REIMAGINING LIFE TODAY
Connect:
  • Home
  • Vision
  • About
  • Multimedia Center
    • Photo Gallery
    • Videos
  • RLT Calendar
  • Resource Center
    • RLT Websites
    • Friends and Partners
    • Groups and Organizations
    • Helpful Resources
  • RLT Blog
  • Contact

5 Keys To Total Health and Wellness

10/29/2015

 
Picture
​Although our medical technology is much greater than in the past, it still can't solve the basic problems we can cause by an unhealthy lifestyle. If we make a conscious effort to really take care of ourselves through proactive and preventative measures, then our need for 'medical fixes' will be far more reduced.  

Living an abundant, healthy life is a daily choice. Here are five foundational keys to help you start your journey into total health and wellness. Choosing to be proactive with your health on all levels not only helps to avoid illness and disease, but it also helps to maintain ideal body mass as well as mental and emotional balance. 

1. Get Into Physical Training (Focused Exercise)

Throughout history, we performed labor using our physical bodies in the course of a normal work day. However, in our current society, most work doesn't require physical exertion because many things have now been replaced with advanced mechanics and/or technology. When we think about it, getting into our cars, driving to an office and sitting at a desk all day doesn't allow our physical bodies to operate as they were intended to. This type of inactivity can create an environment for ailments and disease to develop. Taking regular walks can be a good place to start in caring for your physical body.  

2. Get Enough Rest (Sleep)

This may be a no brainer, but in our fast-paced culture, too many people are sleep deprived due to stress. With the pressures of school, work, finances and relationships, excess stress can create multiple issues for the body leading to disease. I remember when I was in college, there were times that I would be up until the early morning hours finishing projects which not only took a toll on my physical body but on my emotional health as well. Medical professionals agree that a variety of problems related to long-term stress can cause depression, anxiety, obesity and other eating disorders. Getting proper sleep can help alleviate many potential ailments and diseases.

3. Eat Right (Evaluate or Reevaluate Your Diet If Needed)

This is also a simple concept, but we often don't pay attention to our body and its need for proper food. If we just eat anything out of habit or eat due to stress, then we don't digest our food properly. As a result, our bodies can become acidic and susceptible to disease. A healthy appetite is good but a proper diet keeps the body's pH levels, hormone and sugar levels balanced. Most of my life, I've had problems with hormone and blood sugar balance. My carbohydrate cravings were often 'off the charts' so-to-speak but I eventually found a great diet that's worked for me--one that incorporates the right amounts of protein, low glycemic carbohydrates and non-saturated fats.

4. Feed Your Spirit

I've come to understand that as humans, we are what's called a triune being. What this means is that as a human we are a three-part being that consists of a spirit, a soul and a physical body. To experience total health and wellness, we need to take care of each part of our being. All parts of us are integrated. Therefore, stress and anxiety take their toll not only on the physical body but also on our soul (where our emotions are located) and our physical body. Prayer and meditation can help fortify and strengthen your spirit which in turn strengthens the soul and the physical body.

5. Prioritize Your Life

Most of us believe we're too busy to get everything done in our lives. We run around like a 'chicken with our heads cut off' and wonder why we're so stressed and exhausted. The truth is, much of what we do is not as important as we make it out to be. Prioritizing the activities in our lives help us in two distinct ways: 1). It allows us to focus and complete our activities with efficiency and excellence; and 2). It relieves a great amount of unnecessary stress. That is, by prioritizing our lives, we don't feel overwhelmed. Therefore, we experience more peace and freedom in every area of our lives.

These foundational keys may require you to assess your current lifestyle. If you're not at peace with where you are in your life right now, then ask yourself if you're willing to make changes. If so, you'll discover that your choices will be well worth the results. 






Everyday Is a Precious Gift

10/19/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
In March of 1991, I made a decision that forever changed my life. For years, I suffered from debilitating depression and I could no longer stand the pain. Therefore, one Friday morning, I got up with the plan to finally end my life. That afternoon, I abruptly left my job and drove out to a canyon not too far from my family's residence. When I found the 'ideal' spot, I drove my pickup over the embankment, went down about 50 ft. and hit a tree. My vehicle acquired damage beyond the worth of repair but I was physically intact. However, it would only be a small first step on my road to spiritual renewal and emotional healing.

When we really think about it, everyday of our life is a precious gift. There are those who have and will wake up one day not knowing that day will be their last due to accidents, a sudden heart attack or some other unexpected event. While watching the doubles luge competition during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, I reflected on the tragic, fatal accident of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the 21-year old Georgian luge slider who hit a metal beam after flying off the course during a practice run for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). 

