Blog Archives

Sports Drinks

7/20/2016

I haven't done a post for a while relating to overall health and wellness, so this week I want to mix things up a little and discuss a topic that relates to the well-being of our body. It's summer and it's been hot out, I've been seeing and hearing a lot about staying hydrated. How do we keep our bodies hydrated when it's hot or when we are being active?

The marketing and advertising guru's of the multi-million dollar sports drink industry attempt to convince us that we need to drink their neon colored sports drinks to stay properly hydrated and to adequately replace our electrolytes. They make a big deal about electrolytes and how we need to drink their special concoction to hydrate our bodies. Do we need to replace our electrolytes, and if so, what's the best way to do it?

Now I'm not an expert, but it's my understanding that most of us who are moderately active don't really need to worry about electrolyte replacement. We can hydrate with plain old water and our body will be able to handle replacing electrolytes with our food intake. If you are training for a marathon or other intense, highly active, hardcore training that's when your body could probably use an electrolyte boost.

For the times where our body needs electrolytes are the popular sports drinks the best option? We see them all over, big jugs of them on the sidelines for college and professional sports teams, most kids on the sidelines of any sport games and practices have one sitting on the bench. It's easy to buy into the idea of them being needed and a healthy option, but are they?

First of all, let's talk about the sugar. The typical 12 ounce serving of sports drink contains 21 grams of sugar and that 's not even a whole bottle. Most sports drink bottles contain 2.5 times that amount liquid or 52 grams of sugar. The American Heart Association suggest a daily intake of sugar for children ages 4-8 of 12.5 grams, children preteen to teen of 21-33 grams, women 25 grams and men 37.5 grams. Even 12 ounces of a sport drink greatly exceeds what young children and preteens should be ingesting in a whole day!

How do they get that neon color and that fruity taste? The average sports drink contains a variety of coloring and flavoring along with emulsifiers to make it taste good and help keep it all from separating. Some of the coloring, flavoring and emulsifiers safety is debatable.

So, what options do we have for those heavy workout times where we need to replace electrolytes? One super easy option is to add a pinch of high quality sea salt to your water and shake it up. Electrolytes are basically salt. Sea salt contains trace minerals and sodium chloride, added to your water and dissolved and you have your own electrolyte replacement drink. Squeeze some lemon in it and add a little raw honey if you want for some occasional flavor.

Another great option is coconut water. Coconut water is from young, green coconuts and is low in calories and a natural source of electrolytes including sodium and potassium. The electrolyte content is more than double that of traditional sports drinks with about half of the carbohydrates making it a great alternative.

Next time you have a big workout or your kids have a long day of playing out in the hot sun, try making your own natural sport drink alternative and skip the sugar and chemical laden store bought sports drink. Your body will thank you!

There are a ton of natural sports drink recipes out on the web if you are interested in some additional options. As always, I would love to hear your feedback. Please drop me a comment or send me an email.

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Generosity

7/18/2016

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The practice of generosity has hit my radar screen a lot lately. I now pay close attention when a subject matter comes into my awareness multiple times, so I decided to explore the topic.

What do you think of when you think of acts of generosity? Things that cross my mind include the generosity of sharing time, money, love, attention, presence, resources, knowledge, gifts, and possessions. Generosity, to me, can also be synonymous with service. How can I be of service to God? How can I be of service to others?

In a recent presentation by Dr. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds, he shared how research has proven that well-being (which he partly defines as happiness) is a skill that can be learned. He detailed four constituents of well-being that have been extensively investigated neuroscientifically. One of these is generosity. He says that acts of generosity activates circuits in the brain that promote well-being.

Dr. Davidson also mentioned that having a mindfulness practice is an act of generosity. Why is this? I decided to explore the connection between generosity and meditation/mindfulness. Here's what I discovered when I began to explore the connection between generosity and meditation/mindfulness.

When I sit down to meditate, my intention is that I’m not just practicing for myself, but instead that my meditation practice is for my community and for the whole world. Research has shown that meditation has a spillover effect. By meditating I am able to not only have a positive effect on my own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, but also on the overall wellbeing of my community. In this way, my meditation practice is an act of generosity to my community.

