HABITS CHANGE INTO CHARACTER – Feature Article JANUARY 2019
I’ve decided my 2019 will start February 1st. January was a trial month. While preparing a list of things I want to conquer this year, I was reminded Habits Change into Character.
Healthy habits are meaningful no matter when you start them! It doesn’t have to be a new year for you to turn over a new leaf. Practice the habits that serve you best.
Healthy habits include anything that you do to benefit your physical, mental, or emotional well-being. When put together, these habits help create a framework for a healthy life.
If you are not used to living a healthy lifestyle, these habits can be difficult to develop, because you have to alter your mindset a bit and even change up your daily schedule.
However, if you are ready to become committed to improving your health, creating healthy habits can greatly benefit you in the long run.
The temptation to take the easy road is always there. It is as easy as staying in bed in the morning and sleeping in or continuing in the same old habit patterns yielding the same results, also known as “insanity”. But healthy discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory … in every category of life.
No matter what has happened to you in the past or what is going on in your life right now, it has no power to keep you from having an amazingly good future if you will walk faithfully and continue to fight for the victory you deserve.
YOUR VICTORY IS AROUND THE CORNER, NEVER GIVE UP!
Accept life’s challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory. Yes, we all get down, discouraged and lose the will to fight at times.
Everyone deals with discouragement at some point in their life. It’s part of what makes the human experience rich—the highs and the lows. If we didn’t experience the valleys, then we wouldn’t appreciate the mountains.
Discouragement, disappointment, failure, and setbacks—these are all things that can help us if we maintain an empowering mindset. The key to life is to learn from these experiences, and minimize the amount of time that we allow ourselves to stay discouraged.
Discouragement generally occurs when our expectations (what we think should happen) don’t align with reality (what actually happens). In many cases our expectations are unrealistic. Relaxing on our expectations a little can really help decrease discouragement. The reality is most things worthwhile take a lot of effort and time to come to fruition.
Education vs. Failure
ALWAYS look for the silver lining of education in any situation and most of all, be patient! In our world of “microwave healing” and “dr. google”, we’ve become so anxious and self-centered our entire lives are out of balance, resulting in yet more conversation about “dis-ease”. Remember, there is no such thing as failure. There is only education.
When we feel like we have failed at something, discouragement often follows. However, failure doesn’t really exist, except for the meaning that we give it. If we don’t get the result we want, when we want it, we just need to breathe, be patient and maybe take new action. We can choose. Instead of thinking of failure as bad, think of failure as education, and therefore good. When we view it this way we realize that failure isn’t something bad, or something to be avoided. It is simply feedback. It is simply education. When we think this way we ease discouragement with the hope of moving forward.
HOLISTIC THERAPY – Natural Medicine
As a Naturopath, I focus on improving the well-being of the entire person. “Holistic Healing” is a customized plan which encompasses three factors: body, soul and spirit. Its theory is based in the theology that in order to have a successful recovery one must be “healed” in all three areas: the body, the soul and the spirit.
DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?
The power to heal physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually is in God’s hands. But the choice to be healed is yours. For example, what habit patterns have you built to help your body, your mind and your spirit thrive in wellness? Everyone, at some level, needs healing. You may have prayed for healing many times, for many years. Do NOT give up! When needed, seek professional assistance to establish the right protocol for you to stay accountable to healthy habits.
Daily routine may take a bit of time if change is required, but stick to it. Be sure to get plenty of rest and eat 5-6 times per day the size of your palm for optimal energy. If that’s not possible, three balanced meals is BEST!
MIND – EMOTIONS.
According to the Mental Health Services Administration, “Because mental, emotional and physical health is linked, problems in one area often impact the others. At the same time, improving your physical health can also benefit your mental/emotional health, and vice versa.”
Going with a treatment program that focuses on the mind, body, and spirit for a complete healing is powerful for success. Toxic habit patterns, substance abuse and food abuse have all been known to change the brain causing it to lose control of its normal functions. The mind becomes clouded by toxic substances, suppressing critical thinking, motor skills, and organ functionality.
a. With a clear mind, there’s ability to compare “clarity” to a mind controlled by fatigue and fog.
b. Nutritional counseling helps reshape healthy eating habits and filters out toxins with systematic cleansing.
c. Spiritual healing anchors us to what makes us human, fallible, and complete. It keeps us grounded in our beliefs so we can turn to a higher power, which gives us purpose, peace, and security. When the spirit is fed, the mind and body are in harmony for a fulfilling and healthy recovery.
