Leaders need to be healthy to perform at their optimum and handle the stress of leading an organization or department. Achieving peak health is accessible to everyone who understands what it means and what to-do to achieve it.
In this video interview with naturopath Frances Michaelson we discuss health, and she clarifies what one needs to do to improve their current state and practice optimal health and prevention.
Frances has published two books, her first “Let’s Practise Health, Learn why YOUR GUT is the CEO of YOUR HEALTH” and her just released “DO YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO BE HEALTHY” are packed with great practical information. Both can be ordered through her website.
Life is sometimes a bumpy ride, full of ups and downs. This can cause a less than enjoyable experience. Yet at one point we all realize that life has a beginning and an end, and it is precious, it can end at any time.
Last week I had a bad thing happen to me that caused a lot of anxiety and stress. I could not stop thinking about the situation and what I did to cause it. I wanted to find someone else to blame but the responsibility kept coming back to me.
I knew from experience that my misery would pass with time, but I also knew that if I kept focusing on what I did my suffering would be prolonged. I also realized that time heals everything if you let it and I knew I had to let go of the negative thoughts that were causing me to spiral down.
I remembered a talk by Prem Rawat who reminded me of the reality that I am alive and the reason I am experiencing everything I do, both the good and the bad is because I am alive. Life is a gift and yet is so fragile.
I realized that wasting my time torturing myself was useless and that life is really the only reality and the fact that I can feel and experience is the real miracle.
I remembered that inside of my is my true home, a refuge where I can go to heal and be. This place has always been there. It is who we are, our true being. It is also the source of peace and contentment. What I need and what we all need is to remind ourselves of this and have an anchor to bring us back to the feeling, that place.
An anchor is a way to secure us when our ship drifts, often without us realizing. It’s easy to let things outside of us spark our ups and downs. But the up experiences or elations at one point become downs if we make ourselves dependant on what is occurring in our lives. Everything can seem fine and then we get into a spat with a spouse or close friend and things can spiral downwards.
We all have a quiet place of joy and contentment inside of us. That is at the core of who we are. But as we grow up, we are conditioned to focus on everything else and forget that the place inside is our true being. All we need to do is reconnect with it.
Sitting quietly in a chair and letting go of thoughts and just feeling your breath is a simple way to get connected with your inner self. Some use various forms of meditation to do this. I have a practice I do every morning whenever I can. I learned this practice from Prem Rawat many years ago and ever since it has been the anchor in my life to get back home. To make the journey and experience of life a smooth and wonderful journey takes a recognition of the simple reality of being alive and remembering that no matter what you are experiencing is only possible because you have the gift of life.
Becoming Free from Fear to Experience Richer Lives
Fear has a direct impact on our effectiveness in all the dimensions of our lives. It can cause us to go from being highly responsible and effective to being self-protective with only our own interests in mind.
That is in a way what motivated me to write this article after listening to a podcast from “How to Save a Planet” about how directors at a certain utility company in one of the states in the US were resistive to implementing cleaner energy because the change might threaten their retirement plans.
Durst teaches his approach to personal development using the levels of growth system he developed. The highest level of growth or functioning for a human being is the Responsible level. To achieve this level a person needs to become self-aware and grow beyond the other levels.
But at anytime someone who functions at the responsible level or the achievement level, which is quite common for entrepreneurs and very driven people, can drop into the self-protective level due to fear.
Of course, when our well being and safety is threatened, we all seek to protect ourselves and this is normal good fear. But when there are solutions to situations that are not instantly life threatening, there is no need to let fear affect our approach to decision making.
When someone functions most of the time at the responsible level, all the dimensions of life are in balance and healthy. We are most effective and productive at this level and yet according to Durst only a small portion of humanity functions most of the time at this level. Perhaps this is why there are so many problems in the world and so much misunderstanding and conflict between people.
For example, a person at the conformist level might have relationships with lots of drama, psychological games, withholds and resentments. Whereas someone at the responsible level would have relationship that show a capacity for intimacy, ability to communicate and the ability to lead and follow.
To transcend the levels and rise to the responsible level takes a conscious effort towards self-awareness and self-knowledge. It means work and often involves taking risks to face and let go of past conditioning. It is about being fully present but also having the ability to learn from the past and not repeat mistakes.
To learn more about the thinking, beliefs and behaviors associated with the dimensions of life at each level, I replicated a table from Dr. Dursts’ training. I also created a worksheet and instructions to help personalize this information. You can access this worksheet from the forms section of my website.
When we are in balance with ourselves, we experience well-being. This translates into better happiness, health, productivity, and performance. Balance equals a great sense of equilibrium.
I thought of this as I was looking up in the sky last night as I was walking my dog and I noticed the abundance of stars in the city sky. I realized that pollution had decreased because of less emissions due to people working from home over the past year because of COVID-19.
It seems that nature had a chance to heal itself somewhat and get more in balance. This seemed to be evident in the type of winter was had. This past winter was as it is supposed to be. Lots of snow, temperatures staying below freezing and a couple of short deep freeze periods.
And then yesterday was the first day of spring and suddenly nature responded and provided a beautiful warm day showing off the glory of the change of seasons. This is how it should be and as I remembered it as a child living in the same city.
Yet we as human beings have thrown nature for a loop by all our unconscious activity and created an imbalance that has devastating effects on the planet and us.
We have done the same thing with ourselves. By focusing on everything outside of us, we have neglected knowing and understanding ourselves and have created imbalances.
This at times causes terrible stress, anxiety, and health issues. We need to learn from nature and find our balance. This means knowing ourselves.
We think of ourselves often as a single brained human being and everything seems to occur in our head brain. But we have three brains or centers of intelligence. These are the intellectual, emotional, and physical/instinctive centers of intelligence.
When these three centers are working in balance, we feel good about ourselves and life. We are effective at doing what a human being is meant to do. And we do it in harmony with each other, the planet and nature.
This all sounds simple, but it seems we have made a mess of it when you look at history and present-day life in many parts of the world. I cannot say I wake up every day and read the morning news and learn about a human race and world in good balance. But that is what we must strive for if we hope to solve the pressing problems that we face individually and as a human race.
I hope to be able to contribute as best I can with my trainings and publications. To that extent I will soon be publishing a new online training program on self-knowledge called Types of People Ways to Success. To be informed when this training will be released, I suggest subscribing to my newsletter. In the meantime, keep working on finding your inner balance. You know it when it happens and feel it when it does not.
