Optimal Health

(photo by Jenny Hill on Unsplash)

We are all unique individuals with different health needs. Are you aware of what you need to be at optimal health? If I had to pick one word to describe optimal health, it would be ‘balance’. You may have a different word.

And I might break down my well-being into four categories (you may have others): physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. The more balanced we are, the healthier we will be. The creation of life balance brings us closer to our own optimal health. I’m not there yet, but I do know where my weaknesses and strengths lie.

As an introvert, I restore my energy by scheduling quiet alone time into my days. You may be an extrovert, who gains energy by participating in large group events.

In recent years, I tend to digest my food slower than others. So I may eat less at each meal, and eat foods that are easier to digest. You may have strong digestion, and can handle more variety of foods.

Life balance is a process, not a goal. One day we may feel that we’ve got it figured out, and then something unexpected occurs, bringing back imbalance. Perfection is not the goal either. The belief that we can be in perfect health, without medical or emotional issues, at all times, throughout life will lead to disappointment. True balance involves trying and failing, learning from error, and finding new ways of enhancing well-being.

The American Board of Holistic Medicine defines optimal health as:

“The conscious pursuit of the highest level of functioning and balance of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of human experience, resulting in a dynamic state of being fully alive. This creates a condition of well-being regardless of the presence or absence of disease.”

The textbook Integrative Medicine by David Rackel, MD (chapter by Lee Lipsenthal, MD) offers the following ‘Prescriptions’. Take what you want. Throw out the rest. Add your own. It’s your plan, you decide.

Your Prescription for Physical Well-Being:

  • Aerobic exercise almost daily for at least 40 minutes  ***
  • Weight lifting three times per week  ***
  • A low-fat, high-fiber diet
  • Evaluate your diet, and add supplements where needed.
  • 7 hours of sleep per night

*** Please get doctor approval before starting an exercise plan

Your Prescription for Mental Well-Being:

  • Read at least 1 hour/week.
  • Join a book club.
  • Take an art or music class.
  • Know that you can’t know everything.

Your Prescription for Emotional Well-Being:

  • Accept that life is change. It is inevitable.
  • Be willing to give up some control. Be realistic what you can change.
  • Forgive yourself for the errors that you made. Learn from them.
  • Learn to manage stress.
  • Learn to love yourself.

Create your own health plan. What do you need for your optimal health? Start small. Explore and experiment. Build up your plan gradually over time.

Affirmations

(photo by Francesco La Corte on Unsplash)

I’m a fan of classic rock music. It started at a young age. When I realized that I could borrow my brother’s records when he wasn’t home, I listened even more. And when I turned fourteen, I purchased my first album, The Piano Man by Billy Joel. My music collection has grown a lot since then.

I would play my records over-and-over again. And the radio station was the same way. They would play the same music again and again. It didn’t take long before I was singing along with the lead singer. And to this day, I can recite the words to many of these classic hits. At any moment of the day, a random song will pop into my mind, and it will sound just like the real thing.

This is how I view affirmations. Affirmations are positive phrases or statements used to challenge negative or unhealthy thoughts. These phrases are best if worded as specific goals in their completed states. These empowering mantras have profound effects on the conscious and unconscious mind. Positive affirmations require regular practice if you want to make lasting changes to the way you think and feel. And there is science behind it.

“A study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience revealed what goes on in our brains when we practice affirmations regularly. The researchers used MRI to find that practicing self-affirmation activates the reward centers (ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex) in the brain. These areas are the same reward centers that respond to other pleasurable experiences, such as eating your favorite dish or winning a prize.”

The words of someone else’s song, and your hand-picked affirmation will both be taken in by our conscious and unconscious minds. However, the former is someone else’s random words, while the latter contains meaningful, specifically-designed words created by you for a specific purpose. Affirmations can be utilized for various purposes, such as:

To override negative thought patterns, beliefs, and emotions. At any given time during your day, try an experiment. Stop what you are doing, and pay attention to your thoughts. What do you tell yourself? Are these words helpful or hurtful, consistent or random? By purposely choosing an affirmation and reciting it to yourself or out loud, you can simultaneously lower the volume of the noise, and overlay it with the new helpful words. These new positive words have the power to alter our beliefs and emotions. As we begin to believe the new words, the negative words lessen their grip. And our transformation begins.

As a motivator to take action steps on goals. For real, positive change to occur, action steps need to take place. The affirmation transforms the mind to believe in the words spoken. Ultimately, taking actions beyond the words is when the real momentum begins, and the snowball down the hill effect occurs.

Increases self confidence. As the snowball gets bigger, you feel more confident, and want to continue taking steps forward utilizing these new skills of positive self talk and taking productive action.

When it comes to music these days, I still enjoy the sounds of classic rock. However, I now try to imitate Weird Al Yankovic because he creates his own words against the backdrop of the pre-existing music.

