Spring time is finally here! Birds are looking for places to build their nests, the trees are about to get their new leaves, the sun feels warmer. What does this mean to us in body, mind and spirit?

As Nature gifts us with its signals, the start of the season brings us a chance to re-emerge, to transform, to be renewed and to manifest what we want to see in our life.

Here are five recommendations which, done with intention, will help you usher-in spring in a unique, uplifting way:

1. Bring new meaning to your spring cleaning.
It’s time to dust things off, add living plants, to your home and work environment, re-arrange, bring brighter color into your décor. It’s especially a great time to get rid of things you don’t need, use or absolutely love. Do it! Have a stance of no pity – if you haven’t used something in 6 months, you probably never will! By de-cluttering and lightening your home and office, you will be making space for better opportunities, people, and yes, cooler things, to show up in your life.

2. Bring the new season into your kitchen.
File away recipes for richer heavier foods such as hot soups and heavy sauces. Replace them with recipes and ideas for dishes that are lighter, more vibrant. Make it a point to purchase and eat fresh, local food that is in season. It will help you lose weight, it will be much more flavorful and help you connect spiritually with your food and how it reaches your table.

3. Relate in new ways to others.
In your relationships dare to try something new, with a focus to prune what no longer serves you. As well, take the spring time opportunity to nurture new behaviors, activities, experiences and ways of relating which you want to see grow and develop.

4. Start making your cherished dreams a reality.
According to Chinese Five Element Acupuncture, spring time has to do with our vision for our life; our greater purpose. So this is a perfect time to focus on our wishes, dreams, desires – a time to re-connect with that which makes us happy, centered, filled with joy. Put together an action plan to bring into your life more of your very own joy – more of that which you have been asking for in one way or another, all the years of your adult life.

5. Make a commitment to honor yourself.
Take time just for you, to nurture yourself, find out what would make you truly healthier, happier, more balanced. Endeavor to make one change in support of that. Only with action does real change begin to happen. See that change grow, develop and mature. Hold on to it and persevere. Afterall, this is your life, your dream, your vision. The energy of spring all around you is a very good helper in making it happen.

How else do you usher in spring?

Comment here and tell us what you think.

Later a wise friend gave me a much deeper insight. From that moment on, practicing Feng Shui for health has become a major part of my efforts to take care of my body, spirit and environment in one. In fact I’d say it was pivotal.

Of course, there are plenty of skeptics out there who have never engaged in the practice but still believe that there’s no way it works. Honestly, I don’t think it works for everyone because not everyone is open to their own energy. So many of us scurry through life consumed with the bills and our ailing health and the kid’s issues that we never stop to consider where all the influence is coming from. My personal belief is that you have to be open to experiencing energy in order for Feng Shui to impact your health. Nevertheless, there will always be a critic that giggles at the concept of my home and my office.

If you’re interested in Feng Shui as a potential source of new energy for your daily health, let me make just a few suggestions. Read up on the subject first. I’ve recently added a post about the simple things you can do to start Feng Shui in your home or office. Starting simple is essential because your foundation will be the block upon which you build the rest of your Feng Shui practice. Firmly grasping the basics and being able to make adjustments as necessary is the beginning of learning how to manage an entire Feng Shui home.

Don’t be easily dissuaded by friends and family members who left their tact and their support at home. Sure, everyone has an opinion that they are entitled to but you have the right to increase your health in your own home. Those who practice Feng Shui have openly stated that they feel more energized, healthier, and even more balanced than before they began. It’s my opinion that those who have tried it are better sources of information than the naysayers who have not.

Your daily Feng Shui rituals should start off small and easy. As you become more familiar with their meanings and understand why you’re doing what you’re doing you will have a more positive experience. How often do we fully embrace anything that we don’t understand our own motivations? A ritual or an intentional placement is rather meaningless without the understanding. When your intentions are pure you will get so much more benefit from the action, which in turn will benefit your overall energy and health.

Using Feng Shui for health benefits can make your entire household balance better. I have even heard rumors of siblings fighting less. Who knew? Enjoy the process and enjoy learning about something new. Feng Shui is fun, interesting, and beneficial. What other household task can you assign those three words to?

During a rather uncomfortable bout with allergies, and my taking lots of prescribed medication, a friend of mine recommended my looking into holistic health and giving it a try. Talk about a life changing moment!

So what is holistic health? It sounded a little bit like ’snake oil’ salesnanship to me. How wrong I was. Today, I can’t emphasise how much I incorporate holistic health into my daily life and how much healthier I am for doing so. Now when people ask me what holistic health is all about, I feel as though I can stand up, turn around, and tell them, “Hey! it’s all of me”.

