Why it is SO IMPORTANT how we FEEL- ESPECIALLY WHEN we are eating.
“Everything we eat and drink is information telling our bodies how to heal.” -Sean Stevenson
Every bite of food, every drink we sip, and EVERYTHING we ingest, is programming our bodies how to heal, or how NOT to.
It is a sobering reminder for those of us who have spent YEARS snacking on foods with preservatives, carbohydrates, and sugars, spending time in our food addictions and eating something comforting every time we experience stress. When we are completely and totally honest with ourselves, the majority of us don’t look in the mirror with extreme pride and self-love. Most of us get right on to judgment and self-loathing, and so often we simply avoid the mirror.
A lot of what is going on INSIDE of us is manifesting on the OUTSIDE of us. It takes months, or sometimes even YEARS for the outside, physical state to mirror what has been going on inside of us, but it ALWAYS does. Our habitual ways of thinking dictate how we habitually feel. How we feel results in decisions and actions taken, and these things soon become habitual. What we eat is often habitual. In moments of duress, stress, or extreme physical pain, I have noticed that my willpower fades quite quickly, and I tend to go straight to the cupboards and seek out ANYTHING with TONS of sugars for an immediate feeling of relief.
Here is a fun fact: Children contain around 60,000 miles of blood vessels in their tiny human body. Adults have around 100,000 miles of blood vessels. It takes only TWO pumps of the human heart to move the blood in a complete circle throughout the ENTIRE body, and ALL of those miles, assuming it is a relatively healthy body.
The reason it matters SO MUCH how we feel, ESPECIALLY WHILE we are eating, is because of our chemical makeup AT THE TIME of consuming information in the form of food and drink that has the potential to heal us. You see, what we think INSTANTLY determines the cascade of chemicals and hormones that will be IMMEDIATELY injected into our blood streams. Within two pumps of the heart, these chemicals and hormones have reached the ENTIRE BODY, seeping into our tissues and organs, and sharing information through these chemicals and hormones that IMMEDIATELY dictate not only how we FEEL, but also how we HEAL. The information contained within the food or beverages we choose intermingles with these chemicals and hormones.
If we are suffering the ill-effects of accumulated stress, fatigue, anger, hatred, frustration, and resentment, and that is all we can think about, and it is all we have been thinking about for weeks, months, or even YEARS, the quality of the chemicals consistently and instantly being injected into and immediately pumped by the heart throughout the entire blood vessel system to EVERY part of our body through the blood vessels, the eventual effects are predictable. Ill health, diseases of ALL kinds, MASSIVE inflammation, depression, lack of energy, inability to operate at an optimal level, and certainly a weakened ability to think, speak, and make decisions effectively are ALL just a FEW of the effects that come from FEELINGS.
If we are feeling happy, calm, rested, energetic, excited, and like we are surrounded by love, having MUCH to be grateful for, and if we are extremely comfortable in our present environment, the cascade of chemicals and hormones that are instantly injected into our bloodstream are of a totally different makeup, providing TOTALLY different information for our bodies to read and be programmed by. THESE chemicals and hormones, when combined with ANY information given by ANYTHING we eat or drink, will result in greater healing capacity, than a consistently angry, rageful, resentful gym rat that ONLY eats certain items from an incredibly healthy and strict diet plan.
Can you imagine how the people that consistently eat and drink ONLY healthy choices AND feel good all the time probably feel? It really isn’t difficult to see why high performers live such incredible lives of wealth and abundance! They have decided their good thinking habits, which then dictate their habitual ways of FEELING and BEING. When we dial this ONE thing in, EVERY OTHER THING in our lives falls perfectly and effortlessly into place, or out of our lives ENTIRELY.
How long does it take you to calm down after totally losing your shit? Really! IT MATTERS. An event happens, we instantly react with RAGE, and a certain set of chemicals and hormones are immediately released into the body. These chemicals and hormones react and provide a program telling our bodies how to react or respond. THE VERY NEXT MOMENT IS ENTIRELY UP TO US. Do we then think thoughts of rage, violence, and revenge, or are we able to immediately calm and sooth our minds with thoughts that will re-release the chemicals we WANT to circulate within our bodies?
