No matter how often we fall into the trap of victimhood, deep down we all know that we create our own reality so being healthy is a conscious choice. What we put every day into our bodies and minds determines our general well being.
Food is not all equal as, over especially the last 70 years, our soil has been depleted of its nutrients and injected with heavy chemicals. Animal protein is no longer derived from healthy roaming animals but creatures that spend their whole lives in suffering. Toxins from this that we call “nutrition” overwhelm our internal systems and create environments of imbalance where disease thrives. Conscious eating therefore of either locally sourced food or food that has been verified for its purity is key in maintaining a healthy body. Every bite you take is a choice in that direction.
Keeping your body strong also involves some form of movement that tones muscles, moves your lymph and invites greater amounts of oxygen into your lungs. Easy if you’re an outdoors person and can walk, run or swim every day, or if you enjoy a certain sport or activity like Yoga or Tai-Chi.
What we put into our minds is the third and most complex component of this health equation. Here the content of where we place our attention and the emotions and consequent chemical reactions it triggers in our body, are key. Yes, words and images have consequences. The impact of what you watch, listen to or talk about is huge.
Body and mind determine the level of balance, our general well being and, more importantly, what we then create from this state of existence.
While it is fairly simple to follow the good food and healthy exercise rules using common sense and the guidance of teachers and coaches whom we resonate with and trust, it is harder to work on keeping a healthy mind.
Until the age of seven our brain functions in Theta brainwaves. This is a hypnotic state in which we soak in like little sponges everything our environment is teaching us by example. This is the quickest way for us to learn how to function in the physical world. Our sub-conscious mind like a computer is being programmed every minute we are awake. As we grow older this program controls our behavior as more than 95% of our time we act from what we have learned in the past. Since this is a generational process, old patterns of thinking and doing and of perceiving the world become so deeply ingrained that we often end up living the lives of our parents and grandparents.
Using a mere 5% of our mind to change the rest is a daunting task. First, there needs to be the will to go there. Then there needs to be the courage to confront that unhealthy mode in all its debilitating qualities. And last but not least, this needs to become your modus operandi, the most important item on your every day to do list.
While this might sound like an overwhelming amount of work, it all adds up to only one word – PRESENCE.
We come into presence when we are doing something we love – our focus is on that activity as it happens moment by moment. There’s no effort, no trying to make anything happen. You simply are one with what you are doing.
Presence can be entered in other ways and with practice held for longer periods of time. Meditation is one of these doorways. Long time meditators can attest to the positive changes that happen in their everyday state of being. Their brain scans show significant differences from those who continue to operate solely in a pre-programmed state. And while old paradigms especially in the fields of science sometimes take a few generations to shift, we have access to this new knowledge like never before. It opens us into new understandings and a continuous expansion of consciousness. An open mind is a healthy mind.
The following documentary explains a little more about the nature of health and awareness. The scientists featured here are phenomenal human beings and paint a detailed picture of what is happening as we evolve.
