My status

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Change --- We could all use a little....




Earlier this year right after my birthday, (2/20) --- I decided that I needed to make another change in my life. Not any convicting medical discoveries, nor painful realizations helped spark this new path, just something within my spirit that urged me to modify my habits.

Each morning I sit for about 15 minutes in silence and just meditate --- try to clear my head, let go of all of the voices, the responsibility, the burdens of being an adult in general, and just breathe. It helps ground my spirit for the day, and I have noticed that I am calmer, and generally much more patient & less reactive to the world around me. I am actually more aware, focused & instead of being a coiled up stress spring ready to pounce, I am just more reflective & contemplate my responses a little more intelligently.

Alas, that is not the only change I am referring to!

I changed my eating habits. Flax Seed, Omega3s, vegetables & non-processed foods all
became options that I choose to savor now instead of any processed, refined or artificial foods. I decided to close the door on all meats & get my protein from either yogurt or fresh seafood. Now, this is not a radical shift for me as I felt that most of the time I did eat "healthy" --- but I just wanted to eliminate the impurities from my life...stripping down the layers of disease and empty calories which did not provide anything but fat & slow eventual bodily decay.

Taking an honest look at your own life, understanding how food can influence your day-to-day processes, your emotional and physical well-being --- it finally clicked and made so much more sense. I never really understood all of the hoopla about this
fad, this diet, this new age food book, and I still don't subscribe to those "bestselling buy-me, I will change your life" books.

If you ever truly change anything, trust me...a book won't be the reason why.
Change has to flow from a deeper part of your soul, a deeper, richer more spiritual
side of your life. It cannot simply be about the threats of living with the weight, the lung disease, the diabetes...it has to be because you choose a different path. That you choose to live better, not just live.

You seriously take the time to listen to your body, find out what it takes to be one
with life and decide to be truly happy. Not letting your vices fool you into happiness, but strip away the layers & simply get back to basics. Today, I eat 1/3 of what I used to eat 10 years ago, probably just 5 years ago.

I eat to live, I eat to nourish my blood, feed my organs, to heal my body, to enrich my mind...not to replace something emotional that is lacking in my life, not out of habit, not out of desperation nor stress.

I can feel the wheels of this change starting to have a positive impact on my life, but it takes time to cleanse your body out of the routine of all of the unnecessary chemicals, colors/dyes, preservatives, fillers & false promises.

For now, I am content and at peace with my path & my life. I was always seeking something so much larger outside of myself to "show me the path", "send me a sign" and it really just took, looking inward to my own soul and listening instead of watching, believing instead of speaking...doing it for myself instead of waiting for someone else to guide me.

Find something today that you can do to inspire a change in your own life.

When you're finished changing, you're finished - Ben Franklin