Holistic health care practicioners take the approach that the entire body is interconnected and that through treatment of all the aspects of your health your physical health will increase. The mind—body—spirit connection has been at the heart of many cancer center treatments, debilitating injury treatments, and even infertility treatments. Often holistic health practices succeed where traditional medicine has failed. No, not always ( sadly) but it is another route to explore.

My favorite aspect of holistic health is the overall reluctance to medicate, medicate, medicate! Traditional medicine has a habit of writing a prescription for everything and anything. People naturally trust physicians and won’t think twice about what they are prescribing them so casually. The reality is that many medications are actually poisonous to us. For instance, Warfarin is made from a form of rat poison!

That information made me think twice about taking medication unless it was absolutely necessary. Holistic health practices are focused on finding natural remedies that incorporate the body, the mind, and the spirit.

Focusing on the mind—body—spirit connection isn’t a negative idea. I know when I was growing up I was often told that one complaint or another was all in my head. It’s not the same principle. The idea is that the mind and the spirit need just as much health attention as the body. By caring for my mind and my spirit while nurturing my body with natural remedies I set my body up to be in the prime condition for health and healing.

It’s not that hard to find holistic guidance. There are ample internet sources that can offer ideas, thoughts, experiences, and instruction. I do always cross reference herbal remedies and vitamin therapies with other holistic sources and I still check with a pharmacist before starting high dose therapies as such. Holistic health care practitioners are easier than ever to find. Some areas are fortunate enough to have entire clinics devoted to holistic health. Many of today’s more traditional physicians are starting to recognize the power of the mind—body—spirit connection and are starting to incorporate holistic health care into their daily practice.

It was encouraging to find that those who practice holistic health whether they are ill or healthy are generally healthier overall than those who don’t. This means that there is actual evidence being gathered that the mind—body—spirit is more than just a theory. It is an actual provable method of caring for one’s entire self and benefiting all the way around. Taking the time every day to care for your body, your mind, and your spirit is a fantastic way to improve your daily health.

Someone should start a blog about this!

The messages can be very specific and are designed, I hope, to guide my actions toward my own personal improvement in all areas of my life. I have been using them for for about six years now and I find that they have had a tremendous impact.

I feel very strongly that affirmations need to be done in specific ways for them to be the most useful. First of all, I believe they should be said out loud so that the brain can hear them. The brain registers facts through audible perception much more efficiently than it does through silent thought. That’s why we can remember what someone said to us ten years ago but we can’t remember what we were thinking about on our way to work yesterday. Using your own voice to affirm your life and your direction is a surefire way to be assured that your brain is receiving the message.

I remember as a kid in the school playground singing out with my pals, ” I must, I must, I must increase my bust!” accompanied to hilarious laughter. Did we realise we were doing ‘affirmations’? Of course not! If we did so today, as adults, then that would be a different story.

The brain doesn’t register negatives. So, if you’re using an affirmation to stop smoking stating that you don’t want to smoke isn’t likely to work. Rather, affirming that you are a non—smoker is more apt to register in the brain as a fact. All affirmations need to be presented in the positive and the present. For instance, instead of affirming that someday you will be a caring and gentle person with your spouse you want to make the statement present. “I am a caring and gentle person with my spouse.” “I am good,” is a positive and present affirmation while “I am not bad,” is a negative affirmation.

Keeping your affirmations in the present and positive helps your thought process adjust to the facts that you are feeding your brain. Whatever your affirmation might be, as long as it is positive and present, you get to tailor your affirmation to your own needs at the time. During particularly rough times I have been known to affirm, “I am Okay.” During times that everything seems to be going my way I have been known to affirm, “Today is a gift and I am joyful to be in it.” These affirmations are simply methods of keeping me present throughout the day.

Additionally, affirmations work best when they are repeated three times in a row several times per day. Morning affirmations start your day off with a positive and present twist. A lunch time or early afternoon affirmation can refocus your energies during the usual slump of the day. An evening affirmation can help you focus your energy and your spirit toward your family or other activity rather than dragging work home in your mind.

So, what are affirmations? Affirmations are a fabulous tool to help you achieve not just your goals but your personal growth ideals. It’s not a shortcut, but it is a methodology that can help your brain (and therefore your actions and thoughts) redirect any negative energy that might be standing in your way. Affirmations have been used for many decades for a reason. They work.

Some people choose to incorporate a few simple Feng Shui ideas rather than ordering their entire home in true Feng Shui fashion as a compromise to a reluctant or cynical significant other.

