Affirmation Challenge Day 13 [Health]: ‘I’m growing healthier and stronger every day.’

1. 

   Vivian 11 years ago

   I had seriously back problem in this March, which I can’t move smoothly at the beginning,
   then I need to take rest on the bed. Even brushing my teeth and wearing shoes
   are taking lots of efforts, seems hard task for me.

   This gave me a hit on how I take care myself and take care my work, especially the
   impact on my family. When I was sick, my husband took all housework, because I
   only can lay on the bed; my mom took care of my son, because I can’t take care
   of him.

   I don’t want to have such experience anymore in my life. To achieve this, I should take
   care myself.

   Health is the foundation for everything. Without health, I won’t be able to make all
   my dreams come true. I am grateful for the sick, which made me do reflection
   and adjust my priority in life.

   Your
   Task Today

   A.
   Identify at least one negative health habit
   you currently have. For example:

   1) Not exercising

   2) Working for very long hours without taking a break and resting my eyes

   3) Sitting too long without movement

   4) Slouching when working

   B.
   Identify reasons supporting each
   negative habit.

   1)
   Not exercising, I didn’t give priority to myself on my health. This is a real
   problem for me, I had serious back sick in this March.

   2)
   Working for very long hours without taking a break or movement. I used to work long
   hours without a movement, since too many things to do and I am too seriously
   about my work.

   3)
   Slouching when working. The table is too short for me.

   C.
   Identify steps to correct each negative
   habit.

   1)
   Not exercising. I care my body, otherwise, I won’t be able to fulfill my other
   dreams. I will take regular exercising. 2 times a week: Walking after dinner
   with my husband and my son in the park, walking after lunch in our company
   campus; taking Taichi class in the office and practice daily.

   2)
   Working for very long hours without taking a break or movement. ; be aware on the time I
   sit and take break consciously. (using the timer and Pomodoro tool)

   3)
   Slouching when working. Adjust the height of the monitor, if not work, try other
   workstation.

   D.
   Say today’s affirmation:

   “I’m growing healthier and stronger every day.”

   http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a2fd0f5f0102uzqg.html
2. 

   JadePenguin 11 years ago

   1. Identify at least one negative health habit you currently have

   Not always eating when hungry or eating junky foods out of convenience.

   2. Identify reasons supporting each negative habit

   Too lazy. Not kowing enough about cooking to make it interesting. Being too often disappointed by what I cooked. Getting tired of eating the same things.

   3. Identify steps to correct each negative habit.

   Look at more vegan food blogs. Make more foolproof meals like pizza (made one yesterday!) Plan ahead. Use the help of my ally in cooking (my bf) ;)

   Deadlines: this isn’t strictly a healthy food but I still need to make that cake with the vegan sourcream I bought. And since we’re off on holiday on Friday, tomorrow’s the last day!
3. 

   Vinay Kumar 11 years ago

   Identify at least one negative health habit you currently have.
   – getting less sleep
   – drinking lot of coffee
   – skipping exercise

   Identify reasons for each negative habit.
   – I generally make after office plans and so I need to reach office early to finish off my work. But I tend to repeatedly get into cycles of sleeping late at night. This is also because most of my friends and my family prefers sleeping late. So when I try to spend time with them, I tend to spend more time and get delayed to sleep. And at times even when I don’t spend time with them, or I don’t have any other important plans, habitually, I spend more time just idly browsing or working and tend to sleep late anyway. I would prefer 7 to 7.5 hours of sleep per day but I end up getting 6 – 6.5 hours.

   – I do love coffee. I think one cup a day is good and i should stop myself there. But I tend to get carried away many times and end up having 2-3 cups. I’ve realized that my body doesn’t feel good after drinking a lot of coffee. But I do end up overdrinking every now and then.

   – I’m involved with a dance group so the rehearsals act as good exercise. When there are no rehearsals I try to wake up early and exercise. However, because of sleeping late exercise is the first thing i tend to skip.

   Identify steps to correct each negative habit
   – If I would manage to sleep early, I would manage to have enough sleep and then wake up and exercise too. I would need to be more assertive with my family and friends, and especially with myself. I would need to plan each day to sleep earlier. I should ideally get into a habit of sleeping by 10.30, or latest by 11. That way I could wake up by 5.30 to 6. I would ideally like to wake up at 5. So hopefully after I get comfortable with 5.30-6 I could push myself to 5. If I’ll wake up early, I know I’ll automatically exercise.

   – Coffee! Did I mention I love it :). I should really restrict myself to a cup a day. Everytime I’m about to have more cups I should remind myself that my body wouldn’t appreciate it. I do feel like drinking a warm beverage at least twice a day. So the second time on, I could probably drink green tea or some healthy variant of it. So the task for me is to get some nice tea-bags! That way, having bought them, hopefully I should start switching to consume them instead of having coffee ;)
4. 

   fufu 11 years ago

   For this task I decided to stick to one health issue that I have because I was just not feeling it to dig in deeper to my other bad health habits because I’m 100% sure what I want to deal with and this is my skinny body.

   The other days I weight myself and it came out 88.8. I’m 5’2 tall so I’m really underweight and it’s because of my genes D: I’ve never reached 100.0.

   I know many people consider it a blessing and it is but it’s also a risk. I run risks of getting diabetes easier, my bones are fragile, I’m phisically weak as heck :(

   To combat this issue I’ll consider my bad habit of skipping meals. That’s probably the reason why I always loose the few weight I win. My negative beliefs on food revolve around me being spoiled and ungrateful for the food and loosing my appetite when the meal is not of my liking.

   My action step is: eat every 3-4 hours small meals/snacks. Each meal should inclue anything that has protein.

   I’ll talk to my sis to join the gym once and for all. It’s only $10.00 for monthly membership and sis has also been looking forward to go to the gym with somebody. :) It’s a win-win.

   My other step is talking to the dad of my sister’s boyfriend. He’s a trainer so he would surelt know how to recommend me a training regime to gain fat but at the same time keep my body tonificated.
   • 

     CelesAuthor 11 years ago

     Hi Fufu, this is a very interesting problem. I actually had an emotional eating course participant whose “emotional eating” problem was emotional IN-EATING. Meaning eating less than he should to be at a healthy weight. Unlike most of the participants who wish to stop comfort eating and reduce food intake, for him he wanted to gain more weight so that he would be at his ideal weight.

