Healthy Living for the Soul

HUMMINGBIRD HAPPINESS

In this senior time of my life, I have learned that life is too short and can change in an instant. When I find joy, I allow the moment to be filled with it, because the moment can be so fragile and fleeting like a hummingbird sighting. During a phone conversation with my adult daughter, she called out, “A hummingbird!” We both stopped talking, to enjoy the brief sighting a moment to appreciate the rare delight.

Our minds need to be guarded. Quickly our thoughts can bring us down a rabbit hole of despair. Sadly, a moment can bring us down, like turning on the news or listening to someone who dwells on everything that is wrong in the world. I do want to be caring and concerned with friends, with whatever they are going through, but honestly I do not see the purpose in staying in the zone of despair. There is no joy there. Maybe I am a Pollyanna; perhaps that is my role in life. I prefer to create my day filled with light and uplifting thoughts, music, readings and gardening. These help me to be centered and healthy.

I saw this meme: True self-care is not bath salts and chocolate cake; it’s making the choice to build a life you don’t need to escape from. I love embracing this stage of my life. It sure beats pining over the way it was or could have been. Why not embrace the here and now?

My dear 100-year-old friend always had a daily plan of action but also a repeated phrase, for the future, kept her moving like a donkey follows a carrot. She started practicing chair yoga in her eighties to help her stay mobile. She also had an affirmation song that she sang on a daily basis, “I’m alive, alert awake, enthusiastic.” I try my best to remember and sing that song, it hasn’t always been easy. Life has its way of bringing us down through relationship issues, health challenges and the news channel. But if we can start each day determined to do our best and be our best at what ever age we are, then we stand a better chance of having control over what we can. What we put in our minds to think, the words we say, the programming we watch, the people we associate with and the food we put in our bodies, as well as the exercises we do all contribute to a happier, healthier state of well-being.

Negative thinking has a tendency to overtake positive affirming thoughts and living. We must guard our thoughts for healthy living. Sometimes we may need to limit conversations with people if their speech and actions distract us from being and feeling our best. Or we may need to say no to activities that take zap our energy. We make choices day by day, moment by moment for our own health and well-being. We choose what we think, watch, hear, eat and how we move through our day. Wallow and wither or live and thrive. It’s our choice. Choose yourself. Choose life and joy for your own healthy living for your soul.

Cheryl Floyd, Speaker/Storyteller and Heal your Life® Coach. Cheryl Floyd is a graduate of East Tennessee State University’s Master Storytelling program. Her career includes over thirty years in education, publishing, life coaching, public speaking, and storytelling. www.cherylfloyd.com