I discovered, for example, that it’s really not considered good for the chi to be shocked by your own reflection first thing in the morning. Keeping your bed out from under a window and out of line of sight from any mirrors is considered prudent.  This made perfect sense to me as, not being a morning person, I’m quite happy to avoid seing my face in a mirror ’til lunchtime!

More surprisingly was the corner issue. Corners are known as poison arrows. These poison arrows are bound to interrupt chi flow whenever they point directly at you. Thus, you want to take the time to prevent corners from jutting out at a sharp angle. You don’t have to engage in reconstruction to accomplish this. Plants work well for counters, as do slip covers for the furniture.Â

Stagnant chi can hold up the entire forward process. Clean up the clutter and keep on top of the dust that gathers behind and under furniture, even in those hard to reach areas. Gathering dust is representative of chi that no longer flows. One very simple Feng Shui idea is preventing any shocks or surprises by keeping the backs of chairs faced away from any doors. This way no one can walk in and surprise a seated individual.

If you use mirrors, which many Feng Shui practitioners do not, face them toward windows to avoid staring into blankness. If you can’t get face them toward a window, then simply face them toward a visually pleasant scene inside your home. This was actually rather difficult for me, but I needed to keep my mirrors to be presentable for work. So, I created an appropriate scene across from the mirrors that I couldn’t move. At that time we lived in an apartment with fixed mirrors. The hardest one was the bathroom vanity mirror which faced the shower curtain. I ended up purchasing the most luxurious and beautiful shower curtain you have ever seen in order to create the pleasant scene. When creating your scenes make sure you aren’t interrupting the flow of chi or interfering with the overall balance of the room.

Avoid creating a living room, den, or family room that is centered around the television. Instead, arrange the furniture in a manner that easily offers conversation and socialization. Usually a casual circle can be appealing to the eye as well as keep the social chi flowing nicely. Don’t forget to hang wind chimes in any archways or in open doorways to help encourage the flow of chi through the entire home.

There are many simple Feng Shui ideas that you can incorporate into your every day life without imposing your desire on a reluctant partner or family. Sometimes, as happened in my own family, when they see that the changes are rather simple and beneficial they start to come on board with lots of ideas on creating a cooler Feng Shui environment and then get actively involved – Hey! Who moved my favorite chair!

However, this preference is going to vary from person to person. In fact, some people can’t meditate with music at all because they find that they just concentrate on the music too much and anticipate the next bit of the tune. Meditation music is supposed to help you focus, not distract you!

You can find meditation music based on the type of meditation you perform. For instance, there is music specifically for Buddhist meditations. You can find Zen music for your meditating pleasure. There is music that is designed to help you get in touch with your chakra. This is appropriately called chakra meditative music. With the popularity of meditation increasing, the music selections are also increasing which means just about everyone can find something to suit them.

I particularly enjoy the sounds of nature when I meditate. I think this is because I feel very connected to the natural world during a pure meditative state and the sound of whales or dolphins or the birdsong of the rainforest gently nudge me closer to that natural state of being I’m looking for. I have found that many friends share this view and we often trade music downloads and CDs to check out new sounds. I actually found one of a thunderstorm that worked really well for me. The peaceful sound of waves on a beach also hits the top of my list for my meditation preferences.

I try to create a time appropriate piece using my computer and ipod. I have meditation music pieces cut to ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes, and forty minutes. This gives me a natural end to the meditation while also giving me choices regarding how long I intend to carry out the session. I have a relaxing space set up away from the activity of the family, even the pets, and I even decide whether earphones are appropriate for the time being. This allows me my space and experience any way I prefer it at the time. And isn’t that the whole point of meditating?

A lot of people who are new to meditation often question whether music is even necessary. Almost everyone I have ever talked to enjoys listening to music while entering their meditative state. However, every now and then I have run into someone who prefers the natural sounds around them. Those who prefer no music also generally don’t have children, pets, or even noisy spouses that can impede the experience.

Meditation music helps keep the distractions out and the peaceful calming sensation on your center. I believe that people should stick to what they prefer but I also believe that you can’t know what you prefer until you’ve tried on a few different styles. Sampling music and trying silence are important when you’re trying to find the best way for your meditative experience to unfold. After all, it’s your time to become grounded and only you know to do that best.

While nutrition and good dietary habits are the absolute rock solid foundation to being healthy, there are other factors. Check out any recent medical statistics and you will see a fairly steady increase in all types of disease.You will also find that this increase directly corresponds to stress and the notion that you should take care of everyone else before you take care of yourself.

