Love of Self Love of Self Forgive And Live

How important is love? We discuss it a lot during the month of February, and the most powerful form of love is agape: love of mankind. Agape is the love God shares with us—free of judgement and conditions. This is the love we model back when we love God and other people. Did you know you are supposed to love yourself, too (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV)? Let’s discuss!

Don’t we all want to live our best lives? Helping people live well is my mission, one that I take seriously. Lives can be transformed for the better by making correct choices. I believe the pathway to health and wellness begins in the heart and mind. Forgiveness of yourself and others with your whole heart is an essential part of the journey. We must forgive to be forgiven, and we also must learn to forgive ourselves. (Luke 6:37 NIV) Let’s discuss.

How do we show love of self? Step one is accepting yourself exactly as you are. Do this assignment: stand in front of a mirror nude and look at yourself. Can you love this person with no artificial covering or pretense? Accepting yourself as you are is a powerful way to begin honoring self. No efforts succeed without self-acceptance, an honest acknowledgement of all your attributes, both positive and negative. From here you can build selfesteem and self-love, which affect your conscious mind and your choices. You will choose to live well in your mind, spirit, and body!

When you are harsh with yourself, putting yourself down for dropping the ball yet again, this is unforgiveness. Please show yourself grace and understanding and give yourself the room to begin again. Forgive yourself for any perceived failures and remove them from your mind. Today is a new day! This forgiveness will allow you to effectively take steps that strengthen and help your body and help free you from the looming risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, sleeplessness, and other conditions.

Self-love in the mind minimizes stress and anxiety. Toxic levels of stress and anxiety are prevalent in the African American community and can contribute to many health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and decreased performance levels. Self-love and gratefulness add a positive spin and help give you joy. Joy doesn’t just make us feel better, it improves our health. It helps us make better choices— eat healthier, be more active, and sleep better. Because happiness leads to healthier behaviors, it can lessen the risk of high blood pressure, excess body fat, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

I encourage all readers to have an annual checkup. These evaluations by a medical professional can identify negative trends before they become problematic chronic conditions. Annual visits to your OB/GYN, primary physician, and dentist can alert you to developing conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, prediabetes, and many others. Be alert to ward off negative trends. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and nearly 48% of African Americans have some form of it, exacerbated by obesity.

Love of self will lead you to the doctor’s office. It’s early in the year, please schedule checkups with your primary physician, dentist, OB/GYN, et al! Annual physical evaluations by a medical professional can identify troubling trends before they become chronic conditions. Get checked annually and know your numbers—be proactive regarding your health.

After being evaluated by your doctor, it is time to increase physical activity with exercise. Performing aerobic activities help to strengthen your pulmonary and cardiac systems. Your circulatory system will also be revved up as oxygen and nutrients are pumped to your entire body. Walking is the best aerobic exercise to start with and can be done at the best speed for you. Workout at home

Love of self will lead you to the doctor’s office. It’s early in the year, please schedule checkups with your primary physician, dentist, OB/GYN, et al! Annual physical evaluations by a medical professional can identify troubling trends before they become chronic conditions. Get checked annually and know your numbers—be proactive regarding your health.

During your physical, ask your doctor about starting to exercise. Start slow with home exercises and build up speed. Try my workout and modify it based on your

During your physical, ask your doctor about starting to exercise. Start slow with home exercises and build up speed. Try my workout and modify it based on your needs: https://youtu.be/E625Kq64XmQ Invest in some barbells and develop exercise routines to your favorite song with arm curls, split squats, lunges, leg raises, planks, and stretches. Don’t forget to walk; walking is aerobic, low impact, and strengthens your bones. It’s a great way to ease back into exercise. or anywhere with my workout and modify it to fit your needs: https://youtu.be/E625Kq64XmQ Any moderate activity that increases your activity is probably the right thing to do, so walk, run, hula hoop, and jump rope your way to fitness. Invest in some barbells and create a routine to your favorite songs with arm curls, triceps extensions, squats, and more. Don’t forget to stretch to release the tightness of your muscle fascia to increase your range of motion. needs: https://youtu.be/E625Kq64XmQ Invest in some barbells and develop exercise routines to your favorite song with arm curls, split squats, lunges, leg raises, planks, and stretches. Don’t forget to walk; walking is aerobic, low impact, and strengthens your bones. It’s a great way to ease back into exercise.

Love of self will cause some diet changes. We will all make decisions about what works for us individually, but the main principle is increase whole, unprocessed foods; eliminate sugar and junk foods. They are called junk foods for a reason; they fill you with toxins, potentially leading to high cholesterol, kidney damage, liver disease, dental cavities, and more—and they have little to no nutritional value. Please value yourself by increasing leafy greens, vegetables, and lean proteins. Strive for improvement, not perfection.

Forgive yourself for eating unhealthily and move forward to a diet filled primarily with whole, unprocessed food like leafy, green vegetables and lean proteins. Work to eliminate excess sugar and toxic fillers that do silent damage to your cholesterol, kidneys and liver. Research suggests African Americans may carry a gene that makes them more salt-sensitive, increasing the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, so salt should be limited too. Your body will thank you.

Let us continue to seek our very best lives, to live well and prosper!

Live well and prosper.

Love of self will cause some diet changes. We will all make decisions about what works for us individually, but the main principle is increase whole, unprocessed foods; eliminate sugar and junk foods. They are called junk foods for a reason; they fill you with toxins, potentially leading to high cholesterol, kidney damage, liver disease, dental cavities, and more—and they have little to no nutritional value. Please value yourself by increasing leafy greens, vegetables, and lean proteins. Strive for improvement, not perfection.

Live well and prosper.

Fitness training is available through the Live Well Church FITCARE program, offered at the Fitness Doctor Studio in Somerset, New Jersey. Please call Karen Beasley at 732-912-4435 to schedule a free assessment.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this column is of a general nature. You should consult your physician or health care professional before beginning any exercise program or changing your dietary regimen.