     You mentioned your situation is due to your genes — can you explain more about that? I’m curious to understand more. So it’s like even if you eat an immense amount of CALORIES (not just food, because eating a lot of lettuce still amounts to a very low caloric amount), like a few thousand calories, you can’t 100% process them as energy into your body?
5. 

   Foli 11 years ago

   I am plunged into the negative health habits to the neck. “Sleeping late hours every day, eating junk food when I feel stressed, drinking caffeinated and/or carbonated drinks, slouching when using the computer, slouching when walking, not exercising, working for very long hours without taking a break and resting my eyes.” As I said in the AC Day8, I have put on weight and feel heavy for living with these bad habits. I have to take action here and now to live up to this day’s Affirmation Challenge :

   “I’m growing healthier and stronger every day.”
6. 

   Calae 11 years ago

   I’m not going to lie to you guys — seeing the tasks for the past two days (Health on day 13, and Self-image on day 14) was part of the reason I’ve procrastinated on doing these two days. These are the two areas I feel I struggle with, currently, despite having no real reason for doing so. Hopefully I can dig into some of the reasons today!

   So first, talking about health. I know objectively how important it is to care for your body, as it’s truly the only thing we have with us for our whole life. However, I think it is because it is always there that it often gets neglected, as our bodies can usually handle a lot of abuse before things get “really” bad. But the truth is, just like we need to care for our emotional needs, we have physical needs too. And neglecting our bodies can carry over into all the areas of our lives!

   I know that especially since starting my job, I’ve been quite lazy when it comes to taking care of myself. I get up early to drive, so I avoid eating breakfast before getting in the office in order to not get up any earlier than necessary. Breakfast becomes coffee and trail mix or a granola bar at the desk…not the worst, to be sure, but not as wholesome as, say, oatmeal. I have access to a gym with my company, but I’ve yet to take advantage of it. When I get home, I’m tired from
   working all day, and then struggle between giving myself down time and doing things that are meaningful to me. Five days a week, the cycle repeats.

   In summary, these are the things I can think of that are negative habits in regards to my health:

   –Not exercising. I used to go to the gym regularly at school, and I did yoga and Tai Chi throughout the week as well. Now, the most I can say I do in terms of exercise is the two-block walk home after parking my car in the hot summer weather. The heat exhausts me even more than my work day,
   making me extra lethargic once I’m home (where all I want to do is run and change because I feel like I’m melting from the heat!).

   –Not drinking enough water. I have an awesome filtered water bottle (a “bobble”) both at home and at work, but I rarely drink enough water throughout my day (I worked it out that I should drink at least two bobbles a day). It’s easier to do it at work for some reason, but I’ve still finished many days without hardly a dip in the amount of water sitting in my bottle.

   –Not flossing nightly. I brush my teeth in the morning and at night no problem, but usually I’m so tired by the time I go to bed that I rarely floss my teeth. When I finally do, it usually hurts because I haven’t in a while, discouraging me from doing it the next night.

   –Not eating well. As I mentioned earlier, I usually eat a breakfast of trail mix and coffee. Lunch is a sandwich (usually either peanut butter and jelly, or some kind of deli meat and cheese) that I’ve prepared on Sunday (discovering that you can freeze certain sandwiches for use later in the week = best time saver ever!). Throughout the day, I snack on trail mix if I get hungry. Dinner however, sometimes doesn’t even happen. I’m so exhausted when I get home, I’m sometimes not even hungry, or if I am, only for some snacks! I’m more likely to eat leftovers (usually from fast food), or junk food.I think it usually comes down to laziness and not wanting to take the time and effort to get out everything necessary to cook a meal (or learn to cook, rather).

   –Work/posture-related issues. I work in an office job, and staring at Word documents all day puts severe strain on my eyes, and typing usually begins to hurt my wrists. I’m not sure I’m
   in the more ergonomic position either, but it feels like I constantly have to readjust things to get comfortable, so I settle into the bad positions. I don’t currently have a desk at home, so I use my laptop on my bed, which I’m sure isn’t good for me, either.

   –Neglecting my eyes/skin/teeth in smaller ways. My glasses are currently pretty scratched up, and I think that’s causing me to strain my eyes as well. I have contact lenses I could be wearing, but I’ve never gotten 100% comfortable to wear them on a daily basis. I have a prescription for eye
   drops that help but I never renewed it and now I wonder if it’s too late. If my skin breaks out even slightly, I tend to pick at it despite knowing how bad it is for my skin in the long run. I have a retainer that I received after getting my braces removed years ago, but I rarely ever use it as it almost seems pointless (“my teeth will just go back, anyway”).

   Phew! I’ve got a lot of things I can improve on. I know one big thing for me is a lack of energy, but I didn’t write that down because I feel that by improving some other things, I will probably
   get more energy.

   Now it’s time to get to thinking, what are my reasons for these bad habits, and what can I do to change them?

   ** I didn’t copy this part here, because my list is HUGE! It’s all on my blog though! **

   I really have a lot to work on! I probably won’t implement all of these strategies at the same time, but at least I’ve taken the time to think about them.

   PS to Celes: I meant to comment on it when I saw it, but are you still considering doing a run of the 30DLBL? I was super excited when I read that you might, especially because I wanted to try doing it as I tried and failed to do it this month!

   See more at my blog, here: http://hackmyheart.com/affirmation-challenge-day-13/
   • 

     CelesAuthor 11 years ago

     PS to Celes: I meant to comment on it when I saw it, but are you still considering doing a run of the 30DLBL? I was super excited when I read that you might, especially because I wanted to try doing it as I tried and failed to do it this month!

     Hi Calae, yes, yes and yes! In fact, the forum has already been set up (private to everyone since the challenge isn’t open for signups yet) in PE Forums, and I’m waiting for Affirmation Challenge to end first before I announce it!
     • 

       Calae 11 years ago

       Awesome! I’m super excited! =D
   • 

     CelesAuthor 11 years ago

     Hi Calae, earlier I was responding to your 30DLBL comment — now I got the chance to read your task results in detail!

     I know objectively how important it is to care for your body, as it’s truly the only thing we have with us for our whole life. However, I think it is because it is always there that it often gets neglected, as our bodies can usually handle a lot of abuse before things get “really” bad. But the truth is, just like we need to care for our emotional needs, we have physical needs too. And neglecting our bodies can carry over into all the areas of our lives!

