I asked her to share with us the most important things she had learnt. And then there is a fantastic, inspiring YouTube link to click to, but first:
Thought for the Day
When
you love your life and body
Miraculous
things happen
Dr Bernie Siegel, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles
Here is Jess on those three things
I have done a lot of crazy stuff to heal my body and transform my life. I’ve eaten sea cucumbers, drank straight beetroot juice, injected myself with B12, crude liver and mistletoe, drank castor oil, put coffee up my bottom, put castor oil up my bottom, drank hourly juices, turned vegan, seen energy healers, seen psychics, seen crystal healers, had vitamin C IVs, became a yogi, and taken so many pills and potions that it’s impossible to count. However, there are three things that I’ve done that have had the biggest impact and brought me the most benefits.
Healing can be complicated, but when we drill down the principles are actually simple.
These three things helped me heal and transform my life:
1. Making all decisions and acting only from a place self love
Self love is the foundation we need to lay down first, so that all of the other elements of a wellness plan stay in place. Without self love, everything crumbles and wellness isn’t sustainable.
If we aren’t acting from a place of self love, we are acting from a place of fear or self loathing. Instead of doing things out of love, we do things because we think we should do them. This is impossible to maintain, and it’s not much fun either. I’m all about fun.
In the beginning of my journey I was doing things like juicing and meditating because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t do them. Everything shifted for me when I started doing these things because I love myself so much that I want to reap the amazing rewards of a super healthy lifestyle.
When you garner a deep inner respect for yourself, you actually want to treat yourself with radical kindness.
To kick off a love affair with yourself, you can just start by looking at yourself in the mirror and saying “I love you”. Do this for 30 days – get over the weirdness of it – and you will start to experience very subtle, but miraculous shifts in the way you treat yourself.
2. Eating nothing but real food
The best change I’ve made to my lifestyle is to eat an organic, plant-based whole food diet. This way of eating has been so life-changing and liberating that I am now in a position where I eat whatever I want, and as much as I want – and I never have to worry about putting on weight or what it’s doing to my health. My body now craves food that nourishes my body and makes me feel amazing.
I eat lots of plants, eat only organic, drink heaps of juice, and indulge in smoothies and raw desserts. I don’t put anything in my body that doesn’t belong there.
Our bodies are living things, and we need to feed them with live foods. They are designed to consume and digest foods that are grown in the ground – that come from Mother Nature. Not food that is only pretending to be food.
3. A daily meditation practice
This was the hardest one for me to master, but it continues to be the most beneficial. In these crazy busy, overly-stimulated lives we live, it is so important to turn within and seek stillness.
I spend 30 minutes each day sitting in silent stillness, focusing on my breath, and training my mind to remain in the present moment.
Meditation allows us to tap into our awareness and creates space in our minds. It enables us to let go of our ego and struggles and makes space for healing, creativity, stillness, intuition and connection to our spirit.
By training ourselves to hang out in the present moment, we are less likely to get caught up in external drama. Worry and anxiety is experienced far less, and self love grows organically.
Jess continues: I would love to know if there’s anything that’s had a profound effect on your personal healing or life transformation? Share away on the comment section below!
If you feel you need extra help transforming your life, or there’s someone you love who you think needs extra support, I would love for you to check out an online program I’ve just created called The Wellness Warrior Lifestyle Transformation Guide. It’s a gentle, step-by-step guide that is designed to educate, inspire and make transformation easy and sustainable.
Check out the promo video (I’m super proud of this) and join up for the Guide
Get an empowering reminder that your health is worth fighting for via my website at The Wellness Warrior , or you can follow me on
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I agree Jess, with what you have said, and the journey it requires -- healing is after all, a process, and it continues -- you never really 'arrive', but you grow and learn and things do get better along the way. In addition to meditation, whole foods, and wholesome self-love, I would add that it is important to create and maintain a sense of connection with people who care about you and will support you. Ask them, communicate with them, at least once in a while, and support them when they ask too. Your journey is your own, and you are responsible for it, but you don't have to go alone.
ReplyDeleteGo well -- Merlin
Thanks Jess, I love your first step of making decisions from a place of self love. When first diagnosed my self, this was impossible. All I thought of was what everyone else wanted me to do and think and I left myself out of it altogether. It has been huge to change the focus and learn to love myself - and what I notice now is that this makes it possible to love other people more fully and openly. Love what you have to say, thanks for sharing yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good synthesis of what i try to do, and every time i have a scare (of a reoccurrence - about every 6 months or so) I try to use that to evaluate what i'm doing in the three points and how can i do better. It seems i could always 'do better' and therein lies my concern - if a scare turned into a actuality, would i feel guilty that i dodn't do 'perfect' (not just 'better')? thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Jess - Your thoughts on 'self love' are truly crucial in the self-healing 'mix'. Re that, Sounds True has a very powerful on-line interview between Rick Hanson and Kristen Neff (Session 6 'Power of Self Compassion' (http://live.soundstrue.com/compassionatebrain/event.php). It is part of a series of 7 x 60min interviews on the Compassionate Brain) that mirrors points you raise. In addition to the 3 subjects you mention, another I'd add, which is closely related, would be Positive Health-promoting Emotions (especially dealing with and getting beyond corrosive fear). Personally, I think that this is as powerful as anything in coping and 'living' with cancer. Great work, Jess! Cheers, Lee S.
ReplyDelete