Tag: healthy living

The Healing Power of Nature: How Spending Time in the Great Outdoors Can Benefit Your Soul

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Nature has always had a way of calming the mind and uplifting the spirit. Whether it’s the soothing sound of a babbling brook or the breathtaking beauty of a sunset, spending time in the great outdoors has a way of nourishing our souls in a way that few other things can. In fact, research has shown that spending time in nature can have a range of physical and mental health benefits, including improved mood, lower levels of stress and anxiety, and even increased creativity and focus. If you’re looking to nourish your soul and improve your overall well-being, here are just a few ways that spending time in nature can benefit you:

  1. Nature can reduce stress and anxiety. Many of us lead busy, hectic lives that leave little room for relaxation and mindfulness. It’s no wonder that so many of us struggle with stress and anxiety on a daily basis. But spending time in nature can be a powerful way to reduce these feelings of stress and anxiety. Research has shown that even just a few minutes spent in a green space can help to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as heart rate and blood pressure. What’s more, the act of simply being in nature – whether it’s hiking through the woods, swimming in a lake, or simply taking a leisurely walk through a park – can help to shift our focus from our worries and responsibilities, and allow us to relax and recharge.
  2. Nature can improve mood. If you’re feeling down or struggling with feelings of depression, spending time in nature can be a simple but powerful way to lift your spirits. Research has shown that exposure to natural light and outdoor environments can help to improve mood and reduce symptoms of depression. In fact, one study found that just 20 minutes spent in a green space was enough to significantly improve mood and self-esteem. So next time you’re feeling down, try taking a walk in a nearby park or nature reserve – it just might do the trick!
  3. Nature can boost creativity and focus. If you’re looking to get your creative juices flowing, spending time in nature may be just what you need. Research has shown that exposure to natural environments can help to improve creativity and problem-solving skills. In one study, participants who spent time in a natural setting performed 50% better on a test of creative problem-solving compared to those who spent time in an urban setting. What’s more, being in nature can help to improve focus and attention, making it an ideal place to work on tasks that require deep concentration.
  4. Nature can enhance physical health. In addition to the mental health benefits of spending time in nature, there are also a number of physical health benefits to consider. Being active in nature – whether it’s hiking, running, or simply walking – can help to improve cardiovascular health and increase muscle strength. What’s more, spending time in nature can also help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. So next time you’re looking for a way to improve your physical health, consider heading outside for a nature-based workout.
  5. Nature can deepen our sense of connection and purpose. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, it’s easy to feel disconnected from ourselves and from the world around us. Spending time in nature can help to restore that sense of connection and purpose, reminding us of our place in the world and the interconnectedness of all living things. Whether it’s the beauty of a sunset, the majesty of a mountain, or the simple pleasures of a wildflower meadow, nature has a way of reminding us of the things that truly matter and helping us to find meaning and purpose in our lives.” Spending time in nature can help us to feel more grounded and connected, and can provide a sense of perspective that can be hard to find in our daily lives. So if you’re looking to nourish your soul and find a sense of purpose, consider spending more time in nature – it just might be the perfect remedy.
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How to Reprogram Your Mind to Be Happier, Healthier, And More Successful

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As I look outside my window at 9.00am, the sun is rising into a complete blue sky with sparse clouds at the horizon.

The sun rays make everything look so alive and vibrant.

The sun has a way of brightening up our day.

There are moments in life when we become separated from any worry, stress, or anxiety we might be feeling. Looking out of the window this morning was one of those moments for me. The connection to nature replaced all other thoughts in my mind. And each and every one of us has this capability.

The capability to separate ourselves from any negativity we might be feeling.

There was a time in my life where I was worried and anxious most of the time. About everything. And an exercise that helped me greatly was to set little reminders during the day, to just pause, and connect to the world around me.

Connect to the magnificence of God’s creation.

A good starting point is to set a reminder on your phone once, twice—ten times a day. where you stop what you are doing and connect with the world around you.

And when that timer goes off— you might be worrying about a problem, or be having doubts about the future, or maybe even deep in thought about an old memory. But when that timer or alert goes off if you make it a point to connect with the world around you, connect with the room, connect with nature. Notice the vibrant colours, listen to all the sounds that surround you, in a new way.

Or it could be that you are in the middle of traffic, you become aware of the car in front of you. The car behind you. The pedestrians on the side walk. The many sounds of the engines and horns.

You will realise that you were driving but you were not truly aware of the world around you— you were on autopilot.

And a lot of us go through life like this, we are on autopilot, our emotions— of worry, doubt, fear, guilt, shame— joy, hope, love, and happiness, are all pulling us through life.

So, the first step to reprogramming your mind, is creating moments that you connect with the world around you, so that you’re no longer carried along by the thoughts and emotions that you feel inside.