CHARACTER – willful decision moment by moment
To start, let’s take a young baby who even at one year old is grabbing toys and screaming if someone tries to take it away. Our birth nature is selfish, “mine, mine, mine”. Of course, there’s that unbelievable adorable, cute, I just want to bite your cheeks off! side to kids as well! That grabs us, too.
Think of the character of your life like a “bucket”. Each of us is born with our character bucket on the empty side. As we grow and develop our sense of virtue, morality, patience, long-suffering, justice and love, we associate them with good. However, at the same time, our selfish nature is also developed, when fed, resulting in malice, greed, bitterness and anger, traits we consider to be of bad character. Every time we make a decision that promotes one of these character traits, good or bad, a drop goes in our character bucket. They all add up to the whole of our life.
What is required to have “good character” is the determination, desire and willful intent to fill our “character bucket” up with the right stuff or “good healthy habits”.
Our good, healthy habits make all the difference when it comes to shaping our character. As we resolve to make good choices, we are resolving to develop good habits which can lead us further along the path of developing good character.
Good habits build character – goals to reach for:
• Integrity. Do you say what you mean and mean what you say?
• Honesty. Although it may hurt, do you always tell the truth without fear of outcome?
• Loyalty. Would you lay down your life for a friend or not gossip and backbite?
• Self-Sacrifice. Do you esteem or place another above yourself faithfully?
• Accountability. Are you willing to fess up and maintain responsibility?
• Self-Control. Do you exercise restraint over your impulses, emotions or desires?
BUILDING Healthy Wellness Tips:
1. Have Breakfast and Plan Your Meals
It’s important for a bunch of reasons. It jump-starts your metabolism and stops overeating later. Plus, studies show that adults who have a healthy breakfast do better at work. Kids who eat a morning meal score higher on tests. Meal prep keeps you in control-carve out several hours per week to shop and prepare containers of healthy foods so you’ll know what you’re eating. BONUS: It’ll be that much easier to avoid unhealthy temptations.
CONSULT a Nutritionist for your body’s best foods, Just don’t skip breakfast! Note: chewing food is number one, NOT drinking it.
2. Drink Plenty of Water- STAY HYDRATED all year long!
Rule of thumb: take your body weight, divide it in half and drink that many ounces per day THROUGHOUT the day. Don’t gulp it later in the day because you were too busy to hydrate all day long, not the best for your body as that is not “balanced”. Staying hydrated is at the top of the list for numerous reasons, including, it may also help you lose weight. Another reason to go for H2O? Sugary drinks are linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes. If you aren’t a fan of plain water, add flavor with slices of orange, lemon, lime, watermelon, or cucumber. It’ll help you save time and money in the long run. The “type of water” is critical as well. Join us for “H2o – 101” talks.
3. Move Your Lymph – Exercise
Try a rebounder. It costs about $50 and is easily stored under your bed. Get up and move! Do some deep lunges or stretches at lunch break. It’s great for your body and mind. Just 30 minutes of walking five times a week may help keep the blues at bay. And if you can’t do those minutes all at once, short bursts help, too. Stretch your lungs, push out toxins, keep moving!
4. Go Offline
This healthy habit pattern is “critical” in my world of Naturopathy. Three years ago I disconnected cable, no TV. Internet is enough. Many years ago removed all EMFs from my bedroom. In today’s world, every restaurant, toilet! And Uber we’re in is surrounded with “PHONITIS”. Necks are bent down, staring at an EMF screen and typing away with limited awareness of surroundings. Set a daily time that ALL electronics are turned off. Let it wait until morning. When you cut back on screen time, it frees you to do other things. Take a walk, read a book, play with your kids, cuddle with your animals or help your friend prepare a great healthy dinner!
5. Sleep Well without Any Aids
There are almost too many benefits to list. First, our brain and organs need rest to cleanse and reset. Without proper rest our brain and organ functionality is not optimum to handle the onslaught of daily life. A good night’s sleep keeps you in a better mood, sharpens memory, ability to focus increases and helps you learn new things! In the long term, it lowers your risk of heart disease and helps you keep trim. Aim to get 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night. For the best rest, do it on schedule — turning in by 10pm and waking up about the same time every day.
