One of my favorite markers for the beginning of spring is The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. With the cherry blossoms in full bloom, they naturally decorate the parks and streets with soft, delicate, pink flowers, creating picturesque canopies for tourists and residents alike to revel in. In the Japanese culture, cherry blossoms represent the beauty and fragility of life as the blossoms will eventually give way to green leaves within a week of their birth1. In Washington, D.C. and Japan, people come from great distances, gathering with family and friends, to listen to music, enjoy a meal together, and escape the confining walls in which they have encased themselves for the winter months. It’s a new beginning and the onset of fresh, new life.
For many people, this time of year is all about removing that which is no longer necessary in order to make room for the newness that the spring season brings in. Old possessions, like clothes, furniture, and toys are donated to local charities or sold for profit at yard or garage sales. Carpets are cleaned, floors are mopped, all to give add a sense of renewal to the home.
Spring is a time to not only declutter your living space, but it’s also a time to rejuvenate your health by detoxifying your body, renewing your mind, and reigniting your spirit and passion for what you want out of your life.
1. Detoxify Your Body
Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t eradicate the possibility of toxins invading your body. Our bodies are often exposed to toxic chemicals, plastics, heavy metals, carcinogens, radiation, and electromagnetic fields. Escaping environmental toxins is virtually impossible in this industrial age. The good news is that there are ways that you can help your body to eliminate those toxins so that you relieve this burden from your body and enjoy your daily activities.
Exercise Outdoors. During the winter months, most people tend to spend the majority of their time indoors. While inside, you’re typically breathing indoor air and are exposed to electromagnetic radiation from all of your electrical devices. The stagnant, dry air from heating your living space, the electromagnetic fields, and even the fibers in your carpet can all create positively charged ions, which can negatively impact your health over time.
By going outside for a walk, jog, bike ride, or some light stretching, you’re providing your body with fresh air and sunlight, which provide your body with a dose of healthy negative ions to counteract the harmful effects from the positive ions. Exposure to negative ions recharges your body with energy and increases serotonin production to naturally boost your mood2.
Relax in a sauna. Then, after your workout, it’s a great idea to relax in a sauna as this sweating helps your body to continue eliminating toxins through your skin. In an earlier article, I wrote about a program that I went through that incorporated high-dosage niacin, exercise and sauna use3. After the program, I noticed immediate results in my energy level, agility, and an overall sense of well-being. Schedule time into each week to make time for the sauna, and even an infrared sauna, which I’ve written about previously here.
Hydrate your body. In order for your body to function optimally, it needs constant replenishment with water. The body’s natural detoxification process needs water to assist in moving toxins out of the body by the excretion of urine and bowel movements. When the body becomes dehydrated, it conserves what it can in order to keep the heart pumping and blood flowing to the brain, which prevents or hinders excretion from taking place. The lack of water also causes the blood to thicken, which creates more of a burden for your heart, as well as for your liver, and the rest of your body. Remember to drink half of your body weight in ounces. So, if you weight 150 pounds, you should be drinking about 75 ounces of water.
2. Renew Your Mind and Spirit
The positive ions that we’re exposed to from being mostly indoors for months can take a toll not only on your physical but also your mental health. Excessive exposure to positive ions can lead to fatigue, depression, and anxiety, since you’re not getting the extra boost to your serotonin levels from negative ions. Low serotonin production is associated with seasonal affective disorder4. Getting outside for fresh air and sunlight will assist in increasing your serotonin levels, helping you to feel better naturally.
Pray and Meditate5. Prayer and meditation help to strengthen your spirit and provide clarity and focus. If you belong to a church, you can participate in prayer groups and receive the support that such groups can provide. Meditations can be guided, where someone else leads you into a relaxed state and provides you with positive thoughts on which to focus. Meditations can also be self-led, where you can bring your mind into a peaceful state which uplifts your mood and sense of well-being.
To get started, find a quiet time during your day to close your eyes, distancing yourself from the stresses of the day and releasing any negative thoughts that have been plaguing you. Allow yourself to relax and focus on all that is good and positive in your life. If you haven’t practiced this before, you may want to try spending time in gratitude meditations, where you simply do deep diaphragmatic breathing and give thanks for the blessings in your life. This can be very powerful in shifting your mindset to be open for all the wonderful gifts and blessings in your life.
