As we leave 2020 behind and ring in the new year today, I want to wish you a very Happy New Year! It is definitely an understatement when I say that 2020 was wrought with tremendous challenges, one right after the other. Sadly, these challenges have taken a toll on us, the human race, in many ways, and in a sense, 2020 gave us “clear vision” on the things we need to put more focus on. Today, I offer a theme to focus on for this fresh new year: Resilience! My desire for you this year is to maximize your resilience so that you can take whatever comes your way in stride, especially viruses! Let’s break resilience down into three aspects: mind, body, and spirit.
Resilience in Mind
Largely due to the pandemic, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the suicide rate, as this study shows. There are countless factors that may be attributed to this rise, such as financial worry, fear of getting infected, fear of vulnerable family and/or friends getting infected, loneliness, etc. One thing that can be overlooked is gut health. As odd as it may seem on the surface, mind health is tied to the health of our gut. For example, this article describes how gut health affected trichotillomania, which is hair pulling. In short, the man mentioned in the article began taking care of his gut, and he experienced a major breakthrough.
Let’s make one thing clear though. If this pandemic, or any situation or circumstance in your life, has significantly impacted your mind health to the point of suicidal thoughts, or if you know of someone that has been affected in that way, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Otherwise, I encourage you to take care of your gut. That could mean taking probiotics, repairing your gut lining, alleviating bacterial overgrowths, etc. I can help you figure out how to go about doing that. This leads me to the next aspect: your body.
Resilience in Body
There are many factors that affect the resilience of our bodies. In my coaching sessions, I take into consideration seven essential aspects: whole food, sleep, stress perception, safe movement, fun, addressing past traumas, and spirituality. I briefly discuss these aspects on my website here. For now, I’d like to address three related topics: crap foods, toxins, and stress.
Crap foods… they are everywhere! The more steps a food takes to process from the ground to its final form, the more crappy it gets. This includes those awesome tasting cheese puffs, sheets of rolled up “fruit”, ready made lunch packets, and so on. The fact of the matter is, these types of foods may be taste great and satiate your hunger, but when the gut takes its first look at the material entering the stomach, it has to make a decision about what it triggers the immune system to do, whether it recognizes it as actual food or a potential foreign invader. This goes the same for toxins, which can be very insidious.
Toxins, such as mold, heavy metals, and pesticides, can be absorbed into the body in various ways. One of those ways is through the skin. If these toxins get absorbed through the skin, it bypasses the gut, which is where a majority of our immune system resides. This can set the body up for undetected physiological stress, which will eventually manifest in some form of illness or dis-ease.
Stress is a pretty broad topic because it encompasses various categories of stress including emotional, physical, and even spiritual. When our bodies are under stress, whatever category or combination thereof, this stress causes the body to be in survival mode. The body has detected in some way that it is in danger, whether we are aware of it or not, so it shuts down certain body functions while it ramps up others to ensure its survival. After a certain period of time, depending on the person, this stress will manifest in some form of illness or dis-ease. We are not created to be in this mode for the long-term. We cannot thrive in this mode, and that is a deterrent to resilience.
I would love to help you with these things in order to maximize your resilience!
Resilience in Spirit
Our spirituality is a huge component to our resilience because the body cannot survive without the spirit. Our spirit is integral to our life! Just like in the mind and body, if our spirit is not being nourished, that deters our ability to be resilient against negative impacts. An example of how our spirit can be attacked is when we harbor unforgiveness. One of my favorite resources to address this particular issue is the book, Be Healed, by Dr. Bob Schuchts. He has seen people miraculously healed through the power of forgiveness. It’s amazing to see how much our spirit can affect the rest of ourselves, and enhancing our spirituality is another way of maximizing our resilience.
Moving forward in 2021
So this is the resilience framework moving ahead into 2021. I encourage you to reflect on this framework, and then put action to this framework, whether it’s making your own changes to your lifestyle, or teaming up with me to develop a way forward that is unique to your individual needs and desires. If you’d like to team up with me, you can find the link to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation on my homepage at Health Super Naturally.
This year, I’m looking forward to enhancing resilience in anyone and everyone I meet, whether in-person or online. I hope to see you with exuberant resilience. Have you included resilience into your 2021 planning? If so, please let me know! Take care, and Happy New Year!