Chasing

Letting Go

“Some people think it’s holding on that makes one strong—

sometimes it’s letting go.”

Succeeded

"To leave the world a bit better;
to know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded. "

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Healthy Snacking

Just because you’re on a diet doesn’t mean you have to nix snacks from the menu. In fact, snacking can be a smart way to control hunger and keep from overeating at your next meal. Just be wary of snacking routines, which could encourage you to eat when you’re not hungry.
Research in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that midmorning snackers lost less weight than those who didn’t snack before lunch. The reason for this, the researchers believe, is because of the relatively short amount of time between breakfast and lunch. “Midmorning snacking might be a reflection of recreational or mindless eating habits rather than eating to satisfy true hunger,” explains lead researcher Anne McTiernan, MD. Instead, let your hunger guide you, stick with healthful snacks under 200 calories, and try not to go more than five hours without eating.

Gentler

Monday Morning Affirmations

Live by choice; not chance.
Pursue excellence; excel, but not compete.
Have integrity; keep your word and your commitments.
Make corrections and changes; not excuses.

Daily Weigh -Ins

Most successful dieters end up regaining their lost weight. However, researchers have found that people who weigh themselves daily have an easier time keeping the weight off. Stepping on a scale every day, then cutting calories or boosting exercise if the number climbs too high, can significantly help dieters maintain weight loss.
Called the self-regulation technique, dieters learn to keep their weight within a five-pound range. If the scale’s reading registers above that, it’s time to cut back on calories or boost the burn through extra exercise. This method helps dieters catch themselves before they’ve packed all their pounds back on.
Make sure that you weigh yourself on the same scale at the same time of the day.

Enlarging

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”

Paul Boese

Flesh

Blooming

“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Chains

"We all go through life bristling
at our external limitations,
but the most difficult chains
to break are inside us."

Bradley Whitford

Exercise and Clinical Depression

Those who exercise more and channel surf less are least likely to be diagnosed with depression, according to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Older individuals who spent less time in front of the TV and more time being active saw their risk of depression go down, compared to those who spent several hours a day in front of the tube.
Walking was the most common type of exercise reported in the study; however, only those who kept a brisk or very brisk pace demonstrated an emotional health boost.
Give your mood a lift by turning off the TV and lacing up your walking shoes. Then get outside and walk for at least 30 minutes a day.

Few

Be The Goal

In the healing process, people often convince themselves that they have to get well before they can choose happiness again.
In my work I encourage my patients to honor their pain and choose peace, to feel fear and choose love, to face the anger and choose forgiveness, to experience the heartbreak and choose happiness, and to experience guilt and choose innocence.

Gandhi once said you have to be the change you want. Why? Because the mirror cannot change without you. And the world is only a mirror. One sees only their own thoughts. When you shift, shift happens. If you don’t, you simply experience more of the same.
Be first.
Be different if you want a different outcome.
Be the goal.

Affirmation For A Thursday Morning

I rest in the light of forgiveness.
I forgive myself and others for that
which is done (and better left undone),
and also that which is not done (and better if done).
I give myself permission to enjoy this moment without guilt.
I freely release all uncertainty, regret, and fear.

Mary Anne Radmacher

Apanasana

Lower-back pain is the second-most common complaint, just behind headaches. A yoga pose, called apanasana, or knees-to-chest, gently stretches the lower back and hips. It can help relieve tension in the spine after a day of hunching over your computer or shoveling out from the latest snowstorm.
To perform the move, lie on your back and gently hug your knees to your chest. If this is uncomfortable, bring your legs slightly apart and hold the backs of your thighs instead. Be sure your lower back is flat against the floor. Breathe deeply and the hold the pose for seven to 10 breaths.

Less/More

Responding

Life is ten percent what happens to you
and ninety percent how you respond to it.

Changing

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

Norman Vincent Peale

Stroke Risk Lowered

Put a significant dent in your chances of suffering a brain attack (stroke) by eating a diet that’s rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. New research in the journal Stroke shows that a diet chock-full of phytochemicals (healthful plant compounds) may lower the odds of suffering a stroke, even if there has been a prior history of heart disease.
Heart-disease patients who consumed the most phytochemicals had a 57 percent lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke, compared with those with the lowest intake. Those who scored the biggest health benefits were found to eat twice as many fruits and vegetables.
The healthier group also ate more whole grains.
Even though this particular study focused on women, previous research suggests similar protective benefits for men. Just be sure to get your plant nutrients from the source, instead of from pills; past studies show no risk reduction from supplements.

A Universal Paradox

Act

"Do you want to know who you are?
Don't ask. Act!
Action will delineate and define you."