The GOOD news is that FEELINGS come from THOUGHTS, and WE are in charge of our thoughts! Our thoughts are OUR responsibility, and no one else in this world can tell us what or how we HAVE to think and feel.
BRILLIANT advertisers have spent TRILLIONS of dollars and have conducted research and studies for DECADES, to discover how to control the human mind, and program it to think from a place of lack, to program the body to feel as though we are incomplete, or something is missing, believing that in order to feel WHOLE and COMPLETE, we must buy THINGS outside of us, in order to then FINALLY “fix” what is wrong INSIDE of us. Many of us are part of a system that endeavors to remove as much of our hard-earned money from our pockets as it possibly can, in a race towards abundance for the few, rather than a race to benefit the greater good of the collective whole.
WE ARE IN CHARGE OF OUR THOUGHTS! Or, are we? Have we been programmed to think certain ways, believe certain things, respond in certain ways, and to BE a certain way? On a scale of 1 to 10, how “in control” of your thought do you really feel you actually ARE, or are you, like me, on autopilot for a majority of your day? What do you spend the majority of your time each day actually thinking about? Are you also a card-holding member of The Itty Bitty Shitty-Thinking Committee, like I have been for most of my life?
When I first answered these questions, I told myself I am a perfect 10. There it was! The EGO. As I processed this question, started actually keeping a time journal to be more aware of the time I was spending on certain thoughts, and took a deeper look into myself, separating the WHAT I am, with the WHO I identify as in this human body, I had to swallow my pride and allow WHAT I am tell WHO I THINK I am that 10 wasn’t even CLOSE to accurate.
How many ORIGINAL thoughts do you think you have had in a lifetime? I’m not sure ANY of my thoughts are actually ORIGINAL, as I have always learned from books, speaking with those I consider to be wiser than myself, and the people I have always been surrounded by. I was lucky to have an INCREDIBLE group of people that I grew up around, and I constantly absorbed as much experience and wisdom from them as I possibly could, in order to live “The Right Way,” whatever THAT means.
I have learned much about healthy habits and better ways of eating. In 2014, I was unable to walk. I was overweight, MASSIVELY depressed, suicidal, unable to work, and suffering a great deal from degenerative disc disease. Three of the doctors I saw all told me to apply for disability, explaining that my condition would NEVER get better, and there was a very small chance I would ever work again. This hopeless diagnosis from these doctors didn’t help with the depression, but 2014 was the year of change. With the help of the woman I was married at the time, a decision and a commitment were made to go off ALL of the psychotropic medications I had been taking for the previous 15 years. Within two months, I had my mind back, and was able to think MUCH more clearly. This resulted in making much better decisions.
It was a time for new beginnings. I began to learn new ways of thinking and doing things, experimenting with new habits, and re-creating my personal reality. All along the way, FEELING GOOD, ALL THE TIME, has become one of the main themes and desires of my life.
There are MANY things we can do to FEEL GOOD, RIGHT AWAY. There are also many things we can do CONSISTNETLY AND HABITUALLY that will empower us to FEEL GOOD, ALL THE TIME. Who, in their right mind, doesn’t want to feel good ALL the time? Do you think feeling good ALL the time is available to you? I used to not think it was available to ME, which is why I felt compelled to write and share this article.
Here is a list of things to try. ANY of these things, when practiced and made into a HABIT, can and will improve the overall, general quality of this life experience for ANYONE willing to do it. Practicing ALL of these habits will IMMENSELY improve the quality of this life experience.
