Go to the Mat and get a Butt kicking: Preparing for the Holiday

Ephesians 4:23

   Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better. 

(another version)

  And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind  

(having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude)

Once again, as I repeat to myself.... 

"be more concerned about feeding my  Mind & Spirit 

than my body 

when I wake in the morning,

RENEWING MY MIND and SPIRIT ....every day!

Wake up in the morning and "prepare" for another day.  

We NEVER know what the day will bring us.  

Sometimes good news, 

Sometimes bad news.

So feed and exercise ourselves Physically, Mentally &  Spiritually

 first thing in the morning to prepare for the day

Put yourself in check upon waking up.  Do you wake with a smile on your face and joy in your heart?  Hummmm (**mental note to myself about this- see below)

            So, when you wake and notice no smile, no joy.... RENEW the ATTITUDE!

This can be easily accomplished before moving your body out of bed.

FIRST - SLAP a big fat smile... yes teeth showing (scary before brushing teeth) on your face.

SECOND - Speak words of Gratitude for ... ya got it... waking up.  Reach deep to think of

     Three things to be grateful for... SPEAK it OUT!

THIRD - Offer yourself and your day to the Lord.  After all, you and your day is a gift - so

     keeping in the spirit of Christmas Season  "RE-GIFT yourself to the Lord".

Most of us dread dragging ourselves to the exercise mat or Gym... or outside to jog.  My suggestion.   Stretch before getting out of bed.  Yes, right there in bed stretch your arms and legs.    Stimulate your circulation before leaving the bed. Take some deep cleansing breaths.

There you go.... you've now accomplished  awaking and renewing yourself: 

 Physically, Mentally and Spiritually before getting out of bed.

Keep yourself in check through out the day.  Make some post it notes, a rubber band around your wrist, a voice memo on your phone...  "AM I Smiling?"  if not.... quickly think of three things to thank God for... then again offer yourself and day to the Lord.

It's almost December 1st!   Ready, Set, GO!   It's all about the season of Re-Gifting yourself to the Lord so you will be honoring him by honoring yourself.

It's your time to get HEALTH and WELLNESS into your being.

Ciao &

        Salute! to Your Health and Wellness 

Foot note:

**  waking up in the morning with a heaviness in our heart and mind is a symptom.

It deserves an examination into our heart and thoughts.   Are you:

Stressed out,  have unforgiveness/anger, you feel sorrow, disappointment, heartache, loss, jealousy, envy, resentment ....

These thoughts are based.... yes....  "ALL OF THEM" in fear.  

Love and Fear. 

 All emotions have their roots in either Love or Fear.  

Think about it.

Stress:  Fear of Failure
Unforgiveness/Anger: Fear of Rejection
Sorrow, disappointment:  Fear of loss
    (not a complete list... more to it, but this is just a snap shot of the concept)


So when you wake in the morning with no smile or joy... examine your heart and thoughts.

If your not able to pull out "what's wrong"... 

go to the "Mat"

(expression in the God Father Movie).  

Take it to the Lord and ask him to expose it to you. 
            (Maybe you need your butt kicked to straighten out your attitude)
 This can sometimes be painful to expose your root emotion of fear.


Easily remedied since  
                                             "In our Faith there is no room for Fear".    
This is where you can
exercise and feed and therefore strengthen your mind and Spirit . 
              Which in turn Strengthens and H E A L S  your body! 


Yes,  Headaches, backaches, skin problems, fatigue, depression.... all CAN be symptoms of a weak mind and spirit! 


True Health and Wellness is about having a 
                                            Strong MIND and SPIRIT as well as a strong Body.

the dieting merry go round

This morning I read back to January 2010 blogs.   It's almost a year on this journey.  Amazing!

I'm starting the last month of my 12 months of "getting it together".
Translated to:  Seeking Health and Wellness Physically, Mentally and Spiritually.

Accomplishing this by Seeking Balance Physically, Mentally and Spiritually.
With the Goal Set I have developed this plan.

15/15/15 is the daily goal.  

Translated to make sure I have at least 

15 minutes committed each day to Exercising my muscles, 

15 minutes towards developing my mind (reading/study), 

15 minutes feeding and strengthening my spiritual life. 

To accomplish my goals and reinforce my plans I have used "blogging" every day (mostly in the morning) as my support.

I have read books and googled information on health, diets, exercise.