     I understand what you mean, because this was my general attitude towards health in my early 20s, and in a way mid-to-late 20s too. It’s not like my health is failing or anything; I’m definitely still in prime-health-zone as a 30-year-old, but little neglects of our body definitely pile up over time.

     For example, my posture has never been the best since I began using the computer for extended periods of time (that’s like what, when I was 15?), and nowadays every once in a while I can feel an ache in my back/spine whenever I bend down or straighten my back. It’s not life-threatening or some insane issue, but I can see how it can be linked to my bad postures from before, and it’s something that I keep in mind to work on.

     –Not flossing nightly. I brush my teeth in the morning and at night no problem, but usually I’m so tired by the time I go to bed that I rarely floss my teeth. When I finally do, it usually hurts because I haven’t in a while, discouraging me from doing it the next night.

     Another example on “accumulated neglects” becoming an issue is my root canal experience which I’ve shared in my root canal post from last year. That was some serious pain I experienced during that episode (up until my first treatment; everything went swimmingly after that), not to mention it was also a costly procedure and unnecessary hassle to go through if I had cared for my teeth properly as a kid. (For some background, I only started flossing as a habit after wearing braces in my early 20s, but even after that I was never super vigilant about brushing/flossing every single day. I feel that the root canal was likely a combination of irreparable damage made from not caring for my teeth properly *as a child*, and then it kind of slowly culminated to the unavoidable root canal when I was 28 last year.)

     Since my root canal, I’ve been 100% vigilant about oral care (from brushing to flossing) every single day. Once in a VERY VERY long while I may miss this regime, but I pretty much never skip brushing or flossing even if I’m super tired and lying on the bed (I’ll simply get up to do it). It doesn’t even feel like a hassle to do it; I just genuinely ENJOY doing it because I can clearly see the benefits of doing so. Not only does it help me keep my teeth clean and healthy (after all we need them to articulate, and it’s always great to flash a nice smile with bright and clean teeth!), I can see how doing so avoid sticky issues like root canal and dentures and what not in the future!

     Another note about flossing is that I find that it greatly helps to prevent food/plaque from being stuck in your teeth for the next day. For example, even if I’m eating generally sticky food, they don’t stick around my teeth because I floss every day. (This isn’t the case in the past when I wasn’t a regular flosser.)

     Of course the above isn’t to scare you or anything, and I’m totally excited for you that you’ve already identified the habits you want to cultivate plus steps to put them in place! So you’re doing super well Calae. :D I’m just sharing my experience here as someone who’s been through her 20s, so that you can understand the importance of health habits from a different perspective.

     The most important thing is to recognize the benefits behind what you’re doing, and do them in a *fun* way that you enjoy and makes you happy. Flossing, maybe the activity itself is boring to you (I personally just find it satisfying to clean the food debris and clean my teeth!) — if so, you can listen to some podcasts while doing this! (I do this sometimes too, and I share this as a productivity tip in Rule #8 of 10 Rules of Super Productive People, which you are currently reading.)
     • 

       Calae 11 years ago

       Hey Celes, I really appreciate the response! I think it’s always good to hear things from other people’s perspectives, because it just opens you up to so many thoughts you might not have had before!

       With regards to what you said in terms of neglecting your teeth in your childhood and your eventual root canal, yes, that’s definitely a good example of why it’s so important to do things such as floss! I think I semi-struggle with it though because I sometimes think, “I might have already neglected my teeth (skin/eyes/whatever I’m worrying about) to the point that I’ll have issues I can’t fix, I hate myself for letting me do this damage to myself.” And then since I feel bad, I let myself continue with the bad behavior because I think, “Well, what’s the point? I’ve already messed up.” (I’ve already mentioned this type of thinking in Day 14’s post!). It sucks falling into that mindset, because it trips me up in so many ways, perpetuating the snowball effect of disliking myself.

       Anyway, thanks again for sharing your story with me! I like too that you mentioned you enjoy flossing because you’re getting all of the plaque off your teeth — it’s not an activity that I ever thought I could possibly enjoy, but I’ll certainly be thinking of you when I floss tonight! xD
       • 

         CelesAuthor 11 years ago

         …I sometimes think, “I might have already neglected my teeth (skin/eyes/whatever I’m worrying about) to the point that I’ll have issues I can’t fix, I hate myself for letting me do this damage to myself.” And then since I feel bad, I let myself continue with the bad behavior because I think, “Well, what’s the point? I’ve already messed up.” (I’ve already mentioned this type of thinking in Day 14’s post!).

         Hi Calae, I totally understand this! It’s an all-or-nothing mindset. I suggest a reframe for this thinking, which you can consider to see if it works (for you). Rather than thinking “What’s the point? I’ve already messed up,” the mindset that I recommend (and which would be closer to reality) is, “If I had truly ‘messed up,’ then I wouldn’t even have the luxury of having this self-conversation now.” Meaning, if the situation is really so messed up, then we’d usually be hot on coals and in major fire-fighting/crisis/desperation-help-me-I-need-help-NOW mode (without any room to consider other emotions/thoughts) as opposed to feeling bad about things that we did or didn’t do in the past.

         My root canal experience is a good example (the tooth had already “reached its end of the road” and it was clearly a goner from the immense pain I was experiencing that led me to quickly head to the dentist at 4am at night); another example is my emotional eating, which has a positive outcome given that I worked on addressing it over the years and have since broken out of the bad eating cycle. On the other hand, if someone lets his/her EE build up to its extreme without doing anything to intervene/address it, it can wind up in worst case scenarios (touch wood) not far from stomach/intestinal issues (from all the binge eating, subsequently followed by attempts to eat healthily, and repeat), severe weight gain to the point of severe health issues, all eventually leading to hospitalization and irreparable damage to the person’s body/health.

