Journey to Health, part 2

-- Journey to Health, part 2 -- 

Remember that your activities, your job, the things you are tasked with are not you; they do not define you, they are what you do, not who you are. 

Yoga and meditation can help us realize that your mind, your brain, is different from you, the spirit. Visualize the brain as a machine and yourself as the operator of the machine. Realizing this increases awareness that a lot of our life is habit, habitual reactions – and the operator has the opportunity to reprogram the machine to operate in a more desirable fashion.

Taking the time for looking after yourself – improving diet, getting exercise that suites your and excites you so you keep going, getting lots of sleep, taking supplements, eating right. These positive habits may take a while to become a natural part of your life, and you may have to try a lot of different things to see what works for you, you may be really into something and move onto something else for a few years and so on. 

If you haven't already, get rid of all the artificial cleaners, chemicals, fragrances, and the like from your home – instead, use all natural cleaners and personal products. Try to go fragrance free, except for perhaps natural essential oils. You can make a lot of natural cleaners and personal products yourself, but we don't - we just head to our favourite local and online suppliers and order what we need.  My personal favourite brands are Calia, 7 cream, Dessert Essence, and Tangerine Lily. I make my own cleaning products with essential oils, cleaning vinegar and the like. The recipes will be in the final chapter of the upcoming cookbook that we are working on at the moment.

Getting quiet, taking the time to just be in silence… to be aware of breath, and increase the depth of the breath, making it more even.

Becoming aware, looking at things with all your senses. Letting go, just letting go. Visualize the sorrow or pain, or struggle or negativity or physical pain flow through you and into the universe or the floor or whatever. It does not stay with us and set up a residence… it flows through us. We still feel it, experience it, but we do not have to continually suffer from it.

In each moment we have an opportunity for increased awareness of the moment and that leads to becoming aware of our thoughts, our actions, our reactions – we can examine it, learn from it, let it go and trust that there will be another moment, another fresh empty page for you to write on and experience. 

Vow again and again to retrain the brain to think more positive thoughts – just be aware of a negative thought, tell yourself – "gee, I didn’t want to think that... there’s the old habit rearing its head" and then think of three positive things to counter act it. You wont catch every single one but you will eventually be able to retrain the brain to become more positive.