The physical side of healing has always been easier for me than the mental and emotional sides but that doesn’t mean that it has not required effort on my part. Self care is at the top of my list in terms of my values. I spend a lot of time on food preparation. I buy mostly organic produce, grains, and meats. I spend time at farmer’s markets and shop at bigger health food stores like Community Natural Foods. I spend time finding recipes that are nutrient rich and relatively simple to prepare. I choose food with life energy; this means food that is fresh versus foods in a box or a can. I cook my food from scratch. That ensures that there is optimal life energy in the food. If there is more life energy in the food then this translates into more life energy in your body. I used to hate cooking but somewhere along the way, I realized that to really enjoy my food and be satisfied,I would have to learn to cook. I realized that yummy food does not get yummy in a flash. It takes time to prepare. You have to be patient and enjoy the process of food preparation because it is time consuming. Now I enjoy cooking. I put on my favorite music and make an afternoon of it or an evening of it. I cook more food on the weekend such as stews and soups and freeze some so I have some food that is ready to thaw out when I am really tired or am time pressured to make dinner due to some other pressing commitment. I eat gluten and dairy free and find that I have more energy as a result. I wouldn’t recommend that everyone go gluten and dairy free because it is a lot of work but try it for two to four weeks and see if it gives you more energy or alleviates symptoms that you are experiencing on a daily basis. I am now more well versed on the subject of whole grains and know what is required to prepare them in nourishing ways. I try to rotate different grains to reduce allergenic potentiality and to keep myself from getting bored. The physical side of healing involves nourishing your body with nutritious, delicious, nutrient rich food. I subscribe to allrecipes.com for free and modify the recipes to make them more Robin friendly. I also am on emails lists from food blogging friends that are preparing beautiful food (healthy green kitchen – Dr. Winnie Wine who I graduated with). She is always a source of amazing recipes. It is in this way that you actually become inspired to cook beautiful food for yourself. Even living on your own can be a beautiful dining experience if you take the time to prepare a special meal for yourself and celebrate you. Light some special candles and put your favorite music on; say a blessing of thanks for the beautiful food you prepared and bon appetit!
The mental side of healing
The mental side of healing for me always posed the most challenge. This is because my mental head game was for many years my worst enemy. I was an athlete growing up and when I was playing field hockey in higher level matches I would be terrified. I wouldn’t think how exciting this is to be in the CIAU final playing field hockey. Rather my thought was I hope I don’t screw up the biggest match of my life. I didn’t expect to play well or get excited about the chance to showcase my skills. I took a fearful stance rather than an empowered stance. I often think one of the reasons why I did not make the national team was that I did not have the mental toughness needed to excel at the highest level. That was the truth back then but I have worked on my head space in the game of life for the past ten years conciously speaking. My experience with illness demanded this of me. The most important thing in my life became my head space and my head space would soon become my greatest asset. But this didn’t happen overnight. I had to work at it and my health necessitated it. I needed to expect that I could be well consistently. I had a positive expectation of being well. Even when I was challenged I would maintain my positive momentum knowing my health would soon be restored. This became my norm – an optimistic head space despite the occasional setback.
The first part of healing the mental is being mindful of your thoughts. Be aware of your thoughts. Be aware of when your thoughts are health supportive and be aware of when they are health negating. You must be extremely vigilant when you are on the journey of personal healing. If you catch yourself thinking about what you don’t want, correct your thoughts in that moment and think what is it that I do want. The teachings of Abraham taught me that. You must bring yourself back to where you want to be in every moment. The mind requires discipline of the highest order. That is why learning to meditate is a must. The mind will swing like a monkey from tree to tree until it is disciplined. How you meditate is up to you. Some people choose exercise as a medititation; others choose breathing exercises(Dr. Andrew Weil has good tapes on breathing exercises); others do yoga. Some people do better in a group meditation class. Find whatever works for you and then set up a consistent practice so you hold yourself accountable. Being disciplined enough to meditate daily allows you to stay centered no matter what winds are blowing. In today’s world, it is easy to be blown off course. If you have a daily spiritual practice that you do daily, you establish a healthy routine of centredness. Soon this becomes your norm – you are becoming mentally tough and you love how it feels to hold your center, to have your life based on internals versus externals. This is spirit centered living people. More on the mental side of healing soon…