HABIT #1: Before eating or drinking ANYTHING, at ANY time, check in with how you currently FEEL. Take 6 deep breaths, inhaling slowly and completely, then exhaling slowly and completely. As you do, begin thinking of everything you are grateful for, happy about, or are in love with, RIGHT NOW. Doing this regularly will habitually alter and reprogram your brain and body to ONLY inject and circulate HELPFUL, HEALING chemicals and information to combine and benefit the health of your body, in EVERY way, no matter WHAT you eat, but really, WHAT we eat MATTERS, and we ALL are aware of this, even though some of us still want to claim ignorance and not knowing for some of our health issues. It’s a great excuse, but living in The Information Age has sort of eliminated excuses of ignorance and not knowing.
In truth, this is a HIGHLY USEFUL practice that can be used ANY time feelings of anger, stress, anxiety, frustration, or other feelings which produce harmful chemistry within us, are experienced throughout the day.
HABIT #2: Tom Bilyeu is one of MANY high performers that teaches meditation as the most powerful and underutilized tool available to EVERYONE who endeavors to improve the quality of THINKING, FEELING, and BEING. He has stated that it is the ONE THING he wish he would have started his ENTIRE life journey knowing about and practicing DAILY. If you don’t know who he is, or what he and his wife have been doing to change the world, and at what level they do it, I invite you to plug his name into Google, or the YouTube search engine. It took a year for me to read Tim Ferriss’ book, TRIBE OF MENTORES, but about 90% of the high performers he interviewed for that book all practice DAILY meditation. The audio book, STRESS LESS, ACCOMPLISH MORE, by Emily Fletcher, is the one thing that FINALLY convinced me to begin meditation. For years I put it off, believing I would screw it up, and not really knowing which KIND of meditation to try, but her book made it EASY. I now regret not starting this practice SOONER, and making it a daily habit. SO MANY highly successful, happy, healthy people meditate. I highly recommend buying the audio version of this book, giving it a try for yourself, and listening to the book AT LEAST once a year. The daily habit of a meditative practice has FAR TOO MANY benefits to ignore.
HABIT #3: Exercise. ANYTHING is better than nothing at all. Even when we are EXHAUSTED, a short walk, yoga, stretching, 10 push-ups, 1 pull-up, or 20 jumping jacks can help our circulation, energize us, and immediately help us to FEEL better. ANY physical activity releases a cascade of beneficial chemicals and hormones. Once exercise is a daily habit, it gets easier and easier. Consistency compounds, and so does consistently FEELING BETTER. Many people seek perfection over progress, but the hard truth is that perfection is unattainable, and only an excuse used by those who wish to remain exactly where they are at.
HABIT #4: SLEEP. There are MANY studies and TONS of research that prove the importance of sleep. The previous 3 habits will all help with the habit of sleep. We are all different, and we all have different needs, especially when it comes to sleep. Research this topic for yourself, and decide what is best for you. I believe that we each know what we TRULY need better than anyone else on this planet, and if we listen to that “Inner Guide,” or our intuition, or gut instinct, we will know what to do. What we need changes as we do, and what works today, may not work for us a year from now, and that’s okay. “Humans are the ULTIMATE ADAPTATION MACHINE!” Tom Bilyeu.
HABIT #5: NUTRITION. It isn’t as important as FEELING GOOD, ALL THE TIME, in my opinion, but it is MASSIVELY impactful on our over-all, eventual health and longevity, and certainly has an impact on HOW WE FEEL. Inflammation is the #1 cause of depression, and inflammation comes from our nutrition. “If you think it’s expensive to eat healthy, just wait til you see the bill for NOT eating healthy!” -Jim Rohn. He has an excellent point. Imagine how much MORE energetic and productive you would be, how much MORE skilled and wealthier you would be, if you had all of these habits down and practiced each one daily, to the very best of your ability! As we consistently do our very best, our very best consistently gets better and better.
HABIT #6: SEX. IT FEELS GOOD. There are MANY reasons for that! The endorphins that are released during sex completely alter the energetic, physiological, chemical, hormonal, magnetic fields we exist in and are a part of, and IMMENSELY improves the frequencies that we constantly vibrate at. Being a part of a loving, giving, generous, intensely intimate expression during sex is mind-altering, chemically altering, and absolutely alters the way we FEEL. I’m not saying have sex EVERY day, but…wait-why not?
