Finding balance in your life is not always an easy task.  It's like juggling an apple, a firestick, a flower, and a razor.  Time waits for no man and you never know what awaits the next corner.  In this day and age, due to overwhelming world circumstances that hit us in the face daily with sensory overload, learning to find peace within, is essential. In the face of economic and financial ruin of the nation, many of us have been slapped in the face and are dealing with the same plights in our immediate everyday struggles of survival and existence in this society.  We are trying to just figure out how to get work to put gas in the car, to pay for the car, to get to a job we don’t have, to get food to put on the table, to have a table to put the food onto, to keep a roof over our head, and circling back to put shoes on our feet and clothes on our back to find the job that pays for the roof, and to get the education that leads to the job that doesn’t pay enough to pay for the car or the roof or the table or the shoes or the education that we need to get the job that leaves us no time to get the education to get a better job than the job we have just trying to survive.

          In this circle of chaos, one of my dearest friends has declared what he deems a 'mental health day' to be a part of their lifestyle.  This is defined as a day where when he or his wife, make a conscious decision to stop 'fighting the stress' and give in to a day of mental rest.  This means that they do nothing that puts pressure of productivity on themselves and they do not allow feelings of guilt enter their emotions for doing so.  It could be for example: staying home and cuddling in front of a movie, reading a book, going for a bike ride, exploring a local park with a 3 hour walk, sleeping, going to lunch with a friend, cooking,  whatever it is, to rest the brain of the extremely stressful situations of regular everyday life.  This is a day whereby one may wake up 'on the wrong side of the bed' and is in an immediate funk that one just can’t seem to shake off.  Symptoms are feelings of: Depression, Irritability, Grumpiness, being Moody, Angry, Temperamental, Impatient, Belligerant, Gloomy.  Instead of wallowing in these feelings, they have decided to make lemonade out of their lemons.  I like their adopted lifestyle incorporation. I’ve adopted these days too from time to time.  You see, we all need to find ways to cope with life’s anxieties. We must learn to not drown in stress and hold on to moments of clarity.  When our life force is in a positive vibration, we begin to sing in harmony with the universe and we gain fruitful wisdom.  We sync ourselves to that music by simply participating in activities that make us ‘feel good’.  A healthy habit to form is to allow yourself ‘mental health moments’.  If you are not able to give yourself a full day…give yourself these mental health moments.  They are bits of meditation.  Meditation is good for your soul, body, and mind.  It can help you get out of your funk.  These mediation bits will help you restore balance in your life.  Make room for them in your lifestyle.  Make an effort to share these moments with people you know… bring them into your meditative moments… positive energy grows exponentially quick.

          This has been demonstrated in the fact that they have been more productive lately than they have when they were focused on the stress.  They are physically healthier now too.  They’ve been tapping into their passions and making progress by applying their abilities.  They surround themselves with friends and family on a regular basis and communicate their feelings which helps motivate them to stay focused on their strengths. Although, they still face the chaos of life’s unexpected turns, they’ve learned to place their focus on the positive moments and they deal with struggles in smaller increments instead of by letting a big picture of doom crowd their life.  Remember the law of attraction is always at work!

TIP OF THE DAY: go put on a fun song and DANCE!!!!

DO IT………….. DANCE

When you are in harmony, the universe around you vibrates harmoniously…live in tandem!

Moderation, moderation, moderation…. Balance, balance, balance. 

It can be done. It will be done.
 

There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life.  The universal law of attraction is always in action.  If you dwell on negative you inevitably draw more negative into your life. 

Engaging in exercise means your body improves; it develops a better sensitivity when it comes to insulin, as well as allowing you to be more in control of your glycemic index. Exercise indeed has a good effect on a patient’s glucose level. This is good news for people who have type 2 diabetes. A lot of research indicates that patients of diabetes gain more control over their glycemic as soon as they get used to a regular exercise program. On the other hand, people who do not engage in exercise find no improvement on their glycemic control. Since exercise improves your insulin sensitivity, you will also need less medicines in order to control the levels of your blood sugar. There are, of course, people who become at risk for hypoglycemia due to the combined effects of their diabetes and engaging in high stress exercise. This happens during exercise and after it, too.

If you think about it though, people can also be at risk for hyperglycemia simply for having poor control over their diabetes. Therefore, the leaders in this field recommend engaging in moderate exercise for a minimum of 2 hours and 30 minutes, or 90 minutes if they want to do vigorous exercise. In light of this, the frequency of the routine is more important that the kinds of exercise one engages in. There are many researches wherein an abundance of benefits result from both weight training as well as aerobic activity. Of course, sometimes patients should not engage in vigorous exercise especially when they have cardiac conditions or they are more prone to developing injuries as a result. It is better if they start of slow and get used to a light intensity program instead.

About the Author – Su Rollins writes for http://www.hypoglycemicdiet.org A hypoglycemia diet plan, her personal hobby blog focused on tips to prevent and cure hypoglycemia using the right diet and nutrition.

But I didn’t actually feel as if my body had changed.  I still felt great up unless I did something of exertion. I went to my doctor and got a check-up.  I told him that I was getting short of breath when I did something that required exertion, for instance I noticed these symptoms greatly when going out dancing (also far less these days!) or running up my stairs at home or doing a quick paced yoga.  He asked how many flights I was running… I told him about 3-400, he told me there was nothing wrong with me and that I was fine…”Anyone who can run that many stairs doesn’t have a lung problem.” 

Boy! It didn’t take very long for my body to change.  Within a matter of a couple of months, my body has suffered the consequences of not getting enough cardio respiratory exercise.  I had to consider that my body did change a bit and that I needed to recondition.  I realized that I needed to do something, but I didn’t have the living space, nor the money to purchase a cardio machine.  So I started running up and down my stairs at home.  Albeit boring, when it’s cold out, something is better than nothing.  I do my own variations of kickboxing, butchered dancing, and combo cardio fitness routines.  Now, when I incorporate cardio into my workouts, I have no choice but to listen to my body when it works a little slower and gets tired a little faster and my heart doesn’t beat as fast as it used to when doing the workouts.  

I know I’ve gotten older, and by nature, the heart slows down, but I WANT TO BOOGIE on the dance floor like I used to.  The good ‘ole days had me dancing my ass off, nonstop for twelve hours, to my favorite djs. I haven’t yet worked up to my former levels, but I’m not giving up.  I know that when I jump off the wagon, I have to get back up.  The longer I stay off, the longer it takes for me to get back to where I left off. It doesn’t pay.  It pays to stay on.  A lot of times it’s tough to keep riding, but quite frankly, the consequences of jumping on and off are greater that just getting through those tough short moments and hanging on.  So my advice to you all, is to STAY ON THE WAGON, no matter what.  Hey- we all jump off, but GET BACK ON, no matter what.  Your body and mind will be so grateful, you WILL reap the benefits.  TRUST ME, I KNOW. And YOU KNOW it too.  IF YOU LISTEN TO YOUR BODY WHISPER, YOU’LL NEVER HAVE TO HEAR IT SCREAM.