Happy New YOU!
by Mary Louise;Town Jaqua, Health Minister 1/10/20The start of a new year is traditionally a time of personal reflection
which is often accompanied by setting goals for achieving a better
quality of life. Some popular goals include losing weight, exercising
more, quitting smoking, cutting down on bad carbs and sugar, and
improving personal relationships. For the more adventuresome,
finding a better job, better housing, making better financial investments,
and buying a more reliable car may top the list. Though personal goals
may differ, there is merit in assessing lifestyle habits with an eye to
improve and therefore experience a healthier, happier life.A new you: What do you want in life?
Personal introspection is a healthy exercise in that it often prompts
positive action toward self-improvement. The first consideration in
this process, however, should be determining what we want out of life.
Defining what we value will ultimately help to set our goals. Therefore
it is good to ponder questions such as
- What is important to me?
- What do I want in life?
- What do I expect out of life?
- What makes me happy, secure?
Once these objectives are defined, setting goals to achieve them
is simplified.A new you: How to start
As much as defining objectives and setting goals is a commendable
exercise, achieving what we want in life will never be realized unless
we are healthy! We can make lists, set goals, and resolve with all
diligence and earnestness of heart to fullfill them, but we will never
achieve them if we do not take proper care of ourselves. Thus the
top priority for realizing our life goals is to improve our diet, the
understanding being that what we put into our mouths daily ultimately
determines our personal performance.A new you: Where to start
This being said, it is not surprising that a new you starts in the
kitchen! Face the fact that if you want to pursue your goals in life,
you need to get down to basics by eating what the body wants and
not what you think it wants. Doing so may constitute a rude awakening
and represent a crossroad in your life, but if you want to live to fullfill
the goals that you set for yourself, you will need to face the diet issue
head-on.
Needless to say, there are many diets in the world. They are a dime a
dozen. Count them, research them, if you like. Everyone has a different
take on what you should or should not eat. The amount of discourse on
diet can make your head spin! When all is said and done, however, the
issue of diet was decided a long, long time ago by YHVH Almighty Who
declared that we should eat a plant-based diet. The diet that He
recommended for us is recorded in Genesis 1:29. Read it. Study it. It
can be an eye-opener for those who want to get down to the nitty-gritty
truth about diet. Notice the simplicity of the diet: seed-bearing fruits and
vegetables, nuts, seeds. Likewise, notice that there is no mention of
cooking, that is because it is to be eaten raw! This is too simple to
'digest', too 'limiting', you say'? Your tastebuds could never handle such
a radical eating style?The fact is that the body is a living organism that thrives on food which
possesses living nutrition. Body cells are looking for living vitamins,
minerals, anti-oxidants, phyto-nutrients, etc. to sustain itself. Given living
foods, the body naturally propels itself into high performance. So, for
the sake of better health and longevity, power up your life with foods
that are alive. Eat a diet of predominately living foods- at least 85% raw
and only 15% cooked: fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts. This is the
original, aka classic, vegan diet. Just because it is based on plants does
not give license for animal-based add-in's' such as a little chicken or pizza
every once in a while or to hunker down on a big, juicy, hamburger now
and then just for old times' sake. No, no, NO! Determine to eat clean the
way YHVH Almighty instructed, for He Who made your body knows best
how to care for it. Take His advice seriously. You won't be disappointed!
Once you have the diet issue under your belt, move on to the next step:
exercise. Exercise is not a four-letter word! It is a natural function of the
body and therefore should not be neglected. So, don't just sit there or
mope around! Get up and move! Your body is hungry to be active. It
loves to walk, run, jump, bend, and skip, remember? Muscles like to
be flexed and stretched. They like to perform. Have you talked to them
lately or did you lose contact with them a long time ago? If so, rediscover
them by rising up out of your chair or bed and stretching. Make it big and
long and do it often, because your body loves oxygen. In fact, it craves it.
Over 94% of your body's nutritional need is for oxygen, and the more that
you exercise, the more oxygen will flood into your cells. The results will
amaze you! Want to be stronger, have greater clarity of thought, a better
appetite, better bowel performance, greater stamina, more radiant skin,
and feel better? Start exercising!
A new you: To be, or not to be. That is the question.
The road to a new you is often paved with good intentions, but
many who travel that road are good starters but poor finishers.
The drop-outs are usually those who were not willing to take their
bull(will) by the horns and do what was needed to fulfill the goals
which they set for themselves. Thus many self-improvment plans
or popular new year's resolutions are never realized. They end up
being trashed, quickly fading away into the vast sea of failed good
intentions as promises broken to themselves and loved ones.This failure is due in part to the fact that as a society we have
become accustomed to instant gratification. At the flip of a switch
or the click of a mouse, we want what we want and we want now!
This mind-set has become the 'new norm,' a modern mentality that
negates the old-fashioned understanding that life values cannot be
bought, manufactured, downloaded from the internet, 3-D printed or
created by some form of artificiality.Values are inherently part of the
human genome, expressed as life characteristics/principles that are
basic for survival. Activating these principles requires self-discipline
or self-control, a commodity which has become rare in today's society.
Nevertheless, successful people are quick to testify that their achieve-
ments are the result of hard work, a conscious and consistent effort on
their part to persevere, endure, never give up, and forge ahead toward
their goal(s). The idea that the world owed them what they wanted was
never part of their thinking.Realizing self-improvement goals is thus possible, but those goals
are not delivered to us on a silver platter. They are earned. By
educating ourselves and applying the knowledge that we learn, we
will have the necessary tools to better our lives. How far and how
fast we proceed in realizing our lifestyle goals is a matter of personal
choice and discipline. Whether we take small steps or giant leaps
does not matter as long as we keep moving toward our desired
goal.In conclusion
As we move into the year 2020, may we do so with a new vision,
a new purpose, and a determination to reach the goals that we set
for ourselves. Improving the quality of our lives should be a joyful,
daily experience, for life is precious. It is a gift from YHVH Almighty
that keeps on giving, if we will but live in harmony with Him. The
desires of our hearts can be ours (Psalm 37:4), for He wants to
give us the best life possible.
Indeed life is worth living, if we live it well.Therefore, out with the
old and in with the new. Make 2020 the year that you discover a
healthier, happier, more prosperous new you!
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper
and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.- 3 John 1:2Therefore if any man be in Messiah, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.- 2 Corinthians 5:17
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