And the more of these moments that you create the deeper you become connected to the present moment— the only place that God resides. The only place that you can make a connection with the divine. The source of all peace, creativity, ideas, and inspiration.

Now once you start doing this don’t beat yourself up for the moments of worry, doubt, unhappiness, or any lack of trust.

None of us are perfect.

We all have weaknesses, we have all went through dramatic events in our lives, but when we practise becoming detached from them negative feelings and emotions, they will no longer have the same control over us.

We can become more connected to the world around us, a beautiful feeling, that is worth investing time and energy.

A True Awakening

We can go through hours, days, weeks, even years lost within our thoughts—not connected to the world around us, at all.

You may know people in your community, or maybe personally, that are consumed by un-forgiveness, consumed by fear, by guilt, by shame, by regret.

Every time you speak to them, they tell you stories of the past, how someone hurt them, a neighbour, a friend, a colleague, even a family member, and they can’t forget.

They can never forget the hurt, the betrayal, or the pain.

So, they keep replaying the memory in their minds.

And every time they tell you that story, or you tell someone your story of what happened to you. What you are doing is removing yourself from the present moment. You are living in the past, replaying old memories that will only bring up past feelings of — anger, hatred, jealousy, and pain.

Which hurts no one only YOU.

Now, everyone does this. So what can we do?

The only thing that you can do is that you become aware that you are doing it. That is the first step. Awareness.

Becoming aware of the habit of replaying the hurts of the past. And what awareness does is it creates a gap… so rather than you caught up in the thought or emotion, letting it transport you into the past, you notice how the memory has changed your mood. How the memory has made you connect to feelings of worry, connect to feelings of doubt, connect to feelings of anger, of hurt, of regret.

The hurts of the past can almost feel like they are part of you.

Now, if the timer goes off, and you feel resistance— feelings that you don’t want to stop worrying, feelings that you don’t want to stop feelings stressed, anxious, fearful etc., that’s ok, just become aware of the resistance.

That might be the first step for you… realising that the worry, doubt, stress or pain has become part of you. Becoming aware that you have that deep embedded worry, you have that deep embedded anxiety— deep embedded doubt, guilt, un-forgiveness, or regret.

Just become aware of the feelings, saying, “these are the feelings that are blocking me.” These are the feelings that I need to work through, let go off. Before I can spiritually grow into the fullness of who I AM.

And the more that you do this practise, taking time each day to connect with nature, to the present moment, the deeper and deeper this awareness will become… meaning, the deeper, your connection to God.

In time, all the worry, doubt, anxiety, pain will fade away as you realise that all the negative feelings from the past are what is blocking your connection to the present moment…

…the only place that God resides.

The Source of All Peace, Creativity, Ideas, And Inspiration. And as A Result, You Will Become, Happier, Healthier and More Successful.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your weekend.

Do You Have Health Concerns That Medication Can’t Heal?

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Do you have problems with your health? Or suffer from pain?

Many people do, and most blame it on old age. But this is rarely the real reason…

The truth is, we all tend to hold onto the hurts of the past. The memories can feel like a heavy burden— that you’re unable to let down.

A burden that gets heavier, and heavier as time goes by.

Until one day, the hurts of the past become part of you, affecting your mental and physical health. What happened was unfair, but holding on to the anger, the hate or the sadness has resulted in issues like, high blood pressure, joint pain and heart concerns.

The weight of unforgiveness has beat even the strongest of men.

When you hold on to negative feelings, you are unable to grow to your full potential. As moving forward is difficult when you have one foot in the past.

You may feel that it’s too late for your life to change.

This is not the case.

From today you can enjoy healthier relationships and improve your mental and physical health. Experience less anxiety, and stress. You can strengthen your immune system so that you have lower blood pressure and fewer symptoms of depression. All resulting in you obtaining higher levels of self-esteem.

What if you could free yourself from the heavy burden of the past? How much better would you feel?

Let God repay you for all that you have lost. Regain your health and your peace of mind.

Let the spirit of forgiveness… Illuminate your life.

There is a healing in forgiving eBook is available Free on Amazon.

Download Your Copy Now

The Live Today With Faith Letter—How To look Youthful Even In Your 40s

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Dear Reader,

It has been another hectic week.

Just completed another short book. Will be available soon on Amazon.

Now more than ever, I think people need some words of faith, hope and encouragement. The book contains some knowledge that has helped me through the hardest parts of my life- so I know the wisdom can help others through this challenging time

Anyway, let’s get started. First of all, I want to briefly review what I have suggested over the last few weeks.

  1. I have suggested that you do one hour’s worth of road work every morning right after you get up for six days a week.
  2. I have suggested you eat three pieces of fruit every day.
  3. I have suggested you fast one day a week.

Now, let’s go from there. What else should your daily diet consist of? Well, today I would like to share the part of my diet that has allowed me to stay youthful-looking well into my 40s.

