Blog 7. You are lucky to be here.

You are lucky to be here

 

After a very sad passing of my friend and team member Penny last month this blog has been a little more thought provoking. It got me thinking about how many people don’t really appreciate their health or what their body is really capable off. As someone who is food and health obsessed it got me thinking why don’t we really take better care of ourselves?

None of us know what time we have in this life. Do you wonder ‘will I live to be a ripe old age?’ or maybe you are still young and actually believe that dying whist doing something fun (or really its stupid) means that you will leave this world happy? I think the message is that really none of us want to die and we would all like to believe it will never happen to us hence why we never really contemplate it.

Being born is a miracle for each and every one of us. In a talk at TEDx San FranciscoMel Robbins, a funny self-help author, mentioned that scientists estimate the probability of your being born at about one in 400 trillion. They are some odds!

So with one certainty in this life, it will begin and it will end, why do we find it hard to appreciate what we have been given?

The one thing that is for sure is that many of us don’t look after the one thing that will give us that long healthy life – our body.

Many people hate the way it looks, hate the way it performs, and hate the way it feels. We blame everything on others or events like I had a baby or my job is stressful so I comfort eat, I’m lonely or my friends like to eat and drink so I don’t want to be left out.

Our body is ours to keep for the duration of our lifetime and for some people it will wear out before they have had chance to fulfil their destiny, for others it will be cruelly snatched away for no fault of their own, but some people will actually care and they will tenderly love, nourish and cherish what they have been given.

In the words of Baz Lurhmann’s song wear sunscreen

Enjoy your body

Use it every way you can…

Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it

It’s the greatest instrument you will ever own.

So my advice for this week is to love yourself, love the miracle of your birth, love the lessons you have learned to get to where you are today. Be in wonderment of what it can do, think about all the things you can do that you never really give much thought to, your eyes can see bright colours, the faces of your loved ones, they allow you to move around safely, think out what you can hear, the birds singing, music playing, children laughing. Work your way around your body and marvel at the complicated tasks you do with ease.

So you hate the way you look? There are some things we can change and other we can’t. Change what you can and be content with what you cannot because unless you have lots of money you are not going to change by magic. Be in love with your quirkiness; embrace your uniqueness and individuality. There is not another person in the world just like you.

If you find yourself looking at people who have in your opinion; a better body than you, then do what they do.  Although we like to believe some people are naturally slim and you only have to look at a cake to put a 1lb on I would challenge you to actually look at your habits and really be honest about what you eat and do; we have all seen the programme secret eaters and they never believe they are doing anything wrong either and look what happens when its pointed out to them, they always lose weight.   Remember if you are struggling and you don’t believe you are eating unhealthy then get some professional help. There are many people who can help educate you on what is best to eat and how to exercise correctly for your goal.

On the other side of the coin if you really don’t want to change any of your habits and if you are not taking good care of yourself be in complete amazement that your body is still working! You get out of this world what you put in if you want a healthy body that is strong, lean and flexible then you have to put in the effort where it is needed. There are no magic pills (only temporary fixes), there are no short cuts. You have to consistently move your body, push and pull a resistance, supply it with lots of nutritious fuel and be kind and loving towards it. This has to be done every day folks; it’s not a part time job looking after your body. Disease is a sign that you are in ‘dis-ease’, so think about what you are doing that is creasing di-ease and change it. The disease is the symptom of your habits, change the habits and change the symptoms.

Always put the oxygen mask on yourself first

You all know why they say this but we fail to apply it to other areas of our lives. And here I am talking mainly about people who have children or care for an elderly or disabled relative.  For instant in a household if a woman is the primary care giver, it’s her job to look after the children, to put meals on the table for the family and to run the house. She is so focused on this job that the job of looking after her gets put to the bottom of the list. This is definitely not putting the oxygen mask on first! And may I suggest that unless you take care of yourselves you are going be the burden you so desperately don’t want to be?

So this week I would like you to focus on everything that is great about YOU! Don’t compare yourself to anyone else just enjoy being you. Give your body the exercise it craves, nourish it with good food and love the way it looks and what it can do. It’s yours to have and to hold and you cannot exchange it although you can change it. Remember your body knows how to look after itself all you have to do is to meet the optimal conditions to get the best from it.

Be safe and well this week

Sending love to you all

Clare x