Learn to Love Your Body!
Stress
The emotion of stress causes a tremendous amount of pressure on the physical body. Sickness and disease flourish in a body that is under stress. There are many methods that can help relieve stress in life and can help you get through difficult times with more ease. My favorite, and the first thing I turn to is prayer. Regardless of whether or not you believe in God, and regardless of whatever deity you may believe in, prayer is an easy tool to help you turn inward and listen to your inner voice and receive guidance from . Following prayer, I love to sit in quiet meditation and allow the physical sensation of stress to dissolve and evaporate from every cell of my body. There are many resources online to help you learn to meditate more effectively. Some of my favorites are “The Sedona Method”, and E.F.T. (or “Tapping”). A simple Google search will help you find these and many other stress relieving techniques that are practiced world wide with great results.
Self-Criticism
Self-Criticism can be very destructive to the person as a whole: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. When you focus on the things that you don’t like about yourself you are making it very difficult to progress and become better. On a physical level, if you focus on the things you don’t like about yourself, those things will only get worse. I believe that you can not scold yourself into better behavior. Scolding a toddler for falling down while learning to walk will make the toddler not want to try anymore. You would not do that to a baby who is trying, so don’t do it to yourself. Emotionally, self-criticism can lead to depression and a whole host of other emotional downers. Mentally self-criticism will keep your mind from being able to focus on the important things in life. And, spiritually, self-criticism will cut you off from the divine nature of your spirit, making it difficult for you to see your true potential.
For many of us self-criticism has become such a deeply ingrained habit that we often don’t even realize we are doing it. Any time you walk past a mirror and shake your head at the image looking back at you, stop and say “I Love You!” Look at the parts that are especially bothering you and say it again directly to that part of your body. Do this exercise often enough and you will start to change the way you see yourself. It is also helpful to pray for assistance to be able to see the divinity within yourself and others.
Power of Positive thought
There have been hundreds of books written on the subject of the power of positive thought within the last century. I love these books because they remind me to focus on good things. I do not want to re-write these books on my website, so I will list a few of my favorites here and you can read the ones you are guided to.
“Happy For No Reason,” by Marci Shimoff
“The Heart’s Key to Health, Happiness, and Success,” by Steven Horne
“A Return to Love,” by Marianne Williamson
“A New Earth,” by Eckhart Tolle
Pure Nutrition
There have been many books written that discuss the scientific nature of food and what it does to your body. There are many differing philosophies that teach about nutrition and weight loss. I have read many of these books and will give you here a very brief summary of what I believe to be wise counsel on finding pure nutrition in a world full of toxins.
The best nutrition can be found on a farm free of chemicals. Fresh raw produce that has been nourished by the sun and nutrient dense soil has a very powerful healing effect on your body. Raw foods alter the PH of your blood to make it less acidic which makes you less prone to disease. The best advice I ever read on nutrition was in Jon Gabriel’s book, “The Gabriel Method,” where he suggests that you eat something raw with every meal. I like to try and “Eat the Rainbow” every day, getting something raw from foods of all the colors of the rainbow.
Protein is also an important part of the human diet, however, much of the protein we eat today is actually hard on our bodies. All meats are not created equally! Most of the meat at the grocery store has come from animals that lived unhealthy unhappy lives with little natural sun light and were fed an unnatural diet. I believe that the best nutrition comes from meat and dairy from animals who lived healthy lives. Whenever possible, Get your meat from a farmer you know and trust, and buy your dairy raw and un-pasteurized. Eat fish that has been caught in the wild using caution to avoid fish with too much mercury. For more information on nutritious meats and dairy, look up the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Grains are my favorite comfort food, and when prepared right they can be just what your body needs. Many books I have read claim that grains are more nutritious and easy to digest when they have been sprouted first. My advice is to stick to whole grains and avoid the grains that have been genetically modified such as corn and the common varieties of wheat.
I understand well that it is hard to eat a diet of only pure nutrition in today’s society. I also believe that it is important to love yourself along the road to better health. Choose foods that will nourish your body and create a happy place for your spirit to reside, then, when you choose imperfect foods that you know will be hard on your body, love yourself anyway! Surround yourself with good food choices and in time the bad choices will become less and less appealing. Start to re-train your eating habits towards better and better choices and don’t get upset if change doesn’t happen overnight.