Consider A Mind and Body Health Plan for the Year.

People do not lack strength, they lack the will.

Victor Hugo

When you were kids, a year felt like a century. As you grew older, the days flew bye like the breeze through the trees. Before you knew it, the year had ended with nothing achieved. It is therefore important to take stock of your life and resolve to mend the holes in your sails to give you a smooth sailing to your destination.

Dare to do something for yourself this coming year that can enhance your health and boost your self-esteem to help your mind and body health. These are some recommendations that may help:

• Find time to pursue any hobby or a project you have been dreaming about but lack the courage to pursue. Unfulfilled dreams have a way of giving you stress and making you sick. If you do what you are passionate about, that will be your source of happiness.
  
• You should devote time to control your thoughts as they have effects on your mind and body health. Uncontrolled negative thoughts can make you age prematurely. Through spirituality and participation in religious activities, you can control the storms that can tear your peace of mind apart.
  
• Eat healthy food, as food is medicine. Eating the right food will keep you from the doctor's pills.
  
• Find time to exercise. Your body thrives on being active. Inactivity weakens your mind and body and opens you up to diseases.
  
• If you are married, try as much as possible to keep your marriage on an even keel. Your partner is your best friend who lives with you under the same roof. If you want to stay sane and healthy, you need to keep your home your sanctuary. This will not happen if you are fighting with your best friend.
  
• Find a doctor you like and visit her annually so she can unmask any silent diseases like abnormal pap smears, early breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and others.
  
• Finally, build a roadmap for your health that is holistic and makes you a well-rounded person. When you are done, you would enjoy the better you.
  
• Maintain your profession by life long learning so you do not get rusty on the job. If you sleep on the job, when the time comes to change jobs you may have problems.
  

What Does Christmas Mean to Your Mind and Body Health

When I was younger, my siblings and I could not wait for Christmas. A year was too long for us. My parents had to hide our presents and put them under the Christmas tree when we were asleep. As children, the allure of Christmas was the time to receive the toy we had been dreaming about for the whole year. As adults some of us continue to do that and lose sight of what the occasion really means.

God, by giving his son as a gift to us in spite of our shortcomings was signifying that we have to learn from Him. In spite of our foibles, God sacrificed His only Son to save us. This kind of love is what we have to learn from the occasion. Christmas therefore is the time to reflect and take stock of what has happened to you the whole year and bask in the atmosphere of hope and love, because Jesus came to serve and lay down his life for us.

In your day to day life you should be serving with all our heart? Mother Teresa realized that and served with all she had. I am not asking you to forgo everything and behave like Mother Teresa. Whether you heal the sick or haul lumber you're doing God's work. He wants us to approach our job seriously and do it with love.

This is what prompted an Akron cardiologist, Paul A. Wright, MD to seek mother Teresa in search of how he can serve his fellow human being better. In spite of his material wealth and successful cardiology practice he needed something more to help him be at peace. Dr Wright's work with Mother Teresa has been chronicled in his book Mother Teresa's Prescription.

As you enter the New year, I hope you also cling to Jesus' prescription and learn from Him. To serve without counting the cost, to be selfless, humble and love your neighbor as yourself. This is the source of peace which will give you inner strength to live a peaceful and healthy life.

A Forgiving God is a Balm for Your Mind and Body Health.

Religion permeates our society and is evident in our day to day activities. A belief in a forgiving God gives the individual hope and comfort, especially in times of hardship and illness. However an unforgiving God can cause anxiety and make a psychiatric patient's condition worse. Unfortunately psychiatrists have not recruited this belief system in their patients to help them heal. It looks like the trend may be changing. This quotation from Dr. Eichelman, a psychiatrist, is reassuring:
"As a clinician, I myself have utilized religious exploration in cognitive treatment, encouraging patients, when appropriate, to alter their faith and move from allegiance to a guilt-evoking faith and belief in an exclusively punitive God toward a less punitive belief system more fully embracing such elements as "forgiveness" and "grace." Such a transmuting of beliefs may allow patients to retain elements of their childhood faith, while cognitively altering these beliefs enough so as to allow continued practice or emotional support." Please, read more:

"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the
kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God
like a child shall not enter it." [Luke 18:16-17

Eat Foods with Omega 3 Fatty Acids to Prevent Parkinson’s disease-A Prescription for Your Mind and Body Health.

"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food."
Hippocrates

Omega 3 Fatty Acid seems to be a very important food for the brain. Some studies have found that Omega 3 fatty acids prevent Alzheimer's disease. A new study by the NIH published in the online edition of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology showed that a brain loaded with Omega 6 fatty acids (found in animal fats and vegetable oil) can lead to Parkinson's disease, heart disease, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease.

In a balanced diet, the ratio between Omega 3 fatty acid and Omega 6 fatty acids should be 4 to 1. However, the average Western diet contains 10 to 20 times more Omega 6 fatty acids than Omega 3 fatty acids. Please, read on: