I think it's time we destroyed a misconception that's propagated widely in the world. That misconception is:  If I'm skinny, I'm healthy.

I have talked to so many women and have found that among those that don't need to lose weight, despite having a multitude of known health conditions, they will commonly say, “but overall I'm healthy.”

Now, sadly, this flies in the face of reason because if you've got known health conditions, despite wanting to proclaim your health, you no longer can stand as being healthy.

What I have found is, many of these women look at themselves and say,  I'm the correct size for my body, my BMI is great, when I go to the doctor, they think I'm doing a fantastic job.  

But how off does it feel to be able to say both “I don’t feel well” and “I think I am quite healthy because of my size”?  Now, I get it, because we live in a world which evaluates overall health, success and value on what our...

So I was getting a Shiatsu massage the other day and I noticed, just how much I hold tightness in my body.

So, the therapist was raising my arm above my head and I felt like I was totally relaxed and he says, can you let your arm go?

I had to check in with it... really... it's not let go, and then I felt it.

I was totally holding my arm up...so, I checked in and then I let it go.

A little while later he was doing a transition move, bringing me back to a reclined position holding my head. He says, you can let your neck relax. I've got you.

And I just thought about that.

I've got you.

I started to ponder, just how much we hold, how much tightness we have that we don't even notice.

I thought about how profound that is in healing... for the experience of the tiny parts of us.

I have this deep fascination with the experience of my cells. And I am certain that the experience of my cells is the experience of my life.
So if my cells feel fed and nourished and heard and...

How do we combat the overwhelming fear that is pretty much now the mantra of the world we live in?

How do we do that in the midst of bad news or alarming news or irritating news almost everywhere?

So many are getting consumed and overwhelmed by what is being said….I don't even watch it listen to major media, but when I check headlines, what I typically find is a multitude of stories indicating: it is not safe, we are not well, and there are crazy people everywhere so watch out

So, what's the answer? Do we dig in, get more informed and thus more anxious? Is that how we solve it?

What if it begins with us?

One of the things that I found is that restoring my own personal world, I really believe is the vehicle for restoring the world at large.

Now, before you get stuck thinking I am speaking about head in the sand or isolationism, let me explain.

There is an interconnectedness between all of us, whether we realize it or not,
and none of us can be immune or set aside...

I was thinking the other day about how we as women have this tendency to be underfed.

It's really something that shows up at every level of our life, but I think it's best observed in the relationship we have with food.

I talk to women all the time who say, I feel better if I just don't eat.
It's such a funny statement because it's a place of learned distancing from our physical self.

We live in a body that cannot survive on nothing. Our cells are looking for fuel, for fats, proteins and carbohydrates every single day.  

Yet, too many women have adapted to feel best when they avoid putting food into their body...maybe it is the emptiness...the sense of a flat stomach, feeling light, thin and airy.

As a general rule, we don't like it when we feel full and there's such an irony there because if we cannot fuel our physical body, then how are we going to fuel our dreams? What is it going to be based off of?

Think about it, you can't run a car without some sort of fuel...

I've noticed a really peculiar phenomena with women in their fifties... there's either a sense of urgency:

I want to live out loud now

or there is a sense of….

I don't know, maybe I have time, let me see….I'm gonna try 15 more options before I take a big leap.

Now, we all know how time seems to speed up as we traverse our life. We've been in that space where you realize something that feels like it happened six months ago happened three years ago and the funny thing is, when it comes to our body, we don't have a leeway of playing with the next five years in maybes and halfways and not done but almost there.

Our physiology has limits and when we cross those limits, it's done.

I look at these beautiful women in their fifties who are filled with vision for life...ideas of thriving and participating in big, dynamic, bountiful, beautiful ways.

Yet, too often,  I watch them shrink back into the space of exhaustion, the space of wear down and fatigue.

...

Here’s how you can change your life in the next 5 minutes...

Ask yourself….what is the experience like to be a cell inside my body?  Is it a life where I feel happy...relaxed...joyful...peaceful? Does much of life feel constrained and tight? Does my daily experience involve large amounts of negativity or worry? Or Does it feel like there is a constant supply of nourishment?

Maybe you have never thought about the cellular experience inside of you, maybe you have always considered your body as a whole...but there is something magical about thinking at the cellular level.  

Our dreams, purpose, vision and even our goals find their fostering inside the cell...in the experience of being alive and being us.  So, ask yourself, am I experiencing the fostering, nurturing and expansion of my purpose, my vision, my goals?

See, each cell has a different personality...or as my 11 year old puts it...each cell is a universe unto itself.  I love this thought because...

Let's be honest, most of us don’t care a huge amount about our health until we don’t feel well.
I hate to break it to you, but most of us have so little understanding of what “feeling well” means that we have been languishing in not being well for a long time before we pay attention. Consequently, too often we hear stories about people who “were so healthy” or “so vital and always seemed so well” followed by some story of how that changed seemingly in an instant.

Here’s the deal, there are a lot of warning indicators of future illness, but no one has taught you to pay attention.  I suppose the most feared “silent” health crisis are heart disease or more specifically a heart attack, cancer and now a growing concern for cognitive decline issues like Alzheimer's. I know, in my practice the fear of these is prevalent and common.

But what if I told you these aren't really silent conditions after all?  What if...

So the truth is, healing is never going to be convenient. There are times where it's a bit easier, times where it's more aligned, but there's going to be an aspect of it for each of us that is totally inconvenient.