Don't forget to take a break

In my calendar today "Meeting with Johanna" was booked. Unfortunately, I did exactly what you absolutely should not do. I ignored that meeting and did something that I felt was more urgent. I tried to catch up and tick off things on my long to do list instead. Now I'm sitting here at night wondering how I could have been so stupid. That to do list will always be there, just with slightly different content from day to day. I would never ignore and disregard a meeting with someone else if it is booked in my calendar, so why did I not prioritise the meeting with myself today?

Saturday morning I woke up in the middle of a dream. I was on a peninsula surrounded by warm coral blue water. There I was snorkelling and the most beautiful fish I had ever seen were swimming around me. It was so peaceful, beautiful and warm. A real paradise.

But I was only there in my dream, slowly waking up to another reality.

This is part 4 of 6 in my blog series on the 6 basic principles for a healthy lifestyle - the following articles are also included in the series: Introduction (1/6), Diet and Hydration (2/6), Sleep (3/6), Movement and Breathing Techniques (5/6) and Discussion (6/6).

We all have our own set of values that we live by, even if we are not always good at describing them clearly. Values represent the needs we have that must be met in order to live a meaningful life - they define how we want to live our lives. It is only when our lifestyle is in line with our values that we can be truly happy. So take the time and opportunity to question whether you are living your life in a way that makes you happy.

This is part 3 of 6 in my blog series on the 6 basic principles for a healthy lifestyle - the following articles are also included in the series: Introduction (1/6), Diet and Hydration (2/6), Positive thinking (4/6), Movement and Breathing Techniques (5/6) and Discussion (6/6).

Through evolution, our bodies have been designed to follow natural rhythms. For example, the movement of the sun, moon and earth affects our hormonal rhythms. When the sun rises, it triggers hormones in our bodies that make us wake up in the morning and when the sun sets, it triggers hormones that affect our recovery function during the night.

I am often struck by how a situation or event can be perceived in such different ways depending on who you ask. Most of the time we only assume how we think in a situation when something happens to us, we rarely think about how the other party thinks and feels in the same situation.

Exactly 4 years ago I wrote about this very thing - that everyone should put themselves in the shoes of the other person and try to see what he/she/they see: Yoga Sutras - Thoughtful words about knowing yourself.

This is part 2 of 6 in my blog series on the 6 basic principles for a healthy lifestyle - the following articles are also included in the series: Introduction (1/6), Sleep (3/6), Positive thinking (4/6), Movement and Breathing Techniques (5/6) and Discussion (6/6).

Diet and hydration can dramatically affect your energy levels and biochemical composition, which in turn affects your emotional and mental reality. When our diet is deficient, there is simply not enough energy or focused thought activity to initiate or sustain the changes needed for us to take good care of ourselves. My recommendations based on my own experiences are to vary and rotate the diet, to use only "real" food and to make it as simple as possible so that it works in real life, to eat 5 times a day and to always eat as much as you need.