In the Now

I recently heard yet another story about a popular figure who lived an extremely healthy lifestyle and still was hit by cancer and passed on.  As I listened to this commentary my thoughts drifted into the silliness of any of us thinking we can cheat death or control the time we exit this earth.  Any of you who know me, know that I live as healthy as I possibly can in mind, body, spirit and emotion. Do I do it because I want to live forever?  No, I do it because I want to live in the now!  Each day, every moment, is something to be treasured.  Of course we all have down times, that’s part of life and our ever present learning curve along our journey, but to travel with a clear mind and heart takes your journey to a whole new level.  I certainly want to be alert in my growing and remember what I have learned.  Some to be experienced again and some to be avoided like the black plague.

My point is this, to live healthfully is to live in this moment.  Notice that which surrounds you.  The beauty, the messages, your loved ones, your insights, and the clarity that comes with all of it.  Live healthy simply because it allows you to feel full of energy with happiness in your life.  Live it because it gives you a new perspective in seeing the glass full as life shoots you lemons.  Live it because it feels good!

When our time comes to move into the spirit world it is a day of celebration for a life well lived, and a bow of gratitude for a life yet to come.  Feel it, breathe it, BE it now, for this is it.  Your time to show yourself and shine!

 

9 Healthy Energy Boosters For 2013 & Beyond!

After the holidays and busy times in our lives, our energy often feels tapped.  Here are 9 quick tips to gather up the energy that periodically slips away…

1. Get your SLEEP! Nothing saves energy more than sleep.  The more rest you have, the more you have to give.  You will make wiser decisions with less agitation, and yes, you will eat healthier because we crave sugars and unhealthy fillers when we are tired.

2.  Say NO more often. Trust your instincts when your body tells you you haven’t enough energy to say yes to every request.  Limits and boundaries are healthy for you and the person you’re setting them with.

3.  Pay attention to good nutritional habits. Take in energy foods like green leaf veggies, fruits and adequate proteins. Keep alcohol intake and sugar to a minimum, and drink plenty of water!

4.  Choose wisely with your supplements. Have your doctor check your blood levels to evaluate what you need.  For those living in the north during winter, vitamin D adds energy that the sun gives us in the summer.  Omega 3′s are great mood lifters and helps with depression. Vitamin C keeps those white blood cells alive and active, increasing your immunity, and vitamin B complex decreases your stress level.  A good multivitamin helps in many areas you may be lacking.

5.  Give Service to others. When you do it can’t help but bounce back and fill you too.  There is a natural boost  you receive in giving.  Choose an organization, program, group and give of your time.

6.  Develop an exercise program that suits you. Walking, joining a gym, dancing, swimming, you choose.  Create a schedule that is realistic for you so you will stick with it as an ongoing lifestyle routine.

7. Visit your chiropractor for regular adjustments.  A healthy spine fights disease, fosters clear thinking increasing your creativity, and allows you to perform physically at an optimum level.

8. Express yourself!  It takes much more energy to hold in anger, fear and frustration than it does to release it.  Think of the energy it takes a pressure cooker to hold in its contents until the lid is finally lifted and the steam is released!  Express your feelings calmly, before this boiling point, and you will find your issues become resolved productively and peacefully.

9.  Take time for relaxation and quiet time. Research has revealed that quieting your mind is a catalyst for expert performance in many aspects of your life. Get a massage, watch a movie, take a yoga class, visit your favorite spa, plan that vacation, visit a friend, read a book, listen to soothing music, meditate…RELAX…

Wishing you all a happy & healthy new year…here’s to new beginnings!

 

 

Ring in a Cleansing, Courageous New Year Filled with Dreams of a Lifetime!

Join me in kicking off the New Year on Help, Hope & Healing, WWLZ820am, Saturday, Jan. 1st, 12-1pm!  I will be addressing mind and body cleansing, facing your fears, creating happiness and manifesting your future.  For those of you needing that “push” to start off the New Year surrounded by health and happiness, this show is for you!  As always, calls are welcome during the show at 607-732-4820 or 1-866-732-4820.

Wishing you all a salubrious and wondrous year to come!

WWLZ820am Radio Show, 9-18-10, Exercise, Nutrition, Beauty Products & Overall Wellness

To learn Dr. Vice Lujan’s very informative answers to his Health Quiz, click on “Exercise, Nutrition, Beauty Products &  Overall Wellness” link under the category, “AM-WWLZ 820 Talk Radio”.

WWLZ820am Radio Show, 8-28-10,Chiropractic Care/ An Optimum Spine Equals Optimum Health

Tune in, and click on the link below, to listen to Dr. Bob Berry and I discussing the benefits of chiropractic care and how an optimum spine equals optimum health.

https://cynthiabrennenlmsw.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/wwlz-pgm_12-06_828.mp3

I’m Hearing Air Waves….

Tune in with me! For all of you local Elmira/Corning folks, my new Talk Radio Show will be kicking off on Saturday, August 21st, 12pm-1pm on 820am radio, WWLZ. I will be covering many areas under the umbrella of mind, body, spiritual & emotional wellness. A weekly guest will be joining me to share their knowledge & expertise on various topics. Call-ins are encouraged and welcome! More info to come, including a line up of guests and topics. For those of you out of the area, I will be posting podcasts of the show on this blog, intermittently.

If any of you have topics you wish to have covered please feel free to comment.  I have a plethora of ideas, constantly bustling in my head, AND I welcome more from all of you!

May your day be filled with strength, joy and LOVE!

