A while back I was thinking of a more holistic way of working out, cardio, eating, sleeping and all those other tasks that we do that are really more an idea of wellness than anything else.
I was thinking that there needs to be a way to break all of these down and put them together in one place and this is the result. Nine bodyparts to a better life.
Your Head, think about what you want and move towards it
Everyday we have several opportunities to make a change for the better, the worse or just say the same and everytime we make a decision in one of these directions.
At breakfast you could have oatmeal, or toast and jam, or you could have a coffee and a donut, your decision could often be better. When you get to work you could take the elevator only part way and climb a few flights in the very empty stairwell or you could choose to take an elevator to your floor.
Don’t feel too terribly bad about all of your decisions as you should know that not many others are making a great decision every time either. I ride my bike to work every day and in a building of 1000 people I am one of three bike riders.
Look at these decisions one at a time and if it is a little easier carry around a notebook and write down things to do better. Try to resolve today to just do a few things a little better than you did yesterday.
Your Heart, have passion in your life
There was movie a few years ago called ‘Pay It Forward’ where the child in the movie gave something to a homeless man with the explicit command that he had to pay it forward.
Pay it forward means that you do good things for others with the expectation that they will follow through and do good things for others as well. This is the way that great societies invigorate and continue to revitalize themselves. What are you doing through work of the heart to make things better for the others around you?
Can you send an uplifting email to someone you have not seen in a while? Can you send flowers to an enemy, anonymously? Can you make sure that your family knows today as well as tomorrow that you love them? Resolve today to think of the feelings of others more often
Your Mouth, be careful of what you put in your mouth
Try to look at all of the food going into your mouth. Are you eating a lot of fatty foods that your body will have to fight to digest? Are you eating a lot of sugar that is making you THINK that you have a lot of energy?
Are you drinking a lot of water instead of pop or coffee? And finally are you eating a lot of nice clean food, fruits, vegetables and lean meats? Changes in our diet are often hard but we forget about that after a week or so when we are feeling better than we have felt for years and have energy to burn to do great things with our life.
And again the water, your mouth waters when you think about food for a reason, we need lots of water to help us digest and to keep our metabolism at an even keel
Your Arms, make sure you do exercise with your arms
Anytime that you exercise with your arms you are doing more work than usual. Riding a bike you use you arms to steer, playing tennis you are using your arms to toss and swing, swimming you are using your arms to propel yourself.
You can see also that anytime you use your arms you are more engaged in the activity. I always think of sports that you use your arms in as being a lot more fun.
Your Legs, make sure you do exercise with your legs
Your legs are the part of your body that propels you. The biggest muscles in your body are in your legs and they are the key to improving your fitness.
If you get started using your legs more you will be stronger, no overnight but in as soon as a week.
You should begin by taking a leisurely walk for a half an hour in the morning or evening and then move up to a faster pace, a longer time or both and before you know it you are looking forward to that quiet time as well as feeling great before, during and after your exercise.
Your Eyes, see what is possible
Some people look at changes in their lifestyle as being impossible, do not do that! Have some passion in living a better life. Too often we see people living a life of common destiny where they live within the lowest common standards. What if you stopped watching TV every night?
What if instead of just reading a book you wrote one instead? What if you woke up one hour earlier in the morning every day and had some quiet time and a great workout while listening to music that only teenagers are supposed to listen to.
Look at everything in your surroundings. What is possible? what are others doing? What do you currently think is possible? Just as we can make a decision on what we eat and what we do we can also go out and change our lives by making changes that we have seen. Any expectations that we have are ours alone.
Today remember that we can do whatever we want just by deciding that ‘Yes, today I will see this as possible and do it now!’
Your Ears, hear everything and move the info to your head
Listen to your surroundings; make sure that you are listening and not just interpreting what you want to hear. The truth is only our perception of the stories we hear and the things that we believe we have seen.
Make sure that today you try to hear the other persons point of view and instead of thinking of a response in a disagreement try instead to see why the other person it thinking the way she is.
Your Stomach, your abs are the key to your core strength
Most people hate situps, there is something really uncomfortable about cramping up your stomach to get a stomach exercise to work. Instead of situps always do crunches, a crunch is done by putting your lower legs up on a chair, lying down like for a situp and then just raising your shoulders a few inches off of the floor.
After you do this a few times you will feel it in your gut but over a couple of weeks of doing this three times a week you will feel much stronger and your posture and breathing will improve immensely.
Your Back, lie back and relax
Always take the time to lie back and relax. Sleep is always important especially when the regular and irregular stresses of life get you down or drive you crazy.
Another important thing to do is just to lie back in a quiet room or a field or in the car on the side of the road and just let all of the stresses of life wash away.
Think of the ways to fix for your life’s problems not when you are trying to fall asleep but after dinner on the couch or while lying in the backyard under a warm sun when you don’t have anything pressing that needs to be done.
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