The wellness rebellion taking back control of your health. What would it mean for you to fully trust in your ability to heal and thrive?
In my last video, I talked about what I learned about health and wellness and about life living here in Tanzania for the last eight years. And in fact, I filmed that video on the very day that I left to go back to the States to visit my family.
And I was gone for seven weeks. I must admit, I was hit smack in the face right away with the toxicness and the unhealthy part of living in America. The opposite of what life has been like for me here. And right away I began having skin irritations.
The first thing I noticed was all the toxins in the environment. I began to do a little bit of investigation and looking at all the various chemicals that we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis in America. Products that are promoted to us as what we need in order to look good, to have healthy skin, a beautiful skin, get rid of acne, take care of your hair, be protected from the sun, all these things. I looked at the back of packaged food boxes, breads and sauces and rice mixes and snacks and it was just chemical, chemical, chemical, chemical.
I realized how much chemicals are just in the everyday life. Now, that’s not natural. These products are promoted to us on a daily basis on TV, on the radio, in magazines. And they’re supposed to be things that are going to help us look better, feel better, age better, get rid of wrinkles, get rid of acne, make your hair look nice, make your food taste good.
What are the toxic things that you’ve noticed in your life?
And I don’t just mean physically toxic like the chemicals, but mentally toxic, emotionally toxic, spiritually toxic. What are the toxic things?
Then my cravings kicked in. I could get raisin bread and all these things that I don’t normally eat here. And so I started to eat processed vegan food and vegan junk food.
I also found that my living situation was not aligned with how I live here. This is no shade on my family or anything. Living here in Tanzania, is very different than what life was like for me in the States. Air conditioned air. It was much more difficult for me to get the exercise that I needed. It was more stress. I didn’t have the same amount of time to just focus on taking care of myself and meditating and things like that.
Gradually, the longer I was there, the more it impacted me into the point that towards the end, I was really exhausted.
I also noticed how many people around me, many of them younger than me, much younger than me were on medications, were overweight, had diseases they were struggling with. And it was just the norm, that most people are going to end up with some kind of chronic disease. It’s just normal.
Also, the stress levels were very high for the people that I was around. You know, the stress from work, stress from family, stress from bills that need to be paid. The messages in the news about new variations of this disease or this thing that’s going to happen, with the election going on. And it was just stress, stress, stress.
I love my family. I enjoyed spending time with my grandkids and with my daughters and other family members. But I was so ready to come back home.
The main message that I think is spread in the US is that you are not enough. You’re not pretty enough. You’re not young enough. You’re not old enough. You’re not rich enough. You’re not smart enough. You’re not thin enough or whatever enough, healthy enough.
And the only way to get to be enough is to buy this thing. You need to reach outside of yourself and get this thing so that you can be enough. You need to put this cream on your face. You need to wash your hair with this thing. You need to eat this type of food. You need to take this kind of supplement. You need to do these things. Get these things. You need this medication. You need this exercise program. You need this job and this amount of money. And to do this on your social media. You need these things in order to be enough.
This is the message that seems to me to be the 24-7 message.
Also that there is danger everywhere. You read the news, you watch the news, you’re scrolling on social media. It’s like some horrible thing that’s happening either nearby you or around the world. There’s this wild animal. There’s these new cases of this new disease and we’ve got to watch out because now there’s this thing we’ve got to be careful about. There’s all these things.
The culture in America denies some fundamental truths about health and wellness.
It denies that your body and your mind are a miraculous self-healing organism that can heal itself and keep itself healthy. Without all those things out there. What’s inside us is more effective and more powerful than anything out there that you could try.
What is it that is keeping you from trusting your body’s natural ability to heal and thrive?
The other thing that it denies is that actually bacteria are our friends. We don’t need to be doing all this antibacterial this and worrying, worrying, worrying about whether there’s germs everywhere.
Our bodies, again, have the ability to fight that stuff and really these bacteria are a part of keeping our body healthy. Our body uses these bacteria to do the various functions that it has. And as we’re exposed to different things, then our immune systems can learn what’s dangerous and what’s not and can fight the things that it needs to fight. So bacteria are not our enemies.
It denies that the notion that natural is almost always better. Our own body’s natural healing, natural foods, being out in fresh air, these things are cheaper for one, which is why they don’t want us to use those things. They are quicker, they are safer, they are more sustainable and they work better.
It denies the fact that medicine and doctors don’t even heal you. All they do is treat the symptoms. They manage your symptoms. There’s ample research out there that shows that doctors and hospitals and medications are one of the leading causes of death.
That early prevention type of screenings don’t necessarily change the impact or the death rates or the illness rates. They may be false positives. They may encourage you to take treatments and medications that actually do more harm than good.
And most of all, it denies the healing power of plants. The plants around us, the plants that we eat, the fruits, the vegetables, are the keys to our health. The components within them, which scientists really can’t really understand all the details of, it is those components in the fruits and veggies that can turn on our body’s natural healing abilities, which can turn on our protective abilities. It’s not what you can extract out. It’s eating the whole fruit.
Taking supplements is not the same as eating the whole fruits and vegetables.
What are the things that you have found that life in America or life where you live denies? Things that are important to health and wellness?
So what can you do? Let’s say you’re ready to take back control of your health and wellness. What can you do?
Number one is to get clear on how you want to live your life. How do you want to spend your time? How do you want to spend a day? Spend your morning? What you want to do? How do you want to spend your evening and before you go to bed? How do you want to spend your time?
