Living to the Maximum in Mind, Body & Spirit: Pt. II Body
“What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.”
I have traveled many paths searching for fulfillment and happiness in an attempt to distance myself from (dis)ease and inner turmoil. I went from being a youth intern at a God-fearing church while attending seminary school to a self-proclaimed satanist who studied the Qabalistic occult magick of Aleister Crowley. I have seen psychiatrists, counselors, and psychics. I have moved from state to state. I have gone to great lengths experimenting with every research-based drug under the sun. I micro dosed LSD and mushrooms for a year. There was a long period of time I dosed my morning coffee with MDMA. I have been prescribed at least 5 different antidepressants and anxiety medications. After coming off heroin and anxiety meds I moved to Colorado where marijuana was legal. And yes, I even tried the acclaimed ketamine treatment. NOTHING!
I started this article series with the mind. The mind is the most transient, transmutable, and temporal of the trinity that make up existence. The mind is fleeting, but the final two parts of this series become progressively more stationary. With the mind being the most temporal and the spirit being eternal, it only makes sense that the body somehow lays between. The body is like the corpus collosum, connecting the hemispheres in the brain. It is a bridge between the left and right, perceived experience and reality, thoughts and actuality, a moment and eternity.
We all know the mind can play games and change quicker than good weather. Feelings of sorrow engulf experience one moment, then elation a few minutes later. Similarly, the body changes. But, it doesn’t change like the day-to-day weather forecast. Changes of the body occur more like the seasons. It follows a curve that’s slow and steady. The body only changes as the person begins to commit their behaviors to a new way of living. In a sense, the body is an outward expression of an inward commitment to the true self/spirit within. The self God wants us to be. The self the spirit knows and the mind dreams about.
A fascinating thing happens to the mind when the body begins to change for the better, towards global health. In my experience thoughts of suicide ideation, fear, anxiety, self-loathing and depression began to dissipate. Those thoughts began to lose frequency and intensity. This happened within a few weeks of sobriety because I was no longer dripping poison into my bloodstream on a hourly basis.
Cessation from substance is tapping into a stream of passive health benefits. Small changes occur and the mind begins to see the possibilities, it begins to work with and for the spirit, but it longs for more. It wants to be congruent with the true self. Freedom from obsessing over low self-esteem is not enough. The mind needs to see the empirical evidence. It needs to be convinced those thoughts are in the past and only good for the birds. Therefore, the mind pushes the body to achieve what the spirit knows it can.
Every mind, body, spirit relationship is different. Mine, for example, pushed me towards triathlon (but i’m a little psycho). For some people the push from the mind/spirit communication will lead them to getting a fit-bit and walking 10,000 steps a day. Ultimately, I believe active health is following the gut (no pun intended) towards activity and diet change. It is possible and the benefits are worth every moment and bead of sweat.
Taking small steps towards what your gut is telling you is going to get you to a better place physically. Pretty soon you will be doing things you never imagined. I started hopping in the pool for a few laps before yoga… now I swim about 5 miles a week! I decided to stop eating fried chicken… and now find myself drooling over salads and bowls of fresh fruit! But be realistic. It is easy to begin to feel down on yourself with diet and exercise. So start small. Supplement eating with something like the Juice-Plus daily vitamins I advocate and distribute. When you begin putting good things like Juice-Plus in your body, you begin to crave more goodness and distain from the unnatural. You too will start drooling over salads!
In the final part of this series I will discuss how health in the spirit leads to the peace that we all search for. As glimmers of spiritual health, or Maslow’s “self-actualization,” begins to shine across the sea of life, a whole new realm of existence becomes a possibility. The benefits of being mentally stable and physically fit are dwarfed by the promises that unfold when you begin to unlock the treasures inside your own spiritual gifts.
Stay tuned!
JUice-Plus
Can be the first step towards your physical goals!
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Please share with me the experiences you have when you decide to take this step in your diet!