New Year Resolutions for Your Health
Treating the WHOLE PERSON is the mantra at Loma Linda University, emphasizing the importance of the interdependence of the body, mind and soul. They are in such intertwined relationship that each part craves balance and well-being, and the other two had better chip in to keep that balance for that new year resolutions for your health.
A new year is a clean page, an unwritten chapter, a genesis in the middle of your life story. Setting goals to fill the pages is a great way to make sure that some of your stuff will be done intentionally. Consider what you can do to make 2017 your strongest year in body, mind and soul. I like to add one more sub-category in there as well: relationships. After all, making your loved ones happy affects your own joy.
BODY: Choose to move! The current CDC exercise recommendations for adults include 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week. It's important to spread that time out. Even moving with that intensity 10 minutes daily, three times a day for five days will be a good thing. Imagine if you did 5 sit-ups each day. If you missed a few days, say, 65, by the end of the year you'd have done 1500 sit-ups!
MIND: Seek out good reading material and enhance your mind just one page per day! Imagine at the end of the year, you'll have acquired 365 pages of new life-enhancing information! Some DVD's and seminars, even some films, can be life-changing.
RELATIONSHIPS: Our church has a variety of good programs that will enhance lifestyles, but we wish we had more on relationships specifically. Social programs are good to attend to interrelate to others and develop good relationships.
SOUL: Here it is! What can YOU do to enhance your own soul? Seek! God is your Creator and longs to be your Best Friend. He puts you in places and situations where He whispers your name - or sings it out loud. He loves to do good things for you, and the more you acknowledge that He is doing them, the more He heaps on you! I tune into Christian radio almost exclusively, and I am that person beside you at the light who is singing her heart out with the windows rolled up.
We hold a lot of prayer times and Bible studies at the church, but they aren't always convenient to attend. What can you do on your own? None of this is hard and fast, but here are some tangible suggestions:
Read a chapter of God's Word every day, and fast. Learn to pray. ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) is an easy way to order your prayer. Expect the Lord to answer. He intends to. God inhabits your praises! "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." Psalm 22:3 He longs to be near you, and it's usually by invitation only that He comes.
Jesus is calling us - you ~ right now. There is no doubt. He wants to wind things up here and take us Home. He yearns to teach us and have us unmuddled and free from the distractions of the computer, videos, television, novels and busy work. He longs to enfold you in His arms of unconditional, everlasting love and give you the warmest hug of your life. He wants you well and whole. He loves you.
