Interfaith Spirit Quest

Positive results with this daily routine

Do you stress out easily, are you gloomy, distressed, jittery, highly frazzled and disorganized?  Does your life feel out of control? Are you constantly worrying or anxious? Well then, maybe this guide can help.

Experience positive results with this daily routine, an Interfaith Spirit Quest - natural guide for your day.  Keyword is 'experience', the idea being to put these ideas into practice and not just think about them.  You will know if it works when you see the results of your efforts after putting this guide into practice.

Keep this in mind: Incorporating spirituality and nature into your day will boost your mood and increase your productivity, naturally. 

• Wake up one hour earlier than is typical for you, for a great start to a great new day.  Relax these rules a little on your 'days off'. Be thankful for this brand new day, share your waking thoughts with God.  God is with you today and everyday.
• Drink a large glass of water.
• Exercise before the shower, before breakfast, get the muscles working earlier in the day to sustain all through the day. This is the time for stimulation, choose your favorite physical activity and make it your morning workout.  Like to exercise in your living room or at the gym?  Fine.  Prefer nature?  Fantastic!  Enjoy audio books on your mp3 player or visualize your day as you work out.
• Shower - personal hygiene - important to your sense of wellness, helps you feel alive, refreshed and presentable.
• Eat breakfast.  Eat healthy meals throughout the day.
• Begin your workday by reviewing your list (the list you created the day before).  Tackle the most important, most difficult jobs first.  Your brain energy is at its best earlier in the day.  Working in this way allows you to enjoy the latter part of your workday more, because the easier tasks are saved for the time of day when your brain and body are seeking a little rest. 
• Eat lunch.  Eat healthy meals throughout the day.
• Tackle your easier activities during this time period - typically the afternoon for those working daytime hours.  Check your emails, handle business calls at this time.  Adjust accordingly to your own schedules.
• Incorporate a short walk, or perhaps a simple exercise, between lunch and dinner, or shortly before dinner, for the purpose of refreshing the senses through nature.  Feel the breeze, the sun, enjoy the natural environment or surroundings, appreciate the blessings of nature, even if the only natural thing you experience is outdoor air.  This is a time of personal meditation, reflection and contemplation. 
• It is helpful to write a to-do list at the end of your day for the next day.  Documenting your future tasks allows you to fully enjoy your time away from work instead of spending your free time thinking about what you need to do tomorrow.  You will sleep better as well.
• Be present with your family, talk about your day with your family, a friend, or friends online on the various social networking sites.  Connect with people in some way at this time of day. 
• Tend to details at home, mail, phone calls, change your clothes to be more comfortable, take another shower if necessary.
• Eat dinner.  Eat healthy meals throughout the day.
• Spend the rest of your evening, or free time, , doing things you enjoy.  This is your time to refresh, renew and rejuvenate. 
• Turn off all electronics at least an hour before bedtime. Computers, TVs, cell phones, etc. over-stimulate the brain, making it too much for your system to deal with right before bedtime.  Read a book, listen to relaxing music, be present with your family, make love to your significant other, enjoy the peace and calm that these moments provide.  Yes it's difficult, but real positive results will come to you if you can make this change to your daily routine.
• Drink a glass of water before bedtime to help your system perform its healing magic during your sleep time.  
• Be thankful for this day and share your end of day thoughts with God.  Sleep well.  Tomorrow is another day. 

Of course everyone's schedule is different and crazy, you should make the necessary adjustments in this guide to suit your personal schedule.  Of course these are only suggestions, and you free to change things up, we welcome your ideas to help us improve this guide, feel free to leave your comments below. 

Think about your daily life, your present routine.  How much of your day is spent doing the exact opposite of these healthy life suggestions?  Now you know how to right the ship, make those changes beginning tomorrow morning.  Deal? 

You can do it!

Water is precious

Water is a precious commodity - everybody needs it

Protect (don't pollute it)

Conserve (take only what you need, use less plastic)

Share (help those who help others to find clean water)

Enjoy (water loves to play).

Created as an inspirational message for Interfaith Spirit Quest.  Please feel free to share this image. Photos are from Print Shop.

Book Review: The Stress Eating Cure

Common Sense Advice - Normal Foods - Relieve Stress and Lose Weight? Wow!

Book review and recommendation:  The Stress Eating Cure - By Dr Rachael Heller and Dr Richard Heller  (Five stars *****)

The Stress Eating Cure could be a great help to a great many people. Stress-eating defined, according to this new book, is about the consumption of high-carb and/or fatty foods in response to different types of stress - mental, physical or emotional. A stress-eater might crave food out of boredom or loneliness, anxiety, too many responsibilities, anger, fear or worry, even medications and/or drugs. This causes a hormonal imbalance where relief comes only in the form of giving in to the cravings over and over again.In the book, Dr Rachael Heller and Dr Richard Heller, strive first to help us discover our stress-eating type, and next to show us a step-by-step plan to correct the causes of stress-eating. 

