Healthy Living: Mind, Body, & Spirit

Are we going in debt or sowing?

Karen Best Wright, B.S. Community Health Education
Pathway to Healthy Living

I was listening to a speaker the other night on a religious channel. He was paraphrasing from the Bible somewhere, not sure exactly where. But I liked the idea very much. He stated, "Debt is doing something today at the expense of tomorrow. Sowing is doing something today for the benefit of tomorrow." I am sure it had something to do with, "What ye sow, so shall ye reap." But I haven't taken the time yet to look it up.

I thought about how that statement holds true in all aspects of our lives not just financially like we usually think of when we think of debt. It applies to the physical, mental, and spiritual parts of ourselves as well.

We are physically in debt if what we are doing to our bodies today will bring harm to them in the future. We are mentally in debt, if we are thinking and dwelling on negative thoughts, if we are not continually educating ourselves, and if we are not pursuing new goals,  We are spiritually in debt if we are not feeding our souls with truth and love.

We are physically sowing if we are taking really good care of our bodies by eating healthy foods, exercising, not smoking, limiting alcohol intake, and maintaining a healthy weight. We are mentally sowing if we are using our brains by reading, writing, playing brain stimulating games, continually educating ourselves, and planning and working toward our goals. We are spiritually sowing if we are prayerful, developing a relationship with our Creator, and having love and compassion for others, and the list goes on...

Perhaps you could write this quote in your journal and write what it means to you. "Debt is doing something today at the expense of tomorrow. Sowing is doing something today for the benefit of tomorrow."

Karen Wright, B.S. Pathway to Healthy Living
www.GrandparentingBlog.com
www.PathwaytoHealthyLiving.com
www.SeniorPro.com

What Really is Prayer?

By Karen Best Wright, B.S. Community Health Education
Pathway to Healthy Living

I have written quite a few things about nutrition on my Blog, which is good. However, I also want to express just a little thought on prayer. Sometimes when we pray we get into the habit of the same old, same old. Thank you Lord for this, and this, and that; And, please bless me and help me get through this trial, or bless this person or that person.

I suppose any type of praying is better than nothing. At least it helps us get in the habit of praying. However, true prayer consists of more than the "thank you's" and the "help me's." True prayer is a two way communication between a person and God. True prayer is a sincere desire that God's will be done and the we can become instruments for God's purpose when possible.

This has been on my mind a lot lately. I pray everyday (sometimes several times a day) that the Lord's spirit will flow through me to bring peace to my soul as well as to affect those around me in a positive manner. So when I hear myself sound grumpy, I tell myself, "Now that was not the Lord speaking through me." Praying that the Lord will work through me requires a ton of Faith.

Galatians 5:22-23

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

So as we pray for ourselves, family, friends, our country and it's leaders, and everything else we pray about, are we praying that this Spirit truly flows through us as well as wanting to be an instrument in sharing this spirit by how we live. If that was the goal of most Americans, we would live in a very different social environment.

Karen Wright, B.S. Community Health Education
www.GrandparentingBlog.com
www.RaisingYourGrandchildren.com
http://seniorpro.com

Developing a Spiritual Glow

By Karen Best Wright, B.S.
Pathway to Healthy Living

If you are observant and truly spiritually minded, you can learn to tell the difference between someone who has a spiritual glow and someone who does not. This glow comes from more than just being physically healthy or from positive thinking. Spirituality means different things to different people, so it can get a bit complicated. To me Spirituality has to do with my connection to God. My spirituality is very  personal to me, so I am not claiming to be a guru of any sorts, but I hope the things that I share in the Blog will be of benefit to my readers.

Some time back, I had a dream that had deep meaning to me and taught me something profound. Many times I learn wonderful lessons through my dreams. Perhaps this is the time, my mind and soul is most receptive to divine guidance. The dream started off horrible and was frightening. The "bad" guys had kidnapped my little girls and me and put us in a dark cave. They stood guarding us while we stared at them in fear. While we huddled in fright, I noticed that we were losing our color. We were becoming grey. I knew exactly what was happening to us and what we needed to do. I told the children, DO NOT look at the bad guys. Look only at me and focus on my love for you. So we did not look at the enemy. We focused only on each other and our love. I watched as our colors returned. We were no longer grey but glowed with brilliant colors. I just kept reminding the girls to stay focused.

I awoke from the dream and felt that I had just watched an intense SciFi movie. But then I realized the great spiritual lesson that I had learned. As we focus on fear and all of the negative around us, we lose our glow. As we focus on God's love and learn to feel it, we glow in brilliant color. This colorful glow may not be something that we actually see in our physical world, but I have no doubt that it is there and can be felt. It also helps to be around others who radiate that special energy.

On days when I am feeling down, grey, and not very glowing, (which happens more often than I would like) I focus and pray that I will absorb the "Light of Christ" and then I visualize and say to myself, "I radiate to all the world around me." This is more than mere positive thinking. This becomes a true spiritual experience.

Karen Wright, B.S. Community Health Education
www.GrandparentingBlog.com
www.RaisingYourGrandchildren.com
www.PathwaytoHealthyLiving.com
www.SeniorPro.com