Although losing weight was the foundation for this quest.  I have discovered losing weight has very little to do with "health". Being Fat has everything to do with being unhealthy. People with TB, Cancer, anorexia  loose weight. People with a whacked out Thyroid loose weight.   Being the perfect weight doesn't necessary mean your healthy.

The focus on being healthy was paramount in this journey.  

Being a right weight for your height is a benefit of being healthy and well. 

Therefore when (in the past) I have been tempted to say, "ah, it's ok to pig out... oh ... forget this today"  I can be pulled back to the fact that whether I gain or lose a half a pound isn't about my looks... it's about my health! I now have a trigger that says to myself "what is happening in my head and spirit right now)

  I am  off the "merry go round" of dieting  

I have found freedom.  Eating to be healthy, not to satisfy the lust of  food.
It is crazy but I have NO appetite for white sugar laden sweets. I can walk past the "See's Candy Cart" at the airport and not have a war and conversation about how I wish I could eat some... make a bargain about how I could have a few pieces if I just walk around the airport while eating the candy.   Call it crazy, but I have no guilt or war in me to say no to pastry.  I've found Freedom...

And my life is no less fulfilling, satisfying and happy.

I have found that when I seek food to meet a craving, to give myself a treat, soothe my heartache ..... I now stop and think....

I am really dishonoring my body to meet a need. Having a piece of pie or candy that has no nutritional value ( 1% nutrition in 99 %  empty calories/carbs)

That is the wellness part of all of this.

Balancing my mind and spirit so that my body stops craving foods that increase my cholesterol, injure my pancreas, raise my blood pressure ... turn carbs into fat!

The picture of health is not just strong hair and nails and a great figure.  It's a real smile on a face.  It's peace in ones heart... it's words that reflect a sound mind.  It's an energy like non other that I've ever had before.  And when life kicks sand in my face... I have a foundation that stands and does not fall.

It's like "they" say the rich and famous are happier people.

Same thing holds true here.

People with the perfect weight are not necessary happier people.   Seeking to just lose weight to be the right size is .... ok I'll say it here..... shallow.  Seeking to lose weight to become healthy is brilliant.  Seeking to detox not just your body, but your mind and spirit is ... finding freedom to live a full, rich life.

there ya have it... in a nut shell (did I say that nuts are very healthy in the right portion?)

Off I go preparing for another glorious day.... Honoring the Lord by Honoring ME.  Seeking to live a full, rich, joyful, successful healthy and well life.

Ciao
To your health and wellenss

Be a Daniel instead of a Turkey

Being of Italian/Sicilian decent (can't fight the gene pool).... boy can I talk!   If fact I like to talk so much I talk to myself when I'm alone.  Oh ya... true.  And this blog thing.... it's like finding a captive audience to listen to me...... you got it T A L K.  In fact I can even talk without moving my mouth.... just my hands!

Being that "said"..... we say a lot with our body and with our actions.

                                Actions are a reflection of the heart.

Our actions speak volumes of what we are all about.  But the reverse is also true.

If we choose to take an action that represents what we "want to think or be"....
          we eventually become that action.

Allora,  (ok in Italian... I'm always attempting to practice my Italian... to bad I haven't gotten the English Language mastered yet... anyway.  Allora....

This is what I wanted to say today.
                         Daniel in the Bible knelt before the Lord 3 times a day.


It's not about him "praying" THREE times a day.

It was the "act" of him setting aside a moment in the day to get physically on his Knees!

Then he mentally took his mind to center on the Lord, 

and spiritually touch the Ears of the God of the Universe.

Daniel 6:10  

 ¹⁰ Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. 

Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, 

giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Compare our government today to the one that Daniel lived in.  I believe the Politicians  in the story of Daniel were  deceitful and self serving. 


Daniel  as boy was taken to another country as a slave.  
Lived with his religious freedoms being challenged.  

Thrown into a lion den (yes, this is the Sunday school story). 
Sounds a little like what we are living in today.

We have challenges every single day (thank God we'll not be thrown into a lion den for praying- just told we can't do this in public!).  Never the less, we may feel like we are in a lion den in our life.  


Needing Gods protection from those that want to devour us (not physically but mentally and spiritually)


Have you ever thought, that at times... we are our worst enemy?  We war against ourselves.  We do things that are self defeating.  We kick ourselves around... put ourselves down.... We put things into our body that are not life giving or healthy.


