restoring oneself after unwellness

Sunset over West Auckland. This was the sort of evening view that I had when I was living in a cabin high in the Waitakere Ranges. 

 As I keep droning on and on .... last year (and the three years prior) had been incredibly difficult. But, hey, things can and do change. 

Sometimes we just have to see things through. Destiny and all of that... blah, blah, blah .....

And I did. I did see things through. I did what I knew was right to do, no matter what, no matter how hard, during those years. I knew that the difficult times would end. Things always do. 

"the wheel turns full circle" (Betty Burns, my mum)

And I would be a-waiting and hopefully ready. Well, things have definitely changed (thank you Universe for aligning the stars so well for me on my birthday). 

new/old directions using the four pillars of health

I had in mind that as soon as I could, I would restore my health, using the Maori model of the four pillars, or dimensions, of health:

** physical health - top of the list, this is where I 100% need to restore. And I am, I have started

** psychological health - mind and emotions. Just as many people work on their fitness every day, I would truthfully say that I keep tabs on my mental and emotional health nearly every day. Not because I have to, but because I want to. Being a healer, I can often see first hand how our psychological health affects our other dimensions of health and our whole life. But I'll be honest, sometimes I'm a real misery, so I try to smile and pretend that I'm not, on those days.

(link here about emotional-mental health)

** family and friends. Gosh, I am missing everybody. My city is still in lockdown. I'm especially longing to see all of my grandchildren, even though most of them are adults now. Thank goodness for cell phones and the internet helping us keep in touch with our loved ones. And I'm so missing my friends (sigh)

** spiritual health. Whatever that means to oneself. I'm usually pretty diligent here, but I must say that I could do way better.

it helps to prioritize

I know that I can't do everything all of the time, with these four pillars. I am quite wary of being self obsessed so I tend to go more low-key with things, and keep things simple and about others too. But definitely, for myself, at this stage, physical health is the priority regarding moi. 

Within this, I'm looking at

• heart health, so building up a cardio routine, which will be walking at this stage. I've had to get out of the rigid "walk to lose weight" mentality and instead I'm choosing to walk for health. It takes the pressure off the whole diet thing.
• weight loss. I've found a nutritionist and fitness trainer whom I've long admired, and am following her food, habits, and exercise advice. Unfortunately she no longer is on facebook, so I can't let you in on my secret inspirer.
• habits and routines. There is a part of our brain which does have a lot to do with weight loss. It's on the left side of the brain, which has logic and memory amongst other things. And this part of the brain in the left side, is to do with logical order. I didn't know all of this but I did know that when I organised things, such as putting all of my yoga books together, in sections, according to height, then author, then topic, (I know, so darned anal. And weird, don't forget weird) well, then I am mysteriously able to follow a dietary routine. Honestly, it's a brain thing and maybe I am lacking in part of my brain, because I do have to make myself be regulated in this way.
• Little bits of exercise fitted in here and there. To get over my all-or-nothing tendencies. 

Lockdown has turned things topsy-turvy, but you know, it has enabled many of us to sort things out. And I'm so glad that I'm doing the New Year On My Birthday thing, because it just feels so much easier than the first day of January effort.

** link to the four pillars of health, this was before lockdown here. There are quite a few posts on it

** a lovely birthday post here

** link about mental-emotional health here