Emotional health, inner health, and a balanced view of health are important. Just as nutritional foods feed your body’s cells and create a healthy environment for your internal organs, the same can be applied to other health aspects. Stress and fatigue are the two biggest complaints in the United States. Learning not only how to care for yourself to reduce stress and fatigue, but also the importance of caring for yourself, can be your greatest weapon against these time stealers.

Fatigue can be fought with a combination of increased fruits and vegetables in your diet, an appropriate amount of sleep, and emotional wellness. Emotional unhealthy can be the fastest energy drainer there is. When you are chronically worried or you feel as though your personal value is deflated you fell more tired than when you feel good about yourself and you aren’t worried about anything. This key to your inner health can start with simple practices like meditation, daily walks, and focusing on remaining in the present.

When you are present you can’t be worried or stressed. Being present keeps your focus on the here and now and takes away from those feelings of being overwhelmed, devalued, or even lost. Our own thoughts can be our greatest inner health detraction. Meditation can help keep you present as it gives you a chance to remain focused on your center throughout the day. When you’re grounded, stress doesn’t creep in and take over. During calm periods I might meditate two or three times per day. During times of stress and fatigue I might meditate anywhere between five and seven times per day. Short but productive meditation sessions help me refocus on the present and help keep me connected to my own grounding.

As I feel my stress level rising, I turn toward recognizing my body’s needs as well as my emotional needs. I become more tuned into my nutrition. Despite my aforementioned sweet tooth, stressful times call for foods with high vitamin content. It took me a long time to learn that putting my own needs on the front burner actually benefited everyone in my life. Whether I put off something for work for ten minutes to care for me or I asked a family member to wait half an hour before I could attend to their needs, I noticed immediately that the more I nurture myself the better equipped I am to handle the rest of my life. The greater emphasis I place on my inner health the better everyone fares in my life because I can be more present with those who require my attention. Don’t underestimate the value of caring for yourself, especially when it seems like there isn’t time to fit it in.

Harmony and compatibility are the heart and soul of the Feng Shui experience. The words themselves translate as “wind water”. Wind and water are representative of the natural balance that is ‘nature’.

Yin and Yang are also at the heart of Feng Shui. The symbol is representative of not just the need for balance but also the continual change that is inescapable in everyday life. Regardless of how you interpret the Yin and Yang symbol (male/female, night/day, negative/positive, or intuitive/logical) there is not only a balance but also a commonality between the “opposites.” This indicates the appropriateness of understanding that there has to be an ongoing harmony between all forces in order for the life cycle to remain in successful balance. You can’t have all negative and you can’t have all positive. You can’t reach a stage of harmony and balance one day and expect it not to change. The Feng Shui principles very clearly state that the quest for harmony is an ongoing process that requires adjustment as time and energy change situations.

The chi is the energy force that creates life and that life expels as it moves forward. This energy is responsible for the harmony or disharmony of your life. This is why it’s important to create a balance in your home, your office, and anywhere else that you spend ample time. The chi can be harmonized by allowing the energy flow to be uninterrupted. An interrupted chi is not going to retain its strength. Just like any other energy that you disrupt, the chi can be slowed, redirected, and even misdirected. This is the reason that Feng Shui doesn’t include mirrors or light shades of paint or wallpaper. These elements are more likely to draw the chi away from its balanced direction.

I particularly enjoy the theory of the five elements. The five elements are in fact beneficial to each other when they flow in one direction and destructive to each other when they flow in the other. Fire, water, metal, earth, and wood comprise the five elements. In their beneficial state water assists wood via moisture. Wood fuels fire and fire turns to ash which turns to earth. The earth can form metal which produces water via condensation. On the destructive path water douses fire while fire melts metal. Metal then slices through wood and wood grows over the earth at an uncontrollable rate. To make sure your elements are flowing in the positive direction, you need a bagua.

A bagua is a guide to help you keep the energy flow in any room moving in the most positive direction. A simple diagram of the room is all you need to use the bagua effectively. It can be superimposed so that you can see clearly where you need to distribute elements and belongings. Creating a Feng Shui home or office isn’t difficult and it allows you to focus on one area that might need a little extra attention with additional chi. What is Feng Shui? It is an ancient craft of balance and harmony that instills the most positive and universal concepts. Your chi will thank you clearing its path.

Meditation can be done anywhere basically. I don’t know why I didn’t realize this before. But meditation is the simple act of clearing one’s mind and focusing on centering. Once I realized that I had been taking little meditation breaks, I began experimenting with effective ways to clear my mind and focus.

