Resources: Articles
March 2009: Live With Intent
Living life to the fullest requires INTENT. You can walk the walk, and talk the talk, but if you don't have intention with those actions you are just going through the motions. This principle applies to every aspect of your life including how you take care of yourself. Whether it is how you eat, your exercise routine, or how you care for yourself, or how you foster your relationships you should do so with focus and present-time consciousness.
What I am talking about is when you are sitting at a family dinner, socializing at a cocktail party, or driving your kids to school you should take that particular moment to truly connect. If you have scheduled time to work out then make the most of it by fostering your mind body connection. Put down your magazine on the elliptical machine, don't check your PDA for emails between sets, and FOCUS. Thinking about the muscles that you are trying to strengthen or just losing yourself in your favorite tunes to help relax your mind and reignite a love for exercise will increase the effectiveness of your workout and its benefits tenfold.
You should apply this same principle to the rest of your health. For example. take time out to really enjoy your meals. Don't just stand at your kitchen island and choke back your dinner. The longer you take to eat the more time your body has to tell you that it is full so you will end up eating less and digesting more efficiently.
In terms of your health care, commit to keeping yourself well. Don't look for the easy answer of a prescription or a pill for a problem. Be intent on living a healthy lifestyle and work on being in touch with what your body needs, whether it is more sleep, LESS STRESS, more flexibility, more green veggies, or just more time to yourself. In our hectic lives it is easy to get lost in your list of things to do that or the number of items that you need to multi-task that you forget to take time and just LIVE your life. Life shouldn't be about the end game it should be about the here and now, so my advice: LIVE WITH INTENT!