What if I told you that you have a certain finite amount of life energy and that the success you have in managing it either results in long-term peak performance or the greater risk of illness and an earlier death?
Your active response to this truth will either help to set you free or produce undesirable consequences.
What is the primary secret that if acted upon will set you free to build and sustain health over your lifetime? It is the creation and multiplication of positive momentum. Momentum in this case is the force of your life in motion in a given direction.
Momentum is critically related to energy utilization since it requires large inputs of extra energy to create or change momentum. For example, it takes considerably more energy in the form of fuel, manpower and time to turn a big cruise ship traveling at a high rate of speed toward the opposite direction versus continuing along the same path.
Consider a basketball game. One team will often get on a roll. The other team can become tentative, lose their flow and very quickly get way behind. The coach will often call a timeout to refocus the players and shift them back to their game plan. Soon the announcers are discussing the change in momentum and the trailing team now regains the lead.
However, since it requires a large input of focused energy to move momentum in the other direction, sometimes late in the game when the players are tired it becomes too difficult and therefore too late to turn the tide and mount the comeback.
The same is true relative to your health status. Adelle Davis said that “every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.” Your thoughts and actions are daily contributing toward momentum in either a positive or negative direction.
What daily choices have you been making over the last months to years that have created momentum toward greater health (wholeness) or toward disease (loss of system integrity)?
Momentum carries you like a river. This can be incredibly advantageous if moving in the right direction. Which way and how fast is your river of health or disease choices carrying you? Hopefully you are not rapidly approaching Niagara Falls looking in futility for something to grab onto in a last ditch crisis effort to survive. If the injuries and stresses of life, your responses to them, and your lifestyle choices have created momentum in the vitality — depleting direction, then you must make a change before it is too late. It can become too late you know.
Cancer is an unfortunate example. It doesn’t develop until cumulative life distress has interfered with vital function for so long that the immune system is incapable of providing sufficient protection. Typically, at this point, even if radical lifestyle changes are made, there is insufficient life energy available to shift momentum and bring enough healing to restore vitality and save the life.
We typically do not become aware of our accumulated negative momentum until we experience significant and /or prolonged pain or an illness. The common response at this point (frequently due to lack of awareness) is not to make any significant changes that add life or promote healing. Instead, we only treat the symptom manifestations of pain, sickness and declining health.
The superior choice is to summon radical amounts of energy and focus to take multiple daily life-restoring actions to create self-healing momentum. This is imperative even when you choose to treat the symptoms or illness as well. Several strategies are mentioned in Healing Hints below :
What if you have already established momentum in a health- enhancing direction through positive lifestyle choices and healing interventions? Your river is already carrying you toward your full potential of body, mind and spirit well being.
You have two basic choices here as well. You can stop investing during these times of wellness and coast. However, as a result of ongoing stresses and injuries, you will be prone to drift and lose your momentum. It will then require more energy to work your way back to the previous level of vitality.
The other option is to continue to invest in your health and build more momentum while you are riding the crest of the wave. The positive motion over time then begins to multiply exponentially rather than add incrementally. It is like the difference between simple and compound interest.
It takes so much more energy to start rather than continue in a positive direction. There is an incredible long-term cost savings as well. It is like the difference in fuel costs and car wear between stop/start city driving versus highway travel. It becomes even better when shifting over to cruise control. This is akin to making routine, automatic health investments.
It takes much less vital energy to run an existing business rather than start one and a high percentage of an airplane’s energy expenditure occurs during take-off. Don’t wait until your health fuel tank is critically low to take off on your journey toward wellness. It may cost more than all of your reserves. Also, don’t stop regularly refueling if your desire is to run well the marathon race of life with abundant joy and a diminished risk of damage.
Healing Hints on “Life Energy and Momentum”
These are just a few of the daily vitality momentum builders that, if routinely practiced, will yield a huge life energy bank account. There are many others that we will discuss, as well as revisiting these in more detail in future issues.
Try walking, running, swimming, bicycling, treadmill or some other aerobic activity.Any combination of these should be incorporated into your daily routine at least 3-4 days/week (preferably more). These capacity-expanding sessions should be easy at first and then gradually be increased in intensity. 20 to 30 minutes initially becoming 40-60 minutes as fitness increases.
Dietary fine-tuning is another important element.It is important to consume abundant servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day (organic when possible). Minimize processed foods (including white sugar and white flour). Avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Avoid all foods with MSG and Aspartame (NutraSweet), as they are central nervous system excitotoxins.
Drink more pure water and less coffee, sodas, and other sugar and caffeine-rich fluids.Reduce alcohol consumption. Newer research is touting the benefits of all types of tea, black and green. Beware of those with excessive sugar. Making your own at home with pure water is best.
DO NOT SMOKE The cost here is incredible. It is the single greatest cause of preventable death!
Sleep 7-8 hours per night with an occasional nap as often as possible. More sleep is necessary going into and emerging from excessively stressful times.
Acknowledge and release distressing emotions. Receive their message, take any necessary actions and then let go and move forward.