The intention of this article is to highlight what I believe is our fundamental foundation for creating health and inner peace, which are synonymous– Preventative care. In my opinion, Preventative living needs more attention.
We are 100% responsible for our well being, and that means recognizing that all parts of us needs equal care—our body, spirit, and mind. We must create a plan that creates harmony within us. This means we may branch out and explore different ways of eating than we have been accustomed to growing up in our families. So, how do we take care of our physical, emotional and spiritual self in a balanced way? First and foremost by: Living Your Truth. We must be aligned with our truth in all ways to be as balanced and healthy as possible. There are many people who live very connected to spirit and ignore the physical aspect of themselves, and vice versa, there are many people who eat well but don’t find time to heal their emotions, and then there are many people in between who do a little in each area. All parts are equally important.
1. Mind care: Emotional healing
2. Physical exercise, Proper nutrition, Natural living
3. Spiritual connection, Humanitarian
Lets begin with our values (our higher truths), these act as our spiritual foundation for the way we breathe through life. First, what are you values? What are your top ten non negotiable things in your life that mean the most to you? For example: green living and being environmentally savvy may be important to you, organic eating, yoga, mother’s against drug driving, honesty, connection to spirit, or maybe cardio exercise. Take a look at your list. Are you living your list in all ways? If your spirit is hurting, than that is a sign you are not. If you are at complete peace, than halleluiah!
Living according to our values creates personal integrity. We feel good when we are living in a way that honors our spiritual truths. When we are not honoring our integrity, our spirit will not feel good- even if we are eating really nutritiously, but we fail to listen and follow in the direction of our heart- our well being can suffer. In what area of your life do you not feel good in? When we are not feeling balanced, we may have symptoms such as: depression, disease, stress, emotional conflict, anxiousness, and any physical ailment, insomnia.
To live a vibrant life filled with joy, health and happiness we need to create a life that honors all areas equally.
Mind care: Emotional practice
In this section of mind care, there are several aspects to consider: our emotional balance, energy balance and brain chemistry balance. A self-growth practice includes living life aware of your emotions, attachments, personalization’s. It begins with owning that we are 100% responsible for our thoughts, actions, words, attitude, perceptions and beliefs. We are responsible for learning how to process our emotions such as: releasing anger, past hurts, critical thinking, and learning how to flow through our life challenges with the most grace, joy and ease. Every time we are angry, hurt, insecure, traumatized, judgmental or critical this in an opportunity for going inward and explore. The more you go inward— you trust yourself and you become inner directed. With an inner journey, you are able to think outside the box, and learn what is good for you, what is for your life path, what is the meaning behind things from a higher perspective and what is Divine Truth and take action in that direction with clarity and focus. You are able to release, forgive and be your divine essence.
You have heard the statements, “Like attracts like,” or “everything has a cause and effect.” Dr. Emoto, the author of The Hidden Messages in Water, has proven through his ground breaking photographs that each thought and word has an effect in the energy around us. He has created one of the only camera’s that photographed water crystallizations. Dr. Emoto says, “Water exposed to “Thank you” formed beautiful hexagon crystals, but water exposed to the word “Fool” produced crystals similar to the water exposed to heavy-metal music, malformed and fragments. Further experimenting showed that water exposed to positive expressions like “Let’s do it!” created attractive, well –formed crystals, but that water exposed to negative expressions like “Do it!” barely formed any crystals at all. The vibration of good words has a positive effect on our world, whereas the vibration from negative words has the power to destroy.”
Donna Eden, author of Energy Medicine says, “An imprint of every important or emotionally significant event you have experienced is recorded in your chakra energy. When your energies are vibrant, so is your body.” Donna is a teacher of energy balance and I highly recommend her books. She recommends that, “people recognize their aches and pains as an energy imbalance.” Her book is filled with many energy techniques that foster health and healing.
