Archive for August, 2011
Healthy Lifestyle Part 5
The benefits of exercise are numerous! A healthier body leads to a happier life. Exercise promotes better rest, and better rest promotes health. Sometimes people do not know where to start if they have been inactive for a period of time.
The best advice I have is to just start! Put one foot in front of the other, and take that first step. Stop procrastinating! You will feel so much better and reap the benefits of exercise with increased energy levels very soon. Walking may be the easiest way to start, or riding a bike, or swimming. Whatever appeals to you, that is what is right for you! Don’t worry, you will have a great excuse to then rest in your hammock with a comfortable hammock pillow tucked under your head for a nice, well deserved, nap!
“People are as happy as they make their minds up to be”, a quote by Abraham Lincoln, that I especially like. Once we realize this is true, it is a “lightbulb” moment for us! We actually have control over our happiness! When we realize we are in an unhappy state, we can decide that we are going to, and want to, be happy. This helps us to shift our consciousness to create happiness.
Being happy goes hand in hand with being healthy. Start expecting happiness as part of who you are. Expect good things and happy times, be grateful for all the good things, and start being aware of all the more good things that start happening. It’s a wonderful cycle to start! I like to reflect, daily, as I take my relaxing time in my Hatteras Hammocks quilted hammock, on all the blessings I had that day. I honestly can say that, the more appreciative I am of my blessings, the more blessings I receive. Try it!
You have all heard we should eat 5 to 8 fruits and vegetables every day, but did you ever count? You may be surprised that some days you might eat none!
Let’s start counting! Being more conscious of it will help us remember. Also, remember, the size of a serving, so, for example, a large apple may be two servings. This Bliss Hammocks brazilian hammock is called fruit sorbet!
What liquids do you drink for the majority of the day? Carbonated, sweetened, and alcoholic beverages have no nutritional value. They fill us with many empty calories, adding unwanted weight to us.
The best drink for us is plain old, simple, water! It hydrates us for healthy organ function and healthy skin and hair. Try replacing half of your normal beverage of choice with water. You can flavor it up with a dash of fruit juice if you like. Grab a tall glass of ice water and have a rest in the shade in your new rope hammock! This one reminds me of cool, blue water!
I’d like to do a series on adopting a healthier way of living. Small changes, over a period of time, can add up to a big difference in our health.We will explore some small changes we can make to improve our health, our lives, and our happiness!
So, first of all, before we even get started, our first assignment is to find, or make, your own cozy, restful spot. Of course it should include a hammock or a hammock chair! (This is a hammock blog, after all!) This is the spot we are going to set aside, at least 10-30 minutes, every day to.
Because I am a modern day hammock lover, I enjoy the hammock accessories that make life easier for me. For instance, as I said, I brought one of my travel hammocks on my beach vacation.
But instead of trying to tie it to the posts, I brought hammock tree straps and attached them to the posts and hung the beautiful green Brazilian hammock I chose for this trip! Now the whole family can enjoy it! When you have as many folding hammocks as I do, it’s like choosing a pair of shoes for your trip!
Remember, how I said, vacations can require work? For instance, we have to eat! But I think it is funny how we like to go away on vacation, but we try to duplicate our own homes. For example, we still want all of our own kitchen items we are used to, but we are renting someone else’s house! We miss our own egg pans and knives, etc. When I am away at the beach, I do not always like to eat out because it can be a “hustle bustle” experience at crowded times. This is not as enjoyable, to me, as cooking simple, light, and easy meals in. This allows me stay out on the beach as long as I want to. I love the late afternoons, when everyone starts going in to get ready to go for dinner, etc. The sun hits the ocean and turns the surf such a pretty color.
I have my Brazilian hammock strung between two house posts. I am enjoying some solitude in this right now. Soon, I will hit the surf, as the water is so warm in South Carolina! I suppose this is why my kids like to come here when we have our own beach house. There I have all of my own things! Oh, well, at least I have my own hammock here! This makes it feel more like a home away from home!
As I mentioned before, I like the ocean for swimming, when it’s calm. Today is not one of those days! It is a windy beach day!The waves are big and the current is strong!
Today, I only dip in and out to cool off. On these type of days, I just enjoy watching the waves rolling in one after the other from my “beach camp”. My husband prefers a folding chair that sits up higher, the Algoma Hammocks butterfly chair, to a low chair close to the ground, like I prefer. I like being close to the sand with my toes in it., watching the whitecaps of the waves as they crash on the surf and I get a spray of ocean water!
I enjoy getting in the ocean, but just to splash around a bit, or bob over the swells before the waves break. My husband and kids love body surfing or boogie boarding. That is, riding a wave in until it breaks, on a boogie board. They have tried, over the years, to get me to try it also. I even bought one years ago.
However, the truth is, what I like to do the best is just float around on it. No thrills! Just total relaxation, out in the water, on a calm day, when the ocean is quiet. I liken floating on a boogie board in the ocean to swinging in a hammock; both give me the feeling of floating away to a state of total relaxation.
This morning, on my walk along the South Carolina seashore, I was praying, as I like to do on my morning walk. I was walking along the water’s edge, occasionally having to run a few steps, to avoid the incoming tide, so as not to get my sneakers wet. As I was talking to God, I wanted confirmation that He heard me. I got the urge to look at a cluster of shells a little farther up on the beach. I looked down, and saw a perfect olive shell just laying there!
As I continued to pray, and give thanks for my many blessings and the treasure I had just found, I kept finding more unbroken seashells, treasures to me, in this pile of broken seashells! I felt that was confirmation that God was hearing me and answering my prayers for blessings for my family. We are given many blessings every day. We just need to be more aware of them. Take a moment now, rest in a soft, quilted hammock if you have one, and reflect on your day. I bet you will realize there was a blessing you weren’t even aware of at the time. As we become more in tuned to notice these, we become happier people
No comments