Sometimes a beautiful spot outside, the sound of the birds, and the warm sunshine allowed me some very peaceful meditations. I would just close my eyes and listen to myself breathe. Then I would focus on slowing my breath. As I exhaled, I would take myself a little deeper “down” inside myself.

Using this technique I have discovered that whether I am lounging on the couch or sitting at my desk I can meditate and come back to feeling refreshed, focused, and even a bit energized. It’s way better than those little energy drinks.

I did eventually invest in a CD set that guided me through a 45 minute meditation. It used a similar breathing technique but combined it with visualization. The soft, soothing voice on the CD would guide me through imagined scenarios and help keep me focused. The amazing thing about this method is that I actually felt like I was sleeping but still responding to the vocal commands. I would stretch and wake my toes but have no recollection of doing so. Yet I felt as though I had come to answers during the meditation.

Some people use meditation to do just that. Finding answers for yourself is really just practicing listening to your inner voice. If you sit quietly (or lie down) and focus your mind on being free and clear your inner voice will often spring forward. All you need to do is recognize it. The first couple times I tried this it wasn’t totally successful because I didn’t totally trust my inner voice over the voices of family and friends. Once I learned to really listen to myself, though, it was amazing how much more self assured I became as a result. I knew I was always doing what was best for me.

Of course, meditation can be used for relaxation and rejuvenation purposes as well. Spending even just a few minutes quietly breathing and focusing on the peaceful space inside can keep your mind sharper than a mid afternoon snack.

Learning how to meditate isn’t difficult. But it does take a certain amount of commitment. I found that it works best if meditation is done on a regular basis instead of just when I was feeling overwhelmed. By doing it daily or multiple times per day I am able to avoid that overwhelmed feeling and move forward through life with a calmer demeanor. It’s been the best gift to myself and I can’t imagine going back to daily life without meditating.

Later still I noticed how out of breath I became when doing simple tasks like climbing up a long flight of stairs to a young lady’s boudoir. Mostly I realized that I was chronically tired, cranky, and irritable. So, a change was in order…

It turns out that there are two basic factors that come into play when  your overall health and well being are concerned. The first is, quite simply, genetics. I once knew a man in his forties that swore off salt, sugar, smokes, and anything else that just might compromise his health from his early twenties and beyond. He still died of a heart attack. This would indicate that it doesn’t really matter what we do, our future health is subjugate to the mysteries of our individual gene pools. “Aha!” I said, ” cause for hope here then!” But it turns out that this is not entirely true.

Genetics only play a small role in one’s overall health. Simply put; one’s genetic history can only form a likelihood of your future health. This does not take into account the advancement of modern medicine for example. Were I to not take my blood pressure medication and cholestrol-beating tablets every day would my doctor be telling me, as she did last week, what great shape I was in? Of course not.

But this was stuff I did not adress at 25. I still felt relatively invincible. I was not concerned with my eventual death. I was interested in how I felt in the moment.Â

The most obvious health factor was the cigarettes. They had to go. Beyond that, I realized that I was putting on a little weight because I had a very high carbohydrate ratio in my diet. It’s not that you have to eliminate carbohydrates altogether, but eating an unreasonably high amount actually makes you hungrier and more tired overall. Blood glucose surges with carbohydrates, just like it does with sugar, and then crashes rapidly when the digestion is complete, causing additional hunger and overall fatigue.Â

Nutritional elements work with the body on the cellular level. A raw carrot aids more than just your eyesight. It works with your body’s cells to help your immune system cope and helps your body eliminate more free radicals. When you consider all the vegetables, low fat proteins, and healthy grains that can be factored into anyone’s diet the cellular benefits become extreme. The next logical conclusion is that when your body is healthier on the cellular level it feels and responds better. This is an accurate conclusion.

I am no saint when it comes to my body and what I put in it. I still crave that occasional slice of pizza and I have a knack for finding the sugary sweets in the house no matter how well hidden they might be. What counts most when taking care of your body is forethought and attention to moderation. Before I pop a sweet treat in my mouth I consider what my diet has been like over the previous week. I keep a closer eye on what my body is asking for and why.

We all get cravings for a reason. A craving for sugar is usually a need for protein. A salt craving is often a sign that you either haven’t eaten enough good carbs or that you need some colorful vegetables. Working on your diet and your daily habits starts out as hard work. But as time goes by, the difference you feel can be incredible and make you wonder why you hadn’t been more strict with yourself before.

So, as the cowboy monk once said, ” My body’s a temple, that’s why I leave my boots on the outside”.