The PHYSICAL realm

Roughly one third of the world or more is dying WITHOUT clean water....

Roughly one third of the world or more is dying WITHOUT any bread....

And roughly one third of the world is dying FROM EATING TOO MUCH!

My guess is, since you have the technology to read this, you are probably living somewhere where overindulgence is the rule.

Our bodies are our corporal vessels which house the mind and soul. To look after our vessel is to look after the physical realm of life.

The key features of good maintenance: Rest, Diet, and Exercise.

Rest: Everyone has different needs but typically eight hours or so of continuous sleep per 24 hour day is a good place to start. Some need more. Others need less. Start with eight and go from there. Try keeping a diary of your sleep, energy, and mood levels. Doing this will help you find the proper amount of rest that you need in order to feel your best and function your best. And be aware that added stress can change your body's rest requirements...so check in with yourself to see how you're doing, particularly during a crisis.

Diet: The food we eat is the fuel for the body's engine. Just like your car, you need to add unleaded fuel. Put in crap and your engine will seize.

Crap in, crap out. It's that simple.

Spend what you can to buy the best food you can -- there are few things more important in life!

Exercise: We live in a very overweight continent. We don't typically move enough. Why? Because we are too tired. Our energy management is off.

So what do we tend to do instead? Well since there is that 159 inch idiot thin screen box in front of our lazyboy...I guess we should turn it on. After all we have to have something to look at while we drink beer and eat that 26 pound bag of polysaturated butter grease.

Reality shoes are so intense! Time for another beer.

STOP THE INSANITY.

So you weigh too much. Remember. Your stomach is a sac. If it is used to being filled beyond normal capacity, it has stretched. And the more the stomach stretches, the more food has to be devoured in order to feel satisfied. The more calories consumed, the more weight we put on, typically.

The key is to gradually make changes. Slowly, meal by meal, eat less. Purposefully take conscious control of your eating. Do NOT eat in front of the idiot box. Similarly, do not get sucked in by the idiot box. Slowly make plans to exercise. Plan to walk around the block with a friend. Then follow through with your plan! Execute it! Be persistent...and it WILL pay off. Guaranteed!

For weight is a rather simple thing: some combination of eating fewer calories and exercising more will undoubtedly lead to a more healthy weight and more toned body.

The time is NOW.

The time is NOW.

N.

O.

W.

NOW!

(Which letter didn't you get?)

The three realms of life

People writing about health and happiness often speak of "balance." But what exactly is it that we are trying to balance?

Typically, we readers typically are told about balancing our diet or balancing our budget. Let's take a step back from these specifics for a moment and look at the bigger picture.

A life lived well occurs when there is balance in and between each of these three realms: the physical, the emotional and the spiritual.

Over the next few days we are going to discuss each of these (as well as the interrelationship of these) realms of life. We'll start with the PHYSICAL realm -- in part because this is the area in which we can most easily relate. This is the tangible realm.

As an aside, I think part of our problem these days is that life is SO busy that most people have a hard enough time trying to balance just the day-to-day things in the physical world. Then, when and if there is energy, time, or conscious thinking of it, we may delve into one of the other realms.

Is that not accurate? When's the last time you asked someone about the topic and they said, "Oh, no! I'm not busy at all!" It just doesn't happen!

So another thing we'll need to talk about soon is PRIORITY SETTING and more about TIME MANAGEMENT.

In the meantime, have a happy moment right now...

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What are blogs?

Blogs are different things for different people.

For me, this Happy Blogger blogspot is a place to express some of the tidbits that I hope will stretch someone else's mind as well as give me the opportunity to reflect and stretch my own.

As of the last decade, the plasticity of the human brain has become well documented. Unfortunately the stubbornness of the human spirit is doubly well documented -- over millennia.

Human attitudes - and therefore human behaviour - are what they are. The reductionist argument can be brought in to bring everything down to sodium and potassium channels between cells. But the fact remains: if we want to change something about our selves or about the world in which we live, we have to start WITH OURSELVES.

The general rule of thumb in fixing a psychotherapeutic problem is: the longer the problem has been in place, the longer it is going to take to make changes. (And if you like the wiring description of the brain as illustrated in the documentary "What the Bleep do we know," then it is the neuronal contacts that have to be changed -- and this takes repetition over time. Remember: neurons that fire together, wire together.)