         You’re in your early 20s, and at the perfect age to set in your healthy habits and to create a healthy body for your future!!! So I’m surprised to hear this somewhat terminalistic thought regarding health, especially because I work with older readers / workshop participants / clients who have slightly-more-understandable-but-still-unnecessarily-self-limiting thoughts about their health. You definitely haven’t messed up, and whatever “issues” you are referring to definitely aren’t set in stone! You have all the power to make changes that you want, and now is the perfect time to start! :)
         • 

           Calae 11 years ago

           Hey Celes, thanks for all the advice! I really like the idea of reframing things that way, because it reasserts that you have the power to change your situation rather than doing the fire-fighting that wouldn’t make it possible. I’ll try to think that way instead of thinking, “What’s the point?” and see what happens. =)

           And about the whole age thing, thanks for the thoughts about that as well. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard something like, “But why are you thinking that way at your age?!” xD Thanks for the reassurance that it’s the right time to get these healthy habits going!

           PS: You said in one line, “…it can wind up in worst case scenarios (touch wood) not far from
           stomach/intestinal issues (from all the binge eating, subsequently
           followed by attempts to eat healthily, and repeat),” What do you mean by “touch wood” there? Is it a typo? I think I got the rest of your message but I’m just wondering what it means. ^^;

           PS Part 2: How do you do the awesome quotes with Disqus? I love Disqus but I’ve never seen anything about the formatting you can do with it!
           • 

             CelesAuthor 11 years ago

             Hi Calae, my bad! I assumed that everyone would know this term. It’s quite a common saying (used in Europe and U.S. too, on top of Asia) to avoid fate of whatever negative thing the person is saying. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocking_on_wood

             On the quoting, simply paste the paragraph/phrase you want to quote, then surround it with the HTML code for blockquote. Meaning, if you want to quote the word “Hello”, the HTML to use will be:

             (blockquote)Hello(/blockquote)

             (Replace () with of course!) You can give it a go!
             • 

               Calae 11 years ago

               On the quoting, simply paste the paragraph/phrase you want to quote,
               then surround it with the HTML code for blockquote. Meaning, if you want
               to quote the word “Hello”, the HTML to use will be:

               Sweet! Had no idea HTML was allowed at all on Disqus, great to know, thanks for sharing!

               And OH! Knocking on wood! Hahaha, yes that’s a really common phrase. xD Totally didn’t get that from “touch wood” for whatever reason. Thanks for clearing it up! =)
               • 

                 CelesAuthor 11 years ago

                 Hi Calae, my bad again! Perhaps “touch wood” is just a term specific to Asia, or even Singapore? I know for sure that in Singapore we use the phrase “touch wood,” and it’s only when I watch U.S. shows that I hear people saying “knocking on wood”! Not sure about Europe though!
               • 

                 Calae 11 years ago

                 No worries! I’m actually really fascinated by language/things like this, so this is totally interesting! Yeah, I don’t think people in the US say “touch wood,” (although perhaps they do in other regions of it, there’s so much different uses of language in this country depending where you are!).

                 Kind of funny this is the phrase that we’re talking about, because I was just listening to a song on the radio on my drive to work and one of the lines is, “I never had to knock on wood, but I know someone who has.” Just a funny coincidence!
7. 

   CelesAuthor 11 years ago

   I think the best way to tackle a disease/ to get healthy is to tackle the emotional cause beyond it. Many diseases are actually psychosomatic. For e.g. if you say cancer, I have read in quite a number of books that’s it’s caused due to the resentment held within our minds, which are not vented out properly. Even Urticaria is related to the incorrect management of stress.

   Hi Aatiya, actually I absolutely agree with you. And it’s not something that I’ve read anywhere that convinced me of such, but just from my own personal development journey, observation of various stories, and so on that it is quite apparent that illnesses (including cancer) are very much byproducts of thinking as opposed to random sudden diseases that hit us independent of our actions/thoughts/etc. I don’t talk about it much on PE though since people are usually quick and ready to attack such thinking (sometimes as a way to defend their own beliefs), and sometimes it turns into an unconstructive “he-says-she-says” debate.

   That’s interesting about your past episodes of hives and I’m glad that you’ve not had them for the past few years. Is there any factor/reason that made you link your past hives with your junk food eating from before?
   • 

     Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

     Aatiya, I am glad you brought this subject up! :) I am in quite similar situation – it’s also a chronic skin condition and it’s also metaphysical causes I am working on towards my healing.

     Celes, you are right. People are so slow to new concepts like this and want to hear scientific proofs for this to be effective before they even take any of this seriously. Or when they are willing to try, what mostly stop them, is looking inwards and admitting the real cause or problem.

     It was same for me in the beginning… I couldn’t believe that something like this can exist. But I wanted healing so much, that I would try any technique. And all of this make perfect sense. If we look to functions of specific organs and body parts, it’s easy to explain why they have gone “out of order”. For example if someone feels pain in back it would show that the person lacks support in his life or things life to be heavy thing to carry; if someone has problem with throat – it shows there is problem with communicating ideas either “swallowing” new ideas that come to us, or “swallowing” ideas that need to be spoken out, and so on.
     • 

       Aatiya 11 years ago

       Did you read Loise Hay’s book ‘You can heal your life’ ? Its really amazing that she has cured her cancer with affirmations!!
       • 

         Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

         Yes, I have ;) Thanks. I guess it was my first book in that direction of studies.
   • 

     Aatiya 11 years ago

     As per to what I have seen in various interviews with the doctors on television, our skin has a certain tolerance level to whatever it consumes. If the diet is not very balanced or full of junk food then the body reacts to it via skin irritations such as hives. Besides I myself have observed that whenever I had junk food I used to get lot of skin allergies.

     As I mentioned earlier having junk food does disturb our mental clarity. It’s not possible to give our best and as a result we end up dealing with our negative feelings in a haphazard manner. (Based on my own experience)

     Few people have allergies to some foods whereas others don’t. The same medication may benefit one but may have nil effect on somebody else and this is because each one has a different body constitution. It’s more beneficial that we eat foods which are in accordance of our body types rather than blindly following the typical fruits and veggies form of diet (Not all types of veggies/ fruits/ exercise types agree with everybody).Ayurveda has divided the body constitution of people into three i.e. Vatta, Pitta, Kapha. Ayurveda has also specified different diet based on body constitution, weather etc. My ‘hives- free status’ in past years is attributed more tofollowing of the Ayurveda principles rather than medicines.
     • 

       Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

       This can be easily explained as there is connection between skin and liver. Whenever our liver struggle with all kinds of junk foods, acids and poison it’s shown on skin. Cures for cleaning my liver and blood was the first thing prescribed for me. Ever since I was diagnosed with psoriasis I need to take yearly liver check ups. Also because all the medicine leave harm on liver.

