This past week has turned into a rather unintentional series of events that will set the stage for the entire year. I am fully aware that there are amazing opportunities that lie ahead, awaiting me to discover them. It is my responsibility to go after them.
In setting out to be more purposeful with all aspects of my life this year, I have first begun planning what I want to accomplish with my health coaching this year. I am getting organized, putting things on the calendar, and holding myself responsible to see to it that I get things done on time.
Having said that, I am aware that I failed to get this blog out on time this week. The reason for that is the fact that my husband and I decided to do a detox/cleanse, which we started on Thursday. It is a 4 day detox designed to reset digestion, heal any intestinal irritation, and get the body burning fat.
We do this detox several times a year, and it really makes us feel great. Winter, however, is a terrible time to do it. I remember one other time we felt that we needed to detox from all the holiday junk we ate; I had a very hard time staying warm. At night, I felt like I was freezing to death!
Of course, I had forgotten about that until we had already started the detox. I knew that metabolically, it was not the best time, but we really wanted to start the year off from a place of relative health, being free from unhealthy cravings, and being committed to focusing on eating seasonally.
Today is the final day of our detox. I am free of the chocolate cravings that was causing me to binge on dark chocolate. One of the side effects of a good detox is feeling lethargic. This is caused by the toxins getting released from your fat as your body returns to its most effective means of fueling the body—burning fat.
Your liver will remove those now loose toxins, but it can cause you to feel tired, achy, or even mildly sick. My husband and I both had a headache yesterday, and no desire to do much of anything. Of course, the unusually cold weather that we had been having all week didn’t help. Today is a better day.
A few days ago, I started reading a book, just for fun. It’s something that I don’t do very often because I am constantly reading about the body and nutrition. The book is called The Shack. It is a book I have been wanting to read for a long time. My mother had it, and she just gave it to me to read.
It is not a thick book so I decided to just jump right into reading it. It is a very thought provoking book that I recommend everyone read. The title, and even the description on the back cover, would cause many people to pass it over. Fortunately, I had heard about this book for several years. I had heard that it was a really great book, so I took the opportunity to read it.
I am not quite finished with it, but I can tell you that it is an amazing book. The author has a unique way of addressing issues that everyone faces throughout their lifetime, and sometimes on a daily basis. As you are guided through the very tragic storyline, you are given insights and hope that point to a bigger picture, and an opportunity to live and view life from the goodness of our Creator rather than from the despair of the world around us.
No matter where you stand on your beliefs of God, it leaves one to ponder, “What if it were true?” It begs for deeper consideration. I would, honestly, rather believe in a love story than anything else. It is the way that I choose to live my life, being kind to others, and building meaningful relationships.
So, this book is also an important part of setting the stage for me for 2017. It reminds me to foster all relationships in a loving way, no matter how trivial they seem at the time. Things always turn out better when I invest love in them. Life is so short, and one never really knows how a single act of kindness affects another person or animal; it could be a pivotal moment in that individual’s life.
So, I would say, the first week of 2017 has had many important things come up that will help me to structure the rest of the year. I don’t believe that resolutions work, so instead of setting resolutions, I am focusing on improving all areas of my life. It all has to do with relationships, both with myself and with others.
Romans 4:13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.