Another aspect to consider is our brain-body connection. Dr. Eric Braverman sheds light on this in his book, The Edge Effect. This book “reveals the dramatic impact that proper brain nourishment can have on the quality of our lives. His key to longevity and well-being is balancing the brain’s four important neurotransmitters.”
At times, to change the way we have lived our whole lives, without much support, forces us to dig deep, and muster this inner courage be the paver of the path for others to follow. You learn to go through life situations with more grace and fluidity than struggle, hardship and fear. You learn to love yourself and love others.
Physical: Nutrition, Exercise & environment
As you are increasing your vibration, you have more self love; you love your whole body more. To create a harmonic balance between your spiritual body, emotional body and physical body, you organically desire more knowledge and insight on the type of foods that will bring your physical body vibration up to your emotional and spiritual vibration. You are drawn to learn about medicinal foods for the body, and eating smarter. You have a bigger appreciation for your body, earth, nature, and plants – how interconnective everything is –on a deep level; therefore you are only interested in giving your body the highest nutrient content available. Learning about foods that heal becomes a priority, versus foods that create indigestion, acid reflux, colitis, diabetes, depression, asthma, skin rashes and other diseases. With this deep understanding, you redefine how you spend your money– allocating a higher value on nutrition versus materialistic things or aesthetic services. I have heard this comment from several people, “doesn’t it cost more to eat healthy?” My response is, “You either pay now or pay later.” Meaning, you pay later with ailments, suffering, and increased medical bills.
If you’re wondering if you are eating the smartest way possible for you, you can view the latest movies on health & food, from my blog http://smileacrossyourheart.com/blog/, look at the top three links: Food Matters, Fresh, and The Beautiful Truth.
The authors of The China Study, T. Colin Campbell and Thomas Campbell say, “These findings demonstrate that a good diet is the most powerful weapon we have against disease and sickness.”
In The World Peace Diet, Will Tuttle, PH.D, “We don’t seem to realize that our economy would be far healthier if we switched to eating plant based meals.”
Over 400 years ago, in the 16th century, Luigi Cornaro wrote the book, How to Live to 100 Years, and he lived to 102, at the age of 35 he was told by doctors that if he didn’t change his course of eating, he was going to die. The author said, “I gave over the use of meats and wines as did not suit me, and chose those which by experience I found agreed well with me, taking only as much as I could easily digest, having strict regard to quantity as well as quality; and contrived matters so as never to cloy my stomach with eating or drinking and always rose from the table with a disposition to eat and drink more.”
We can choose ‘live’ food or ‘dead’ food for our cells. Dead food is such things as white bread and living food is an apple, green smoothies or salad. It’s just that simple. Cooked foods destroy both enzymes and vitamins, and raw foods, juices or smoothies- whole green vegetables and fruits give the body many enzymes, minerals and vitamins. Eating raw whole foods does not tax the system —spending many hours digesting and breaking down the food source. You will find there are categories of food groups such as: vegetarians, vegans, raw foodists, fruitarians, omnivores and now a new group called e.a.r.t.h. I dabble between the worlds of vegetarian/vegan/raw foodist and e.a.r.t.h.
The quality of the food is important too. Has it been sprayed with chemicals— toxic pesticides? Has it been transported for a week around the country or is it fresh from your local farm? Who are you supporting? Are you supporting your local organic market or farmers? Chemicals in our environment have proven to be harmful to our physical bodies. Do you use chemicals in your cleaning products or environmentally safe products? What about your hair and cosmetic products? An article on the Organic Consumer Association’s website written by Francesca Lyman, quoting “Rudel, M.S., a senior scientist with the research organization Silent Spring Institute, a non-profit research organization that studies links between the environment and women’s health. “We think the cancer establishment should be spending more money investigating the role of carcinogenic chemicals in everyday products and exposures, to build a knowledge base,” says Rudel. She faults organizations such as the American Cancer Society for focusing too much attention on treatment, to the detriment of prevention. “They need to be paying more attention to the 80,000 chemicals in use today, most of which haven’t been tested for their health effects.”
