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What does it mean to be healthy? What kinds of things do you do to be healthy? We pour so much time and effort into healthy living, healthy eating, healthy habits, and healthy thinking. It takes intentional effort. It takes planned out thought. It takes discipline. It takes saying yes to certain things and no to others. In the moment you may be what you think might be sacrificing, but you are trying to make certain choices, change, and change your lifestyle because of the lasting benefit. Health is such a focus of the new year, but let’s look into it from a different perspective.

Some people call it dieting, others call it healthy living. But it is all the same thing. It all comes down to changing your actions to change the effect. What should really be focusing on is creating a healthy lifestyle.  Because then it isn’t just a fad, the newest trend, or a temporary phase. A changed lifestyle lasts. When you first start a diet you usually cut things out or add things in.  Have less dessert throughout the week, make healthier choices at meals, and control your portions.  The more established those habits become, the more routine it becomes.  It becomes second nature to make healthy choices. It becomes a part of who you are.  Usually over time you prefer the good things rather than the instant pleasure of the not so healthy things. Your appetite changes. Your cravings change. And you change.

Often times faith and a spiritual life is seen as something that is regimented and monitored.  You have to “do” all these things to feel close to God.  There is a continual push to read your Bible, pray, and be surrounded by good people. And we say it is because you …

Do you find a whole week goes by and you haven’t found one moment for yourself, you feel like you have accomplished nothing, or you don’t remember what you did in the week? As the new year has begun, I have been trying to think of simple ways I can connect. Ways I can connect to God, to myself, to my husband, to my boy, and with the world around me. As I have reflected the ways I want to grow, I have discovered some simple ways that can ground me, keep me connected, and make me feel more fulfilled.

Connecting with God

• Prayer- I really like when I make intentional effort to pray at specific times or for specific things. It helps me remember and is something consistent. Like when I drive I can pray for my community. When I get ready in the morning I can pray for my family. When I serve food we can always pray before a meal. When I get ready for bed I can thank God for where I saw him that day
• Time in Scripture- It is so easy for whole days to pass by and I totally forget to even think about God. Great things I have found are the
  • First 5 App
  • If Gathering App
  • She Reads truth App
  • The Bible App
• Worship Music- A great way to get in touch with the Lord through song, worship, praise. Listen to the words
• Podcasts- Find your favorite pastors or favorite churches podcasts. Listen while you drive, walk, run, do dishes, etc.

Connecting with Yourself:

• What do you like to do? Think of one thing you can do a week for yourself
• Journal
• Focus on being thankful: I used a thankfulness journal for years and loved it
• 5 minutes a day book:

Do you set goals for the new year? The more I listen to and learn from successful people the more I hear the same thing: When you make goals and write down your goals they get programmed in your mind.

What you focus on, you find.

Let’s start by defining GOALS. Goals are not “dreams.”

The difference between a dream and a goal is dreams are a fantasy, the have no boundaries. Dreams can guide your passions, yes. However, dreams are a goal without legs. Goals are a clear and vivid target that you want to attain. “SEE THE TARGET. HIT THE TARGET.” Goals are always accompanied by a plan and action.

How do you set goals?

1. Decide what you want to accomplish
2. Devise a plan with small action steps
3. Work on the plan to achieve your desired results

This week, I attended a goal setting workshop. I loved how they separated goals into categories: Faith, Family, Business/Work, Fun, Fitness and Health, and FREAKY (goals that literally freak you out!).

Tips for setting goals:

1. choose goals that are worthwhile
2. opt for goals that are achievable
3. make your goals specific
4. be committed to your goals

I liked the SMART acronym that we used in my training.

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Relevant

T – Timely

How to start?

Write down your goals for each category. Remember, what you focus on you find. So focusing on your goals is going to keep those goals in the forefront of your mind. You will think of your goals, envision yourself accomplishing those goals, and therefore get into action.

Each goal should have action steps. How are you going to achieve that goal? What is one thing you can do every day to move toward that goal. Here’s another …