The truth is, not one of us is ever guaranteed tomorrow. It's only because of the Lord, "we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28). Do you often think about how you've spent your time? I know I have. All we have is today. Yesterday is gone and we can't retrieve the time that has now passed. May we see each new day as a gift that should never be taken for granted. Starting now, how do you want to redeem the time you've been given and how do you want to use it?
​

         "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know that will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:13-15)

0 Comments

Finding Our Personal Value: Life Lessons from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

10/19/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Recently, when I finished a project about being transformed by being yourself, little did I know how timely this message would be for addressing one of our most common temptations and ailments--comparing ourselves to others. It's like drinking a cup of arsenic and not expecting to die. It literally poisons the heart and soul because it's rooted in envy (covetousness). 2 Corinthians 10:12 advises us that when we compare ourselves by ourselves and compare ourselves with ourselves, we are not wise. What happens is we actually devalue ourselves by denying the unique person that God made in His own image.

It's interesting. Over the last few of weeks, I happened to talk with a couple of friends and they both shared with me their disappointment on how many people pretend to be someone they're not--that is, they're fake and pretentious. This further confirmed what I've known for quite some time. Since many don't really know who they are in God, they can't appreciate who God made them to be. Therefore, they either try to be someone they're not or they try to be like someone else they admire or think is 'better' than them. 

One of my favorite series is the beloved creation of C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia. While watching The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, it hit me how dangerous it is to compare ourselves with others or to wish we were someone other than ourselves. When Lucy succumbed to the temptation of wanting to be like her sister Susan, she's was shown through a vision what life would be like if she were Susan. It wasn't what she expected and Aslan (who represents Jesus) revealed to her what she actually did by wishing she were her sister, Susan. Aslan showed Lucy that she wished she didn't exist. As a result, everyone's life connected to her would be completely altered. 

Aslan helped Lucy to see the truth of her own precious value. Here's their conversation:

Lucy: "I just wanted to be beautiful like Susan."

Aslan: "You wished yourself away and with it, much more. Your brothers and sister wouldn't know Narnia without you, Lucy. You discovered it first, remember?

Lucy: "I'm so sorry."

Aslan: "You doubt your value. Don't run away from who you are."

When we try to be someone we're not or wish we were someone else, we not only devalue ourselves but we actually rob others of their purpose and the blessings God intends to bestow on them. Everyone is cheated because we're not living the life that God originally intended for us to live. This is a major tactic the enemy uses to kill, steal and destroy us. Fortunately, if we come to know our true identity and purpose in Jesus, then we won't want to run away from who we are. We can rejoice in the unique person God made. 

How do you feel about yourself today? Do you wish you were someone other than yourself? If so, ask Jesus to transform your heart so you will come to love the person He made--the real you. You were made for His pleasure and He loves you completely and unconditionally. Don't be afraid but experience the joy of knowing that God made you a unique individual with a specific purpose that only you can fulfill in His grand design. He loves you and has come to set you free.

0 Comments

True Prosperity: Is It Really Just All About Money?

10/19/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
We've all heard the saying, "money is the root of all evil" but this is so far from the truth. Actually, it's "the LOVE of money" which is the "root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10): not just the continual desire for more money but the hoarding of it as well. Both carry the foundation of the insidious sin of covetousness and ultimately, the sin of idolatry.

Back in 2013, when I was moving out of my home, I had the chance to reflect on what my immediate future was going to hold. Even as I pen this blog post, my home as I knew it no longer exists, I sold all of my furniture, gave away a good portion of my belongings, I'm in the process of building an online business and I'm literally just taking one day at a time. Honestly, for the first time in my life, I feel I don't have any control at all and frankly, it's scary as well as maddening. But, I believe this is the point: The Lord is drawing me to a greater dependence on Him and truly, it's the best place I could ever be even though it's uncomfortable. I'm seeing I was created to completely depend on the Lord in every way and for everything. I'm also starting to understand more and more when He says to, "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3: 5-6)

God owns everything including me. I'm not my own, I was bought at a heavy price. So, what does this have to do with prosperity? Everything...because true prosperity is really about transformation--first, the transformation from the kingdom of darkness and the continual renewing of the mind. If God owns everything, that means I own nothing. I am only called to surrender to Him as His vessel, His steward and manager. This is what it means to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)

True prosperity has to do with the heart. As the heart is surrendered to the Lord and the mind renewed, the curses of all the aspects of debt, poverty and lack are broken and destroyed:
 
                                           "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
                                             Blessed are the meek (the humble) for they will inherit the earth.
                                             Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God." (Matthew 5:3,5,8)


                                             "...Prosperity is the reward of the righteousness." (Proverbs 13:21)

                                             "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just 
                                              as your soul prospers."
 (3 John 2, NKJV)

Think about what prosperity really means and the condition of the heart. The Lord is most concerned about our hearts for where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    ARTS AND MEDIA
    BUSINESS & FINANCE
    CULTURE & WORLDVIEWS
    HEALTH & WELLNESS
    LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
    PERSONAL & RELATIONAL GROWTH

    Archives

    September 2018
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015

    RLT PARTNERS
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.