Rip Your Runway!

Paying attention to our health is central to our enjoying a happy and successful life.

Our inner and outer health work together and are entirely co-dependent.  You cannot have one without the other.  The universal Law of Cause and Effect dictates if we have a health mindset it is impossible for this not to be reflected outwardly.

 What we must first do then is to Take Responsibility for our physical health, how we feel about ourselves and the way we look.  This is our choice...  The way we look, apart from our genetics, is largely down to us and no one else.

If we petite and slender we can love every inch, if we are large and curvy we can embrace them.  If we want to lose or gain weight we can make the decision to do so.  We do not need to look in the mirror and hate what we see.

Help is available if we need help to make the adjustments.  If we need help with our nutrition, help is at hand; if we need to add a customized exercise plan to our daily routine and generally be more active; help is there.

Beyond pure aesthetics, our physical health plays a key role in how we live and run our lives.  It affects whether we have the energy to invest in our families, our relationships, to give to our careers.

Having good health means we will be around to enjoy the fruit of our labour.  It means our family can enjoy having us around for a long time.  Your partner will have your beauty and love in his life for as long as possible and you will enjoy having a body that gives you what you demand of it.  Clearly, neglecting ourselves is not an option!

Our emotional health is part of our profile and is very often affected by high levels of stress.

Stress can show in our bodies in a myriad of ways: headaches, feelings of sluggishness, poor sleep patterns, weight gain, constant anxiety, high blood pressure and the like.   We are all stressed from time to time, and in fact some stress can be good if channelled currently.

How we handle stress affects our emotional well being.  The most important thing to do is to identify the source or reason for the anxiety and face it.  Once we have faced up to it we can take steps to deal with it.  Do not allow it to fester and build, get outside help if necessary.

Forget about being super mom or superwoman.  The truth is she never really existed, everyone needs help and no woman is an island.

In today’s highly pressured, fast paced and instant society, taking time for self is not a luxury but an absolute must.  Time spent on you, and for you, is never time wasted, or time that could have been better spent.

We are all, on some level, whether consciously or subconsciously, seeking peace.  This time will help you achieve it.  Schedule ‘me-time’ as part of your daily and monthly routine.

Choose activities that relax you, inspire you, nurture you, affirm you and which blow away the cobwebs.

Here are some favourites, add your own:-

•Enjoy laughter (a cheerful heart is like good medicine)
•Have a Girls Night In/Out
•Book a massage
•Run a perfumed bubble bath, use your best body oils and pamper your skin

•Play music that makes you feel good
•Dance like no-one watching
•Run or walk daily
•Enjoy good sex with the one you love
•Admire the beauty of a magnificent sunset
•Keep a journal
•Celebrate your achievements, don’t wait for someone else to validate you
•Get a makeover
•Smile deeply
•Pray and give thanks
•Have some Belgian chocolate (sometimes it’s nice to be naughty!)

Well, it goes without saying that with our physical and emotional health being on the up and up, it is a no-brainer to recognize that you are going to be feeling pretty good about your fine self!  So your personal and body image will, as a matter of course, be positive!

You will appreciate your body and what it can do and how good it can look.  Your beauty will start from within, from your core and your state of mind. 

Forget what the media says about the way you should look and ignore the unrealistic and impossible to achieve images it presents.  Many of these models are not healthy and have eating disorders in order to stay in these industries. 

Your positive body image comes from knowing how fantastic you really are and knowing you are doing all in your power to look and stay healthy.

So walk with your shoulders back, your head up and sport a beautiful smile, which is the prettiest thing you can wear!

Have a strong, purposeful and confident stride as you step out onto the catwalk of your life, and Rip your Runway.