The Affliction of Addiction

Addiction is a nasty bug and once it gets its hooks in you it refuses to let go.  Add in the ego which thrives on weakness, and you have a lethal dose of insanity.  As the genius Albert Einstein reminded us many moons ago, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  Many people have the misconception that ego is full of confidence and direction but it is quite the contrary.  Ego is  an insecure  little child who wants what he wants and will stop at nothing to claim the attention that he craves.  Often, attention one never received in his formative years.  This starvation reaches toward outer avenues to feed the hunger.  The mind trains itself (fostered by ego) to think that if I take that drink, or have sex, or eat that hot fudge sundae,  or purge, all my problems will go away.  Any of you stuck in this cycle know that it is, once again, a trick of the mind and a temporary fix that only gets worse and more chaotic down the road.  When you wake up from your inflicted numbing your problems are still there and you’ve only created more problems feeding your addiction.  How much energy does it take to cover your tracks?  How much chaos have you created along the way?  How many loved ones have you hurt keeping up with your craving?  How much hurt have you inflicted upon yourself?  There is hope.  All this energy put into feeding this monster can be redirected and geared toward healthy choices in your life.

It has been said that you remain stagnate at the age you were when you first started using your “drug.”  Growth cannot, and will not, occur until you get clean and mature with the tools you need to recover and claim a healthier lifestyle.  The first step is admitting you have a problem.  That is when humility steps up and pushes ego aside.  The second step is reaching out and asking for help.  There are many rehabilitation facilities and programs to assist you in staying on your course to sobriety.  The third step is staying on your course, one day at a time.  There is a better life for you if you take these steps and stay with it.  This I can promise you.  Allow Spirit to guide you, step outside of yourself, have faith, and your hope will not be lost.

Below are the 12 steps followed by many programs dealing with addiction.  The steps were developed by Sam Shoemaker and Bill Wilson, originally printed in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, back in 1939.  It has saved more lives  than can be counted.

The 12 Steps

• Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over our addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable
• Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
• Step 3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
• Step 4 – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
• Step 5 – Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
• Step 6 – Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
• Step 7 – Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
• Step 8 – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
• Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
• Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
• Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out
• Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

The Feeling of Fitness

Do you pay attention to how you feel after a good workout?  Whether it’s going for a hike, doing a full-out workout, riding your bike,  hiking a mountain or taking the stairs, there is a feeling you get when your heart is pumping and your endorphins are moving through your body.  For me, it is a feeling of lightness, strength and joy.  Add a healthy diet with a little bit of sunshine mixed in and it’s a feeling of euphoria!

Below is a workout I did with my trainer yesterday.  I love interval workouts, in a short period of time your body is working to a maximum, and you feel it!  All total, my body was working hard for 7.5 minutes, with equal rest, and yes, my heart was pumping!  I’ve also been combining more weight work (10 pound bar bells) to increase my strength.  There is something about feeling inner strength when my outer frame is firm.  It absolutely increases one’s self-esteem, naturally.  After my workout I drank a green smoothie (yum!), got my hair cut, and indulged in a relaxing pedicure…what a day!  The sun was shining and my sunroof was open with my favorites tunes playing.  Enjoy all the senses God gave you, you will feel ec-static when you do!  Extend yourself to the universe and it will surround you with all the nature of LOVE…

Here is a sample of my workout yesterday, created by my trainer, Dr. Vice.  For more information on his workouts and healthy living see his website at http://onehealthyvice.com.

This is a fun 30:30 bodyweight interval workout.  For anyone who thinks you can’t get a good workout with using your own bodyweight, give this little circuit a go!

Warm-up first, then proceed to workout…

30 sec work : 30 sec rest

1. Squat Jumps

2. Lunge (with left foot forward)

3. Lunge (right foot forward)

4. Push-Ups

5. Mountain Climbers

Perform 1-5 in order, then repeat for a least 3 circuits = 15 min workout.  Don’t cheat on the rest periods!  30 seconds of ALL OUT WORK with strict form…ALWAYS remember quality over quantity…then 30 seconds of rest.  Pretty simple workout but I am sure this will get the heart racing!

Cool Down/Stretch

Then when the body is ready, drink a green smoothie!!!

The Power of Affirmations

What we think is what we become.  Who we spend time with is the vibrational energy we emit.  What we surround ourselves with is how we feel.  Where we spend our time manifests our life force.

My friend gave me a beautiful blue stone.  We call it my “Pisces” stone as it throws off the colors of the ocean.  It sits on the dashboard of my car, reminding me of our friendship and the ease of the cool big blue.

I have a thing for hearts and anything embracing light and love.  Simple things like the scent of a rose, the touch of a hand, the chirping of a bird, brings a smile to my face.  I don’t abhor darkness, as it is a part of life.  I deal with it, and I move on.

As I moved through the vinyasas in my yoga class this morning, I imagined letting go of all that I cannot control.  Feeling gratitude that life sends me these challenges to learn from.  When I released, my heart opened, creating a beautiful inner peace.

Now, I sit at my favorite cafe, eating my favorite artichoke soup, feeling joy as I write.  Soaking it all in.  Tonight, I’m meeting up with some wonderful friends I haven’t seen in a long time.  One thing I know for sure, there will be a lot of laughter in that room!

I’d say that this day is full of affirmations of joy, light, peace, health and LOVE.  Affirm your daily existence and breathe it in. You have the POWER to create the life you live!  You are what you think, feel, experience and believe…

New Pirate Radio Interview

Tune in with me tomorrow on New Pirate Radio~ June 7th, 10:00am (est)

Neal Desch will be interviewing me on the topic of balancing mind, body, spiritual and emotional wellness.  We will be discussing much of what is addressed in this blog, including;

~The umbrella of overall wellness and its benefits

~The brain “re-train”

~Unlearning the negative tapes

~Mindfulness in daily practice

Click on link to listen to the show Monday morning at 10:00am…call ins are welcome!

http://newpirateradio.com