Take Care of Your Body, Mind, and Spirit

Take care of your body, mind, and spirit. We've all heard it before. We know that's what we're supposed to do and for many of us, we do. For many of us we do only sometimes, and others do nothing at all. Why? What is it that stops people from making better decisions as it pertains to their body, mind and spirit?

Excuses come from all sorts of places. First you have people who say they cannot exercise because they injured something or they have some sort of medical issue. People cannot eat well because it's too expensive or they can't do so because their family eats differently. Then there is the excuse of time. Nobody has any time to do anything else. They don't have time to read or stimulate their mind. The list is endless but while these people make excuses, time passes them by.



Nobody is perfect. This is very true and even if you decide to change things in your life, I assure you, it is most likely not going to happen overnight. You're not going to go to bed being a sloth for the past several years and wake up fully motivated and ready to take full opportunity of your life the following day for the rest of your life. It does take time. It might take a lot of time but it can be done, eventually.

Some initial steps you can take to start taking care of your life:

1) Do not worry about yesterday or tomorrow. Focus on each day -- the here and now. Beating yourself up over the past does nobody any good. Worrying too much about the future will prevent you from taking action. Take each day as it comes and don't think about, "What if I fail?" or "This isn't going to work." or, "How am I going to keep doing this?"

As I mentioned before, realistically you will not change overnight but with practice, the intervals will increase and eventually things get much easier.

2) Stop feeling sorry for yourself. No more excuses. Most people get into ruts because they have been in a negative feed loop. First you feel bad or sad, then that turns to anger and ultimately self destruction. It is not productive. It's selfish. If you aren't taking care of yourself in some way then you are not contributing to life, so why should life help you out?

We all have our bad moments. In fact, you might not be able to avoid this entirely however, if you recognize that you are in a "sad" state then, go ahead and give yourself some time to be upset but limit that time, minimize it as much as you can so you can focus on solving your problems rather than compounding them.

3) Taking care of the mind requires you to use it. You need to read, to yourself or your child. Shut the tv off and read for 10 minutes, even 5 if that's all the time you think you have. Do a puzzle. You can do jigsaw puzzles or even crossword puzzles. These types of activities allow you to use your mind in some way. Writing is also helpful; so keep a journal. Write a few paragraphs about what you would like to do at the beginning of the day and then write about what you actually did do later on that day. Keeping a journal is a great way of staying on track and reviewing your progress.

4) Exercise. Do a bit of stretching. If you haven't exercised for quite some time, stretching is the best way to get started. Look up some yoga moves on YouTube or another website if you have to. Yoga is a great way to exercise as well as stretch the muscles in your body. It also burns calories. If you are looking for a workout, you can find them everywhere. Chose one that includes weight lifting but go with free weights and small intervals of aerobics.

Ever wonder why sprinters look more lean compared to those that run long distance? It's because sprinters are moving fast and for short intervals; this type of exercise method will burn calories long after you are done, whereas long periods of aerobics only burn calories while exercising and puts your body into a fat storing mode after you are done. So, you want to do very fast movements in very short intervals of time for the best and quickest results. Running fast in place for 60 seconds works great. Hold your breath too; this will help you move even faster.

Exercising does not need to take too much of your time. Just start out small with 10 minutes a day. Once you start noticing results, you'll desire to commit more time.

5) Prayer and/or meditation. You must connect with your higher power. You must connect with your inner self. Praying has been known for centuries to work wonders and miracles in people's lives. Praying and meditating allows your mind to slow down and reflect on your life and really tap into what is truly important. It helps relieve stress and can help calm your mind just enough to allow solutions to issues come into your mind.

Prayer to the Lord is rewarding because it allows you an opportunity to form a deeper relationship with the Lord. Ask for help; ask for anything you like but most of all express your gratitude. Showing gratitude for your life can allow you to receive even more gifts to be grateful for.

If you do not practice meditation now, you might have to take a leap of faith. You might even become frustrated but do not give up. Just sit somewhere quietly, close your eyes, and try to think of nothing but relaxing your entire body from the tips of your toes to the top of you head. Again, all this takes is about five minutes. In time you will be able to relax very quickly and may even begin to meditate for much longer periods of time. Even better, you can combine yoga with your meditation providing you with exceptional results.

6) Eat right. For many of us we have fairly horrible diets. Obviously being a vegetarian, I promote this type of diet because of the many, many benefits that come from not eating meat. In reality however, not everyone is willing to listen to me. In fact, most people enjoy eating meat so if this is you, allow me to offer you some advice. Try not to make meat the majority of your meal. Keep your portions small and keep red meat to a minimum. I would avoid any and all pork; this is the dirtiest meat you can consume but if you must, try to only eat small portions.

Eat fruit and vegetables. Get a juicer if you must. This might help you consume these foods if you are not used to eating them the way you should.

Drink water. Cut out soda or work towards cutting it out altogether. It's horrible for you. In the morning, slice a fresh lemon and squeeze the fresh juice into your water. Doing this can help curtail your appetite.

As with everything, start out making small changes and work from there. If you have a bad day, that's okay because tomorrow is another day so stay focused day by day.