It's All Perfect

Cleaning out

Open your refrigerator and read the labels, folks!

See what THESE items contain:

Better Than Bullion Chicken Broth / Beef Broth (sugar and corn syrup, whey, and soy protein in those!)

Ketchup (sugar and high fructose corn syrup!)

Room for Improvement

I've been doing a lot of studying on nutrition and diet. In my medical practice, I regularly coach people who have diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and various other medical problems that all stem from a 'modern' diet. In other words - eating poorly.

Rather than lay blame, I'd like to get to some solutions. So I've been reading a lot and doing my own research - and based on what I've discovered, I decided to do my own nutritional experiment on myself.

I've decided to cut out the following from my diet for one month (as of November 9th, 2009):

caffeine

dairy

gluten (grains, rice, wheat, flour, barley, oats)

sugar

The reason? I love my morning coffee - but I like it with sugar and cream. I don't want to have dairy or sugar, so I'd rather not have coffee if I can't have cream and sugar in it.  I'll be posting more about 'Why' in the next few days and weeks - but stay tuned for more from me.

Always Training for Life

Watch a person who's debilitated get up from a chair, or watch them pick something up from the ground to gain an appreciation of what training the basic functional movements will do to prevent debilitation.

If you're not squatting, lifting weights, working your joints to the fullest range of motion - then you're at risk of becoming debilitated.

That's why we're teaching people functional movements such as how to pick items up from the ground, lift them overhead, and carry them. Stay strong!

Who is Responsible?

Who is responsible for you and your circumstances?
Who is in charge of your life?

Everything that exists in your life is a projection from inside of YOU. Everything that is 'out there' is actually  within you, and you project it, as a movie projector projects onto a screen... and to change your reality, you have to change yourself.

Ho'oponopono is a Hawaiian healing process based on the principles of total responsibility, taking responsibility for everyone's actions. If one would take complete responsibility for one's life, then everything one would see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is one's responsibility because it is in one's life. Total Responsibility advocates that everything exists as a projection from inside the human being. The problem isn't with our external reality, it is with ourselves and to change our reality, we would have to change ourselves.

How to do this? This is what transformation is all about - finding how to lose old ways of being that don't serve us and that restrict us from stepping into the opportunities of the present. When we are busy blaming, making excuses, complaining (which is another way of shunning responsibility) - we are expending energy and NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY for ourselves.

The first way to halt the habit of shunning responsibility for yourself and what is in your life is to shift your thinking. Start by saying this prayer whenever you find yourself thinking thoughts that are negative in some way:

I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.

Practice this and you'll see a change in yourself and your circumstances.

FEAR = BLISS

I've noticed that I can generate real physical sensations in my body when I'm afraid. For example, I am afraid of falling. When I get in certain circumstances, my legs become shakey and they feel heavy and warm, my heart races, and I feel very worried and anxious. I have what I'd call vertigo: I feel as if I'll lose my balance and I don't trust my body to do what it can normally do with ease.

It's quite amazing to experience this, when I step back and observe it. Not that I enjoy being reduced to a  whimpering frightened little thing... it's just amazing how powerful thoughts can be and what they can DO to a person's ability and confidence.

I've been working on transforming that fear of falling into something else - something workable. Actually, I've been working on reducing fear in general. And I've realized that I can transform my label of 'fear' with any label I'd like. In fact, the bodily sensations that I've labeled 'fear' are very similar to the bliss I feel when I'm in the warm sun, surrounded by the beauty of the High Sierra: Giant Granite rocks, high meadows, a trickling stream.  In this instance, I'm very aware of the warmth of my body in such a way that I'm almost aglow. I'm aware of my legs and my connection to the surroundings in a way that's quite similar to the feelings I have when I'm afraid!

So, I am choosing to replace my fear with bliss. Literally. When I feel my legs become shaky and heavy and my heart begin to race, I know that I've got a heightened awareness of myself in the same way that I have a heightened awareness when I'm feeling blissful.

What are you 'spending' energy on?

If I gave you an unlimited amount of money (energy) and told you to spend it on things you DON'T want, can you imagine what would happen?

You'd go out shopping and find yourself purchasing all the things you don't like or want: That car you don't want would be yours. The clothes you don't like would be in your closet. The furniture you hate would be in your home, and so on. You'd have a life filled with all the things you don't like - because you'd spent the money (energy) on them.

The same thing holds true for energy: When you focus your energy on the things you don't like, you get what you don't like; the things you don't like about yourself, the characteristics you don't like about your body, the things you dislike about your relationships all manifest in your life - because that is what you spend your energy on.

Apply this to any aspect of your life: What you put your energy into, you'll get.  So no matter what your circumstances - figure out how to love your circumstances!  Drop your complaints because you'll create more of what you don't want by focusing on those complaints.

Get it?

Here's an example: Let's say you feel unhappy with your weight. You're thinking about it most of the time and you're criticizing yourself for allowing yourself to become overweight. You're focusing on every detail about your body that you don't like. You can't seem to let it go. And you are not happy about how you look or feel.

From an energy standpoint, you're continuing to create what you don't want because you're focusing on, and putting your energy towards, what you don't want - and creating more of it with that energy.

Be happy with what you have. The key here is to be happy.

Your Life is Precious

'Life is Precious' is a saying we've all heard and probably, we've said it ourselves.

YOUR life is precious. You are here to live fully, completely, and to fulfill your human potential in all of it's glory and brilliance - whatever is holding you back, is YOU. No reason, excuse, circumstance, or person is more powerful than YOU.

Take a look at your life and uncover the places where you've settled, given up, resigned yourself, or just plain thought you couldn't 'because...' 

YOU are responsible for your situation. This is not to blame you - this is to empower you. Everything that you 'have' is of your making. Look for the opportunities in everything and be thankful for them.

This is the key to happiness. Happiness is not dependent on how much you have, who you are with, where you live, the job or profession in which you work. Happiness is found in one place: inside of YOU.

Your life is precious. Give up your anger, resignation, blame, sadness, hurt, victimization, and perceptions of what you can and cannot do or be.

Anything is possible.

But How?

Sometimes we find ourselves over-thinking things.

We want something. It's in front of us. Yet we cannot see HOW we can accomplish it.
Our minds go off on tangents wondering about all the different elements that will have to come together for us to get from here to there.

We find ourselves defeated before we even get started - its just not possible to overcome all the hurdles in front of us... so we talk ourselves out of 'it' before we even really get started.

What's the cost of living your life this way?  Giving up on your dreams before you ever start fulfilling on them is stealing your vitality and your zest for life. Allowing your dreams to die is a way of taking away hope and the chance for bettering yourself and your life.

Today, right now, step back into a space of believing that your dreams can come true...
all it takes is you to have faith.

And what's faith? It's a belief in something you can't see....

Watch a River...

Have you ever sat by a river and watched the water flow effortlessly along on its journey?
The water doesn't resist it's destiny.
There's no struggle or apparent difficulty.
There's a flow that is natural and effortless, graceful, and ever-so-amazing.

Be

You are so much more than the job you do, the car you drive, the house you own, and the places you've been. You are so much more than the body you live in.
Remember that you are who you say you are.
If you want to 'be' something - make it so!