The concept of holistic living goes beyond holistic healing. While healing considers the body, mind and spirit, what you do after the healing has taken place plays a significant role in your overall well-being. Too often our approach to life is unthinking based from habits and time constraints. To live holistically, we are making the effort to live life fully aware of our decisions and their impacts. These impacts can be anything from how you feel after eating fast-food to how the environment is affected by the products you purchase, or even how much you can boost someone’s mood with a few kind words.
Here are a few quick tips on kick-starting your holistic lifestyle:
- Practice Mindfulness – Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment and experiencing the here and now without judgement. Our minds are often caught between worries, regrets, fears and other similar states. When you are there, you are not in the present moment. You are stuck in the past or future and not living your life to it’s fullest.
- Focus on Positive Relationships & Connect – Have you ever heard the term ‘like hangs around like?’ It is true. If you want to practice mindfulness, spending time with those that have that same shared interest is important.
- Eat Clean Foods – Clean eating is a pretty simple concept. It does not revolve around a specific diet plan such as under 1400 calories a day or regime where you count your protein grams. Clean eating is about eating ‘real’ foods. Those that are minimally processed, refined or handled. However, execution may be a little more time consuming than you are accustomed to. Do you value your health enough to make salads and eat meals not processed by a factory, but by you in your own kitchen? Make yourself a priority, feed your soul and your body the good stuff.
- Pay It Forward – Often with a holistic lifestyle comes a peace and positivity that others can only benefit from. You affect not only your environment, but people around you. When you see other’s struggling, share your wisdom. Sometimes just listening or smiling at someone can make their day. You are a powerful person with the ability to create a massively positive butterfly effect. Why not use it?
- Slow Down – How many times have you said you are too busy? You aren’t. The things we value most, we make time for. The dishes can wait, but your personal energy and life experience can’t. Don’t forget that you should be a number one priority. Take a moment to admire the winter landscape, commit to learning a new hobby or sign up for that yoga class you have been wanting to start. You may be surprised at how much better you feel and how much time ‘slowing down’ will create for you.
The end-goal of a holistic lifestyle is to reflect ourselves and our beliefs in our actions. While the term holistic is often mistaken for being spiritual, it is not uncommon for spiritual people to practice holistic living because they understand we are part of a bigger picture, we are all connected and what you give to the universe, you get back. Beginning with practicing awareness with one small conscious effort at a time, you will reap the benefits that will be a journey to holistic living.
Jana Kadovitz, L.Ac., Dipl. Ac. is licensed and certified in Acupuncture and Herbology is one of the founders of The Holistic Institute of Wellness. She can be reached at 865-712-9754 or office@holisticinstituteofwellness.com