personal growth

We live in a toxic world and our bodies are constantly attacked from all angles. We must be taught to approach health from ALL angles. Diet is one of those angles, but without approaching it from the whole body perspective, true health cannot be achieved. I've talked to many people (women especially) who try everything they can to get their weight under control to no avail. Thus starts the vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting through the latest weight-loss plans, depression and feelings of failure, "miracle" supplements, and prescriptions that don't address the underlying issues.

This is why it is so important to stand firm, advocate for yourself, do your research, and learn to listen to what your body is telling you. No one (besides God) will ever know your body better than YOU do. Your body has the power to heal; it just needs to be unlocked. It takes work, but YOU ARE WORTH IT!

I had a client recently share with me about a doctor who told her she needed to lose weight. She had visited due to some pain she was dealing with, in an effort to find the cause, and the response she received was a feeling of "this is YOUR fault because you're overweight", rather than one of compassion and an honest search for a reason behind the pain she was experiencing. She was then given medicine to "see if this works", without a true diagnosis.

Don't get me wrong, I don't completely reject modern medicine, but there's some major flaws in the system. It's become all about money instead of health. The approach to health is compartmentalized - instead of approaching health from the WHOLE BODY perspective, modern medicine looks at just one piece and attempts to cover up symptoms in that one area with pills and surgeries (which are sometimes completely unnecessary). Then more pills and surgeries to "fix" the new issues the original pills and surgeries caused. It's a never-ending cycle that keeps us all unwell.

Even if you're fortunate enough to have a doctor who supports a natural, whole body wellness approach (like mine does), they are often bound by insurance companies and medical groups that limit their ability to make certain suggestions for natural wellness. Insurance and pharmaceuticals don't make money off of healthy people! Plus, doctors are human and they make mistakes. They know THE body, but not necessarily YOUR body. You are your best advocate for your own health. 

Have you ever been misdiagnosed or been demeaned for your weight by a medical professional? 

[This week's blog by Lisa Main - TotalWellnessDefined.com]

Do you find yourself more overwhelmed at this time of year? 

Extra workload, the holidays, time change, weird weather, plus all the usual responsibilities...things can get a bit chaotic. When I get too overwhelmed, I get crabby and overly emotional. How about you?

That's when I have to take a step back and figure out how to change the narrative (you'll see me use that phrase often). My go-to method is practicing gratitude. When you learn how to appreciate the blessings you have, you start to focus less on the things you lack or the situations that steal your joy. I think most of us would say we are grateful for our blessings, but I'm talking about a more intentional practicing of gratitude, a focus on the things that we might take for granted.

Did the light change to green just before you got there when you were running late? 

Do you finally get to wear your favorite winter boots again?

Did you have a little extra time to sip your coffee before rushing out the door today? 

What if you woke up tomorrow and had no ability to see? Or hear?

Time, sight, hearing, weather...they're all gifts. You didn't somehow earn any of them. These past two years, many have discovered how much of a gift the senses of taste and smell are! When you practice intentional gratitude, you'll find so many gifts throughout your day that likely outweigh all the yucky stuff. That's not to discount the trials in life, but you can choose to look for good even as you honor and acknowledge those going through struggles (including your own).

It can be difficult to put into practice at first. Let's be honest - misery loves company. When you're in a miserable mood, you tend to want to sit and stew in it, even when part of you wants things to be better. This post I found in the Lavender Life blog helps make it easier to practice gratitude daily. Print the Gratitude Calendar and put it somewhere you will see it every morning as soon as you get up. Do a gratitude task each morning, and it will eventually become as involuntary as breathing. I like to journal my gratitude whenever I can. On the particularly rough days, it helps to go back and read the list of blessings I had written down.

When you start each day with a grateful heart, it's hard to be in a bad mood. When things do happen that set a negative tone, you'll be much more likely to immediately turn to gratitude and look for the blessings in every situation. This will also help others around you stay more positive. Your positive outlook will bleed into everything you do, and you'll attract positive situations, including better health (stress = health problems). 

What do you say? Will you commit to 30 days of gratitude? It doesn't have to be the 1st of the month to start. Just get started!

I'd love to know how you feel when you're done! I'll even send you a little gift if you reply back to me when you're finished, because it means so much to me that you see the life-changing benefits of practicing intentional gratitude .

