What Is Your Best Life?

Remember a few blog posts back I said my work as a holistic nutritionist wasn't just about teaching folks to eat mindfully and encourage exercise? It's about the WHOLE you. I want to help you live your best life.

Let's talk about that! I think most people would agree a good life which supports wellness and joy is comprised of fulfilling relationships with other people, optimal health/fitness and a feeling of inner contentment and happiness. Contentment comes along with fulfilling relationships and optimal health, but also with meaningful work. Also whether you believe in God or not and whether you participate in organized religion or not; a spiritual connection of some kind is an important and necessary part of your life. It is integral to the expression of wellness and joy in your life.

Let's stop a minute and recap; your best life supportive of wellness and joy is comprised of:

a. Fulfilling relationships with other people

b. Optimal health/fitness

c. Inner Contentment/Happiness

d. Meaningful work. Spiritual Connection



How close is your life to the ideal circumstance of each of those five objectives? How balanced is your life?


I have homework for you to do. My clients have found this exercise immensely beneficial. Sometimes we need someone else to give us "permission" to get off the merry-go-round we live on and take some "me" time. Time to take stock of our life; what we're happy with and what we need to change in order to be happy. Consider this your permission to do just that! So get a glass of iced tea (or whatever you like); find a comfy quiet spot and with a journal or notebook ponder the questions below. The questions are just a place to start....just go with them and write what you feel. Hey, I'm not asking you to do anything I haven't already done....I promise you it'll be worthwhile. Nobody needs to see what you write. It's just between you and your notebook.

1.Write down the names of the five people closest to you. Next to their names write your feelings about how they add to your life. Do all the people in your life support you positively? Are there negative people close to you in your life? How do people who are negative make you feel? Do you let the negative people in your life rob you of your power?

2. Write about what you do with fore-thought to clearly support your health. How many servings of fruits, vegetables, protein, grains, dairy do you eat everyday? Or do you even give any thought about eating in a nutritive way? If you've already started the Shrink It Weight Loss System you're ahead of the game. Congratulations! What do you do for exercise? Do you workout in a gym? at home? How many minutes/hours a week do you exercise? Or are you a couch potato? How much do you weigh? Do you have any idea how much sodium is in your daily diet? Are you happy with your level of wellness?

3. Write about your life. Are you more often happy or sad? Are you depressed? Do you always feel hurried? Is there not enough time in the day? Do you wake up smiling? Do you ever just take time for you? What do you do for enjoyment? How often? Some people never stop "doing". They are incessantly on life's treadmill and complaining. Is that you? What would your ideal life look like?

4. Write about your feelings regarding your work. Is your work just a job for which you get a paycheck? Or do you wake up in the morning with a passion to do the work you do? Why, or why not? What IS your passion? What puts a bounce in your step and a smile on your face? If you're not doing that which puts a bounce in your step and a smile on your face, why aren't you?

5. You are not just a mind and a body. You are also spirit. Your spiritual self plays an integral part in the expression of physical wellness and emotional joy. For instance, (and this is just one small example) the act of meditating makes dieting more successful by getting at the cause of excessive appetite or emotional eating habits. What part does spirit play in your life? What do you do to support/enhance the spiritual side of your nature?

In this journaling exercise you may have found insight into not only what is right about your life, but also what you could change to support and enhance wellness and joy in your life. You don't need to make sweeping changes in your life all at once. In fact, you shouldn't. Rather, make small changes over a period of months. Maybe the questions I presented you with only scratched the surface. Schedule some quiet time and think about your life! Decide how you would like to improve your relationships with other people, attain optimal health/fitness, increase your work happiness and your connection to the spiritual. Be sure to see your physician before you start an exercise program.

And yes, I can hear you saying, "What does this have to do with weightloss, being healthier or optimal wellness"? My friend, it has everything to do with it. Consider these wise words:

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." ~World Health Organization, 1948

"The concept of total wellness recognizes that our every thought, word, and behavior affects our greater health and well-being. And we, in turn, are affected not only emotionally but also physically and spiritually." Greg Anderson

Contemplate what you need to change in your life in order to experience your BEST life. Until you THINK about what your Best life would be how can you have it?





Wishing You Wellness and Joy!
Pam Murphy,M.S.,RRT Holistic Health Coach
314-397-0686 anytime (really!)