There are different menus for different phases, kind of the like the Atkins plan but with different food combinations.  This is not a primarily no-carb diet like the Atkins plan, nor would I say it's an extremely lo-carb diet, but there does appear to be an emphasis on reducing certain types of carbs. Fortunately, the foods on the various menu plans are normal everyday foods, nothing too exotic or difficult to find, buy and prepare.

Daily plans emphasize a big, balanced breakfast. If you follow the menu plans suggested, there's no way you could eat all the food allotted for the day! Why? Because the meal plans include what I call 'real food', and lots of it. Real food makes you feel satisfied, and in the combinations recommended, they may help you lose weight and relieve stress.

Nothing is really off limits as long as you combine it with certain other types of normal foods. In order to boost our vegetable consumption, on Page 156 of the hardcover book, the authors advise the reader 'never eat a naked vegetable!' - by which they mean we should "dip it, wrap it, stir-fry it, cover it, or tuck it in between layers of protein".  The Stress Eating Cure includes food lists, recipes and menu ideas as well.

From the back of the book: 

"Are your hormones driving you to stress-eat and gain weight? 

•    When you are feeling irritable or edgy, does a snack often make you feel better?
•     Have there been times when you ate or continued to eat when you weren't really hungry?
•     In the past, have you gone off a diet when you were faced with a stressful situation?
•     Once you begin to eat sweets or starches, junk food, or snack foods, do you have a difficult time stopping?
•     Have you hidden food, hidden evidence of your eating, or eaten in secret?
•     Does at least one of your blood relatives suffer from obesity, alcoholism, type 2 diabetes, and/or stress-eating?

If you answered "yes" to more than one question, a hormonal imbalance is probably driving you to stress-eat. Stress-eating is not a matter of willpower; it's a matter of biology, pure and simple.  And so is its cure!

The Stress Eating Cure is the solution.  You'll enjoy the foods you love every day, without any weighing or measuring.  When the hormonal cause of your stress-eating is eliminated, stress-hunger and cravings disappear and your weight begins to drop-in a matter of days-and without deprivation or struggle.

When the cravings and hunger disappear and the weight loss follows without effort, it feels like a miracle, but it's simply good science."

Buy it now on Amazon: 

How to have a Happy Thanksgiving anyway

Thanksgiving is really the most wonderful holiday of the year, we just need to arrive hungry and thankful and we get to leave with a full belly; but for some of us it is more like the beginning of a month long season of holiday purgatory that thankfully ends around January 2nd of the new year! 

Thanksgiving, mmmmmmm, here in the Midwest it might be turkey and stuffing (you say dressing - we say stuffing), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, Lefse if your Norwegian - buns if you're not, pumpkin pie, relatives and all that.  Thanksgiving is about food, family and friends, love and being thankful to God for what we have. 

The first thing many people think about when they think of Thanksgiving is food, since we all love food, this turns out to be the primary motivational factor for our making an appearance at the annual event.  The second thing people often think about is family; the response to this thought is either one of joy and thankfulness, or one of dread. 

So, since this an article about 'How to have a Happy Thanksgiving anyway', here are a few tips for doing just that.

• Respect:  Allow people to be who they are; even when they don't do life right, or they don't extend the same courtesy back.
• The Golden Rule:  Treat others as we would like to be treated.  Be kind, even if they're not.  Harmony and peace begins in our own minds.  Be amicable, warm-hearted and friendly towards others, ask what they've been up to lately, people love to talk about themselves.  Resist the temptation to offer advice unless it's asked for.
• Thankfulness:  Implement the practice of going around the table asking each person to name something they are thankful for.  Each person starts by saying 'I am thankful for....'.  Let the kids chime in too, even if they're only thankful for staying up late, for pie, or for a new toy.  This practice helps us all remember why we're celebrating and in a way it's a prayer of thanksgiving to God.  It's also a good substitute if family members are uncomfortable with formal prayers.  End with a formal prayer of your choosing or just say something like "I'm thankful for all of you too, and now let the feast begin!"
• Releasing Anger and Resentment:  It's important to let go of any anger or resentment you may be harboring toward someone; do not allow anyone to have this much power over you.  Your thoughts really do create your world - as we think in our hearts, so we are.  If we think negative thoughts, we will probably have a negative experience.  If we know we're in the wrong on something, we will need to make some corrections.  Sometimes we don't self-correct because we're consciously or sub-consciously seeking revenge toward someone who has wronged us in the past.  We need to ask ourselves - who is really suffering here?  Let it go.
• Fun & Participation:  Participate in the activities of the day:  Food preparation, table setting, playing with the kids, walking the dog, get into the game, do the dishes, help clean up.  Food preparation is an important part of the family bonding process and when we see how much planning and effort goes into a holiday meal, we naturally become more grateful toward others.
• Thankful Habits:  Enter into every thought, word and action with a spirit of thankfulness.

 

All you need is love - all they need is love. Peace and goodwill toward you and toward all.

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Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family

and here's to the beginning of a more meaningful and joyful holiday season!