       Here is good article about it : http://www.liverdoctor.com/your-skin-reflects-your-liver
8. 

   Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

   Hmm… I took me a while to come back and post about this challenge. As I had mentioned in my other posts, I was diagnosed with skin disease when I was 10 years old. As a child – going to be teenager, I went through a really difficult stage.

   There were specific personal care products that I could use. I needed to follow specific diet. I could only wear cloths made by natural fabrics. And I should stay away from all the rest. I almost never eat in fast food restaurants. I have never smoked in my life and I stay away from smokers. There
   is no smoking person in my cycle – both because of my health and because I consider those people of a weak character. In top of all this, I needed to learn how to control my emotions. I couldn’t afford to be stressed. .

   When I was on my late teens I got tired of all this. Especially of all the dermatologist appointments and “experiments” they used to test on me. No medication could really improve my condition , just stabilize for a week or so, and poisoned my body in return that actually caused new break outs. It has been a hell for me, but on early stage of my life I learnt discipline, emotion management etc. I will let this video speak for itself so I don’t have to go too much in detail about what my disease is and what it makes me go through on a daily basis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dERg2qXCll0

   Thank You sooooo much Stacy London for all the encouragement ;)

   I am growing stronger everyday and I know that my skin to be healthier as well I need to focus on spiritual causes of disease, which means working on my insecurities, tearing down the protection walls and communicating my feelings. I had learnt to control my emotions, but I haven’t learnt to release them.

   “I lovingly protect myself with thoughts of joy and peace. The past is forgiven and forgotten. I now choose to be free.”

   “I am alive to the joys of living. I deserve & accept the very best in life. I love & approve of myself. ”

   “I’m growing healthier and stronger every day.”
   • 

     Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

     I am healthy.
     Happiness surrounds me.
     My mental health is happy, positive and optimistic.
     Every cell in my body now vibrates with energy and health.
     I am free of unwanted stress.
     Every day in every way I am getting healthier and healthier.
     I eat healthy and I stay healthy.
     Every day my eyesight is better than the previous day.
     I get good sleep every night and I get up fresh every morning.
     I love exercising and I exercise every day.
     I am grateful for my healthy body and I bless every part of my body.
     Perfect health is my divine right and I claim it now.
     Every cell in my body is healthy and radiates health.
     My immune system is very strong and can deal with any kind of bacteria, germs and viruses.
     Every organ in my body is healthy and functions at its optimum scale.
     I am pain free in every respect and my body is full of energy.
     Throughout the day I am full of energy.
     I breathe deeply and every breath energizes me.
     I love myself in totality and I radiate energy.
     My body metabolism is at its optimum and provides me with all the energy that I need.
     I have the power to control my health.
     I have abundant energy, vitality and well-being.
     I am healthy in all aspects of my being.
     I have all the energy required for my needs.
     Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.
     God’s love is flowing through my body.
     The light within me is healing my entire body.
     I am one with the universe I am healing now.
     Divine light flows through every cell of my body.
     I am a radiant being filled with light and love.
     I sleep relaxed and awake refreshed.
     My connection to the universe is my energy source.
     I now choose thoughts that nourish and support me in a loving and positive way.
     I know that my healing is already in process.
     Every cell in my body vibrates with energy and health.
     I am healthy, healed and whole.
     I choose health.
     I naturally make choices that are good for me, I take loving care of my body and my body responds with health, an abundance of energy and a wonderful feeling of well-being.
     Every doctor that touches me is a healing hand.
     I now receive the treatment I need in the perfect time, place and way for me.
     My body heals quickly and easily.
     I love and accept myself as I am knowing that by doing this I can love others more fully and they can love me.
     I release all disease from my body and welcome health, love and happiness into my life.
     I release old hurt, anger and resentment easily.
     I choose to live my life the way that makes me happy and I am free.
     Every Cell in my body vibrates with energy and health .
     Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body and soul .
     My body heals quickly and easily .
     My energy and vitality are increasing every day.
     I open to the natural flow of wellness now.
     My inner guidance leads me to the right healing modalities for me.
     Abundant health and wellness are my birthright.
     Thank you for my strength, my health and my vitality.
     I am feeling stronger and better now.
     I love taking good care of myself.
     Today nurturing myself is my highest priority.
     Thank you for the opportunity to balance my mind, body and spirit.
   • 

     Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

     1.) I am the architect of my life; I build its foundation and choose its contents.
     2.) Today, I am brimming with energy and overflowing with joy.
     3.) My body is healthy; my mind is brilliant; my soul is tranquil.
     4.) I am superior to negative thoughts and low actions.
     5.) I have been given endless talents which I begin to utilize today.
     6.) I forgive those who have harmed me in my past and peacefully detach from them.
     7.) A river of compassion washes away my anger and replaces it with love.
     8.) I am guided in my every step by Spirit who leads me towards what I must know and do.
     9.) (If you’re married) My marriage is becoming stronger, deeper, and more stable each day
     10.) I possess the qualities needed to be extremely successful.
     11.) (For business owners) My business is growing, expanding, and thriving.
     12.) Creative energy surges through me and leads me to new and brilliant ideas.
     13.) Happiness is a choice. I base my happiness on my own accomplishments and the blessings I’ve been given.
     14.) My ability to conquer my challenges is limitless; my potential to succeed is infinite.
     15.) (For those who are unemployed) I deserve to be employed and paid well for my time, efforts, and ideas. Each day, I am closer to finding the perfect job for me.
     16.) I am courageous and I stand up for myself.
     17.) My thoughts are filled with positivity and my life is plentiful with prosperity.
     18.) Today, I abandon my old habits and take up new, more positive ones.
     19.) Many people look up to me and recognize my worth; I am admired.
     20.) I am blessed with an incredible family and wonderful friends.
     21.) I acknowledge my own self-worth; my confidence is soaring.
     22.) Everything that is happening now is happening for my ultimate good.
     23.) I am a powerhouse; I am indestructible.
     24.) Though these times are difficult, they are only a short phase of life.
     25.) My future is an ideal projection of what I envision now.
     26.) My efforts are being supported by the universe; my dreams manifest into reality before my eyes.
     27.) (For those who are single) The perfect partner for me is coming into my life sooner than I expect.
     28.) I radiate beauty, charm, and grace
     29.) I am conquering my illness; I am defeating it steadily each day.
     30.) My obstacles are moving out of my way; my path is carved towards greatness.
     31.) I wake up today with strength in my heart and clarity in my mind.
     32.) My fears of tomorrow are simply melting away.
     33.) I am at peace with all that has happened, is happening, and will happen.
     34.) My nature is Divine; I am a spiritual being.
     35.) My life is just beginning.
     • 

