by Cynthia Bischoff | Oct 1, 2011 | Heartliving
The ancients were very in tune with their bodies and what foods would promote health. They were masters at selecting specific foods that would nurture their bodies and prevent disease.
Research has subsequently shown that your longevity is based one-quarter on your genetics and three-quarters on your behavior and lifestyle choices.
So, then, what essential foods might aid you in promoting healthy living? Here are just a few:
♥ Almonds: Considered the #1 healthy food choice; high in protein and essential vitamins and minerals.
♥ Apple: Cleans teeth and gums; lowers cholesterol and detoxifies the body.
♥ Cabbage: An excellent anti-inflammatory that helps disinfect the colon, reduce the pain of headaches and rheumatic disorders.
♥ Celery: Helps reduce high blood pressure and purifies the blood.
♥ Figs: Contain a powerful healing agent that soothes mucous membranes and contains a bactericide, an anticancer ingredient.
♥ Flaxseed: A tonic for kidneys that encourages healing; flaxseed tea is said to help bronchitis.
♥ Garlic: Cleanses the blood and helps to create and maintain healthy bacteria population; boosts the immune system; tones the heart and circulatory system.
♥ Honey: Soothes inflammation; helps retain calcium in the body; mix with vinegar to relieve arthritis.
♥ Olives: An antioxidant; olive oil can lower cholesterol levels and is said to slow down the aging process.
♥ Onions: Cause the body to release toxins; increases blood circulation; works as an antibiotic and draws out infection.
♥ Vinegar: Helps more efficient use of calcium in the body and encourages strong bones, hair, and nails.
♥ Walnuts: Strengthens the gums and acts as an anti-inflammatory; encourages circulation; help keep the heart healthy.
Incorporate these foods into your next shopping list. Research also shows that if you perform a good habit for three years, the effect on your body is as if you’ve done it your whole life!
by Cynthia Bischoff | Sep 28, 2011 | Heartliving
Your thoughts create your reality. One of the major problems with unconscious fear is that the brain can be in a state of constant anticipation of negative things. We then focus our attention to look for ways to validate these fears. From an evolutionary perspective, this act was meant to protect us. Fear is the gatekeeper of our comfort zone.
In modern times, these primitive fears keep us bound and are no longer helpful. What is helpful is to begin to think and respond differently, to hold a positive outlook.
The Benefits of Optimism:
♥ Research shows that optimism leads people to better overall health.
♥ Optimistic people are generally “luckier,” more successful, and regarded as more appealing.
♥ Based on the Law of Attraction (Like attracts like), by being optimistic, you will draw positive outcomes to yourself.
♥ Studies have shown that imagining positive outcomes releases fear.
♥ The more optimistic you are, the more you create a pattern of response that perpetuates your positive feelings.
Here are some steps to bringing about more positive thinking:
by Cynthia Bischoff | Sep 7, 2011 | Heartliving
The word “synchronicity” was coined by Carl Jung, famous Swiss Psychiatrist, to mean “meaningful coincidence.” For example, you need a service and two people mention the same provider, unsolicited, in one day. You’ve been thinking about calling a person and you suddenly see him or her while running errands.
Our lives have a narrative structure, and synchronistic events often reflect turning points and directional arrows in our narrative. They can also indicate that we are in a state of “flow,” and synchronicities have been referred to as the “angel’s way” of speaking with us.
When we are in a challenging place in our lives and without actively seeking support, we may find that help arrives in the form of an accidental sequence of events which occurs exactly as we need in order to assist us in moving through a circumstance or event.
People often report the following synchronicities:
♥ It is common for telephones, addresses, and wrong numbers to crop up in many stories so that individuals may connect.
♥ Synchronistic events are almost always present for two people to meet the first time or an important subsequent time.
♥ It is considered synchronistic when seeming bad luck turns out to have a positive significance.
♥ Sometimes something will delay you, and the delay leads to a more fortunate outcome.
♥ The more obstinate we become about the way we think something “should” be, the more likely synchronicities will come to speak to us.
♥ The kind of child we have is always synchronistic–sometimes making parents confront their own shadows, develop their own strengths, and so on.
Most important, if we pay attention to the meaningful coincidences in our lives, we can question their significance. Are they directional messages, are they action-oriented, are they symbolic?
When an extraordinary, meaningful occurrence has significance for us, we should question how we might let it guide or change our story.
by Cynthia Bischoff | Aug 31, 2011 | Heartliving
Self-esteem can be seen as the combination of how you perceive yourself and the value you place on the self you see. You have core self-esteem which is the value you place on yourself at your core, and situational self-esteem which is the value you place on yourself determined by situational factors (work situation at the moment, weight at the moment).
Certain researchers say that core self-esteem is in place by age 4 and is determined by how your caregivers responded to you. No matter what, it is exciting to know that your core self-esteem can be improved. How?
♥ If you suffer from any thoughts of being a victim, expand your awareness so that you are able to decide that victim consciousness or self-blame is simply toxic now. Let it go.
♥ Make a nonjudgmental inventory of your talents and strengths and set goals for accepting them and continuing to improve yourself.
♥ Stop neglecting your own needs to take care of others. Be compassionate and loving, but not disrespecting of yourself.
♥ Do your very best at any given moment (it will vary depending upon what your circumstances are).
♥ Remember that positive self-esteem is not created by “all or none” thinking. Allow yourself to risk-take and realize that even seeming “mistakes” can help you grow!
♥ Let go of the cultural standards of beauty and FEEL your beauty from WITHIN. Offer that as a gift to yourself and everyone around you. People are drawn to others who feel good about themselves.
♥ Learn to speak about yourself with directness and honesty. Express your integrity through the harmony of what you say and do.
♥ Celebrate your successes!
by Cynthia Bischoff | Aug 27, 2011 | Heartliving
What is forgiveness? Why does one forgive? For those of us who have been pained by another person, particularly a person of a past relationship, to forgive may feel impossible. It may feel that the act of forgiveness would be a way of saying that the painful event or relationship did not occur. It is important to understand that forgiving does not erase the reality of the incidents that occurred.
In contrast, the act of forgiving simply opens up a space in the forgiver from which to live more fully.
The beauty of forgiving or being forgiven is that we are the ones who heal as we forgive. In the words of Oscar Wilde, “. . . it is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
When we do not forgive a person, we are financing the ill feelings or the lack of forgiveness with our energy. Lack of forgiveness then can lead to illness in the person who is unable to forgive. It becomes like a sword with a curved blade. Or in some cases, you may choose not to forgive because there is a feeling of power and control. This form of power is NOT true power. There is no power in holding a victim stance.
How do you forgive?
At some point you have to retell the story in a more empowered way and be willing to let it go. Instead of holding yourself to be a victim, you must be able to witness a “bigger picture” than what you believe occurred. What did you learn from this experience? How did this event contribute to your overall growth and development?
Forgiving is about letting go of the past and deciding that you are now the hero and author of your life story. Forgiving is about comfort, kindness, and gentleness to your own soul. Above all, it about liberating yourself!
The ancients were very in tune with their bodies and what foods would promote health. They were masters at selecting specific foods that would nurture their bodies and prevent disease.
