Healthy Living DIY

"I live with my girlfriend. We live in her house, with her furniture. I'm not quite sure why she stays with me. My car's a junker. It gets me around most of the time, but sometimes it breaks down and I'm stuck riding my bike. My girlfriend's dog barely tolerates me. I really don't have any friends. I've got a good job, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why I got hired."

This was the self-description of a fellow attendee at a personal development seminar I participated in several years ago. He didn't appear angry or frustrated... Simply resigned to what he believed he deserved in life.

The man we'd just listened to went on to explain to the group exactly why he felt his life had taken on the shape it was in right now:

It's seed starting time in my neck of the woods. Just last weekend, the Eckert dining room table became host to several trays of germinating (I hope) seeds. We'll have tomatoes, cukes, and peppers, two kinds of basil, some annual flowers, and presumably a few other things popping up before long. Still others will go in when the soil warms up enough to direct sow.

How about you?

Since we're a healthy living community, we can get into some real nuts and bolts from time to time. And since, as the old adage says, "you are what you eat," why not stop a moment and think about where "you" are coming from?

If you've seen the current Time magazine, you probably noticed that their cover story this week explores just this topic: "Forget organic. Eat local." (What a coincidence!)

During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I came home one evening and turned on a cable news show to catch up on the events of the day. There, in full living color, was Dr. Phil. Live from the Houston Astrodome. He'd flown in to see if he could be of some help to the people stranded there.

As Dr. Phil spoke with the news reporter, he answered the question I'd been wondering about myself for several days. He said he'd spoken with a number of people, and had asked many of them the question, "When you heard a category 5 hurricane was headed toward your home, why didn't you leave?"

He received two main answers. For some of the people, the main issue was money. These were the people who lived check to check. The hurricane hit at the end of the month, and they simply couldn't rustle up the extra cash to take their family on the road for an indefinite period of time and pay for it.

We expected that first answer from some. But the other one? Well, you tell me.

You may not be surprised to hear that one of the more popular "first projects" among our wellness coaching participants features a weight loss goal. Unfortunately, when stated that way, the goal is rarely achieved.

This article explores what happens when you place your attention on what you want -- or what you don't want. We'll briefly consider why the goal of losing weight so rarely works. And how a simple trick of language can make things ever so much more successful!

It all depends on where you place your attention.

Sometime within the next 24 hours, we will officially be in spring! Yippee! Spring can't come too soon in my neck of the woods. And, like you, I've got a whole list of spring fix-ups I'm just itching to get to. Starting in the garden.

When you think of spring cleaning, I'll bet you have some of the same images as I do. Pitching clutter, sparkling up windows, moving furniture to clean behind it, picking up sticks in the yard. Mom used to even wash the walls!

So what's the point of all this madness?

Here's how I see it. In order to make room for the abundance of the new active season, we need to remove all the clutter, debris, and dinginess we've somehow accumulated over the winter. Not intentionally, of course. Somehow, each winter it just seems to happen. So we get that big burst of spring energy and start fresh.

It's a lovely health-affirming practice.

What if you were to continue the practice with your mind?

Excuses. Or great reasons? That's where we left off in the previous article.

How do you know the difference?

First of all, we'll look at reasons. A reason explains why you did what you did:

I fixed lunch because I was hungry.
I took a nap because I was tired.
I threw out the leafy green kale because it was spoiled.

Explaining why you did what you did. Simple.

Within the category of reasons is a sub-group we call excuses. Here's what makes excuses special:

In the previous article, we explored the distinction between a reason and an excuse. To review, a reason explains why you took an action. An excuse is a special type of reason that attempts to explain, rationalize, or justify why you did take an action you believe you should not have OR why you didn't take an action you believe you should / could have.

Today, we're going to explore one particular excuse that trips people up in life nearly as often as the 21 you learned to get past in Word Cures: How to Keep Stupid Excuses From Sabotaging Your Health. This one didn't come up in my research for the Word Cures book. For one good reason. While it does affect health (often in a very big way), it is most commonly recognized in the context of another slice of life.

In other words, this one is Brand New!

We're all busy, right? Some of us are busy doing the things we expect will move our lives forward. Others are treading water. Regardless, we all perceive ourselves as busy. Old news. We've talked about busy-ness a gazillion times already.

And yet ... what if there was another way to look at it?

As I read this week's chapter of Rich Dad, Poor Dad (to post on the healthy living book club), one particular idea of Mr. Kiyosaki's really struck me.

(You know Robert Kiyosaki, right? Despite having been ill-prepared by his family of origin for a life of wealth, he nevertheless overcame that barrier by finding a wealth-building mentor to teach him the tricks of the trade. At the ripe old age of 9. Declared himself financially independent -- and retired -- at 47.)

"Arrogant people rarely read or buy tapes. Why should they? They are the center of the universe." (Robert Kiyosaki. Rich Dad, Poor Dad. pg. 169)

Now that's good!

It got me thinking about the three major options we have for allocating discretionary time.