       Susan 11 years ago

       Thanks for this list. I love this. I can really use this list myself, to improve my life.
       • 

         Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

         You are welcome ;) I am glad this can help someone else :)
   • 

     Susan 11 years ago

     Regardless of your skin condition, you are beautiful. I can see your beauty in your words.
     • 

       Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

       Thank You Susan! I don’t now how to put this in right words… I have been blessed with a beauty. I have quite pretty face, I am tall and slim. My inner world has also developed, by trying to compensate for all imperfections. The problem here is the way I view myself. It’s hard to get rid of all the insecurities when you can’t show your skin to the people without getting strange looks or negative remarks. I feel good about myself and have accepted my “destiny” but the hardest part in revealing this part of myself to people.
       • 

         CelesAuthor 11 years ago

         Hi Santas, how about this: why don’t you treat it as an educational experience for other people? For the people who react strangely or even give negative remarks to you, you can take it as them being on their journey to learn about other forms of beauty (which is actually true). Until you “expose” yourself to them, they can never begin to comprehend or accept the kind of beauty you have.

         The initial reaction to anything “different” is usually shock, surprise, perhaps even rudeness (which would be what you have experienced before and may well continue to experience in the future with certain people). However, after you give them some time to reflect, they’ll realize that… Hey, there’s nothing “ugly” or “bad” about this person’s skin condition; it’s simply something *different* and I should have reacted more kindly than how I did that last time. Of course, doing this — revealing yourself — should only be something you do if you feel completely okay with it, and not something that you feel will eat into your self-esteem when you do it.

         Perhaps you’d like to check out Lizzie Velásquez, the woman with zero percent body fat. Her medical condition makes her look dramatically different from any regular human being, but yet she is able to stand tall and look at everyone in the eye, and today becoming an international motivational speaker.

         Here’s a TED talk by her (I’ve yet to watch it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c62Aqdlzvqk
         And her wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Vel%C3%A1squez
         • 

           Santas Inspirations 11 years ago

           Wow Celes… You leave me in amazement! I never thought about it this way. Yet I have always admired people who “exposed” themselves and bring humankind to new understandings, those who turn their weaknesses into their strength. Well, having this condition on myself, has contributed for me to be more tolerant on other people looks and health conditions, so why not to try it other way around ;) I would definitely take this dare and would treat it as educative experience both for myself and anyone I come in contact with. I can never know how opening up this way can change how people view me or anyone else in this world.

           With “trying to compensate for all imperfections”, I meant, that my sickness was a great motivator to start extensive reading – from medical researches and self-help books to motivational psychology, the law of attraction and spirit science. Basically, personal development came as a side effect :)

           About day 8… I feel that it has the most influence on me throughout the challenge. Starting to see myself as 10/10 released block edges in many areas of my life – such as my self expression and artistic inspiration, my relationships with my husband, my confidence in sharing my thought openly and just being myself, my boldness to go for what I really want in life and not postponing my dreams. Overall I just feel so elated.

           While I do agree to the part that whatever the condition – it’s still a perfection… I can’t see the beauty in a disease itself (similarly as a virtue in poverty). Dis-ease basically means that a body is not in ease. Our bodies are our temples and they mirror everything that goes on in our spirit worlds. So if there is a sickness, it isn’t actually a form of beauty, it’s a form of disharmony that needs healing inside out.

           Thank you Celes for your kind words! :) I really appreciate you noticing that. It wouldn’t happen without many great teachers along my way, including You! You have really great insights and I look up to you for inspiration.
       • 

         CelesAuthor 11 years ago

         And when you said “My inner world has also developed, by trying to compensate for all imperfections.” I found myself agreeing in full unison. Not in the sense that I agree that your self-development has indeed compensated for your “imperfections.” (To quote what you said to Lina in Day 10’s task on love, remember Day 8? Whatever your condition is, it is perfection in itself. It may make you different from most people, but it’s not an imperfection!) But that I really feel that you are a very developed and conscious person, by way of your sharing and thinking. I’ve thought this way since you began sharing from the start of the challenge. *nods*
   • 

     JadePenguin 11 years ago

     Thanks for sharing. I have some kind of skin condition myself (only on hands but that makes washing anything a pain; plus the itching can be hellish) and as you said, it’s so hard to find something that works. You keep getting prescribed different kinds of creams and whatnot, as every one of them seems to work for a split second and then it gets bad again. And some of them make it even worse (like how steroid creams cause red skin syndrome) I suppose autoimmune diseases are just really hard to figure out :/

     Do you know if her condition eventually got better?
9. 

   Nilesh Bhalerao 11 years ago

   very very nice….
10. 

    Samuel Lim 11 years ago

    1. Identify at least one negative habit that you currently have:

    I eat snacks and other food in between meals sometimes. I also cannot resist desserts or other snacks my mother buys even though I may be physically full. Also, I tend to eat too fast and this habit came back even after I developed the habit of chewing food slowly.

    2. Identify reasons supporting each negative habit you listed.

    I think I can trace it back to a lack of fulfillment stemming from a lack of enjoyable/fulfilling/meaningful activities, and also suppressing my true self in relationships, as the ultimate root causes.

    What irony! After a long track leading deep into the psyche, the answer is actually very simple in the end.

    3. Identify steps to correct each negative habit.

    Firstly, brainstorm or find at least three activities that I would like to take up for their own sake. That is actually a very important aspect that I realized I have been neglecting for quite long. I have in mind cooking for starters.

    Secondly, the next time I find myself disagreeing with someone in a conversation, just say what I think anyway (tactfully of course).

    4. Say today’s affirmation:

    “I’m growing healthier and stronger every day.”

    http://samuelimyongen.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/affirmation-challenge-day-13/
11. 