HABIT #7: SUN. Get some sunlight. If it isn’t available, and ESPECIALLY if you suffer from seasonal depression disorder, get a light that will imitate the effects of the sun! Being in the sun for only 10 to 15 minutes causes a chemical reaction in our bodies that provides us with vitamin D, which is HIGHLY important in the production of energy that our body needs to operate at an optimal level. Done consistently and regularly, this habit will help the body accumulate the abundance of energy it needs.
HABIT #8: BOMBARD YOUR BRAIN. If you are anything like me, MOST of what is going through your head was put there by the misperceptions of the well-intended teachings of others when you were younger, and throughout your entire life, leading to a MASSIVELY POOR SELF-IMAGE. Our self-image is one of the most important works of art we will ever work on while in this life. Dr. Bruce Lipton’s DECADES of research as a cellular biologist teaches us that from birth to age 7, we are MUCH more susceptible to programming and belief acquisition, and around the age of 7, our brains switch into a totally different wave capability, leaving us, “fully programmed,” and ready to tackle life with this particular set of beliefs. This means that MOST OF US are literally living life according to the programming of a 7-year-old. I know, I know, that hurt my feelings when I heard it, too. I certainly didn’t want to believe it, but as I thought about it, I found it to be true for ME. Dr. Bruce Lipton and Dr. Joe Dispenza, as well as MANY other research-scientists, are in agreement that the only way to improve or change the programming of an adult brain is through REPETITION. If we think about it, we recognize that about 80% of what we think about is repeated from the previous day. Unhappy? Frustrated? Depressed? Anxious? Suicidal? Angry? ALL of these feelings are results of repetitive, habitual thinking patterns. Again, the GOOD news is that FEELINGS come from THOUGHTS, and WE are in charge of our thoughts! Our thoughts are OUR responsibility, and no one else in this world can tell us what or how we HAVE to think and feel.
When we BOMBARD OUR BRAIN with new content, and listen to what we WANT to occupy our minds on repeat, our subconscious becomes reprogrammed, and our physical brain actually, literally rewires itself to match the structures and patterns of these new thoughts! In his Tedx talk, Dr. Joe Dispenza explains that when a new thought is thunk, neurons come together to support this new thought. If it is only thought once, or twice, the neurons then separate and move on to the thoughts that are consistently being repeated. If we think the new thought, or listen to the new content, over and over and over, the neurons that once supported the OLD ways of thinking and all of those OLD thought patterns, are then recruited to the NEW thoughts that are being repeated. REPETITION IS THE KEY. CONSISTENCY is the magic ingredient of CREATING NEW HABITS. To create a new habit, one must consistently repeat the new habit for MONTHS, before seeing the desired results that will motivate and energize the programmer of this new habit to KEEP AT IT. Shitty habits ONLY produce shitty results. If you are feeling shitty, most likely you have shitty habits, and THAT’S OKAY! It’s perfectly normal. If that is how you want to continue feeling, keep thinking what you have been thinking, keep talking about what you have been talking about, and keep doing what you have been doing. If you actually desire to experience a MASSIVE CHANGE in the way you feel, all that is required is a MASSIVE CHANGE in your habits. REPETITION IS THE KEY. CONSISTENCY is the magic ingredient of creating new HABITS.
YOU ARE IN CHARGE. YOU ARE THE DRIVER OF THIS VEHICLE WE CALL THE HUMAN BODY. YOU ARE THE PROGRAMMER! Decide what you want, roll up your sleeves, and get to work! You will NEVER regret doing what results ONLY in FEELING GOOD, ALL THE TIME. I really do think you DESERVE to!