Meditation helps me to be less reactive, to stay centered and be calmer and wiser and this doesn’t just help me, but it helps everyone I come into contact with. When we work on creating inner peace through meditation, we are giving a gift out to the world...change your mind, change the world. This is an act of generosity.

Meditation helps me to practice being present, living in the present, giving my attention and focus to this moment. Being able to give your presence to another person is one of the greatest, most generous, gifts you can give. Especially in a day and age where our attention is being pulled in many different directions by the constant pull of electronic devices.

Last week's post discussed the practice of holding space. Allowing others to be as they are without trying to change them is an act of kindness, which some say is the highest act of all. To allow others to simply be in your space is generous and kind. It helps others to relax and be themselves. Holding an open non-judgemental presence is giving space, generously accepting people as you find them. This is something that I practice through meditation.

The act of giving creates a spacious world. A world where your belief is that there is enough. A person who has more than enough to share. An abundance of time, money, love and attention to share with others versus the fear of scarcity. These are also things that I work on in my meditation practice.

Meditation helps to cultivate loving kindness, compassion and detachment from negative thoughts, beliefs, feelings. The practice of generosity also develops loving kindness and compassion, deepens awareness of our interconnectedness and encourages non-attachment.

Remember my post a while back titled Put Your Mask On First? In it I shared the importance of taking care of ourselves first. We can be more generous with others when we are generous with ourselves first. Begin by being generous with yourself, so your cup overflows, that way you are better able to practice generosity with others.

Acts of generosity open our heart and bring joy to our mind. The feelings that arise while planning a generous act, persist during the act, and perpetuate long after the act itself, especially when we practice savoring it. In this way, practicing generosity cultivates a positive mindset and an open, loving heart leading to more wellbeing and more happiness.

The practice of generosity is an intentional practice and a spiritual practice. Having a meditation practice cultivates generosity and is an act of generosity. It does my heart good to know that something that feels selfish is actually generous and selfless...selfishly selfless is awesome!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Please drop me a comment or send me an email!

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Holding Space

7/12/2016

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What can we do when someone is upset, going through a challenge, is suffering and in need of help? You know those many times in life where you maybe feel at a loss for what to do for someone, you don't know how to help. Or maybe you have some thoughts, some ideas, but your advice was not requested. Can you conjure up a few scenarios like these in your head? What can you do in these moments?

Sometimes the best thing we can do is to hold the space. What does it mean to "hold space" ? I love how coach and facilitator Heather Plett describes it. She says, "It means that we are willing to walk alongside another person in whatever journey they’re on without judging them, making them feel inadequate, trying to fix them, or trying to impact the outcome. When we hold space for other people, we open our hearts, offer unconditional support, and let go of judgement and control."

We might be holding the space for love, for understanding, for compassion, for empathy, for forgiveness, for light, for miracles, for suffering, for faith, for peace, for joy, for connection, for listening, for learning, for growth, for strength and ultimately for healing. Sometimes the best thing to do, the wisest thing to do, is to just hold the space. To be a space holder for whatever is truly needed. Sometimes in doing what seems like nothing, we do everything.

When you hold the space for someone you are allowing them to feel safe. Safe to feel, safe to explore, safe to listen to their own internal guidance system. It's an opportunity for self-exploration. It's not always easy, we have a natural human tendency to want to fix people, to give them advice, or to judge them. You are giving them the gift of your presence, your complete undivided attention and without judgment, you are opening up your heart and allowing another to have whatever experience they are having without trying to control the outcome.

Holding space is truly about allowing experiences and emotions to arise and pass away. It's about making a safe space so people can actually feel their emotions and see their thoughts. It's trusting that as they allow themselves to fully express what's happening, deeper healing is already at work.

Holding space for someone can be easy and yet so hard, simplistic and yet powerful. I believe that holding space is an intentional practice and a spiritual practice. Like so many other practices, the more you practice it, the better you will become at doing it. I am working hard to practice holding space for others, sometimes I do okay and sometimes I mess it up.

Heather Plett further explains, "To truly support people in their own growth, transformation, grief, etc., we can’t do it by taking their power away (ie. trying to fix their problems), shaming them (ie. implying that they should know more than they do), or overwhelming them (ie. giving them more information than they’re ready for). We have to be prepared to step to the side so that they can make their own choices, offer them unconditional love and support, give gentle guidance when it’s needed, and make them feel safe even when they make mistakes."

