YOUR LIFE A-Z:BREAKFAST

A HEALTHY CHOICE WHEN EATING OUT

BREAKFAST

The first rule of good physical self-care is to always eat BREAKFAST.  BREAKFAST starts our metabolism for the day and signals the body that it is time to get on with the process or living well.  BREAKFAST is considered by most health experts to be the most important meal of the day.  However, not all BREAKFAST meals are the same, so this is not a license to eat whatever you want. However, it is a license to eat something.  Good BREAKFAST choices are always less than 500 calories and often you can have a good breakfast less than 300 calories.  Portion control is important in all of our meals.  BREAKFAST needs to be balanced with protein choices.  Thus an egg omelet with fresh veggies, yogurt with nuts and berries, apple with peanut butter, whole grain carbs with any of the above can complete the meal for you.  Some of you enjoy variety, so be sure to think ahead and have several healthy choices on hand and pre-plan it the night before so that you get in the habit of making sure you eat before you leave the house or have a breakfast to go ready and waiting for you in the fridge.  Some professionals recommend that you eat protein with your BREAKFAST meal and that you eat within thirty minutes of being up.  If you are not a BREAKFAST eater, then make this meal a priority and keep it simple in order to get into the habit.  The simpler it is for you the more successful you will be. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z :HAPPY

HAPPY

What is happy to you?  What are you really saying when you say I just want to be happy?  As I have said,  “Happiness is not an illusion, but neither is it a destination.”  I see it as a space within you.  The dictionary defines contentment as a place of happiness and satisfaction.  Being HAPPY is a space or place wherethere is a reservoir of positive energy, decorated with fond memories, and an invitation to sit and enjoy the present moment, using all of your senses of smell, taste, touch, hear, and feel.  Experiencing the moment is a space within you as the moment passed already, so it is a pause button of HAPPY.  HAPPY space is a choice.  We can choose to focus on bad memories, ugly situations, and things in the past that were not fair.  Or we can choose to be anxious and worry about every possible thing that can go wrong in the future or we can place the present moment on “pause,” and allow ourselves to switch channels in our head and enjoy the creation of HAPPY.  If we did this as often as we check our Facebook every day imagine how lush, lovely, and exhilarating our HAPPY space could become.  We would enjoy going there to experience the joy of being alive, as well as the moment of sweet contentment in the facts.  These are the facts: If you are reading this you are alive, be grateful.  If you are grateful you will count your blessings and if you count your blessings you will enter your HAPPY space.  Yep…that is fact.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z : WALK

WALK, FOLLOW THE PATH OF ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER

WALK

You don’t need me to tell you that our lives would be better if we walked more.  You have heard things such as“park far away in order to WALK further.”  It is best for our heart if we WALK 10,000 steps in a day.  Wear a pedometer and see how few steps you actually take when you are not actively working on it.  There are other reasons walking can benefit your soul.  It is probable that many of you have not heard of walking as a way of prayer or walking as a spiritual practice.  

I will be talking about the Labyrinth in the next “L” word, but I thought I would introduce you to it through this important “W” word.  To WALK a Labyrinth as a part of a spiritual practice, means meditating about putting one foot in front of the other while staying on the one path to the center and back out again. Walking for no other reason than to pray.  Carving out a twenty-minute moment in your busy life to walk as a way of reflection.  To WALK means to move; to move means taking steps forward; taking steps forward allows us to become more of who we want to be. Action is the best way to change.  To WALK is one of the easiest actions that we can do.  If you can’t WALK, imagine walking.  Some of the most important things that we can do in our lives are the simplest.  Determine to WALK more this year, physically and spirituality.