Four Healthful Tips for Quality Living

Four Healthful Tips for Quality Living 

Dear Readers, it is a pleasure to be with you once again for my Weekly Sunday Blog.

Life can be challenging at times. I must admit it is a struggle for me at times to keep my head above the water emotionally. There is a great deal of stimuli in our external environment, much of which is not positive nor is it reality. Then one must deal with the internal environment better known as the mind. Just keeping it in check is a full-time continuous job with the many thoughts that flood it daily. I have discovered 4 healthful tips that have been helpful in accomplishing my goal to live a happier healthier life when practiced consistently. I would love to share those with you.

 

1. Prayer: What is prayer? I see prayer as a form of communication with God, whoever or whatever you see God to be. I see it as a direct line that we have to reach God. He is always on the line speaking to us. We must take the time to pray in order to hear what he is saying. I used to think prayer was always about asking God for something. I have often even found myself forgetting to pray until I need something. I have also found myself going to God with a list of things to always ask for. What I’ve realized is the importance of communicating with God at all times and not just when I need something. I believe our prayers should be selfless and filled with love. Personally, I have found affirmative prayer to be helpful. Affirmative prayer is connecting with the spirit of God within and asserting positive beliefs about the desired outcomes. For example, a traditional prayer might be, “God please heal me of this cancer.” An affirmative prayer might sound something like this, “I am perfect health and I am open and receptive to the healing love of God within. There is no need to beg God for anything.   As it relates to prayer, I leave you with a final quote from Gandhi that goes like this, “Prayer from the heart can achieve what nothing else in the world can.”

 

2. Meditation: Spending time in silence has brought me true peace during times of distress and allowed time for reflection. Hundreds of studies have shown that it decreases stress, improves immunity, lowers inflammation and decreases pain just to name some of its benefits. We live in a busy, loud world. Taking time to be silent and meditate can lead to better direction for our lives. It has become a profound spiritual practice for me. When practiced regularly, it transforms my mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, and from unhappy to happy. The key word for me is regularly. I have found consistent practice to be essential for me in keeping the mind in a healthy space.

 

3. Random Acts of Kindness: A random act of kindness can be defined as a selfless act performed by kind people to either help or cheer up a random stranger, for no reason other than to make people happier. It is a deliberate attempt to brighten another person’s day by doing something thoughtful, nice, and caring. Random Acts of Kindness do not have to cost money. I have found that simple acts such as holding the door for a stranger, giving a stranger a hug or big smile, picking up trash in a public park, or thanking a police officer or fire fighter for their service, to be heart warming for me.  I believe that what we give to others in our lifetime defines who we really are. I walked up to the dining room attendant in McDonalds the other morning and handed her a $20 bill. I had never seen her before. She immediately started crying and said, “you have no idea how much I needed this.” Random Acts of Kindness create an emotional warmth, which releases a hormone in our body known as oxytocin. Oxytocin is responsible for reducing blood pressure and protecting the heart.   In a world with so much hatred and division, be kind. Do something thoughtful, nice, and caring for another person.

 

4. Deleting Gossip from your Life: It is so easy to get caught up in gossip. We saw so much of this during this past presidential election.   I have learned that if someone comes up to me with, “did you hear”, or “child have you heard about so and so”, I am getting ready to hear some gossip. My antenna also goes up when someone comes up to me and says, “Promise you won’t tell anybody” or “keep this a secret.” Gossip spreads like wild fire with the story often changing many times during the course of the gossip chain. I finally ask myself, what does gossip accomplish? Does it lift anyone up? Is it positive? What does it say about me when I participate in gossip? There is really no reason to ever talk about another human in a negative way. I believe that our life is a mirror looking right back at us. What we talk about, and see in others, is actually what is inside of us. Gossip isolates you and is hurtful to others. We sometimes gossip about people because they make different choices than we do, or because they do things with which we don’t agree, but is that really fair? Every second you spend gossiping (which includes listening to gossip) robs the world of your capacity to help make it a better more peaceful place for all. Spread love and positive energy to all and love and positive energy will return to you. Your life will be more peaceful without the drama.

  

I look forward to your feedback and comments and stand in gratitude for your support. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts. It is always my intention to contribute to your life in a positive way. I am not always successful at the things I talk about in my blogs but I am increasing my awareness in an attempt to live my best life. It is a journey for all of us.

Many blessings.