    Aatiya 11 years ago

    “A sound mind in a healthy body” I didn’t actually believe the quote when I read it however, I had to believe it when I saw with my own eyes the ill effects of having junk food. Whenever I had junk food, my spirits used to be low with no motivation to do my work. It was as if the food used to drag my spirits low and prevent me from ‘soaring’ high in life. I could not give my best.

    A few years back, I had many episodes of hives (Urticaria, anybody?). It was as if my body had tolerated enough of the pain and now it was giving me signals – I better mend my ways.

    From then on I started reading so much about health, the specific condition (Urticaria) and the various health habits to be followed. I cut down having junk food outside drastically, started exercising etc. I even tried principles of Ayurveda which benefited me immensely.

    Though I still have few issues (I tend to have junk food when nothing else is available or when I am stressed), I am really pleased to tell you’ll that I have been ‘hives- free’ for past few years and my general immunity also have been improved.

    I think the best way to tackle a disease/ to get healthy is to tackle the emotional cause beyond it. Many diseases are actually psychosomatic. For e.g. if you say cancer, I have read in quite a number of books that’s it’s caused due to the resentment held within our minds, which are not vented out properly. Even Urticaria is related to the incorrect management of stress.

    Moving on to the today’s challenge tasks, my major bad fitness habits are
    1. Having junk food when I am stressed
    2. Not exercising adequate amount of time (I do exercise daily, but most of my exercise time is filled with breathing exercises and meditation. I think I need to do more of real hardcore exercises like jogging, stretching etc)
    3. Having less water – I have already mentioned my water woos in my previous tasks post. I believe I really need to up my water intake to at least 2 liters/ day

    I think the above habits could be caused because
    1. I don’t know how to channelize my stressful feelings properly. I get a certain relief when I have junk food which triggers me to have more of it
    2. I have associated exercise with a lot of time taken away from my studies
    3. Usually I have warm water only, for drinking purpose. However if I have not heated water previously, I tend to put off having water as I don’t like the feeling of drinking cold water

    My 3 steps which I am going to take on order to have ‘mega health’ are
    1. Learn to dissect having stressful moment from junk food. Food is not the answer. Pause and think before having such food
    2. If I cannot exercise at a certain stretch of time then I can do it in bits and pieces, isn’t it? (10-15 minute blocks perhaps). I have actually bought Farnoosh Brock’s ‘The 10 Minute Invigorator Proggramme’ and it’s a fantastic exercise proggramme for busy people.
    3. Warm the water at the start of the day so can drink it to my heart’s content :-) later
    I am actually doing the above mentioned steps already. However I do need to be more consistent or do more of it.
12. 

    Madalina S 11 years ago

    I’ve started paying more attention to my body from a really young age, mostly because I gained too much weight when I was about 9-10 years old. While during my teenage years I definitely exaggerated with diet and/or working out (which eventually led to chaotic eating habits, emotional eating, EDNOS behavior, and so on), after my 19th birthday I slowly began improving my habits. I’ve been exercising regularly since I was 11 (back in the day, I did it to lose the extra weight, now I do it because I enjoy it). My eating habits have gotten a whole lot better this year and I’m still working on improving them even further.

    Two bad/unhealthy habits: consuming sugar and slouching when using my laptop. Sugary products have always been my “lick-your-wounds”-fix or, on the contrary, my “it’s-a-celebration”-fix. My mother used to eat lots of sweets, too, and as such she would cook lots of them as well, so I got used to eating sugar everyday. As time passed, my sugar consumption kept increasing, and it definitely affected my body in a negative way (acne, weight gain, low energy, poor sleep quality, and all that “jazzy” stuff). As for slouching, I don’t have a desk. The place where I live is pretty small and crowded, so I end up by sitting wherever I can with my laptop positioned either too high or too low.

    Action steps:

    1) actually, I’ve recently stopped consuming sugar altogether (no processed sweets, no homemade sweets, no sugary beverages — i.e. hot cocoa; I quit soda a long time ago –, no honey), and as of today I’ve been sugar-free for 9 days! That’s a huge accomplishment for me. The only sugar I get is from fruit (2-3 servings a day).

    2) as for slouching, I have to pay more attention to how I sit and consciously make an effort to maintain a healthy spine position. I can also figure out a way to always put my laptop in an appropriate position.

    “I’m growing healthier and stronger every day.”
    • 

      CelesAuthor 11 years ago

      Two bad/unhealthy habits: consuming sugar and slouching when using my laptop. Sugary products have always been my “lick-your-wounds”-fix or, on the contrary, my “it’s-a-celebration”-fix. My mother used to eat lots of sweets, too, and as such she would cook lots of them as well, so I got used to eating sugar everyday.

      Hi Lina! It’s always interesting hearing everyone’s story with emotional eating and their “problem” foods, all the result of certain childhood conditioning. Mine was eggs, donuts, and just junk food in general (some of which I shared in my EE series and EE Program), whereas you’re sharing that yours was sugar. One of my past EE-program participants’ “problem” food was cereal, and I found it fascinating to hear about her childhood story about her childhood experiences with her family (with cereal being indirectly involved) and how that became her comfort food of choice for decades thereafter. It’s great that you’re aware of the story that drove your sugar eating in the past and that you have broken yourself out of it!
13. 

    Alia 11 years ago

    I have many, but I will just post a couple.
    -I have utterly horrible sleeping patterns. I have tried many times to get back in sync, but it
    always falls back into a bad cycle.
    – I don’t exercise enough.

    Since young, I’ve had abnormal sleep patterns, but the problem got worse in university when I was on my own schedule and when stress, anxiety and depression crept up on me. Now it’s a hard habit to break, because of how long it’s been going on. Since I’ve been home from university, it’s been especially bad since I haven’t yet found a job and hence don’t have a “reason” to get up early in the morning. Sadly it causes my mood to plummet and makes me irritable, but even on those nights I am in bed early, I tend to lie there awake for several hours before falling asleep, then in the mornings, it is excruciatingly difficult to wake up, no matter how many hours I’ve slept.
    Sometimes the reason is sheer laziness. Other times it’s because I haven’t planned my day properly and end up just having eaten when I had previously intended to exercise. Also, with the bad sleeping patterns, I also don’t eat properly and this causes dizziness when I do try to
    exercise. Another reason is that when I start looking up for exercises
    to do, I get overwhelmed by all the different kinds and what they’re
    good for.

