Let’s hit the ground running to welcome the new year. This is the year you focus on YOU! Whether you make weekly appointments for self-care, take monthly “personal days” or plan a quarterly weekend getaway. Take time to personally assess your health – head to toe and inside to out. You do maintenance on your car right? Well, your body is your main vehicle. Your main transportation. Time to check is and self-assess.
How are you doing?
If your body could talk to you, what would it say? What is working great? These body functions you want to keep and maintain. What needs help? This is where you need to really listen. Unfortunately (fortunately for some, lol), your body does not have a voice to yell at you. However, it does communicate with you by sending “smoke signals” and S.O.S.’s. When you have an ailment, or a “screaming” pain or emotion, this is your body’s way of talking to you and alerting you as to where you need to pay some attention and focus.
What needs support?
A simple assessment of your health vehicle, could be something like taking your hand(s), and placing it over each organ and body function. Start at your head. How is your head? Eyes? Nose? Mouth? Ears? Neck and lymph? Chest region – lungs and heart? Arms, hands and nails? Abdomen region – intestines, digestion, liver, gall bladder, appendix, pancreas, etc.? Reproductive organs? Legs, feet and toes? And don’t forget about your largest eliminative organ of the body – the skin. Make a list of any imbalances or disturbances you notice.
Take note of anything that is not operating at a 100%. If you have to hesitate about how it is feeling, put it on the list. When you are done with your assessment, prioritize them from worse (at the top of the page) to least (at the bottom of the page). This will help simplify where you start, so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
Now what?
Think or learn about one, two or three ways you can support, nourish, feed and comfort the very first health item on your list. For example, if you experience indigestion, gas and bloating all of the time, and that is your most pressing issue, understand why that happens. When you know what is broken, why it is broken, and where it is broken, half of the battle is over. The other half is creating a regimen and committing to it.
Learn how to eat to feed your health, rather than live to eat whatever is in sight. Certain foods, and spices, have an affinity and special niche for feeding particular organs and body processes. Carrots, for example are great for the eyes, ginger and fennel aid in digestion, beets are good for the liver and good fats are a favorite of the brain. You also need to look at lifestyle habits such as adequate sleep (at the right time of the night), having fun (like a hobby) to reduce stress, stress management techniques throughout the day and staying hydrated.
Where do I go from here?
Throughout the year, I will be walking you through a series of health assessing tools, to help you check in with yourself. This will give you insight into understanding what your body is saying. What needs maintenance to keep it in good condition, and what areas need strengthening. A motto that I try and live by is, “May you never know the disease you prevented”. How powerful is that? You have control, right now, over your mind and body. You get to choose healthy habits that can enhance your overall health, extend your quality of life into your wiser years, and stand in your power with confidence and assurance.
