Happy New Year!  How wonderful to have another opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start all over. There is a certain excitement, a readiness in the air that is inspiring and uplifting. We are reminded again of our dreams and desires and our fire is lit. 

State of our health affects every aspect of our lives, so naturally it is at the top of everyone’s resolution. While there are many ways that we all may have found to work for us, I have summed up the 5 essential tools that have helped many clients over the past year.    

Just Begin

The most important and perhaps the most challenging step is to begin or to simply show up.  Too often, we get derailed by focusing on the outcome instead of our actions.  We want to know what we will get before we even begin.  Many times, the outcome is not predictable and is different for everyone

Make this an action oriented year as our actions is the only thing that is in our hands.  When we do not know what is possible, how can we know what we want?  Focusing on the outcome before even beginning is the mind’s way to rationalize away our actions and keep us away from our goals.  For anything to work,  we have to allow it to work.  It is not about perfection, it is about progress.  To begin is to make progress. Continue to begin again and again.   

Don’t wait to be ready to begin.  No one is truly ready for anything.  Time is fleeting, it does not wait for us to be ready.  It comes and goes.  There is no right time, there is only NOW.

Persevere

We give up too soon and/or begin to dabble into other easier options or quick fixes only to be further away from your goals.  There is no easy route, it only becomes easy once we trust in what we are doing.  Success lies just at the other side of failure.  Joy is the other side of misery.  It is just that we do not stay the path long enough to break through.  We give up too soon. The underlying reason is fear:  fear of healing/not healing.    It takes 40 days to change a habit or to implement a new one.   We have to give ourselves permission to go through the pressure and adversity so we can come out on the other side stronger, healthier and happier.

Dig deep and stick with it. The beauty of everything lies in its depth.  Change comes from what we do day in and day out, not just what we do once in a while.  It is about being consistent and staying the course.  

 Cultivate Awareness

Ultimately, it is our awareness that gives us insight into what is going on with us so we know what needs changing.  The quickest and most effective way to cultivate awareness that I know of is to have a meditation practice.  Wanting to be more aware does not make us more aware.  Awareness is a state of existence ; to truly understand it is to experience it and the way to experience it is through a consistent meditation practice. 

To be healthy is to be aware of the needs of our body, mind and spirit.  Too much of our lifestyle that contributes to ill health is driven by sub-conscious patterning.   Through the meditation practice, we can make conscious what is sub-conscious and therefore make the necessary changes.  

Make Peace

Too often, too many of us are fighting a battle with disease.  While not giving up, staying positive and strong are much needed attributes to deal with an illness, with some parts of us, we have to do it with a sense of peace. Ironically, this gives us more answers, opens more doors and solutions because the energy we invest in fighting is now free to do what is best for us.  Every obstacle is a teacher, a gift.   What is it asking of you?  Give up the struggle, the fight and look at the bigger picture.  Everything does not need to be “fixed” or fought with, it needs to be first deeply understood.  The mindset of fighting back creates physiological changes that drive the fight or flight response, which continues to maintain the same inner environment that hosted the disease in the first place.

Seek Expert Guidance

We are not meant to do it alone and we are not meant to know everything.  We live in the times where there is information overload.  It is important to understand that the information is too general, out of context and fragmented. To try to implement a few things here and there leaves you scattered, anxious and without real results.  Get the advice, help and guidance from an expert who knows you so they can guide you step-by-step throughout the journey to health and help you to stay the course.     

Here is to your best health in 2015!