Practice Affirmations6. With the onset of the spring season, create a new affirmation. Some churches and companies begin each year with a new statement, mantra, or affirmation that defines their goals. Take your own goals into consideration. How will you feel upon achieving those goals? Is there something in your life that you would like to change? Perhaps you’ve been fighting stress or sadness. By practicing affirmations, especially while looking at yourself in a mirror while saying aloud these affirmations, you are essentially re-wiring your brain to think in healthier ways. This helps to elevate your mood, minimize stress, and reduce patterns of negative thoughts.
Journal7. We all need a creative and healthy way to express ourselves. Daily journaling provides an outlet that helps to capture your thoughts and organize them. It also allows you to write about areas in your life that you may feel challenged by. By expressing these feelings in writing, you can begin the process of proactively identifying solutions and ways that you can change to improve how you think about and react to events and situations in your life.
3. Reignite Your Dreams
It’s often said that at the end of one’s life, the number one regret that most people have is not living the life they wanted to live. When we’re young, we often delay our dreams or sacrifice them for what we perceive as practical, which can lead to job dissatisfaction, depression, and unhealthy coping habits. As time moves on in life, we may find that those dreams are no longer accessible to us.
At times, conscious as well as subconscious fears may get in the way of striving towards our dreams. When we simply tolerate circumstances which we know are not the best, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that our situations can change. However, when we become complacent with what has become comfortable, we allow our dreams to wither away. Rather than settling for a path that goes against your inner desires, it’s important to realize that your dreams are still a possibility. By taking a few small steps toward your dream every day, you can see it come to fruition.
Follow the joy. Rather than intellectually trying to figure out what brings you greatest joy, spend some time meditating on this, if you aren’t already aware of this. Consider hobbies and activities that you enjoy. Are you regularly participating in these activities? If not, identify the impediments, and map out a plan.
Map out your steps. Once you have an idea of what you want, write it down in a not only a notebook, journal, or planner, but place it in plain view at places you frequent in your home. Place it on a mirror, in a picture frame, or make a poster for your wall. When you’re able to see your vision in writing, your dreams and goals become more realistic and attainable.
While it’s great to have a dream, it will remain a dream if you don’t take a course of action to make it a reality. What steps will you take each day that will bring you closer toward reaching your dream? If the tasks seem overwhelming, break them down into smaller, manageable ones that will be easier for you to complete. Be sure to schedule these activities into your life on a regular basis so that the progress you make, little by little, will encourage you to continue on.
To keep track of your thoughts and daily goals, you can access a free digital copy of my Passion Journal here.
Honor your decisions. Although it’s great to make some decisions and have your vision and goals written out, it’s important to take action in honoring your decisions. Act on each of your daily goals. Be sure to identify any hindrances you may encounter so that you can re-assess and redirect your efforts. In the words of one of the great leaders that I look up to:
“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic;
it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.”
Colin Powell
As nature is awakening this season, use this amazing energy to awaken your body, our minds, spirit, and dreams. While developing and moving towards your dreams, be patient because anything that is worthwhile takes time. Allow peace to flow into your being as you plant the seeds of your dream, water them, and feel the joy when you witness their germination. Realize that some seeds may need a winter season to take root, but know that as long as you continue to water your seeds with love and intention, you will see the fruit of your desires and labor in your own time of spring.
Ready to make your health a priority? Contact me here to schedule your consultation.
- Cantu, H. (2013, August 30). The Significance of the Cherry Blossom: From Beloved Tree to Cultural Icon. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/homaro-cantu/the-significance-of-the-c_1_b_3832895.html
- Mann, D. (2002, May 06). Negative Ions Create Positive Vibes. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/negative-ions-create-positive-vibes#1
- Won, D. (2016, January 9). Want to Lose Weight and Feel Happier? Try Niacin Detoxification | Keynotes to Life | Love Your Life, Live In Health. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from http://deannawon.com/want-to-lose-weight-and-feel-happier-try-the-niacin-detoxification-a-k-a-the-sweat-program/
- Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). (2017, October 25). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651
- 6, & 7. Won, D. (2018, January 2). Start your morning off right! | Keynotes to Life | Love Your Life, Live In Health. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from http://deannawon.com/start-your-morning-off-right/
