HEALTH IS YOUR GREATEST WEALTH

One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is; “your health is your greatest wealth”. Balancing life can be incredibly difficult! Managing family life and work is a full time job in its self. I know! Working long hours, feeling stressed, burnout and feeling demotivated. It is so easy to reach for a chocolate bar for a snack, grab a meal deal at lunch time and have a microwave or frozen meal for dinner. Often, while guzzling fizzy pop, high fructose fruit juices and pounding caffeinated energy drinks! 

Unfortunately, Western society pushes us to seek out easy, quick, packaged convenience food. The problem with convenience food is its packed full of sugars, additives and other nasties. That is why it is crucial you are organised, have planned  meals and snacks out for each day.

Balance is the hardest thing to master in life! No balance leads to burnout, stress, lower immunity, and an array of illnesses. When we don’t centre ourselves and focus on cultivating joy in the little things in life, burnout slowly creeps in like a viper. Often us humans focus on all the negative noise around us: work, friendships, children, relationships, the list goes on.  Instead, lets search for the happiness in each and every moment. 

Paul Chek a Holistic Health Coach in California (you can find Paul’s videos on YouTube) he came up with four doctors (Dr – Happy, movement, quiet, diet). He believes these four elements are key to ensuring ultimate health and creating balance in life. Whereas, Chinese philosophy believe balance is found in the equilibrium of the energies- YingYang. If your body is to ‘Ying’ your body holds water, its soft, unhealthy, and emotional. If your body is to ‘Yang’ it is tight, tense, angry, inflamed, and full of stress.   In order to find balance with YingYang they have a plethora of practices such as qigong, meditation, Tia Chi and religious orders like Taoism are all elements to aid in balance.   

Years ago a good friend told me –'we are the star of our own show and if we do not actively participate in life , it will simply pass us by.'  So what can we  actively do to find balance and peace we are constantly searching for?  

•  Meditation: allows you to clear your mind and find inner peace in a very noisy world. Now, this can be incredibly difficult…… I know! However, there are lots of YouTube videos with free guided meditations to suit your need whether that it is; 

• To improve sleep
• Awareness (being present in the moment)
• Connecting to self (releasing fear and stress)
• Healing trauma (feelings of sadness, loneliness, worry, anxiety) 
• Relaxation (finding the peace within)

Jason Stephenson and Louise Hay have some great meditations on YouTube. There are also lots of meditation apps available such as the calm, headspace, smiling mind, mindfulness. 

•  Exercise: Finding movement that you enjoy is crucial to finding balancing. The barriers to exercise are usually  -  lack of time, children, work responsibilities, health issues and partners. Answer the following questions; 

1. Write down your daily schedule. 
2. Where in your schedule can you block out 30 - 60mins for exercise?
3. What exercises/ sport / classes do you really enjoy? Spinning/ Crossfit/ HITT/ Netball/ Strength training/ Football.  
4. Could you involve your family in daily exercise? Play games, sport, ride bikes, go jogging, hiking, walking around the park- involve them on your fitness journey! 
5.  What lights you up, excites you, thrills you?  - could you add this to your schedule?

Get yourself involved in sport it is great for all family members. I have recently joined a local netball team, and the joy I feel being part of a team and being competitive again! Nothing compares. Have a google in your local area what adult sports are available for you.