Becoming healthier and happier!

I am getting my health back! I have started working out and trying to eat better and promoting more positive thinking so I can be a happier person! I am using the prevention website to be intentional about improving my health. I have always been concerned with my weight and have lost and gained MANY pounds over my lifetime. At this point in my life I want to be a healthy person to enjoy my remaining years. And, yes I still want to look good in my clothes and attractive to my husband. This website is a cool way to keep up with the food you eat, the calories you burn through exercise, your mood and goals. Research shows that when you write all of these things down you are more likely to accomplish your goals. I have intentions of losing 27 pounds by my birthday. It will be a reasonable way to lose weight, 4 lbs a month along with exercise. I would like you to hold me accountable. If you would like to be a part of this, so we can help encourage each other just let me know....e-mail or blog.

The website which I have place on the desktop of my computer for easy access is
http://www.prevention.com/health/

Just click on My Health Trackers. Yes TrackerS...helps in all the areas of the mind and body. Also, would be good to print off reports when you go visit your doctor for your annual check up.

Also, I have been studying a bit on meditation. I am really working on myself to reduce the stress and anxiety I have been overloaded with this past year in my job (aren't we all?).  I am a strong believer in prayer, which I do on a regular basis, so meditation does not replace prayer. But meditation is calming your body and focusing on one thing. I have started a blog where I have started concentrating on "Happiness".  In the April 2010 Prevention Magazine there was an article titled "Happiness Is a Choice." The author, Ann Patchett stated that in the way that physical exercise can change your body, regular mental exercises can change how we see and engage with the world and the people you love.  I have started the exercise she illustrated, but it could be anything that helps you change your outlook and the people you are in relationship with. 

The meditation was like this:

• Sit for 11 minutes with your hands in front of your heart, palms facing each other a few inches apart. Visualize the person you love inside the space between your hands. Think of them happy, see them bathed in light, see them as their best selves. (She was given a little song to sing, but stated it was no necessary to the exercise, I hummed a happy tune.) The point is to see the person you loved as happy for 11 minutes everyday.

Ann meditated on her husband and what a good person he was, his laugh, the good things about him.  She stated she had a good marriage to start with, but there where small traces of impatience or judgment that she brought to the relationship. Through these exercises she felt her feelings for her husband renewed. The little pet peeves didn't matter anymore, and were replaced with an excitement to see him come home from work. She was more grateful for him and saw his goodness. Her husband even responded to the way she responded to him and the relationship grew.  He even thanked her for the change in her view of him. 

The exercise was designed for 40 days, not skipping....if she did she would have to start over. She asked the teacher if people ever decided to push on and do more days. The teacher told her that 40 days requested a change, 80 days formed a new pattern, and 120 days sealed your intention. She admitted she didn't change her husband, she changed herself. In the exercise she opened her eyes to what had been there all along!

OK, happy health to you! Be aware that your mental state directly influences your physical health! Do a little research on cortisol and the damage it can do to your heart, the visual indicator is belly fat.

I hope you will join me! Even if you are at your perfect weight, are you healthy? I have been at my perfect weight and was not physically fit, so evaluate yourself!

Love and blessings,

Sharon