An original affirmation lyric (and music) of mine for purposes of self-compassion is: “I am kind to myself every day. I am kind to myself in every way.”

Another affirmation lyric I created for purposes of recuperating from illness goes to the music of Boston (Peace of Mind): “My body heals quickly and easily.”

An affirmation statement can be found or created for any life situation. The list is endless. Search the internet for one or create your own from scratch. Give it a try. Transform your way of thinking, and move forward in any positive directions that you choose. Rock on!

Financial Health

(photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash)

The pandemic has caused financial hardship for many individuals, and financial success for others. Those who lost jobs due to business closures have seen a drop in income, while those fully invested in the stock market have seen their valuations skyrocket.

And while there are claims that the economy is ready to rebound strongly due to business re-openings, the prices for many goods and services have gone up considerably. A dollar does not go a long way.

Where can we invest our money right now? With the huge stock market uptick, many companies are overvalued, at least in my opinion. But what do I really know, because I thought we were overbought three years ago. And the stock market has gone straight up for those three years (except for the initial Covid-19 drop), until a recent sideways trend.

The interest rate earned on cash sitting in a bank account is literally nothing. And the bond interest rate, although it has up ticked a bit recently, is still extremely low. Same for CDs. Thus, it is a challenge to put our money to work in investments.

And, for many workers, salaries have not kept up with inflation. So, it’s important to spend our hard earned dollars wisely.

Regardless of where you are on the financial spectrum, it is important to be or become financially literate. Whether you handle your finances and taxes on your own, or with the help of a paid professional, understanding your financial situation, your long-term goals and how to reach them is imperative.

Many years ago, when I had a small side business preparing tax returns for individual clients, my favorite part was sitting down with my clients to explain the details of their tax return. It was exciting for me when my clients learned something new that they could use to better their financial situation going forward.

A good starting point is to identify what you currently spend your money on. Once you see where your money is going, you can begin to assess your situation and subsequently make decisions to re-allocate where you spend your money. The best way to gather this information is to track your transactions as you make them.

Another step that may help you along is to create a budget. Once you have identified your transactions as described in the previous paragraph, make a list of all the income you make on a monthly basis. Then list out all the expenses you have on a monthly basis. Don’t forget those times you took cash out of the ATM. What did you spend that cash on? Which total is higher: your monthly income, or your monthly expenses? If you are in the red, take a cold hard look at your expenses and make some cuts. If you are in the green, congratulations. And look to put some of that extra green into your savings.

A step that not everyone does is reconcile bank and credit card accounts each month. Yet, this is crucial to uncover errors, or even worse, fraud. We have a limited amount of time to report errors or fraudulent activity to our financial institutions. And once the reconciliations are complete, you know exactly how much money is left in your bank account, or how much credit is still available on your credit card.

Paying bills on time consistently is a big factor in achieving a higher credit score. So be sure to keep track of due dates. And while paying by the due date is necessary, paying too early allows the vendor to hold onto the funds for a longer period of time, giving them the added interest income benefit. Yes, interest rates are low. But why not hold onto your money as long as possible before writing that check.

Another potential benefit to consider is credit card points. How many of your bills can you pay by credit card? Do not pay by credit card if the vendor charges extra for this service. But if the vendor is credit card friendly, why not pay this way. You will receive a natural payment grace period until the credit card payment due date, sometimes a month into the future. Make sure you have enough funds in your checking account before making that credit card purchase.

Also, if your employer offers a retirement plan (401K or 403B) match, take advantage of this program as it is free money that you can add to your retirement. For example, if your employer offers to give you three percent extra for the first three percent of your salary that you put into your company sponsored retirement plan, then do it. That’s six percent of your wages socked away at the cost of only three percent of your wages.

If you currently have credit card debt, try to pay it off as soon as possible before putting extra money into savings. That’s because the interest expense that your credit card company charges you is much higher than the interest income you would collect if you held your extra money in a bank savings account.

Ask questions. Read articles or books. Do what it takes to get financially literate. And understand your financial situation. Get clear on your long-term financial goals, and take actions that will get you there. Break down these tasks into tiny steps over time. You can do it.

You are the President and Chief Financial Officer of your personal finances. Take ownership, and you will be rewarded. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

Get Organized

(photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash)

I’ll admit upfront, that I’m not the most organized person. I have always enjoyed the concept in the beginning stages. I’ll come up with grand schemes on organizing a drawer, papers, or my clothes. Yet, after about a week, the drawer is a mess, papers are lost, and clothes are spread out on the floor.

Who wants to waste time searching for things; Time wasted at work looking through piles of paper folders or computer files. Spending twenty minutes looking for my favorite shirt, or my coworker’s phone number.