6. Learn Something New
New skills help keep your brain healthy. Sign up for a dance class or a creative writing workshop. Better yet, master a new language – I’m trying Italian this year! The mental work it takes can slow the signs of aging and may even delay the effects of Alzheimer’s disease as several studies have pointed out.
7. Laugh More! This is a really important “healthy habit”.
Proverbs says “a merry heart does BETTER than a medicine”. What’s your favorite sound? Mine is “children laughing”, quickly followed by the ocean. There are actual videos online of kids laughing! Sure to lift even the darkest moment of our day. Hang out with funny people! Watch a healthy comedy! Learn about becoming a “Certified Laughing Coach” – https://laughterwellness.org/trainings/
Some research indicates the benefits of laughter go well beyond the ever-important fun factor. Laughter may be a blood-pressure reducer, an immune-system booster, a stress buster and a friend maker. But because we’re serious adults with jobs (or without jobs) and responsibilities and bills and meetings, it’s sometimes hard to remember to loosen up with a load of laughter now and then. Your Naturopath will be happy to help you get started.
8. Get Outdoors – Feel the Earth Daily
A few minutes in the sunshine will raise vitamin D levels, and that’s good for your bones, your heart, and your mood. Plus, being outside means you’re more likely to move your body instead of parking it in front of the TV or computer. Choose nature over city streets, if you can. Many studies have found people who strolled in urban green spaces were calmer than people who walked in built-up areas. IMPORTANT: Take your shoes and socks off every day and walk on the green grass or sandy beach, get connected to Earth with all its good vibes and needed electricity to keep you “grounded”.
9. Be Mindful
It can mean meditating or simply stopping to smell the roses. However you do it, studies show mindfulness slashes stress, relieves pain, and improves your mood. One study found that 8 weeks of regular meditation can change parts of your brain related to emotions, learning, and memory. Even washing dishes can be good for your brain, as long as you do it mindfully. BTW, I love to wash dishes. Thankful for those around who equally enjoy drying them!
When my head hits the pillow at night I will often run through my day backwards. Building a nighttime routine takes almost no physical effort (which is good news if we often come back home exhausted), and usually takes me about seven minutes to complete. Reviewing our day might feel peculiar at first, but once we get accustomed to it, we’ll find how beneficial it can actually be.
We have all heard that having healthy habits such as eating well, staying active, and staying on top of our health screenings is really important.
But have you ever really thought about why these things are so important, and how they all work together?
No matter how old you are or how bad your former habits have been, you can move forward to improve them by making a better life for yourself.
It is important to remember that healthy habits can be developed in stages. What might be an unhealthy habit for one person today may be a healthy habit for someone else.
For example, pretend you have an unhealthy habit of eating dessert every night or on a weekly basis. Finding healthy snacks and cutting this down to a few times per week is making progress towards the healthy habit of removing unhealthy food. However, for someone who doesn’t eat these foods to begin with, eating dessert several times per month would not be considered a healthy habit whatsoever.
IS SOMETHING HOLDING YOU BACK?
One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go. Whether its guilt, anger, love, loss or betrayal, change is never easy. We often fight to hold on or fight to let go. As my clients know, I have a library of over 3,000 books on all kinds of subjects. I’ve always been a “book worm”, not into the Nook or Kindle, I like good old-fashioned paper! That I can write notes on and adhere “stickies”. Clients ask a question and I’ll pull from my vast memory of readings and tell them what I’ve learned. Sometimes, they may not agree or like the answer but common sense says, “don’t ask a question if you don’t really want the answer.” OR be mature enough to draw your own conclusions, there’s a lot of wisdom in that for sure.
After a lifetime of “university of life” and paid education in the natural medicine field, it is clear that what a person holds in their heart is what they become. One of the great books on this subject that I recommend is, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Watch your thoughts; They become words. Watch your words; They become deeds. Watch your deeds; They become habits. Watch your habits; They become character. Character is everything.”
Not all thoughts become actions. But no action comes about without first being a thought. If you want to change your actions, first change your thoughts.
YOU control YOUR thoughts, no one else’s! YOU determine YOUR character by choosing your thoughts.
Habits Change into Character. Character is built from habits. Habits are built by actions. Actions are determined by thoughts. Whether it is fuel for your body, words you speak or thoughts you allow in your mind, do all with good habits that will serve you and the world best.
For more information or how to determine your path to wellness, call our office at 951.195.8080 to schedule a “First Time Evaluation”.