We sit around making excuses why we can get off our butts and exercise or do something active.  We allow ourselves to listen and fill our minds with useless garbage we watch on TV, condoning people doing and saying sinful things by watching it. 

I'm challenged today to take this story to heart today


today being Thanks Giving

Food may bring us together but a Prayerful Family keeps us together
"The family that prayers together, stay's together"

To actually "get on my knees" physically therefore sending a strong message to my mind and spirit that I'm IN THE MOMENT!

transported 

physically, mentally, spiritually 

into God's Throne Room of Grace.

 I've captured God's attention and HE HAS MY FULL ATTENTION.

Although we are to pray without ceasing :1 Thessalonians 5:17  
Pray without ceasing

I'm honing in on the fact that to "balance our lives" we need to put

 "walk to our talk"  ..... which is a PHYSICAL action that will translate a message to our mind and spirit.

I did get on my knees the other morning.  Bowed my head and talked with my God.  This action followed me through out the day.  The picture in my mind of this action empowered me that day.  I challenge you today, as I'm challenging myself.  Be a Daniel.  

***Side thought:  If the God of the Universe appeared to you right now.... 

would you fall to your knees, head bowed being in his presence, 

or give him a high five and say "hey man, what's happening".  

Take on the attitude of who God is and take the privilege that you have direct access to the God of the Heaven's at any given moment... and make it a part of your life.  

Empower yourself today.  

Your a child of a living God!  

Your value is great in his kingdom.  Do you believe Jesus died for your sins and then rose into the Heavens so you could be empowered with his Spirit in you?  Come on.... Lets start "ACTING" like it.

Now, go and choose life giving foods today:  colorful, fresh, organic foods

Walk in the Fresh air (yes the sun shines even when it's 30 degrees outside)

Think and Speak words of thanksgiving...

be a grateful person not a grumbling person

Honor the Lord by Honoring yourself.

Ciao and God Bless you with Health and Wellness

mangi

passeggiata

amore

Color my world with a Cinnabon

Are you easily influenced?

I challenge you to think again about this.  For instance:

Color  

can affect performance in the work place. They believe that a red office is more stimulating and may cause vigor, anger, or tension in a worker. However, a red surrounding may also increase performance. Stone and English go on to state that a blue office may cause greater depression, as well as sadness, fatigue, or relaxation. Emotions such as these are evident because warm colors like red have a longer wavelength and are thus more stimulating, while cool colors such as blue have a shorter wavelength and are thus more sedative.

Stone and English conducted additional experiments to show the influence of color on our emotions. The team studied various colors, some of which were pink, white, green, and violet. Stone and English found that green causes anger and confusion while violet causes sadness and fatigue. Moreover, even though a group of surveyed students claimed that a white office is appropriate and not distracting, it is in fact the opposite. When compared to workers in with red or blue offices, workers in white offices complained of more headaches and instances of nausea.  English, Anthony J. and Nancy J. Stone. Task Type, Posters, and Workspace Color on Mood, Satisfaction, and Performance. Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska: Department of Psychology, Volume 18 Issue 2 1998

MUSIC?

After a variety of clinical trials, it is evident, according to ACS that patients undergoing music therapy have reduce high blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, depression, and sleeplessness. The physiological effect of music was observed first in the 17th century. Stress Management by Edward Charlesworth and Ronald G. Nathan is a book that identifies in detail the causes of stress and suggests techniques to reduce stress, specifically musical therapy. According to Charlesworth and Nathan, the physical effects of music were first observed by a French musician, who took his pulse, noting the changes as he sang in different tempos. 

  TOUCH?

The Wire Mother Experiment: Harry Harlow’s most famous experiment involved giving young rhesus monkeys a choice between two different “mothers.” One was made of soft terrycloth, but provided no food. The other was made of wire, but provided food from an attached baby bottle.Harlow removed young monkeys from their natural mothers a few hours after birth and left them to be "raised" by these mother surrogates. The experiment demonstrated that the baby monkeys spent significantly more time with their cloth mother than with their wire mother. “These data make it obvious that contact comfort is a variable of overwhelming importance in the development of affectional response, whereas lactation is a variable of negligible importance,” Harlow explained (1958).

Ok, so you can google up stuff too (LOL)

Here is my point today... We're influenced continually  by what we see,hear, feel... ok and smell......  like when we walk past the "Cinnabon" store. That is just plan criminal how they pipe that smell out into the walk way ....