Heather offers the following helpful tips for how to hold space for others:

1. Give people permission to trust their own intuition and wisdom. This our own internal guidance system.

2. Give people only as much information as they can handle. Too much information can leave someone feeling incompetent and unworthy.

3. Don’t take their power away. When we take decision-making power out of people’s hands, we leave them feeling useless and incompetent. There may be times when we need to step in and make hard decisions for other people (ie. when they’re dealing with an addiction and an intervention feels like the only thing that will save them), but in almost every other case, people need the autonomy to make their own choices (even our children).

4. Keep your own ego out of it. This is a big one. We all get caught in that trap now and then – when we begin to believe that someone else’s success is dependent on our intervention, or when we think that their failure reflects poorly on us, or when we’re convinced that whatever emotions they choose to unload on us are about us instead of them. But that doesn’t serve anyone – not even me. To truly support their growth, I need to keep my ego out of it and create the space where they have the opportunity to grow and learn.

5. Make them feel safe enough to fail. When people are learning, growing, or going through grief or transition, they are bound to make some mistakes along the way. When we, as their space holders, withhold judgement and shame, we offer them the opportunity to reach inside themselves to find the courage to take risks and the resilience to keep going even when they fail. When we let them know that failure is simply a part of the journey and not the end of the world, they’ll spend less time beating themselves up for it and more time learning from their mistakes.

6. Give guidance and help with humility and thoughtfulness. A wise space holder knows when to withhold guidance (ie. when it makes a person feel foolish and inadequate) and when to offer it gently (ie. when a person asks for it or is too lost to know what to ask for). This is a careful dance that we all must do when we hold space for other people. Recognizing the areas in which they feel most vulnerable and incapable and offering the right kind of help without shaming them takes practice and humility.

7. Create a container for complex emotions, fear, trauma, etc. When people feel that they are held in a deeper way than they are used to, they feel safe enough to allow complex emotions to surface that might normally remain hidden. Someone who is practiced at holding space knows that this can happen and will be prepared to hold it in a gentle, supportive, and nonjudgmental way.

The space becomes a circle where people feel safe enough to fall apart without fearing that this will leave them permanently broken or that they will be shamed by others in the room. Someone is always there to offer strength and courage. This is not easy work, and it is work. We cannot do it if we are overly emotional ourselves, if we haven’t done the hard work of looking into our own shadow, or if we don’t trust the people we are holding space for.

8. Allow them to make different decisions and to have different experiences than you would. Holding space is about respecting each person’s differences and recognizing that those differences may lead to them making choices that we would not make. Sometimes, for example, they make choices based on cultural norms that we can’t understand from within our own experience. When we hold space, we release control and we honor differences.

I would love to hear your feedback on this post. Please leave me a comment or send me an email. What do you think about the concept of holding space? Do you intentionally practice it? Were the 8 tips helpful to you in knowing how to be a space holder?

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Words Of Transformation

7/5/2016

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A friend sent me a post with a morning prayer that I really enjoy. It embodies several elements that I appreciate...intentions, virtues, commonality, oneness.

I thought you might enjoy it as well, so I decided to share it in this week's post. Here it is.

Created by Janice Paul

What can a person think, say or do on a daily basis that could help transform their daily lives?

WORDS THAT CAN TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE

The idea is simple. Simply ask each day to be guided and led through your thoughts. Ask each morning that every thought, action, word and feeling be led. Be led by an understanding as to how much we impact each other. How much we need and depend upon one another to be led into another existence of each other. Another existence that is filled with hope, self-forgiveness, self-understanding and self-compassion. Which is then transformed and shared with others as hope, forgiveness, understanding and compassion. With this leading your way each day, the possibilities are endless as to what can be achieved and overcome.

Every morning, silently recite the following to yourself:

Please allow my every feeling, thought, word and action to be led into my existence. My existence which is filled with hope, self -forgiveness, self-understanding and self-compassion. I am helping to transform my every feeling, thought, word and action into the greater good of others thought intention which then travels through the pathway of oneness. Which results in becoming hope, forgiveness, understanding and compassion for others. This is my way of helping me to feel strong, my way of helping others and my way to be a part of helping to make significant world change.

I would love to hear your thoughts on these words of transformation. Please leave me a comment or send me an email.

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