The Ripple Effect Life – Health Mastery Series
We all have a lifestyle.
The question is, “Is my lifestyle by design or by default?”.
If it is by design, it is consciously thought out and deliberately executed.
If it is by default, then what happens, happens. There is no planning, no guidelines, and no discipline. A common phrase spoken in a default lifestyle is, “Where do you want dinner from tonight?”. Other phrases are, “There is no time to go shopping or to plan or cook meals.” “We are simply all going in 10 different directions, it makes more sense doing it this way. Each person can grab what they need when it works for them.”
If asked about exercise, the default lifestyle says, “I am so busy now, in fact I catch myself coming and going all at the same time. I’m sure all this business must be good for me, besides there is no time to exercise. I have more important things to do.”
The designed lifestyle is whatever you want it to be. If you want it to be a Wellness Lifestyle, then it looks a very specific way.
A Wellness Lifestyle is all about a dynamic time structure. You control your time, it does not control you. A dynamic time structure is very specifically planned. There is time designated for FUN; time to be EXTREMELY PRODUCTIVE; and time for the busy (neutral) activities. The FUN time must be planned first. If it is not planned, it will never happen. Life needs to be fun and it needs to be planned. Select very specific days each week and month that are family time, date time, and play time. You then schedule your productive time. Last you schedule your neutral time.
When choosing a Wellness Lifestyle, your FUN times involve Wellness related activities. For example, you can plan a date that involves bike riding vs. going to a movie. You can schedule a cooking and wine tasting class with friends vs. simply going out to a bar. You can play a family game vs. watching a sitcom – for the eighth time. You can create a menu as a family, shop the menu and cook the meals as a family. You can plant a garden and enjoy the cultivating and eating of your very own home grown vegetables. Have FUN time for just you as well. At least once per week make sure you are doing something that you love to do. It may be reading, writing, photography, painting, scrap-booking, or working out. Whatever it is for you. By doing this you make sure that you are not neglecting yourself. As a couple you need to keep dates a priority. Once a week, ideally, you will spend specific and planned time together. It could be simply a walk, a cup of coffee, or breakfast at your favorite cafe. The key is to be spending time together. The same goes for the children. Make sure you plan one on one time with each of them. This very specific and special time is so important for children to stay connected to you. As you can see there are a lot of FUN things to plan. This is why they need to be scheduled.
Next is PRODUCTIVE time. This is most likely revolved around your “work” schedule. Make your “work” time as productive as possible. This allows you to get a lot done in a very efficient way. This will not go unnoticed. If you own your own business, it will grow. If you work for someone else, they will see the high level of productivity and reward you for such activities.
Neutral time is the last to schedule and the least important. It is the things that are not necessarily FUN or PRODUCTIVE. Yard work, laundry, cleaning, errands, etc. Some of these activities can be delegated by paying someone else to do it for you. When you are more productive it frees up the ability to do that, and it also frees up more time for FUN time. The other activities that you still must do or choose to do, you simply make them as FUN as possible.
Now that your time schedule is in your control you get to decide what gets filled in and what does not. You get to put in time for exercise, cooking, family meals, visits to your chiropractor, your spiritual activities, dates, holidays (Vacations), “Work”, volunteering, etc.
I put “Work” in quotes because your “Work” should also be a ton of FUN. Your “Work” should be so rewarding that you would do it even if you did not get paid. To think of your “Work” in this fashion may require a change in perspective or even a change in profession. When we see the service side of our “Work” it tends to be more rewarding. Ask yourself, “How is what I do serving other people?” When you can dig down deep and really find the answer to that question, your view of your “Work” changes.
The Blessings of a Wellness Lifestyle are so numerous. First, we love our life. We enjoy our day because we are serving. We spend time with the ones we love. We are not neglecting ourselves, our health, or our relationships. There is nothing more important that our health, the health of our family, and our relationships. Everything else is just stuff. Stuff is fine, but not as the primary focus of our life.
When we choose a Wellness Lifestyle, we are taking better care of ourselves and our family, we are more productive in our service, we are living a life with less stress and greater fulfillment, and we are sharing all of this with the ones we love the most. We get to spend less time worried about our health, doctors visits, procedures, medical expenses, drugs, side-effects, limitations in our life, and fear of what the next 5 years will bring.
There are never any guarantees in this world, however you certainly increase your odds of a great quality of life for a lot of years when you live a Wellness Lifestyle.
Enjoy the process of discovering what is possible.
All My Best,
Dr. G.