This is true on a societal level, too. Unfortunately, greed and selfishness rule the better part of many peoples' lives. How many times have we heard the saying, "I've got my rights!"

Talk about PLATITUDES!

Collectively and individually, what are our responsibilities?

Guns don't kill people. Bullets kill people.

That's just the truth. It isn't the GUN that kills people, it's the flippin' BULLET! So I would suggest letting everyone who wants to carry a gun, carry a gun.

In fact, maybe WalMart can go ahead and start stocking bazookas. And as long as nobody can buy bazooka bullets anywhere then everyone is safe.

Many of my American compadres are shaking their heads in disbelief about this position. Cuz the truth is, many Americans feel strongly about their right to bear arms.

Truth be known, this is the one, singularly defining difference between Americans and Canadians: Americans want to carry a gun and Canadians want to carry a hockey stick.

Truth is, since the advent of grocery stores like Kroger or Loblaws, we don't need weapons to feed ourselves.

Let's smile, laugh and giggle more. It's time to evolve past the knuckle-walking stage and learn to be happy.

So what is stress, anyways?

Stress is a bit like a weed.

What have I been smokin', you ask? Stress is like a weed?

Before you send me off to the rehab center, allow me to explain. Weeds, when you get down to it, are plants that are growing where they don't belong. So a corn plant in the middle of a bean field is a weed. (But a corn plant in a corn field is obviously not a problem.)

So it can be with stress - especially with the so-called 'good' stress. Consider a promotion or getting married. These are typically considered 'happy' events yet they are often stressful. Any situation or precipitant that weighs on the body, the mind or the spirit is a form of stress.

Even seemingly small stressors over time can cause big problems. Think of the small leak in the roof. No big deal at first. But then the little leak grows and suddenly there is a big problem as more and more ceiling damage is uncovered.

Or consider the person who is asked to hold an apple in his palm with the arm maximally extended outward. No big deal, right? NO? Try it! Sure the first few seconds is fine. Maybe even the first few minutes. But after thirty minutes or so, you'd need to call an ambulance for that unlucky guy! The moral of the story is: even small stressors can give you a lot of trouble if you have to carry them over a long period of time.

Be careful with stress. It is a problem that hides itself silently in the form of hypertension and other 'silent' killers.

Define your stress really well. What things make you upset? What things make you angry? What things make you sad? frustrated? What things make you feel powerless or helpless? Knowing what stresses you is the first step in doing something about it!

Good luck! If you need any help, please email me via rudy@happysolutions.net

Winning the battle against STRESS

While taking a nice, relaxing, warm bath generally helps people feel better, the reality is that by the time we get patted dry, much of the stress can feel like it is right back on our shoulders.

So what are we to do?

This was exactly the question emailed to me today via THE CORE OF HAPPINESS fan page on Facebook. (Have a question? Don't hesitate to email me at: rudy@happysolutions.net.)

Stress is everywhere. Tomorrow we'll go into more details about exactly what stress is. Briefly, there are LOTS of types of stress. There's good stress and bad stress. There's financial stress, work stress, peer pressure, marital strain, parental and familial stress...truly, the list goes on and on....There's stress from getting a promotion, from getting married, having children....

Start by taking a piece of paper and literally writing out - in point form - every individual thing that causes you stress. In over 20 years of doing this exercise with people I can tell you that responses have ranged between 10 lines and nine double-sided pages!

From this list, divide each and every point into one of two categories: 1) Things UNDER my control and 2) things NOT UNDER my control.

This is an INCREDIBLY important step! If something is UNDER your control... drumroll please ... then you can control it! Woohoo! YES! You can DO something about it!

And if something is NOT UNDER your control then you can't do a darned thing about it -- so practice putting it out of your mind! (If it is out of your control, then you have to learn to cope with it. We'll deal with COPING SKILLS later this week.)

Beside each point UNDER your control, write some point form notes about what you can do to solve the issue. Then practice putting all your attention on these items.

Put a date on your note paper and file it safely. Each month, do the same exercise. You'll undoubtedly find you feel much better almost instantly!

If you have difficulty thinking about practical things you can do to help you take control of stressors, approach the people closest to you and ask for some assistance. Together I'm sure you can brainstorm some great ideas!

As always, feel free to get in touch with me if you think I may be able to help in any way. You can reach me via rudy@happysolutions.net.

Thanks for the great question! Please keep them coming!