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5 Essentials
for Health and Happiness
©Deborah Barr, 2009-11 all rights
reserved.
Your health and happiness are affected by a variety of
factors, internal and external. There are essential
human needs that, when ignored, contribute to health
problems, lack of vitality, loss of creativity and
productivity, emotional disharmonies, spiritual malaise,
and unhappiness.
Physically you need good nutrition, activity or
exercise, good sleep, rest and relaxation, and human
touch.
Food is Foundation
Medicine
The basis for your health is what you put into your
body. Food is creating the quality of your blood,
cells, tissues and organs, and greatly influences the
way you think and perceive.
Many are looking for the perfect diet that will insure
good health. No such diet exists. There is no one way
of eating that works to bring everyone good health and
balanced weight. Not everyone benefits equally from
foods that contain the same measure of nutrients. The
appropriateness of foods cannot be determined without
knowledge of the constitution, condition, age,
lifestyle, environment, and emotional state of the
person eating them.
The best foods to use as a basis for balanced health are
not extreme. They do not overly cleanse, build or
stress the body and mind. There are foundational foods
that benefit everyone. They form the foundation around
which other parts of the diet can revolve.
A diet based on whole, unprocessed foods-including whole
grains, beans and legumes, and vegetables--is the most
beneficial. These food groups contain a rich variety of
foods that have ample protein and a variety of vitamins
and minerals. They are essential for enjoying the best
possible healt
Emphasizing these foundational whole foods will help to
resolve health issues, normalize weight, improve energy,
digestion and elimination, provide restful, sleep, and
harmonize negative emotions.
click
here for health supportive recipes
Your Mind is Magnetic
Your mind strongly influences your health. Your dominant
thoughts on any subject will drive you to make choices
that match those thoughts. Most people are not aware
of persistent thoughts that are causing suffering. All
things are possible. If you're suffering with health
problems, then the opposite is possible--without
struggle, but not without some effort and inner work.
It's difficult to change poor health from
the same level of thinking that created it. If you want
to be successful, changing your mindset is crucial.
This doesn't mean simply thinking positive, but rather
discovering and changing attitudes, beliefs, and
personal truths that have led to your problems. Your
mind, to a large extent, determines the shape of your
body, and the state of your health and happiness.
Your health and life reflect what's in
your conscious and subconscious mind. Every choice you
make is done in an attempt to fulfill your beliefs.
Beliefs are personal truths that you live by. Most of
them are learned from your families, role models,
religion, media, science and our culture. Negative,
fear-based, disempowering beliefs are huge obstacles to
success. They limit your ability to experience good
health, happiness and freedom.
Spend some time examining your personal
truths that are guiding your life. If you don't know
what they are, look at the reality of your health,
finances, happiness--everything. Your current
conditions will tell you what you've been believing.
Cultivating the ability to focus your
mind on a positive vision for your
health and life is a crucial key to good health and
happiness. This is true no matter what is happening in
the world. It takes awareness and shifts in perception.
Thoughts without awareness cause you to react with fear,
anger or other negatives, rather than respond
intelligently and effectively to your personal
challenges.
You use your mind and imagination every day to create
nearly everything you are experiencing. Do you daily
worry about health, weight, money, and other things? Do
you imagine lack, struggle and difficulties? Do you
expect to get every disease your parents, siblings and
friends have? Are the choices you make coming from fear
based thoughts? Do you have deep-seated negative
concepts about life? Your thoughts continually become
your experience.
Taking control of your mind is
essential in transforming unwanted conditions.
Healthy Emotional
Expression
Are your emotions making you sick and
unhappy? Persistent negative emotions always precede
health, weight, and lifestyle problems. Paying
attention to how you feel can prevent small problems
from turning into a crisis.
Emotional problems are issues of your
Whole health. Negative emotions are communicating to
you that something is out of balance and needs to be
changed. Emotions are a wonderful guidance system.
Many people are not interpreting and understanding the
messages their emotions are trying to give to them.
Instead, emotions are often repressed, denied, or dulled
with pharmaceuticals. These messages will persist until
you understand the Higher purpose for your emotions.
Treat your emotions as friends. They
have come to your awareness to help you in some way.
Perhaps they are urging you to communicate how you feel,
to say no to things you don't want to be doing; to work
on forgiveness of self or others; or to take better care
of your personal needs. Negative emotions may be a
nudge to seek some professional counseling to resolve
something from your past. Given the profound effects of
food on emotional health, the negative ones are often a
push for a better diet.
Do you have opportunities for full emotional
expression? Everyone needs someone in their life they
can speak with openly and honestly without fear of being
judged-- someone who is a good listener. This may be a
therapist, holistic counselor, good friend, or member of
the clergy.
Attitudinal Healing Counseling is very
effective for resolving emotional disharmonies.
Life can throw a lot of curves and it's important to
move through the negatives with a hopeful expectancy and
trust in life. Learn and practice seeing all of your
challenges in a new light. They are an invitation to
change so that you may experience life in more radiant
ways.
Simple, Effective
Practice
Sit quietly for a few minutes and ask your emotions what
good thing they are trying to do for you. Note any
impressions that come to mind. Tell them that you want
them to help you evolve in healthy, positive ways that
feel good. Thank them for being in your life. Focus
on bringing light to the emotion, even if only for 15
seconds. Again, note any awareness that comes to
mind. This is a simple, yet powerful practice for
deliberately shifting your thoughts and feelings which
will, in turn, direct the course of your life in
positive ways.
