Live Long Naturally ©2012

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” ~~ Mohandas K. Gandhi~~

A positive effect of the  less than optimal economy has been Gardens and Recession Diets. Whether planting your own garden, being a part of a community garden, or buying from a Farmers’ Market or a CSA… REAL food can help keep you lean, clean, green, not to mention surviving & thriving! It can in fact help with finding your passion and purpose. Freeing the body of toxic waste frees the mind of toxic thoughts and vice versa. ”Forgetting ourselves” becomes unfortunately easier when the diet consists of cooked, processed, and/or fake food with labels.

Gardening will not only lower your grocery bill and whittle the waist,  it will add years to your life and life to your years! Think you don’t have a place to garden? Pots, wheelbarrows, and even lil red wagons serve quite well as a place to grow your own food. The beauty of growing in small moveable objects is you can follow the sun.

Consider giving your thumbs a try at gardening, you’ll be glad you did! Saving your seeds and or buying organic seeds or seedlings can feed you and your family for days and decades to come!

Did you know your word is your reputation? Are you keeping your word with yourself, your dreams, and others? What does YOUR word stand for?

Have you mastered yourself or do you continue to make excuses for why you don’t look or feel the way you want? Is your job less than what you want? Why settle for looking and feeling less than your best? Why not work on purpose instead of a mere paycheck?

Do you do what you say you are going to do? If not, you are wreaking havoc on yourself (body, mind, AND spirit). Take a stand to know yourself, love yourself and help others in doing the same. Each of us has a specific purpose to fulfill, knowing it can help us all age less. Breaking your word with yourself causes your self-esteem to suffer, which in turn leads to detrimental habits and/or addictions. A vicious cycle of self-induced stress leads to unhappiness and premature aging.

Be your own hero in the game called LIFE!

Is there really such a thing? Can we look and feel younger and avoid the dangers of the quick fixes like a shot of Botox or cosmetic procedure? I believe so! Of course the earlier we start, the better the results. However… it’s NEVER TOO LATE. Following one of my cleanses (detox), I was told by many I looked 10 years younger, which was not at all bad for less than a shot of Botox!

If we are not liking what we see in the mirror, we have the power to change it. Perhaps it’s time to rethink your meals? Eating healthy can be fast, easy and very affordable, it just takes some creativity (though not much)!

Other possible ways to turn back the hands of time include:

• Be grateful for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g
• Getting a great haircut
• A new outfit
• Spirituality
• Meditation
• Exercise/Yoga/5 Tibetan Rites
• Volunteer
• Do what makes your heart sing
• Find your purpose
• Know your passion
• Avoid smoking
• Drink plenty of water
• Limit sugar, white flour, and animal protein (for starters)
• Avoid packaged foods
• Eat real food and find ways to use it on your skin – avoid harsh expensive “beauty potions”
• Poop daily (no joke!)
• Put your body on the same schedule as your vehicle (CLEAN IT OUT) – both will run smoother and last longer.

No doubt my list can go on and on. I love learning new natural ways to add “face value” and improve the quality and quantity of my life. More than that, I like sharing it. If you find you don’t have reason to do the same, perhaps you are not living on purpose. What are you truly passionate about? You can Age Less, On Purpose! Isn’t it time you took action?

Nature gives you the face you have at 20, life shapes the face you have at 30… But at 50, you get the face you deserve. Coco Chanel

Do you find yourself telling your “story” over and over to anyone that will listen. Why live in the past, especially if it wasn’t so great? Want a better life? Stop complaining about what you don’t like! It is not your higher self thinking.

If you are out of balance in body, mind, or spirit, your chances of overeating, over shopping, over medicating, over complaining, and even more self-destructive behaviors are greater. Using something outside yourself to change your emotion is setting yourself up for an addiction and/or a constant state of living in past woes. We all have a story, it’s up to us to move on to the next exciting chapter! Having a purpose can literally take years off our face and add them to our life. Decide to Age Less, On Purpose and don’t look back – only then can we Live Long Naturally the way nature intended.

Time waits for nobody. Money comes and goes, but time only goes. We cannot make more time; once it’s gone it’s gone. Isn’t it time you change the thoughts that weaken you?

Want a better body? Think better thoughts. Our beliefs can be our world, good or bad. Thoughts can also control our eating. Happy thoughts can equal healthy eating – negative thoughts can cause destructive eating, eating to “feel” happy, eating ourselves into oblivion.

My coach Carolyn McCormick (who certified me as a coach) states every emotional and psychological pitfall comes down to the following 5 thoughts:

1. I am not enough or good enough
2. I am not loved or lovable
3. I am not right, or something is wrong with me
4. I am a failure
5. I am not safe

Narrow these down further and the core belief is: A lack of self love.  Happiness is an inside job, we all have it in us. Our job is not to be like others. Rather, it is to embrace our unique qualities, the divine design of our life.

He who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened  Lao Tzu

Are your thoughts getting the best of you? Watch a sunset, listen to a kitten purr, or see a dog’s tail wag… these simple things in life can lift your energy to a higher vibration. If given the opportunity… spend time with a baby – John Gray states, babies are the closest thing to being like God. I know my 3 year-old grand niece gives me the warmest of  fuzzies! My heart does cartwheels when I am with her.

We can Age Less, On Purpose! Next post will give more reasons and ways to love yourself despite the world around us.