Thomas Jefferson

Depression and Heart Disease

If you suffer from depression, you may be at greater risk of a heart attack or heart disease. Make sure to seek out professional help if depression is present.
Research suggests that the mood disorder can double your likelihood of a cardiovascular event. Keep yourself healthy by getting screened for heart disease and following a heart-healthy lifestyle. That involves maintaining a healthy weight, eating a Mediterranean-style diet and exercising regularly. Even a daily walk counts.

Remaking

“Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves.”

Gandhi

Beautiful

Interdependence

"Interdependence is and ought to be
as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency.
Man is a social being."

Gandhi

The Combo

Trying to lose weight without breaking a sweat? It might not be the best long-term strategy. Research suggests that cutting calories and exercising is a more effective weight-loss strategy than either option alone. The reason: Adding exercise to the mix leads to better eating habits.
According to a study in the journal Obesity Reviews, physical exercise seems to encourage a healthy diet. Incorporating exercise into a weight-loss program makes people more likely to stick with their diet and have more success in the long run. If you’re just getting started, find a time of day that works for you and commit to walking every day.

Connection

Dancing In The Rain

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass.
It's about learning how to dance in the rain."

Vivian Greene

Going First

Today I commit to going first—both to give love and acceptance and create the possibility of receiving them. Will you?

Fitness Buddies

The company you keep can help you reach your goals.
Research shows you’ll have an easier time adopting healthy habits if you choose a diet or fitness buddy who shares similar attributes and goals. In other words, pick someone who you can relate to.
Study participants paired with people of comparable weight, age, fitness level and diet preferences were three times as likely to achieve their health goals as those who were paired randomly.

A Spiritual Experience

Locating

When we find that we are able to locate ourselves more and more in the deeper waters and less on the tumultuous surface of our being, we have discovered a lasting relationship with peace that will enable us to inspire peace beyond ourselves.
Until then, we help ourselves as well as the world most by practicing the art of choosing peace within.

Choose

"To live is to choose. But to choose well,
you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there."

Kofi Annan

Follow Your Heart

To lower your risk of cancer, follow your heart. People who practice heart-healthy behaviors may have a better chance of warding off cancer.
The heart-healthy habits you should commit to: Maintain a healthy body-mass index (BMI), don’t smoke, eat a heart-healthy diet, exercise regularly, and keep your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels within the normal ranges.
People who adhere to most of these habits have nearly a 40 percent lower risk of developing cancer, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting.

Clearing

Light

In every moment we have a chance to make a choice to bring light into the world.
When we bless others with the gift of our positive energy, instead of letting circumstances affect us negatively, we bring a little peace to the world every day.

Anger Energy

Thoughts of revenge create an energy of imbalance and is best dealt with by releasing your anger.
There can be times when we get so angry with someone that we find ourselves imagining ways to seek revenge for the hurt they’ve caused us. Remember, however, that the thoughts you’ve just had are energetic creations.
In order to keep yourself from having to take part in the re-balancing of energy, it is important to release the person and the thoughts with forgiveness.

Exercise and Better Sleep

People who exercise regularly sleep better and report less daytime drowsiness than couch potatoes do.
People who work out on a regular basis report better shut-eye and less daytime fatigue than those who don’t exercise regularly. Just how much exercise are we talking? The study, published in the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity, defined physically active people as those who meet the national exercise guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate activity (like walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous activity (like running) a week.
While this study doesn’t prove you can run, jog or bike away from chronic sleep problems, it does suggest that regular physical activity may help some people sleep better. After all, depression, stress and anxiety can all do a number on our sleep patterns, while a good sweat session can help bolster our emotional health.

Bitterness

"Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,
but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

BE

Words of Love

Love is saying "I feel differently,"

instead of "You're wrong."

Worthwhile Building

When it comes to building anything worthwhile, it starts with a willingness to believe in ourselves, each other, and what we can create when we have positive intentions and keep going.

Lessons

“Whenever something negative happens to you,
there is a deep lesson concealed within it.”

Eckhart Tolle

Indeed

Habits

"We first make our habits, then our habits make us."

John Dryden

Tongue Kwon Do

Here is an extremely effective phrase to use when faced with an opinionated person who is not opening up to your point of view.
Try saying: "Maybe that's the way you see it, nevertheless this is the way I feel" or "Maybe that's the way you see it, nevertheless, this is my point of view."
This allows you to present your side without backing down or becoming negatively opinionated yourself.

Diet and Heart Disease

Even though people with multiple risk factors for heart disease are more likely to suffer a heart attack, those without risk factors are much more likely to die from their first heart attack.

To keep heart problems from sneaking up on you, practice heart-healthy behaviors for life. According to Caldwell Esselstyn, MD, director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal program at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, “Everyone who eats a Western diet has signs of heart disease by the time they reach young adulthood. The only way to keep it from progressing is to limit saturated fats and cholesterol found in meat and dairy.”

Adopt a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet that’s rich in whole grains, legumes, fruit and vegetables.