Your emotions tell you exactly where you are in relation
to your Vision and Dreams. Learning to listen to and
extract the positive meaning behind your emotions will
develop within you the ability to more easily create a
life you love. Your emotions will become steadier,
quieter, more peaceful, and positive. Rather than
reacting to outer conditions with negative thoughts and
emotions, you learn to perceive these conditions as
positive guidance and allow them to inspire you to
create the joyful, healthy, abundant life you are meant
to live.
This is a critical and necessary aspect of health and
happiness.
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Build Your
Spiritual Connection
The spiritual is the highest and most
effective path to resolving any issue.
It's essential to understand the
nature of your existence and your connection to a
larger whole. A spiritual orientation and
relationship with a deity that loves and adores you
unconditionally will move you forward more
quickly.
You are energetically connected to the Divine
Source of all things-the realm where all
possibilities exist.
You have an invisible part of you that is always
trying to guide you toward joyful, abundant living,
and a healthy, fit body and mind. By working at the
spiritual level you will strengthen your connection
to this Source, tap into its guidance, and
understand how you have been resisting it. This has
nothing to do with religion and will not conflict
with your personal religious beliefs. Your
invisible, unlimited spirit will always guide you
toward radiant health, and joyful and abundant
living. Applying spiritual awareness in every day
life is vital to health and
happiness. If this comes first, food and other
factors fall into place more easily.
Spirit is stifled by struggle,
busyness, lack of unconditional self love,
perfectionism, overwork, overuse of your intellectual
mind, fear-based emotions, excuses and justifications,
complaining and whining, defensiveness, negativity and
pessimism. These all widen the gap between you and the
wonderful possibilities for your health and life.
Your all-knowing spirit responds to you
when you are being creative, exercising your intuition,
and being generous and kind to yourself and others. She
is enlivened when you are happy, playful, and enjoying
yourself in healthy ways. When you are in a state of
gratitude and appreciation for yourself, others and your
life's experiences she brings you more things to be
grateful for. Being happy for others' successes,
finding the good in what is, and using positive,
uplifting, affirming words when you think and speak make
her a stronger presence in your life.
Can you carve out 5-30 minutes a day to
focus on your life's vision and for quiet reflection,
meditation or prayer? Or simply sit quietly in a state
of presence and focus on breathing. Doing so will bring
greater awareness of and a stronger relationship with
the Divine Higher Forces in life who want you to be
happy and healthy.
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A Nourishing Rhythm
Do you hit the floor running when you awaken
in the morning? Do you stop only when you drop into bed at
night? Is your yearly vacation the only time you relax?
You need "down" time daily when you can
mentally and emotionally let go. Reading a book for
pleasure, meditating, taking a nap, observing a sunset,
watching a move, taking a bubble bath, doing something
creative that relaxes you are essential for a balanced
life.
Taking time to sit down and eat meals in
a relaxed way is far more nourishing than eating the
same meals on the run.Do you
get adequate rest? Some people require more sleep than
others. There is no standard that applies to everyone,
but you should get at least 7 hours. Your body renews
and restores itself during sleep. It's the time you
totally let go of all resistance, and is hurtful to
deprive yourself.
Does your daily rhythm include exercise or activity?
Time for meditation, prayer or reflection?
Being involved regularly with a community of positive,
like-minded, caring people is an essential ingredient to
health and happiness. This could be friends, a
professional group, supportive family, a book club, a
church group or spiritually oriented organization, or
others. Do you allow time for this regularly?
Determine where you are out of balance and what you need
more of to create a healthy rhythm to your life that
feeds you in positive ways.
What can you let go of, delegate or simplify? You could
get your family involved in meal planning and
preparation, errands, chores, and others things that are
taking up so much of your time.
Look at how you spend your time and you'll know how to
have more of it.
Turn off the computer, phones and television at specific
times of the day.
Put more play, fun, laughter and recreation in your
life.
A consistently nourishing life will add years to your
life and prevent many health problems.
Start with small changes and a momentum will build.
Measure the payoffs with your investment in yourself.
Those of you ready will do what's best for you, your
health, and your life. You have a lot of power to create
health and happiness. Exercise that power now.
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Best Practices for a Healthy Mind and Body
Audio Program by Deborah Barr -- order today for
special savings.
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©Deborah
Barr, 2009. All rights reserved.
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Call 412.361.8600 to schedule a
free 30-minute consultation/evaluation. Wouldn't you like to create a plan for reversing these and other
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 "Deborah
Barr founded Whole Health Resources in 1985 and works with national
clientele to help them realize radiant health of body, mind/emotions
and spirit, as well as joyful, abundant living. WHR provides
a wide range of services including Holistic Health Counseling,
Natural Weight Loss Services, Whole Health Coaching, Shiatsu
Therapy and Yogatherapy, and a wide range of workshops and seminars.
Deborah is a sought after speaker and writer sharing her Holistic
message to audiences of regional and national scope." She
can be reached by calling 412.361.8600, e-mailing
deborah@wholehealthresources.com, or visiting
www.wholehealthresources.com
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