I still get asked on occasion for ID; you can imagine the hassle I used to get when I was 18. Yeah, it wasn’t much fun, but now I take it as a compliment.

And don’t worry it not something exotic that you will have to import, or something expensive. It’s something so easily obtained that many will dismiss it.

WATER.

I’m sure you have heard the old wife’s tale, you must drink 8 pints of water a day. Well, I’m not recommending that. What I am suggesting, however, is that you drink more water than you do now.

I’m sure everyone learnt in school that the body is made up of 70-80% water. Knowing that it makes sense that our diet should contain 70-80% water-based foods?

Drinking water is just one source of water; another is vegetables. What I suggest is that you take vegetables with every meal.

As well as keeping you youthful, getting into the habit of drinking water and eating more water-based foods will also keep you from feeling tired because it keeps your blood sugar level at a more or less constant level.

This is not new information I know… but very often it’s the basics that people overlook.

Most people drink a lot of coffee, tea or soft drinks, thinking they get enough water there, but truth be told the water in them drinks, contain caffeine and other chemicals that dehydrate the body.

Meaning they take water to break down.

To anyone that is reading this, that suffers from headaches try this, for seven days drink two pints of water daily. I guarantee you will get relief.

Water is my secret weapon. It keeps me healthy and lean and full of energy. Add more to your diet, and you will not only see the difference you will feel the difference.

That’s it pretty much for today. Hope everyone is safe at this time.

In a world that seems entirely out of control, all we can do is take control of ourselves—inspiring those around us.

Bye for now,
RJM

The Live Today With Faith Letter On Mental Health

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Dear Reader,

Missed last weeks post. Sorry about that.

It has been a stormy six months.

It’s got to the point that I have stopped watching TV all together. Yes, maybe that sticking my head in the sand but the world has lost its mind completely. Never has it been more important to look after your mental health.

Today I would like to share another one of my habits that has helped me to be happy and care free 99% of my life.

In my last post I talked about road work, its importance and benefits. But it came to my attention, I can often write without thinking. So, if you have never done any road work, running walking jogging, then I would recommend starting small.

Maybe 20 minutes, 10 minutes away from starting point, then turn and come back. Building up to 1-hour total over time.

If you start your day this way, it will get you off to a great start and vastly improve the rest of your day since it will drain off a lot of tension and anxiety. In general, it will clear out your mind so you can think better all day long!

Plus, after you get into it, it will make you feel great!

So anyway, here are some other good health habits that I think you should get into right away.

FASTING – after road work fasting is the single most powerful thing that you can do for your mental and physical health.

Now there are many different types of fasting. All are beneficial. Some people will say to do 24h fasts, others will say intermittent fasting is best. What I have learnt is, do what feels comfortable.

Like road work start small and build up.

All spiritual walks of life have fasting as a part of their practise. Why is this? Fasting brings you into the presence of God. Rather than worrying about problems or bills. Or what your friend or neighbour said or didn’t say, you become focused on the present moment.

The reason for this, in my opinion is, your body will send out strong signals that it wants food, soon it becomes the only thought you can think about. Of course your mind may drift but it will come back to the feelings of hunger.

Benefits of Fasting

When you fast, you begin to normalize the body’s functions and also, you develop a certain self-discipline that will help you in most other areas of your life.

The first few days you try fasting it will be difficult but if you stick with it that body adjusts. For me it is excellent for mental clarity, and refocuses my attention to the gift that food is.

I intend to write a lot more about fasting in later posts but, for right now, I want to encourage you to begin immediately too fast one day every week.

Here are some tips.

Firstly, start on a day off. It’s easy to think that a day you have a lot on will make it easier but this is not the case. As the body uses a lot of energy, and energy comes from food.

(Personally, I started with a 16h fast. So after 8pm on Friday I didn’t eat again until 12pm the next day. Water and black coffee are allowed.)

Secondly, I suggest you do not tell other people what you are doing. Most people don’t understand fasting, and all you will get from them on this subject is a lot of ignorant nonsense. People have been fasting for centuries with great benefits.

Thirdly, I feel that you should do very little (or no) athletic exercise on the days that you fast. You see, your “Fast Day” is the day you set aside to give your mind and body a rest. You don’t have to stay in bed all day or anything like that, but you really should take it easy both physically and mentally.

Extra Time And Increased Productivity

What I do on my fast days is read and take time to pray. Also, I have found it an excellent time to take care of those nagging little chores and errands that seem to accumulate during the rest of the week.

In other words, I think you should do road work every morning to more or less “order your day” and fast every week to “order your week”.

I’m into my fifth decade on earth and the two things I have written about so far in this series are by far the most important things I have ever learned.

Mental Health & Well Being

Most people know the power that the mind has over the body. When your stressed or anxious for example you can hardly eat or have very little energy or enthusiasm.

