Are you feeling somewhat sluggish right now? Lacking sleep, indulging in food, drinks or trapped in any kind of vicious cycle of bad habits?
Despite my intimate knowledge and passion about health and wellness, I trick my own mind into giving myself a break and a carte blanche in leniency to overindulge old habits. Whether treating myself to an entire bag of little salty bites with a drink or busting out my favorite chocolates before sleep, I derive such pleasure from forbearing the forbidden. No matter how delicious, those bedtime crunchy bites made me feel bloated and kept me up all night, agonizing over my additional pounds. I then realized that I needed to stop the destructive cycle and recoup my wellness before it is too late…
In our society, the pressure is on to be fit and look good. Should we ignore the media, magazines and social media — our skinny friends reminding us that we have strayed away from the “in-shape league”? Even if we did ignore social pressures, our once friendly doctor turns into a demanding authoritarian marshal spitting the truth about our medical results. When this happens, it means that we have drifted for too long and thus our high lipids, blood sugar, liver malfunction, addiction to food or alcohol are well thriving when we are not.
So, how could we successfully intercept the destructive pattern of “dis-ease” and return to wellness before it establishes itself as a disease and makes our body its comfy permanent dwelling?
Here are the 4 crunchy, healthy bites that help me restore my health and return to a state of wellness each time I am astray from my wholeness:
1. Restore your Physical Health
We all know the importance of whole food nutrition, pure water along with good sleep and exercise. These are crucial elements that we have to try to balance in our life and get back to when one or more elements go out of whack. Many people find it beneficial to have a coach or a partner with whom they can work to keep themselves motivated to exercise and balance their diet. Don’t hesitate to recruit one or ask your friend to support you. Before you do, make sure to be clear on your goals and make them realistic, reachable and measurable with small milestones in between.
Reaching your goals may take time but don’t get discouraged and remember what all ancient traditions taught us about our body: Within the body lives an innate healing power. Once you put the necessary effort and discipline behind it, your body will take over and start repairing itself.
2. Attend to your Emotions
Emotions are at times felt as vibrational waves that we tend to ignore when they arise in our body and leave them unattended. Bottled up and negative, they could certainly create a general “dis-ease” that could lead to sickness. While modern western medicine has a good understanding of how stress can cause illness, it rarely assesses the emotional state of an individual and if so, fails to attend to it. It is our responsibility to acknowledge our emotions when they rise, honor them and allow them the space to surge. Interrupt the cycle by asking yourself “why” about your emotions: am I feeling this way based on a fact or based on my perception of the fact? Remember when things happen, they do; it is what we make of what happened that creates a negative emotion. Give yourself the space to feel a certain way. Recognize your negative emotion, accept it and allow it to surface!
3. Believe!
Trapped in your old stories? Your beliefs create your reality! Your thoughts create your actions and your repetitive actions create your core patterns. Those that are negative create your most destructive ones. When I catch myself thinking negative thoughts, I change them especially if they are not factual thus bringing myself back to a state of peace of mind.
So, believe in yourself, your goals, your talent, your purpose… Just believe! Believe it, will it and you will see it….
4. Embrace your true self
The light of Consciousness lives within us and is at the source of our being-ness. It beats a heart of intelligence uniting our true self to the higher infinite intelligence. If it is left unrecognized, we couldn’t be in touch with it. On the other hand if we are in tune with it, we can access our inner knowing and the infinite. This will lead us to balancing all our states of wellbeing and return to wellness any time we deviate from it.
Every ancient wisdom and tradition whether it is Celtic, mystic Christian, Sufi, Kabbalah, Native American, Hindu or Tibetan Buddhist, imparted us with great knowledge about the importance of our body, emotions, mind and spirit.
While the integration of these four aspects of the self is an opening that could lead us to a permanent state of wellness and peace, few of us end up taking it. Whether you take it or not, it is your own journey to wellness and it ought to be honored as well.
