Healthy Living DIY

One day last week, I had a really interesting conversation with a client. We were talking about the phenomenon of "taking care of others at the expense of care for yourself."

[Actually, I've had this conversation with several clients lately... That's one reason I know it's such a common thing -- at least among the people I meet.]

"Doesn't have to be a big expensive deal," I said. "Sometimes just sitting down with a cup of tea is a nice thing to do for yourself."

"Oh, I sit plenty," she said. But that wasn't the end of her story.

Fear. It's one of our biggest "stops" in life. Fear deserves our full attention, at least for a quick moment.

Why?

Because you can get past most fears you can see. It's those seemingly irrational fears that lurk in the background that keep us stuck. It's worth our while to identify fears that may be stopping us in our proverbial tracks.

How many people, when asked what they want, can't wrap their minds around what that might be? For any number of supposed reasons. Doesn't really matter.

The common theme is this:

Because I believe I can't get what I really want, I prefer not to think about it. I've resigned myself to accept what I think I can get.

Now think about it. Does that sound like an empowered vision for your life?

Exhausted? We're about to explore 7 signs that everyday life could be undermining your health. They'll be brief. And we'd might as well start with the most obvious.

Sign #1: You're tired, exhausted, drained.

This sign is so obvious that you may have noticed it briefly, then tried to ignore it. You figure it'll go away, you'll feel better tomorrow, the sun will come out. Or you figure there's nothing to be done about it, so why bother?

But here's why it's worth your while to bother. When you feel exhausted, it means that your energy is literally draining out of your body. Life-force energy. Vitality. Aliveness.

Enhancing life-force energy brings more aliveness and vitality into your experience here. Allowing it to run down the drain simply isn't a good idea! It leaves you vulnerable to all kinds of opportunistic conditions and situations you'd surely rather avoid.

You Hurt. Second in our series of 7 clues that everyday life may be undermining your health is this common problem. Something hurts.

We may be talking about physical pain. We may be talking about emotional pain. Or perhaps you experience both.

Pain is an obvious signal that something is wrong. It can be tricky, though. Pain is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. "Pain the symptom" can be distant from its cause.

And there is the complication! The root cause of a pain problem can be extremely tricky to identify.

What's in a BMI? It's short for Body Mass Index, a measure of the relationship between your weight and your height. And it just happens to be the 3rd in our series of 7 little hints that everyday life may be undermining your health: "Your Body Mass Index is above or below the normal range for your height."

We're not talking about a self esteem issue here. I sincerely hope you have accepted yourself as a worthwhile person regardless of your various physical characteristics -- height, weight, hair color, and so on. However unlike being a little taller or shorter than average, unlike being the single blonde in a sea of brunettes -- being above or significantly below the normal weight for your height can impact your vulnerability to disease.

Heart disease, some cancers, sleep disorders, stroke, diabetes, and arthritis have all been linked to maintaining too high a body mass. When you carry around those extra pounds, you stress your joints as well as your heart. Maintaining a regular exercise program becomes much more difficult. The hormonal make-up of your body changes (fat tissue leads to excess estrogen and also is linked with inflammation, a precursor to disease). Further, the lack of physical conditioning that often comes with overweight makes you a vulnerable mark for becoming the victim of violent crime -- you simply don't have what it takes to run away.

Despite the well-publicized effects of our nation's obesity epidemic, people sometimes overlook the obvious when the subject is very personal (i.e. when it's about them). Let's interject a little real-life story so you can get what I mean.