I posted the following quote on my personal FB page a few days ago. I loved its message, so I decided to dedicate this month’s blog to it:
What you eat.
One’s diet doesn’t necessarily mean a weight loss plan, diet is a general term for one’s daily or habitual food intake. Be mindful of the food and drink that you put into your body. For a healthier diet, you’ll want to increase your fruits, vegetables, and greens, best if organic, your animal proteins should be in proportion to your full meal, and decrease the carbs, gluten, dairy, sodas, alcohol, sugar, and anything processed. A good rule of thumb is to shop the perimeter of the store. A healthier diet allows you increased immunity, clear headedness (greatly reduced brain fog), better sleep, a healthier weight for your body type. Foods that contain carbs, gluten, dairy, sodas, alcohol, sugar, and anything processed doesn’t do a body good. They can and usually produce digestive issues, brain fog, sleepiness or anxiousness, irregular sleeping patterns, weight gain, illness and dis-ease.
What you watch.
A more mindful and healthier approach in what you watch, I feel, would be outside- from your porch, patio, balcony, door steps, while walking, at a park, at the beach, alongside a river, really, anywhere in nature. Take notice and be intentional of what’s going on around you- gardens, plants, animals, birds, movement of water, etc. This does a body good by decreasing stress levels. Other healthy mindful things to watch or look at are theater shows, live music and concerts, museum displays, going to the zoo, and sporting events. If going to the movies or watching TV, watch comedies or “feel good” shows. Comedies gets you to laugh, and, as we all know, laughter is the best medicine. “Feel good” shows can be relaxing, put you in a space of heart-centeredness, and even shed some tears. Please do your best to stay away from news programs and similar media platforms, as they often report death, crime, negativity, gossip, over-exaggeration, disinformation, and misinformation. It can result in feelings of depression, anxiety, negativity, loss of sleep and appetite, and high blood pressure. Many video games have destructive and warlike features. If you are a gamer, please be aware of what you are playing and how you react when playing them and afterwards.
What you listen to.
Be mindful of what you are listening to. Music that makes you feel good, that you want to sing aloud to, want to get up and dance to, allows positive, happy, and healthy vibes. Whereas listening to heavy metal or screaming vocals allows negative and unhealthy vibes. There have been many studies with music and plant health showing that soft, melodic, and upbeat music provided a healthy plant growth, whereas, heavy metal/loud music showed plants health decline. Listening to podcasts and audio books are also good sources of healthy listening.
What you read.
As with what you are watching and what you are listening to, be careful of what you read. Reading novels, whether fiction, non-fiction, biography, autobiography, sci-fi, your favorite magazines, etc. are all good reads to relax to and enjoy some alone time. Personal development, biblical, and spiritual readings and the like are great and healthy books that improves one’s mindset. This brings me to one of my favorite sayings- “Leaders are readers”. Similarly to watching or listening to the news, the great majority of that content deals with negativity, death, crime, misinformation, disinformation, and gossip. as does memes on social media sites. Be aware of what you take in visually when reading or seeing these, they, too, can negatively affect your mindset.
The people you hang around.
Jim Rohn’s infamous quote, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” says so much and well defines one’s habits, actions, and thought processes of who they are hanging around with. They can be family, friends, co-workers, colleagues, partners, or a mixture of these. Does this resemble you? Who do you hang around with most? What habits or actions have you picked from from these different groups- are they similar or different from each other?
Be mindful…
of the things that you put into your body- it effects you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. These make up your complete diet.