    – I have tried many things to help this, but nothing has worked yet. However, I will begin again, and try to be in bed at least by midnight, and will try the melatonin again. I will attempt to stop using
    electronics at least an hour before bed. Unfortunately I don’t have a chair that fits well at my desk so I’m stuck using my laptop on my bed. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to get a chair that is tall enough for my desk.

    – The first step to this is correcting my sleeping. Then I will make a plan for what exercise I am going to do for the week or month. In the meantime, I can also focus on low intensity exercises, such as weights, that will hopefully not make me dizzy.

    Health and nutrition are something I have been wanting to get right for so very long now. It’s so easy to fall back into bad habits just because they’re easy or because you forget you had planned to do things differently. Visual reminders will help, as well as making a list of healthy recipes to try, as well as the various exercises I would like to try in order to meet my fitness goals. I have to remind myself that I am worthy of my dream level of fitness, and I am capable of making this
    dream a reality.
14. 

    ASLO 11 years ago

    Take care of your body…It’s the only place you have to live…..
    ^^Those are the most powerful words I have come across! Along with today’s affirmation, I am definitely going to inscribe these words into my way of life…

    1, Identify at least one negative health habit you currently have:
    Not eating healthy all the while as I give in to my temptations or emotional eating problems
    Not being dedicated enough in my exercise

    2. Identify reasons supporting each negative habit you have listed:
    I don’t eat healthy as sometimes when I am preparing normal meals for my family, I do not have the motivation to prepare a separate healthier meal for myself.

    Also I have a sweet tooth for chocolates!

    As for the exercise, I’d say the same thing about motivation! Sometimes, if I am emotionally down, it usually interferes with the motivation I have for exercise :/

    3, Identify steps to correct each negative habit:
    I shall prepare a healthy diet not just for me but for my whole family. If we do this thing as a family together I am sure we’d keep motivating and inspiring ourselves!

    In line with self-love, I shall not deny myself chocolates, but i shall control my sweet tooth and only allow a shared bar of chocolate once every two weeks and slowly as I gain better control of myself I shall reduce the frequency.

    I shall find inspirations on exercise from others and shall determinedly be bound on my exercise regime till I see results which will lead to a multiplier effect of sorts since results will motivate me to do better!

    “I’m growing healthier and stronger every day!”
15. 

    Educate Yourself 11 years ago

    1. Identify at least one negative health habit you currently have.

    -I work at night so I seep better during the day. If I don’t work some nights I used to sleep all the time, day and night. I felt left out at home. They don’t include me if they are planning something, even now. Sometimes I lie to myself and them and say I am not sleepy then I lose it. I get really mad if I don’t sleep.
    -I slouch when I sit not just on the computer except now, I am conscious.
    -I look down sometimes when I walk. I also look up, not up, but in the sky, sometimes while walking.
    -I exercised only when I am motivated. Or if I paid for it.
    -I sometimes don’t get enough sleep if I work nights in a row.
    -I don’t floss my teeth. I have bad breath. I constantly eat gum and I hate it. I have the Crest mouth wash it’s the only one that works for me for a while then it reeks again. I saw something natural to make it fresh but I hate it, celery. So now I always get gum and mouth wash. My stinky mouth makes me not want to speak too.

    2. Identify reasons supporting each negative habit you have listed.

    – I work at night because I can’t get them to switch me during the day and I am too scared to quit when I have nothing now.
    -I slouch because it’s comfortable.
    -I hate exercising alone, I stop when I am tired or don’t know how to do the stretch.
    -I don’t get enough sleep because I am lonely. I lie about being sleepy when I can sleep to be with family members.
    -I don’t floss because I am lazy. I keep telling myself it’s not because of it that my mouth reeks because I can prove it. I think it’s the water here in the US or the air. In 2008 I went to my country and my big sister noticed that it stopped smelling. At the JFK airport, back here in NYC it started to stink again.

    3. Identify steps to correct each negative habit.

    -I don’t need to do anything, we, my mom and myself, started to notice that I wake up early than I used to. I finish work at 7 am and get home at 9 am the latest and still managed to wake up at 12 pm or 1 pm recently. I used to wake up at 7 pm or 9 pm. But I still get tired. I am tired all the time and sleepy but I can’t go back until I have something to do. That’s when I get really sleepy and I can’t sleep. But, in case I need to do something later if this changed, I want to work during the day. Period. I hate working at night. I will force myself to sleep 6-8 hours after work because if I wake up early I get tired and sleepy.
    -If I exercise I don’t slouch. So I have to exercise everyday, motivated or not.
    – I can set time and only sleep then spend time with my family.
    – I will start flossing now maybe my smelly breath will disappear.

    4. Say your new belief(s), along with today’s affirmation:

    “I’m growing healthier and stronger every day.”
16. 

    VickiB 11 years ago

    Thanks for this one, Celes!

    I addressed several habits in my offline journal and have two that I want to put out here.

    I eat junk food.
    I forget to take my medication.

    What supports these bad habits?

    I eat junk food from boredom with the usual food. MrB is on a restricted diet, and I get bored with it. Junk food is readily available, much more than healthful foods are, and it is easy to see it and be tempted and decide to get it for myself because I don’t have his restrictions.

    Forgetting to take my medication happens because I associate meds with sickness and I am not sick! Never mind that they support my health (vitamins, nutritional supplements) and keep me from having certain symptoms or problems.

    Steps I can take to change these habits:

    I can plan my meals based on what MrB is having but adding things to give it more variety. There is no reason that I can’t add some things I like that he’s not allowed, such as putting raisins in my oatmeal or having a baked potato along with the chicken and vegetables. It just requires forethought.

    When I had to have a clear liquid diet for several days before a medical test, I wrote down all of the food items that I was craving during that time and promised myself that I would get them after the test. After the test, I looked at the list and most of the things no longer appealed. I can try that approach with the junk food — write down what I think I want, with the plan to get it later if I still want it. I suspect that I mostly won’t.

    I don’t have a regular schedule or plan for making sure that I take my medications. I can connect taking the meds with some other activity that is likely to happen. A lot of people take their pills right before a meal because they are sure that they are going to eat. I’ve tried that and it hasn’t helped. But there are other regular activities that I can use as a reminder to take them.

    I want to do these things because this body is the only body I have! I take care of my body and my body takes care of me. I am growing healthier and stronger every day.

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