~Lisa

Have you ever had one of those days when you just felt emotionally "off"? Like you're just in a bad mood and don't even want to be around yourself? Those are the days I wish I could just put myself in timeout and not come out until I feel better!

If you can relate to this, read on. I've got a little secret weapon for you.

But first, let's talk about our sense of smell. Did you know it's connected to emotions? 

Think about how certain smells make you feel. Maybe smelling apple pie makes you think of your grandmother who always had one in the oven. New babies and new puppies have certain smells that often bring feelings of joy. On the contrary, unpleasant smells might cause you discomfort.

The sense of smell develops in the womb and is tied directly to the limbic system (the emotional brain) through the olfactory nerve. The limbic system is responsible for processing emotions, "fight of flight" and forming bonds with others.

Our reactions and emotions toward situations we encounter throughout our lives are stored so the brain knows how to react should a similar situation happen again. This causes us to get "stuck", repeating the same situations and emotions over and over again, even when they're negative.

The good news is, we can break the chains that tie those experiences and negative emotions together by using the power of scent! One of my favorite methods is the Aroma Reset method designed by Dr. Benjamin Perkus.

Before I go further, I want to stress how critical it is that you only use the highest quality essential oils for this method. Using anything less will introduce synthetic fragrance that will have the opposite effect on the brain than what you're trying to accomplish. The Aroma Reset method was designed exclusively with Young Living oils and those are the only oils I will recommend for this method. To learn more about why these oils are superior, visit www.SeedtoSeal.com.

Now, let's get to the good part! When you're ready to try this method, get yourself into a quiet space, free of interruptions and distractions.

Step 1: Identify a negative experience. This may be difficult to do, but it's important to identify an experience that causes you negative emotions so you can process those emotions and heal. Picture it in your mind and allow yourself to feel it. It may be something that happened today or something that happened many years ago. If you picture multiple scenarios, pick the one that stands out most and start there.

Step 2: Give it a name. With one word, describe how you feel when you're picturing that experience. Are you angry? Sad? Do you feel hopeless? Afraid?

Step 3: Locate the feeling in your body. Do you clench your jaw or feel tension in your neck or shoulders? Do you feel a pit in your stomach or tightness in your chest? 

Step 4: Identify the negative thought connected to that feeling. This will probably start with "I can't", "I don't", or "I'm not". For example, "I'm not good enough to...", or "I don't have enough..."

Step 5: Smell Essential Oils. Place one drop of a calming oil, such as lavender or frankincense, into your palms. Breathe deeply, focusing on the experience, the feeling, your body, and the emotions. Breathe the scent into the negativity, allowing it to break up the negative pictures in your mind. Keep breathing it in until you feel the negativity dissipating.

Step 6: Repeat as needed. Negative emotions are like onions...they tend to be layered from years of our brains repeating the same reactions to certain situations over and over again. When we clear one negative emotion, we sometimes reveal another layer beneath it. To get to the deeper roots of your emotions and truly find healing, you may find that you need to repeat the process as you peel away the layers. Remain open to letting go of the thoughts and emotions that do not serve you, and commit to practicing these steps daily.

[This Week's Blog by Lisa Main - Total Wellness Defined]

My daughter loves those big concrete balls outside the Target stores. I'm not sure why, but she insists she try to move them every time we go there. Every. Single. Time. 

She's currently 4, so she's well aware she isn't going to move those balls, but she will still excitedly run up to one of them and give it all she's got, while we stand by cheering her on. She tries anyway, despite knowing the reality that the ball won't move. She doesn't hesitate or back down. Once she's pushed on it for a minute, she walks away and we go into the store for whatever it was we were there for. Why do I let her continue to try? Because I want her to never be afraid to give it her best shot, regardless if she (or anyone else) thinks she'll fail. I want her to know what it's like to not succeed, and learn to just go on about her day when that happens. 

What do you do when you are faced with something that seems too difficult? Do you shy away from it? If you do give it a try, do you feel like you're truly giving it 100 percent, or do you approach with caution "just in case"? What if instead of backing down you gave it a good push with everything you had? Worst case scenario, you might exert a little time and energy on something that led nowhere, but what's the BEST that could happen?