HABIT #9: FINANCES. There are MANY financial gurus out there, and there always have been. These gurus are those who are an EXCELLENT SOURCE to draw from, for the simple fact that RESULTS DON’T LIE, and they are gurus BECAUSE OF THEIR RESULTS. A super short, super-easy book to read on finances is, THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON, by George S. Clason. I picked up my copy at a used book store for only $6. His advice is GENIOUS, and shared through a story of olden time. MANY of us feel the feelings of fear, stress, and anxiety that come from not having our financial world in order. We tend to focus on excuses as to why we “can’t” get ahead, instead of seeking out those who have already been in our very situation, AND WORSE, only to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix, and live a live of extreme financial abundance! I once heard Tom Bilyeu say, “A stupid man NEVER learns from his mistakes. A smart man will eventually learn from his mistakes. A WISE man chooses to learn from the mistakes of OTHERS.” There is WISDOM in learning from others, especially when they have been where we currently are, but are currently where we want to be.
HABIT #10: DO SOMETHING NEW AND UNCOMFORTABLE. DO THIS DAILY. Drive a different way home, from work. Sit at a different table at lunchtime. Prioritize your tasks for the day, and tackle the most difficult one, FIRST! Say hello to someone new, and ask them a question. Try a new, healthy meal. Read, instead of turning on the tv, or mindlessly scrolling through your phone. Plant something. Get a pet. Take a class. Join a support group. CREATE a support group. The more comfortable we become with being uncomfortable, the more adaptable we become! These effects compound, and the results are STAGGERING. CONSISTENTLY doing hard things makes us more skilled, more capable, more experienced, more valuable, more confident, and much less fearful.
HABIT #11: GROUNDING/FOREST-BATHING. Get out into nature. There are MANY positive effects that come from being outside and reconnecting with Mother Earth-ESPECIALLY when you are bare-foot. At a molecular level, the atoms in our bodies consistently accumulate a negative charge. Eventually, this over-accumulation of negative charges at the molecular level results in acidity within our body, and the pH of our personal chemical makeup changes our internal environment, which lowers our immune system, and makes us more susceptible to illnesses and diseases. Cancer THRIVES in an acidic environment. Walking bare-foot on the ground out in nature, or even on the grass in a park or in the front yard, rids us of this over-abundance of negative charges. Mother Earth assumes responsibility for ALL of it, and leaves us in a state of more optimized healing. Radio waves, micro-waves, telecommunications, harmful vibrational frequencies created from habitual negative thinking, and SO MANY OTHER harmful, man-made consequences that we can’t even see, are constantly bombarding us, constantly passing through us, and harming us. Mother Earth is waiting for us to reconnect, wanting to help us rid ourselves of the harmful effects of these man-made devices. It is entirely up to us to habitually take a few minutes out of each day to RE-GROUND, RECONNECT, RE-CENTER, AND REPAIR. An INCREDIBLY powerful documentary to watch regarding this topic is called, THE EARTHING MOVEMENT. The last time I watched it, it was for free on YouTube.
HABIT #12: OVER-HYDRATE. ESPECIALLY if you have degenerative disc disease or back issues. The last body parts to actually assimilate fluids are the discs between our vertebrae. Do your research on the water you are over-hydrating with. It really does matter a LOT more than we know. Water that is devoid of minerals will actually pull the minerals out of our bodies the instant we drink it.
This life is a PRACTICE, and so are each of these habits. I learned, recently, that THERE ARE OTHER WAYS OF BEING. Some of these other ways of being are WAY more enjoyable than “The RIGHT way,” I thought I was expected to adhere to for the rest of my life. The old, rigid, black-and-white, all-or-nothing ways of being that I used to practice were not AT ALL serving me, or empowering me to constantly re-create a life of more and more abundance in ALL areas available to EVERY ONE OF US, as beings inhabiting these temporary, physical, human bodies. We are ALL capable of doing and having more, progressively leveling up in life, just as if it were a video game. Jesse Elder teaches, “You already won the game of life the day you were born. Everything else within this life experience is just a BONUS ROUND.”
