Five things you can do right now to
increase your chances of staying healthy
1
Get control over
your thoughts
Unfortunately, many of us obsess
over how someone hurt us or
worse yet, we literally beat ourselves up when we’ve done something we feel guilt or shame over.
When these unhealthy thoughts
are repeated over and over again,
they become our beliefs. In other
words, they become WHO we
are rather than what we think.
As we become our thoughts, they
become ingrained in our physicality. Thoughts can be as acidic as
the foods we eat. Remember that a
thought is just a thought; it is not
necessarily the truth.
2
Become more flexible
with your thoughts
People who are inflexible in their
thoughts have more trouble forgiving than their more flexible counterparts. This right/wrong way
of thinking keeps you playing the
blame game. And as long as you are
pointing your finger at someone
else and feeling a righteous sense of
indignation, you can’t forgive. This
is because you believe that forgiveness is inherently connected to the
person who hurt you. This is a false
belief. Forgiveness has everything to
do with YOU. It is a gift to yourself,
to feel more peace in your life.
10 IMAGINE l Autumn 2015
3
Let go of stress on
a regular basis
The good news is that we know that
there are ways to deal with stress,
and research supports these lifestyle changes, such as meditation,
yoga, aerobic exercise, being out in
nature, getting regular massages,
increasing your sexual activity,
smiling more, having a regular
gratitude practice, praying, counseling, participating in a spiritual group,
and working with a coach to live a
happier, more passion-filled life. One
of my favorite stress relievers is to
laugh with girlfriends. Many people
wait until one of the 3 D’s hits them:
Death of a loved one, Disease, or
Divorce. Prevention is way better
than waiting for one of the three
D’s to be your WAKE-UP call.
4
Let go of past grudges
If the past is following you into your
future, you need to let it go. There is
no research that says anyone benefits from living in the past, or holding onto grudges. Likewise, beating
yourself up for something you did
in the past is a waste of time. If there
is something you did, apologize,
make amends the best you can, and
let yourself off the hook. If someone
did something to hurt you, remember that you holding onto the hurt,
anger, bitterness is hurting you,
not them.
As Marianne Williamson tells
us: “The past is over. It doesn’t matter who we are, where we came
from, what Mommy said, what
Daddy did, what mistakes were
made, what diseases we have or
how depressed we feel. The future
can be reprogrammed at this
moment.”
I know, sometimes it feels like