to be or not to be... healthy

I was having a discussion with someone the other night and suddenly had an interesting thought. The topic, I believe, was religion, or something similar, and my thought was a bit random, but perhaps related as well. I realized that while growing up, pretty much everyone around me was "health-conscious", vegetarian, and many of them were into the natural cures and all these drinks and vitamins and all kinds of natural healing. The shocking thing that I realized, was that many of those very people were sick a lot, and still are to this day. They do not enjoy the vibrant health that, according to their theories, they should. They may be overweight, or get frequent colds, or suffer from asthma or all kinds of allergies. Although they are proponents of health, they are not themselves healthy.

This realization caused me to stop and think. How does this apply to me? Well, either they had the wrong information - what they thought was healthy was indeed not, or they were missing some other piece of the puzzle. Perhaps it was a combination of both.

We all grow up with a set of beliefs and values, that we develop and personalize, but tend to cling to - anything outside of our beliefs is "wrong", "unhealthy", "bad", or any other number of labels that we pin to it. And yet everyone else also has beliefs, many of them dramatically different from our own. Who's to say who is right? Who is to say that your beliefs are right, and mine are wrong - or vice versa? I was raised in a social community that was very judgmental and rigid in their beliefs - anyone who didn't believe the same was wrong, and going to hell (or something similar). There was little room for being open minded, or for new ideas. Everything was doctrine, the way it had always been done. There was no "better way".

What does this have to do with the health issue? Believe it or not, it all ties in together. We get so stuck in our own beliefs, even when it comes to health, that we think we know what is right, and what will work, and are blind to other options. We do the same thing, over and over. We eat the same food, or if we try a new diet, we don't change our other habits so that it either doesn't "stick", or it doesn't have the affect we want because there is something else contributing to the problem. If we were open minded to trying new options - options beyond a new health product, or a new special diet - we would be far more likely to find something that works. What about emotional and mental blocks? What about a new mindset, where you picture yourself healthy? What about exercise - no, not boring "have to" exercise, but finding something you love doing that gets you moving and working.

More and more I find I am being challenged to open my mind, to be open to new ideas, and to try different things. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. If your health, or your life, isn't the way you want it, why keep doing things the same way? Do you think you'll get different results? Or would you be more likely to see things change if you tried something different, something you haven't done before?

Gasp. What a novel idea!

what have we lost?

It amazes and saddens me to see how much we as humans have lost - or simply never gained perhaps. We rely on so many things for our happiness and success, never achieving what we really want, when all the while, we have the power inside of each of us to shape our lives, our destinies, exactly the way we want.

All my life I've heard people talk about doing something or having something IF it's "God's will". "I will go to this school, if that's what God wants," "I will get this job, if that's what God wants," "I will overcome this disease, if it's God's will." Don't get me wrong, I'm not "knocking" the God-thing - whatever works for you - but it makes me want to shake people and say, wake up! You have the power inside of YOU to make your life the way YOU want it - and incidentally, there is nothing wrong with that! You deserve to be happy. You deserve to dream, and to see those dreams fulfilled.

So why do we settle for what someone else wants? Why do we feel guilty for choosing something that we really want, or for living our lives the way we really want? Why do we stay stuck in dead-end jobs, and abusive relationships? Why do we live in poverty, afraid to even suggest that maybe we should be seeking wealth? Did you know that you cannot have a full, happy and fulfilled life without money - and lots of it? Even if you want to save the world, help your community, do all those noble things, you still need money!!! But somehow money has become "evil", and poverty has become "blessed". We have fallen so very far from our full potential that most people don't even have a clue as to what their lives can really be.

Religion has played a huge part in this backwards attitude. Poverty is extolled and wealth is looked on as bad, if not downright evil. If you want to be wealthy, then "you have your priorities wrong". If you seek to do what you want, and to live the life that you want, then you are "selfish" or "not following God's will." Funny that no one ever clued in that just maybe, perhaps, God would want you to live the life you want and be happy? And just maybe, perhaps, God would like to see you rich in money, as well as other things?

We have so much potential! The power of the human brain is incredible when it comes to success, and setting goals and achieving them. Did you know that you can convince your subconscious mind that your life is a certain way and it will then do whatever it takes to make it so? Your brain is the most powerful computer in the world - but how many of us actually take advantage of it?

I want to challenge you to tap into that power today, to start to change your thinking and to realize that you can have what you want, and that you deserve to live a successful and fulfilled life, full of wealth and happiness. Know that you can accomplish absolutely anything that you put your mind to - and do it!

For more resources on this topic, check out "One Minute Millionaire" by Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen, "Goals!" by Brian Tracy, and "Secrets of Success" by Jack Canfield. And, if you get through those and want more, contact me, I can hook you up! Reach for the stars, if that's what you want, and don't give up until you have them!

no one ever told me i could rope the moon

In fact they were all very good at discouraging even trying. There was reality, they said. Anything outside of their knowledge or experience was just fantasy. So you want to go to college? Great, no problem, we know you can do it. You can do whatever you want. But what if I want to rope the moon? Twirl that lasso around and around my head and out over the moon, pull it down, down until it kisses my face. Who says it can't be done? They all do.

But one day I did it. I heard them all around me saying, Get a real job, or You can't always live in a dream world, or Don't let your imagination get the best of you! And I shut them out, closed my eyes and took a breath, then began to twirl my lasso around my head. It swung out, out, out until it swished around the far side of the satellite. I tugged it snug and began to coax it down, romancing the moon. And it kissed my face, leaving a residue of other worldliness and a call in my heart.

No one ever told me I could rope the moon. Perhaps they just didn't know. But I always knew, in the part of me that is me, I knew that I could do anything I want. I knew that I had the potential and power to fly or shake the world. I knew I could rope the moon!