Awareness

Well it is January 2013 and good news the world didn’t end in December! But hopefully with the new year there is a change in consciousness about the health of each other and our planet. I would like to talk about awareness. Muhammad Ali was noted for saying,  “you can’t fight what you can’t see, float like a butterfly sting like a bee”. This is true of health. If you are not aware of your energy levels, mood fluctuations, reactions to food, how tight you feel when you move, your stress reactions, and what your poop looks like then how do you improve your level of wellness? You need to “see” before you can mount a strategy. A better word for “see” is observe as observations can be seen, felt, noticed, and perceived. Below is the illness/wellness continuum:

The question is which side do you want to be on? I heard Anthony Robbins on Oprah (yes I watch Oprah sometimes) say regarding health that you can be a “warning or an example”. To live on the left side is to be a warning. The right side is the example. My question to my blog readers is to decide which side looks best for you. I am going to focus on the right side for a few blog posts.

The first step to building wellness is awareness. Being aware involves taking note and being mindful of your choices, behaviours and consequences. An example of consequences, can be noticing that your energy levels are lower  or you get constipated after a certain food item.  So here is your awareness homework till my next blog.

1. Take note of how much water you drink everyday for a week or more.

2. Record how many hours of sleep you get a night and what time you are getting to bed at in a small notebook. Additionally, note how refreshed you feel in the morning. If you want to scale it you could say a 10 is fully refreshed and full of energy (didn’t need the alarm to wake up) and 1 is really exhausted with no vitality and motivation to start your day.

Have fun with these two items. On the next blog I will talk about how to improve the above two items. This will be the education component of our wellness side of the continuum. Also, I will present a few more key awareness items to observe.

…….May your lifeforce be with you.