How do you want to contribute through your work? What work do you want to do? How do you want to make a difference to the people around you, to your family, to the people at your work, to your communities. How do you want to contribute?
How do you want your relationships to be? What type of relationship do you want with your kids? With your spouse? With your friends? With your neighborhood?
What do you want your home environment to look like? Do you want a cozy, uncluttered home? Do you want a big, spacious place in the city? Do you want to be in the country? What type of home environment do you want to be living in? What about your physical health?
What do you want to see in your physical health? How about your mental health? Or your spiritual health? Or your community?
Think about your ideal life. Don’t worry about whether you think it’s possible or not. Or how it’s going to happen. None of that matters right now.
You’re just going to be writing a bulleted list of what you want. I would like a loving, intimate relationship with a man who is aligned with the types of things that I want to do. I would like to live in a cozy, uncluttered house in the middle of a large garden that has lots of fruits and vegetables, a food forest. I would like to nurture my community to form stronger bonds and to be healthy.
I would like to…, whatever it is, what do you want in your life? Write it down. Take as long as it takes. You can do it quickly. You may be able to do it quickly. But if it takes you more time than that, take that time. Be sure to write it down.
Don’t just think of it. This has got to be something in your journal, in the notes app on your phone, someplace where you will see it, where you can go back and refer to it and remind yourself of that often.
And then, compare it to where you are now. What’s missing? What’s blocking you from achieving it?
If you want to be strong and healthy and be flexible, but you don’t exercise because you don’t have time, okay, that’s what’s blocking you from getting to that place.
If you want to have close relationships with your friends, but you don’t make time in order to be with your friends, there’s another place. For each one of those things, or at least the ones that are most important for you to address right away, what are the things that are blocking you from getting to that place?
Next is, how can you begin to move closer?
Don’t worry about getting all the way there. But what’s one step or two steps that you can take in each of those areas that will get you one step closer, just the incremental steps closer. And each time you get a little bit closer, then you can look again and say, okay, what’s the next thing I can do? Okay, the first thing I can do is, when I get out of bed, take five minutes and do some stretching. Do some stretching for my back, or do a little bit of yoga. Do something for five minutes when I first get up to get the blood moving in my body. And once that becomes a habit, then I can begin to move on to the next step.
Okay, now every day at lunchtime, I’m going to take a walk around the block or go up and down the stairs. Or when I park my car, I’m going to park at the far end of the parking lot so that I can walk to the store. Okay, once that becomes a norm, then you begin to think about other things you can do.
And so you build and build and build and build, and you’re getting closer and closer. And as you do those things, you will begin to feel better. You will have more energy and more optimism, and that will help you be able to keep moving forward.
Keep that vision in mind. Read it to yourself daily. Post it up on your mirror or something. Read it to yourself often. Keep that vision in mind. And think about what it will feel like to be there.
What will it be like to have that relationship? What will it be like to live in that place? What would it be like to do that in your community? To feel the excitement and appreciation and the joy at seeing your community be healthy? What would it feel like to have healed the relationship with your daughter? Or to have reconnected with a friend that you had a long time ago that you haven’t seen in years? What will all of that feel like? Keep those visions in mind.
And again, don’t worry about how it’s going to happen. How you’re going to get to the end. Just keep going step by step, little by little. What can I do next?
Your path to wellness is all about becoming whole and healthy. It includes healing on all levels.
It includes embracing all aspects of yourself. Even those aspects that you’ve been embarrassed about or ashamed about or afraid of. It means embracing them all. Embracing it doesn’t mean things might not change as you grow and heal. But you embrace it knowing that this is a part of who you are. And it’s okay.
Your path to wellness is about rejecting false beliefs. The belief that you can’t do this. The belief that you’re not enough. The belief that your body can’t heal itself. Reject all of those false kind of beliefs.
Your path to wellness is about living authentically. Who are you really? What is your natural, your real way of being in this world? And living that way unashamedly. At first it may be difficult. As you step into it more, take one step closer to it and you begin to see that people don’t reject you. Or those who reject you, maybe you don’t need them in your life. But people who are in alignment with your whole and healthy self will embrace you. Will appreciate you more.
And you will become actually a beacon of hope. A inspiration for other people to also embrace their authentic selves.
Your path to wellness is about creating a sustainable lifestyle that embraces all areas of your being. You can’t just focus on one thing and ignore all the rest. It’s very difficult to stick to a healthy lifestyle if you’re stressed out and work is not helping you out.
It’s very difficult to have good relationships with your children if you’re so tired at the end of the day. Or if you’re worried, worried, worried about your physical health.
So all of those things, we need to embrace all of those things. That’s what whole and healthy means. We need to focus on every aspect of ourselves. And when you do, it allows you to thrive and fulfill your potential. And actually be the person that you came on to this earth to be. To bring your gifts out into the world and make a difference for your family, for your community, for the world, for yourself. And to be your beautiful, powerful, bad-ass self.
I challenge you today to begin creating your ideal whole and healthy life list.
I’d love to see what some of the things are on your list. Feel free to post them in the comments below. If you’re interested in getting some help and taking back control of your health, starting your wellness rebellion, I would love to help you. Look below for how you can schedule a free consultation and let’s talk about how to help you get there.
- The Wellness Rebellion! - 09/13/2024
- What 8 Years In Tanzania Has Taught Me - 07/29/2024
- The Power Of Reinventing Yourself, Your Health, And Your Life! - 06/04/2024
Take charge of your life, make a lasting commitment to a healthy lifestyle, and step into your true bad-ass, powerful, beautiful self and bring your gifts to the world!