Again, we are influenced  mostly in a subliminal way 

 through our 5 senses:  seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting  .... oh and "being"
     yes, actually also through our spiritual (being) 
                                 ... so make that 6 ways of being influenced


When someone is "empty" spiritually they seek to satisfy that emptiness with... humm, maybe  over E A T I N G !  maybe D R U G S  maybe S E X... maybe W O R K ... maybe seeking eternal youth with pastic surgery... shopping.... wealth.... fame.... (soap box is being removed so I can stay on track here)  yada yada yada... ya get the point.  I say it how I see it.
  

"Balance"      

 Influenced PMS: Physically, Mentally, Spiritually
 Influenced by the spiritual realm of this world  
                   Again, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  

Haven't you ever walked into a room and "felt" the tension or walked into a stadium and "felt the energy", I believe that is because we are spiritual being's and we can feel the "spirit" of what is happening  

What influences you?  Color, sounds, words, sights, taste.... spirits

then may I ask

What and who "do you" influence with your : 

Words, Touch, looks, attitude... spirit.

It's so very concerning to me this idea.  


We are bombarded all day long.  Ok, so it sounds funny that if your in a room with the walls painted red that you'll feel more "hungry" (ahhh resturants)... or you'll buy more clothes if the beat of the music stimulates you to be more impulsive (crazy music in the stores).


Or how about standing in the line at the grocery store behind someone complaining or fighting with their spouse.  It creates tension that is unsettling to be next to.  


We "catch" the mood of our environment.  Just like we "catch" the flu when the idiot in line coughs in our face.  We "catch"  stuff ?


This is why we need to focus on honoring ourselves .  Physically, Mentally, Spiritually 

Take care of our body so our immune system, if exposed to a "cough" can fight off the attack.  


Take care of our minds, keeping our thoughts in check, so we can fight off words that come against us.  Accept them and file them away or discard them. Take control of our thought life.


Take care of our spirit.  Fortify our spirit  daily with the Truth from God's word. Then when we come against an environment that is thick with discontent, lies, anger... we have the power within us to resist being influenced and moved by it. 

So, go eat an apple and take a walk in the sunshine

      go think and say positive thoughts

      go with a grateful, thankful, prayer heart and share it with someone

                    go and be healthy and well

Ciao and Salute to your health and wellness!

Now, when you lack energy, feel sad, feel hopeless..... check out the color of the room your in....  (yes, I'm being funny.... dah)  

Got a thought in your head?

If I told your best friend died - what response would your body have?
If you were told you just inherited a million dollars - what response would your body have?

Your body responds to what YOU THINK.

THINK ABOUT THAT

 When you hear a song from your past that reminds you of a tender moment - how does your mind respond?


When you hear music for Dancing... upbeat, lively and LOUD.... What response does it trigger?  


Your mind and body responds to Music




When you see a baby laughing.... a weak elderly person.... a crowd cheering... a mob screaming.... You have a response.  Good, bad, up, down.... You have a response.


You respond to what you see.


When your lips touch something sweet, sour..... some one's lips .... You have a response.


Don't you understand?


Everything we see, feel, hear, touch  affects us 

PHYSICALLY , MENTALLY, SPIRITUALLY.

So,  dah.... be careful little eyes what you see

be careful little ears what you hear

be careful little hands what you touch

be careful little hands where you go

be careful little heart whom you trust 

(Sunday school song)

TODAY what will YOU CHOOSE to : 

FEED your EYE'S

FEED your EAR'S

FEED your MOUTH

FEED your NOSE

FEED your HAND'S

FEED your MUSCLES

FEED your HEART

The things, events and thoughts that bring HEALTH and WELLNESS

TAKE control of yourself for Heaven Sakes!!!

Stop allowing your circumstances and those around you to control you!

Take Charge of you

This is possible because we are

FREE in HIM!

He has impowered us to be in control of HOW we process what is happening in and around us.  

GET WITH IT!

THINK it, GET it, DO it

For your health and wellness

Now, turn up the music and rock your day

Fill yourself with music that speaks to your soul

Ephesians 5:14-16  

This is why it is said:

   “Wake up, sleeper, 

   rise from the dead, 

   and Christ will shine on you.”

  Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,  

making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Salute!  to your health and wellness

PS - get your vitamins and minerals 

and exercise your body, 

64 oz of water, 

and find a hundred things to Thank God for today

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