Then on the flip of that, when you are happy or excited you have unlimited energy and could go over 24 hrs without sleep.

What few people know however is the body has just as much control over the mind. So when you are anxious or worried about a problem, going for a long walk can clear your thoughts and help you think more logically.

Road work and fasting have so much more to offer than getting in shape and losing weight. Both are helpful with mental health issues.

So if you have problems with depression or anxiety I recommend that for the next 7 days you add both road work and some fasting to your weekly routine and notice the difference that it makes.

Many people want to be happier and more successful but fail to realize their health is the foundation. Focus on improving your energy and mental clarity and you will not believe how fast your life will change.

Until next week take care and remember even small steps in the right direction will get you to your destination.

Enjoy your week.

Disclaimer – I’m not a health professional, always get advice from your doctor before going on a fast or making a significant change to your diet.

The Live Today With Faith letter — Life lessons

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Dear Reader,

This blog post is going to be the first in a long series of posts in which I will attempt to communicate to you a lot of the important things I have learned in the last 40+ years.

I am going to try to teach you what I have learned about spirituality, getting and staying healthy, how to get along with people, and, in general, how to have a good life without getting yourself all screwed up.

Well, anyway, this all leads me to the first and most important thing I want to write about, which is improving and maintaining your health and physical fitness.

I’ll have a lot more to say about this subject later, but today I just want to “warm-up” a little bit and tell you a few good ideas that you can start using every day.

The first thing I want to talk about is “road work”.

Road work is walking, jogging and running. And, in my opinion, you should do about one hour of road work every day of the week except Sunday.

I believe the best time to do your road work is right after you get out of bed.

In fact, in my opinion, the best groove to get into is getting out of bed, (early) wash your face, brush your teeth, use the bathroom, etc., and then, eat a piece of fruit (I think a banana is the best) and then hit the street!

That’s it.

Just get out that front door and start moving. Walk, run, jog. Keep moving for about a half-hour and then turn around and come back. You know, I do believe this is the very best way in the world to start the day.

It cleans you out, it settles you down, and it gives you a beautiful glow that will stay with you throughout the day. It will also make you more clearheaded and improve the quality of your thinking.

The benefits are enormous and, believe me if you start doing this right away (like the day after you read this post!) it won’t be long at all till you become positively addicted to your early morning workout.

By the way, this addiction is not just psychological. It is a real honest-to-God drug addiction.

But don’t let that scare you.

This is what’s known as a positive addiction. A positive addiction is simply being addicted to something (like exercise) that improves the quality of your life. A negative addiction, on the other hand, is being addicted to something (like cigarettes) that lowers the quality of your life.

What happens when you do road work is that, after about forty minutes, your brain begins to secrete what some people refer to as “survival chemicals”.

The names of these chemicals, as far as I know, are beta-endorphins and norepinephrine.

Some people say these chemicals are 200 times more potent than morphine and without any frame for reference, all I can say is, nothing comes close to the mental clarity I have after some road work.

All negative thoughts are gone. Solutions to problems come rushing into my mind. I’m relaxed, calm and happy. If I seem to be going on and on about this, it is because it is so important, and it is something you can do right away!

And, actually, of everything I have learned about in my entire life, this stuff about doing road work the first thing in the morning is very close to being the most important thing of all, when it comes to mental and physical health.

So, I hope you get started on this morning road work program as soon as you read this post. If you challenge yourself to keep it up for 30 days I guaranteed that you will be happier and healthier than you have been in years.

I also hope it becomes a habit for the rest of your life.

I wish you Good Luck!

RJM

Stop Scrolling This Is The Most Important Thing You Will Read All Day

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Falling deeper into fear during this Global Pandemic will not bring us closer to health. Nor will it make us feel safer. ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣

On the contrary, ⁣⁣⁣⁣it will only lower our immune system, cause our body to get sick, and damage our brain’s ability to think clearly and find creative solutions.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣

Fear is the most deadly virus in the world. And under fear, there is no health, no safety, and no peace: only darkness, panic, and suffering.

Speak words of faith every day, not only to yourself but to family and friends.

DI Fear is

Wisdom To Help You Through

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encouraging-quotes

It can be difficult when things are not going your way, but very often when you look back on difficult times you realise that it was through them times when you grew the most.

Looking back is the easy part, what makes someone wise is the ability to see the present through the eyes of experience.

Have a good day. Do not worry, everything works out in the end.

Inspiration of the Day

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a year ago

Reflecting is always good, as you learn so many things. Things that you worried about that keep you up at night worked out ok in the end.

That 15 minute reading per day seemed so insignificant, but it turned out to be 15 books. Starting the evening class turned out to be the turning point in your career.

A year can completely change your life. Don’t worry, have faith, and follow your dreams.