6. Do Something for Your Mental and Emotional Wellbeing
If you have already taken up some of the suggestions made in the last few days, then congratulations! You are already doing something for your emotional health, because as we learned yesterday, when you look after your gut, you look after your brain as well. Reducing your overall inflammation helps to clear the brain fog, so you can think more clearly, have more energy and cope better with what life may throw at you. Changes to diet and lifestyle can also help to lift depression and anxiety.
But what if that isn't enough?
Sometimes our mood and emotions run much deeper, and while diet and exercise may help, they aren't enough to get to the root cause. Thankfully there are some things you can do before turning to the aid of a therapist or drugs:
1. Journalling
Many people swear by journalling as a way to diffuse toxic thoughts and emotions. Writing down your feelings can help to get them into perspective so they don't consume you. Once you've got them onto paper, commit them to God in prayer and ask him to heal the wounds that caused them.
However, don't just write about the bad things! Use your journal to celebrate the good things in your life as well! If you have trouble knowing where to start, journalling prompts can be a great way to get you going. Using essential oils during the process can also help (more on that another time).
2. Share Your Burden with a Trustworthy Friend
I say "trustworthy" because you don't want to pour your heart out to someone who will spread your deepest feelings all over the place like a carpet! Choose someone who you know is the soul of discretion and will still respect you after you've told them your truth. It can be so healing to let go your burden to someone who is able to simply listen without trying to "fix" you, too. A good friend may also help you to pray it through if you are having difficulty doing this on your own. If you don't know anyone like that, then it might be time to think about seeing a counsellor instead.
3. Practise Mindfulness
Some people find mindfulness practices help them to get out of their heads. Mindfulness is all about being present. Becoming more aware of the people and things that are happening around you can help to make your own problems seem smaller. Some ways to take mindfulness to the next level are:
- Join a group that meets regularly and make an effort to engage in conversation without worrying what other people think about you. Human connection can make our own problems diminish.
- Go for regular walks in a local park or nature reserve, focus on the nearby flora and fauna and hear the sounds all around you. Feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair. There is something about being in nature that helps to bring balance to our lives.
- Sign up to help a social welfare group - maybe at soup kitchen or an opshop. It's hard to get lost in your own thoughts when you are helping people!
I hope that one of these suggestions brings a spark of hope, if you are struggling today. Check the image above for some more ideas!
Have you found any other way to push through when you feel down? Please share below, so we can all benefit.
4. Are You Drinking Enough Water?
How often do you drink enough water in a day? My guess is not as often as you should. Even though we stop to drink many times a day, we rarely drink sufficient pure, clean, unadulterated water.
When you drink tea or coffee, you are adding compounds like caffeine and tannins to your water, and these substances act as diuretics, with the result that your kidneys eliminate more water than you have taken in! Sugar-laden soft drinks not only increase weight, but trigger the kidneys to eliminate the sugar, leaving you dehydrated and fatigued.
Our circulation, cells, and organs require sufficient water each day to function, for the transportation of nutrients, and for the elimination of toxins, so it is vitally important that we drink enough water each day.
We recommend that you should aim to drink a minimum of 2 litres a day, but how can you remember to do this? The best way that I have found is to always have a drink bottle with me, even when I am home. The presence of the drink bottle reminds me to drink, and I can keep track of how much I am drinking by how many bottles-full I consume in a day.
Here are some things about water that you may not know:
- Water makes up 83% of your blood and carries nutrients and oxygen to your cells.
- We each drink around 1000 litres of water a year.
- We exhale a little more than a cup of water every day!
- Water taken at the correct time maximises its effectiveness on the human body
Water carries mineral and nutrients, but can also carry chemicals and disease
Pollution of our fresh drinking water is a problem for almost half the world’s population. Each year there are about 250 million cases of water-based diseases, resulting in roughly 5-10 million deaths. The six main diseases from unclean water are diarrhoea, schistosomiasis, trachoma, infestation with ascaris, guinea worm, and/or hookworm.
Aluminium Sulphate is used to purify fresh water and mineral water. It causes impurities to coagulate and settle to the bottom of the container where they are more easily filtered and removed.
In Australia, water is then treated with both chlorine and fluoride. Fluoride is a known endocrine disruptor, causing calcification of the Pineal Gland and blocking the iodine receptors in the Thyroid Gland and throughout the body. Chlorine is also a known endocrine disruptor and has been linked to an increased incidence of Colon Cancer. Bottled water is NOT necessarily cleaner than tap water.
So knowing all of this, what do you do to ensure the cleanliness of your water?
Some of us choose to filter our water to remove the chlorine, fluoride and aluminium that it contains.
There are a variety of different filter system you can purchase, and it can get quite confusing! So here are some things to consider:
- Does the filter system remove both chlorine and fluoride from the water? (Many don't)
- Can the system run without electricity? We settled on a Berkey because it will still work even when the power goes out.
- Is the system portable enough to take with you eg. in a caravan or motor home? Again, this is why we chose a Berkey.
- If the filter removes all of the minerals from the water, is there some way that you can replace them so that you don't inadvertently become mineral deficient? Some filter systems replace minerals after filtration, while others don't.
Mineral Essence and MegaCal are two Young Living supplements that can help restore the minerals that you might be missing. You can find out more about these and other supplements by downloading this Wellness Guide:
If you are new to Young Living and wish to place an order, please use this link: Order Now
What measures have you taken to purify your water, and increase your water intake? Comment below!