It’s never too late to change your habits. According to the book The Gerson Therapy, thousands of people have had disease reversal. And, changing your eating habits doesn’t have to be scary. You can create delicious gourmet healthy recipes that will bring you the same enjoyment. There are many qualified trained professionals that can assist you.
Physical movement & weight bearing:
The body needs to move. Movement helps eliminate toxins, strengthens and increases your flexibility, keeps your joints and fascia lubricated, releases stress, and assists with body elimination. Movement moves energy through the body. Weight bearing exercises keeps your muscles and bones strong and healthy. Cardiovascular exercises are also good to relieve stress. This must be part of your regime.
The American Heart Association says, “Regular aerobic physical activity increases your fitness level and capacity for exercise. It also plays a role in both primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.”
Spirit: Faith, connection, trust, Truth, nature, humanitarian
Our spirit is happy and vibrant when we are living and being an expression of our natural essence. When we living life disconnected to our spirit or contrary to allowing our spirit to thrive and express our true essence, our spirit is hurting and this causes disharmony. For example, if someone stays in a marriage for many years living in frustration, disappointment and feels trapped, and they believe that they have no recourse, or no way out, their spirit may be suffering, and their continual emotional discomfort, which is energy, can create a physiological disruption in the body, which alters the body’s chemistry, and can lead to some sort of disease.
Research has proven that individuals are happier and live longer lives when feeling connected to their life path, to a cause, to humanity, to others and when performing selfless service.
If we are living with a strong sense of faith, then we are most likely a positive person, believing in the concept of abundance. That means, if something goes wrong in our life, we take a deep breath, and say, “Okay, there must be a better place for my energy, there are many more opportunities for me to share my light. I trust new friends are on the horizon, I know my romantic partner exists, and There’s something for me to learn here.”
Prayer, relaxation, breathing exercise, journaling, chanting, and meditation techniques are very useful to stay connected to the divine, your intuition and yourself.
Take Your Power Back! Live healthy and happy. Create a body, spirit and mind individualized plan with your medical healthcare professional which is based on your personality, body makeup, brain chemistry and current medications. It’s important that you create a plan that is aligned with your values, make it joyful and take action. Choose extracurricular activities, environments, reading material, friendships, and careers that support your interests and spark inspiration and positivity.
Intentional Prayer: “I ask and intend to create the best body, spirit, mind balanced healthy habit plan for me. I ask for help to believe that I’m capable of this. I ask to stay open to receive information. I draw to me the information, people, and knowledge that are for my highest good for my balanced health. Please help me have the determination, trust and inspiration to live daily in a balanced, joyful and healthy way. Thank you!”
If you need help in any way, I offer my services of private telephone coaching or Skype coaching, and my inspirational book, Smile Across Your Heart, The Process of Building Self-Love. I also teach an energy balancing technique called EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. There is a wealth of information and resources available on how to naturally cure yourself of diseases. I wish you much success and big blessings!
Resources:
The Gerson Institute: http://www.gerson.org/
Hippocrates Institute: http://www.hippocratesinst.org/
Heal With Hope resource website: http://www.healwithhope.com
Organic Consumer Association: http://www.organicconsumers.org/
Laurie Martin is the author of an inspirational book, Smile Across Your Heart, The Process of Building Self- Love. Laurie is passionate about helping people live an authentic, empowered life through the heart.
Laurie is a speaker, certified life coach and writer for several magazines, including a bi-monthly “Ask Laurie” advice column in a city wide magazine. She was a regular guest for six months on Fox 4 television as their inspirational “Life Coach.”
Laurie conducts weekly Inner Wisdom interactive gatherings, and telephone classes. A large part of her message is to help others awaken to their divine essence. She has been a yoga teacher for over seven years.
Website: http://www.SmileAcrossYourHeart.com
Blog: http://www.SmileAcrossYourHeart.com/blog
Email: LaurieM@SmileAcrossYourHeart.com