This Year Let’s Resolve to Keep Ourselves Healthy

I just read an article written by Denis Waitley entitled, Keeping Yourself Healthy.  Mr. Waitley begins with the advice to whistle while you work.  Or in other words do your work with a smile on your face and a song in your heart expecting the best.  Positive self-expectancy brings positive benefits.  He writes of  seven principles.  If you put them to use every day you will super-charge your physical  well-being.

1.  Learn to listen to your body.  Learn to tell the difference between genuine physical requirements and mere wants or cravings.  If you are out walking on a hot day and your throat is parched, you really need a drink of water.  But if you’re just passing through the kitchen and  spy a tasty chocolate chip cookie, that’s something else again.  Eat when you’re hungry only.  According to Dr. Ozz a good way to tell if you are hungry or just having a food craving is to give yourself the apple test.  Ask yourself if an apple would taste good.  If you are hungry; yes, the apple would taste good.  But if you’re having a food craving the answer will be, “No, I’d rather have the cookie or whatever you’re craving.”  So eat whenever an apple would taste good, drink when you’re thirsty, and sleep when you’re tired.

2.  Live in the present moment.  Sieze the day!  Many times we’ve heard athletic coaches talk about playing one game at a time?  This sounds like a clich’e but is very sound advice.  You cannot re-live yesterday and you cannot live in the future.  Be alert for the opportunities that present themselves today.  Don’t get so caught up in the “woulda, coulda, shoulda, and someday I’ll” that you miss the opportunities of today.  In nature the trees, the flowers, and the animals are all sharply focused on being exactly what they are at the present moment.  If we can just learn that lesson, if we can just let go of regret and fear, we take a huge step toward physical and emotional health

3.  Learn to manage your energy.  This means being alert and focused when it’s called for and relaxed and calm when the opportunity presents itself.  The story of Jim Brown one of the greatest running backs in football history is a great example.  He had the ability to manage his energy extremely efficiently.  After being tackled, Brown used to get off the ground so slowly that you were sure he must have been severely injured.  He would shuffle back to the huddle like a man badly in need of medical attention.  But of course, this was all a deception.  Brown was resting when he had the chance to rest;  when he carried the ball again, he was like a runaway locomotive.  This kind of self-management is characteristic of all peak performers.  Learn to practice it in every area of your life.

4.  Resist the ever-present temptations of anger and vindictiveness. Everyone has a million good reasons to be angry, but healthy and successful people find equally compelling reasons to be calm and happy.  The physiological effects of anger on our health has been well documented.  But aside from the havok anger brings to your health, anger is simply unpleasant for everyone around.  We all admire those who remain calm and pleasant amid trying circumstances.  Cultivate that calm and happy attitude.  Let go of anger and you’ll live well and long.

5.  Find your own values and live by them.  Every day we absorb scores of messages telling us what to wear, what to eat, what to drive, what to feel and what to think.  You are a unique gift God has given to the world.  Have the courage to be yourself.  Do what you choose to do based on your own inner values .  Never do anything just because someone else wants you to do it.  Don’t try to live anyone else’s dreams but live your own.

6.  Learn to take off your judicial robes.  At some level, each of us feels we ought to rule the world.  As kings or queens of creation, we would quickly straighten out everybody’s mistakes and put things in good order.  We all feel this way, but the wisest and healthiest recognize those feelings for the childish and superficial impulses they are.  Condemning others is really an attempt to bring the rest of the world down to a level at which we see ourselves.  The healthy solution is to raise our consciousness to a point where we enjoy being who we choose to be and let eyeryone else live their own lives without our judgment.

7.  Trust that things always work out for the best.  Do your problems seem overwhelming today?  Well, two or three years ago, your problems probably felt the same way, but now you most likely can’t even remember what they were.  Trust the unfolding of life.  The possibilities for happiness and success are without limit.  Nothing in this world is static.  Everything is in a constant state of flux and life’s problems can and often do change in an instant.

Good health is one of life’s greatest gifts and  learning to live by these seven principles can go a long way to living a long, successful and happy life.

For now, Earynn’s just sayin’

http://earlynnsjustsayin.org/daily-inspirational-thought-3/