3. Go For a Walk Every Day.
We all know that diet isn't the only thing we need to do to improve our physical health. The benefits of exercise go way beyond fitness and weight loss. They include:
- Improved circulation
- Benefits to breathing and lung capacity
- Increased muscle tone and better posture
- Improved joint mobility
- Grounding
- Exposure to sunshine to producing Vitamin D
- Improved mental health
- Stimulation of endorphins
...and that's just for starters!
So why don't we do more of it? We can make a lot of excuses, but the truth is that we simply don't allow the time in our already busy schedules. So here are a few tips to get some exercise into your routine that you may not have thought about:
- Walking is one of the gentlest and most natural forms of exercise that we were designed to do. Enlist your partner or friend to go walking with you as exercise is always more fun when you do it with someone. Walking together allows time for conversation, and isn't confrontational because you aren't eyeballing each other. Aim to walk for at least a half hour, and choose a time that works for you, whether that is early in the morning, during your lunch hour, after work, or in the evening. When we had kids we found the best time was after they were all in bed!
TIP: If you have trouble getting motivated, try using an app like Pokemon GO that will reward you as you walk! - Another simple but effective exercise is to use a step or low stool to work your leg muscles and joints. I learned this trick from a neighbour of mine in his 90s who had been a fitness instructor in his younger days. Even at this age, he was still doing step-ups and step-downs at the entrance to his home to stay fit! This simple exercise can be done at any time, for any length of time, with great benefits!
- If it's raining, outdoors isn't an option, or you're looking for something a little more challenging, you might want to try some exercise programs you can do at home. (Please Note: I don't derive any personal benefit from the following recommendations.) Some programs that I'd be happy to recommend include:
- 5BX (for men) and XBX (for women) are physical fitness programs that were developed by the Royal Canadian Airforce in the 1960s and 1970s that only require 11-12 minutes a day. They can be downloaded for free from the Internet Archive.
- If you need something less strenuous take a look at T-Tapp 180 on YouTube. Teresa Tapp created a 15 minute isometric workout that is suitable for any age, works on multiple muscle groups, stimulates the lymphatic system and can be done standing. Sadly she recently passed away, but she has left her legacy on YouTube free for all to use.
- Misty Tripoli, a fitness instructor and dancer, created Body Groove, a series of exercise programs based on dance, and specifically designed for over 50s. This program looks fun, but gives you a much more thorough workout than you would expect! These are paid programs that can be accessed via the website or a phone app.
- 5BX (for men) and XBX (for women) are physical fitness programs that were developed by the Royal Canadian Airforce in the 1960s and 1970s that only require 11-12 minutes a day. They can be downloaded for free from the Internet Archive.
If you are having difficulty getting started because of joint pain, consider taking supplements that supports healthy joints like Young Living's Sulfurzyme and BLM. If you are new to Young Living, please use this link to order:
Order Now
Order Now
These are just a few ideas of ways to stay fit that don't cost a lot of time or money but will reap huge rewards. What exercise routines have you used in the past to stay fit? Share your experiences in the comments!
I hope you found my first post helpful! Yesterday we looked at simple changes you could make for your spiritual wellness. Today, let's continue that theme by taking a look at our physical wellness:
2. Make Small Changes to Your Diet.
Without good health, it’s going to be difficult to make this year exciting or productive. Yet many of us are no longer in peak condition, whether this is because of our age, injury or illness. However, regardless of any or all of these conditions, there are plenty of things we can choose to do to bring ourselves closer to, or even above, the wellness line. Diet is one change that you might want to consider.
Recent studies have shown that the way we have been taught to eat over the past 50 years has done more to harm our health than to help it. A diet high in sugar, processed foods and seed oils have all taken their toll, but the good news is that we can reverse the damage by ditching all the processed junk and getting back to food the way God provided it.
Rather than worrying about calories, try eating as close to nature as possible. If you can afford it, opt for organically grown meat, dairy, eggs, veggies and fruit. If you love to cook, try some paleo or keto recipes.
If you are less adventurous, think about ways that you can change up your favourite meals so that you cut the carbs. For example, our diet used to consist of a lot of stirfries and pasta dishes. We ditched the rice and pasta, and added more meat and veggies to our meal. Then, realising that commercially produced sauces contain heaps of sugar and fillers, we also started to make our own yummy sauces. With a few extra herbs and spices, this was surprisingly simple to do, and much healthier!
HINT: did you know that you can use essential oils as a substitute for herbs and spices? They can be more cost effective, too! To maintain the therapeutic properties of the oils, dilute them in some olive or coconut oil and add them after you have removed the dish from the heat. One drop of an essential oil is the equivalent of a whole teaspoon of the same herb. With some oils, like Black Pepper, you need even less. To help you get started, here is a download with the recommended quanitites of Young Living Culinary Essential Oils use in cooking:
Another thing we have learned, is that if you buy it, you will eat it! So by choosing not to buy bread, crackers, and other snacks, we have forced ourselves to look in our supplies for healthier alternatives. This may be as simple as keeping a dozen boiled eggs in the fridge, or tins of tuna in pantry, so that when the hungries hit we have something satisfying to munch on.
Once again, don't try to change everything at once! Making big changes can be a surefire recipe for failure (pardon the pun!). Small changes, made one at a time, are generally more sustainable and can provide a greater sense of achievement in the long term.
Tomorrow we will look at another aspect of wellness, but in the meantime, please share in the comments any recent changes that you have made to your diet, and lets inspire each other towards wellness!