I have had a recurring theme in my dreams over the years. I would have plans to go out but I would never make it to the event because I’m stuck at home looking for something, or trying to pack but have too much stuff on the floor. By the time I find what I’m looking for or packed my bag, I’ve missed the event, train, or person.

I recently sold my parent’s home and my home. All that remains is in two storage units. If you ask me where something is, I can tell you if it’s in unit #1 or unit #2. But I still won’t find it quickly. And although I have two full size filing cabinets in unit #1, I still have to dig to find the documents I need.

I am ready to make organization a habit that sticks. And I will begin this process by creating a goal. Here it is…

I am easily and proactively organizing my belongings, electronic info, and ideas on a weekly basis.

For this goal, I will create tasks, such as:

Clean out email inbox.

Balance my checkbook.

Cut down storage unit space from two units to one unit, by donating, selling, or discarding things I longer use or want.

Organize remaining physical belongings in a way that allows for easy access and natural flow.

Create a filing system for paper documents, and working folders.

I will break these tasks into bite-sized pieces, performed in short-duration timeframes. In advance, I will block off time on my calendar to get these mini-tasks done. Slow and steady is the name of the game here. From a high-level perspective, I will break out my work time into two categories: catch-up, and new.

And organization would not be complete without bringing up a difficult topic. I will create a living will that states my desires in the event I become incapacitated. And I will create a will. In addition, I will store all of my important documents in a safe place, and share this location with a family member, close friend, or attorney. This will be a welcome time saver for my loved ones when the time comes.

Organization will become my good friend. Through these new habits, I will find things quickly and effortlessly, have more time for fun, and be more relaxed. How sweet it is!

What is one small step you can do to get more organized?

 

 

Even Better

(photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash)

Each day of May, I present to you a different Healthy Habit. I hope that you get some good ideas to implement for yourself. I am choosing topics that are of interest to myself, as I plan to implement these into my daily living. As my parental chores wind down with the completion of their tax return (going in the mail tomorrow), I now have more free time for myself. After spending nearly every waking hour helping them for several years, it is a shock to my system that I’m left with no set agenda or plan for myself.  It’s time to get back on the horse, and re-create a new life, a new way of living; One that truly encompasses aspects that are deeply important to me.

In effect, I have a clean slate to build my life over. This will be a process. Slow and steady wins the race. When I saw that this Ultimate Blog Challenge was starting, I felt that this would be the perfect way to get started. First, I am beginning a new daily writing habit. And second, I’m putting down in words those healthy habit areas that I’d like to focus my time on.

During this new phase I plan to create a mission statement, a brief summary of my life focus. This process includes identifying my core values, and ensuring that my values line up with my beliefs. Then as future opportunities arise, I can ask myself if this new opportunity is in alignment with my mission statement.

Then I would like to create some long-term and short term goals within a variety of life categories (i.e., health, career, financial, hobbies, family, social, etc.). It is easy to spend a majority of our time on just a couple of life areas. And at times, that may be necessary. However, balance is a key aspect of maintaining health.

And from there, I will identify specific tasks associated with each goal. The specific tasks will get entered on my calendar. And I will identify due dates too. Dates can always be changed in the future. But having the due dates in my consciousness will help me move forward towards my goals, and reach them.

An overarching goal I have is to continually make improvements to my everyday moments. Thus, as I go through my daily tasks, (some long-time habits, and others brand new), I would like to ask myself a question…

“How can I make this moment even better?”

By asking myself this question often, I can use my creative side to make improvements. I can make tweaks to my daily processes, revamp them, or blow them up and start over.

Many of my daily habits have been done the same way for years. Are these habits truly necessary at this point in my life, or are they just being done because I have always done things that way? I want to know.

What defines a better moment? Of course that is different for everyone. But here are some examples: consistent growth, more efficiencies, making the task fun, establishing priorities, cultivating good habits, greater creativity, and investing in self.

How can I make this even better?

Perhaps I will start by creating a morning routine upon waking, as well as a nighttime routine before bed. For example, I’d like to make time for meditation, journaling, stretching, deep breathing, etc. Initially, I have two ideas on how to make time for each of these. Each morning I give myself a set timeframe (i.e., half hour, hour) and break down the tasks in ten minute increments. This way, in just a half hour I can complete my stretching , meditation, and journaling. Or, another method might be to do just one task each morning for a half hour, i.e.,  journal on Sunday and Wednesday, stretch on Monday and Thursday, meditate on Tuesday and Friday, etc. And with some creative time I may come up with other ways to fit in all the important tasks that I desire.

To summarize some points…

Be clear… create a vision.

Establish priorities.

Cultivate good habits.

Create a routine/structure.

What works for someone else, might not work for you, so pay attention to how you feel as you take action steps. And ask yourself…

How can I make this moment even better?