be a path of access in case of, God forbid, loss of power. When you have low temperatures for months in a row, your oil bill skyrockets because your heating system is working hard to maintain your house warm, or at least to keep the heat in. Air circulation can be poor, as it is too cold to open a window and if you did, you might as well be throwing hundred-dollar bills out of it. I definitely do not miss those $600 bills every three weeks. Yes, the air gets stagnant and dry and your skin and lungs feel it deeply.

Unless you have lived it, you cannot judge how it feels or try to project on me some sort of notion that I should stay in the same place. On top of it all, I was going to be taken out of my Comfort Zone in the sense that I didn’t really know where I would ultimately end up.

Yes, it was scary to think that I would leave my network of friends and familiar surroundings. It was daunting to know that most likely what I could create as a home elsewhere would not be the same as my home of the last ten years. It was a huge risk, financially, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, to move over a thousand miles away, put my stuff in storage, drive down with a car full of stuff, my two cat babies and find a place to live with my partner of 2.5 years at the time when we had not lived together before then.

I found myself in a one-bedroom apartment on an island right on the beach thinking to myself: “if this doesn’t work with him, I will probably know pretty quickly.” They were close quarters and we were tired of being on hyperdrive mode moving from hotel room to hotel room in different cities every few days. It was stressful but it didn’t feel daunting. I knew this was the person for me, but there was always a sliver of a chance that we wouldn’t live well together. At this stage in our lives, people are settled in their own ways. The routines and the habits are established. But I had faith and I had hope.

After one week, I relished in the fact that even though we hated our full size bed in our rental (he’s almost 6’4 ft or 1.95 m) and I am not little either, I was living my dream of being near the beach and we were getting along better than I could have ever imagined. Even though I knew in my soul that we made a good team, the “what if” nagging possibility of a total bust was there. I knew then I had made the right choice, despite the sacrifice of leaving my loved ones and risking everything. Embarking into the Discomfort Zone, as my friend Pilar so eloquently puts it, and into the waters of the Learning Zone and landing on the Growth Zone where you live your dream.

There were still lots of challenges ahead: missing my loved ones was in store, we had to area hunt, house hunt and find a more permanent home, which we did six months later. I was looking forward to exploring.

We have now been in our home for 2.5 months, and we are steadily settling in. I still miss my friends, more than they could ever know. Now I have the opportunity to start over in a new place and I am looking forward to more discoveries. Not only of new places, people and experiences, but of myself.