No matter who we are, there is ALWAYS more to learn, more we can do, more we can acquire, more we can enjoy, and more that we can GIVE. There is ALWAYS more out there, if that is what we WANT. There is ALWAYS more to learn, if THAT is what we want. I think the most important thing in this life, however, is to learn to habitually practice SELF-LOVE, SELF-ACCEPTANCE, and SELF-APPRECIATION. When we TRULY learn to do this, we are FAR more capable of giving the same gift to OTHERS, and EVERY interaction we are blessed to be a part of is an opportunity for us to practice BEING LOVE. When we consistently and habitually to our very best to interact with others from a place of PURE LOVE, it progressively gets EASIER. That’s what “practice” is all about-progressively getting BETTER.
So, for LUCKY HABIT #13: SELF-IMPROVEMENT. “We can get better. We can get stronger. We can get smarter.” -Jim Rohn. Self-improvement leads to a better self-image. A better self-image leads to FEELING better, and the ability to love, accept, and appreciate oneself even MORE. When we FEEL better, we naturally and easily DO better, in ALL areas of our lives. SELF-IMPROVEMENT IS A LIFE-LONG COMMITMENT. It is a very personal practice, but, again, “A stupid man NEVER learns from his mistakes. A smart man will eventually learn from his mistakes. A WISE man chooses to learn from the mistakes of OTHERS.” There is WISDOM in learning from others, especially when they have been where we currently are, but are currently where we want to be.
Seek out others who ALREADY ARE where you want to be. CHOOSE THEM for your source of wisdom, inspiration, and motivation, rather than listening to and heeding the words and opinions of so many who want to tell you all about what you should do and how you should do it, without ever having even experienced any of it for themselves. The SOURCE(S) of our information, inspiration, and motivation can make all the difference in the world. Research your chosen source. DIVE DEEPLY! Know EVERYTHING about them. Know what habits they practice daily, and try them out for yourself. Know that ANYTHING NEW feels awkward and uncomfortable, but with persistence and consistent effort, it is possible that you pass up your expectations of your own desires and create something even more beautiful than you were originally planning to!
Years ago, I was discouraged after receiving negative feedback from someone about my writing. I expressed to my son, Dravyn, who was 15 at the time, that I felt like giving up. I was frustrated, because of all the time, energy, and effort that I was putting into my website, writing a book, crafting blogs, designing online classes, and creating social media posts. Despite all of the positive feedback I was receiving each day, the negative feedback sort of took the wind right out of me sails. I felt dejected, and started to question if what I was doing was worth the time, energy, and effort. “Do you enjoy it?” he asked. “I LOVE it!” was my response. “Then no matter what others say, dad, just KEEP GOING. KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING.” That advice stuck with me, and I think of it every day. When I am tired, I accept myself as tired. When I feel hopeless, dejected, rejected, or of little value, I let it go, and I KEEP GOING. I KEEP DOING WHAT I AM DOING. There is no reason to make a permanent decision based upon a temporary emotion. Emotions come and go, like waves crashing on the shore, then retreating back into the ocean, but these feelings and emotions we experience are the product and immediate result of WHAT WE ARE THINKING IN THE CURRENT MOMENT, and WE are in charge of that.
You deserve to be HAPPY. You deserve to FEEL GOOD, ALL THE TIME! This is available to you, but only if you believe it! WE are in charge of designing the life of our dreams. NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU. We are meant to save ourselves. If you are in pain, and have been victimized by circumstances, situations, or people in your life, know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Our pain is a BLESSING. Our pain is information telling us that what we are currently thinking and doing needs to be altered and that we need to recalibrate our habitual way of thinking and being, or we will keep experiencing more of the same. Once we learn how to navigate THROUGH our pain (we can’t really go around it or avoid it-the same damn lessons keep coming until we learn them,) then we have the opportunity to share what we have learned with others. Zig Ziglar said, “You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life FOREVER.” A REAL healer, a TRUE healer, doesn’t heal others. A true healer empowers OTHERS with the tools, skills, wisdom, knowledge, and experiences to HEAL THEMSELVES.
There are SO MANY ways of thinking, doing, and BEING. The possibilities are LIMITLESS. We are creators. Go create something beautiful, and magnificent! Go create something that is worthy of WHAT YOU TRULY ARE.