Catching Up — Once Again!
October 2023: FAMILY FUN
“My memories of celebrating Halloween with my family are wonderful. We never got into the scary stuff, nor did we spend much money on costumes. Halloween brings my whole family together—and I love every second of it! The entire family gets to be “kids” for the night.”
—Bree Najara
November 2023: GRATITUDE
“We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.”
—Thomas S. Monson
December 2023: CHRISTLIKE LOVE
“The spirit of Christmas is Christlike love. The way to increase the Christmas spirit is to reach out generously to those around us and give of ourselves. The best gifts are not material things but gifts of listening, of showing kindness, of remembering, of visiting, of forgiving, of giving time.”
—Bonnie L. Oscarson
January 2024: EXERCISE
“Exercise not only changes your body. It changes your mind, your attitude, and your mood.”
—Unknown
“WE ALL KNOW that exercise makes us feel better, but most of us have no idea why. The real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best.”
—John J. Ratey
Make EXERCISE your new best friend!
—Kristine Litster Fales
One of the books I recently listened to on Audible is called, I Know What To Do, So Why Don’t I Do It? by Nick Hall. (I cannot count the number of times I’ve said this sentence to myself throughout my life!) The title of this book intrigued me, but the book wasn’t what I expected. The first few chapters talked about the importance of good health and exercise—because if you don’t feel well, you can’t accomplish your goals. I immediately got on my treadmill (because it was cold outside) and started slowly walking while watching inspirational shows on television.
I later listened to another book by Marsha M. Linehan called, Building a Live Worth Living. This is a sad memoir of the woman who, over many years throughout her difficult life, was able to create a program to help prevent suicide called “dialectical behavior therapy” or DBT. I learned that one important element of this program is intense exercise. Once again, exercise has been scientifically proven necessary for mental and emotional health!
I then listened to a book called SPARK: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, by John J. Ratey. This third book, along with the first two books, inspired me to be totally committed to a daily exercise routine. I have worked my way up from a slow walk on the treadmill for a few minutes a day to 20 minutes of alternating slow and fast walking. I also do at least 10 minutes of other kinds of exercises. I feel so much better! Not only do I have more energy, but I can also think more clearly and rebound faster from stressful situations!
I hope in 2024 that we will all make our physical health our number one priority. Of course, taking care of our spiritual health with prayer, scripture reading, and journal writing is a close second, but a healthy spirit inside an unhealthy body cannot do much. My new motto is:
Take care of my body first.
Take care of my spirit second.
Take care of others third.
This last month the words to a cute little song, which I learned as a young child in Sunday School class, kept coming into my mind. I know if I had taken better care of my “temple” body throughout my life that I would have had a much happier, healthier, less stressful life. But we can only start from where we are today and make better choices in the future! My new routine is to exercise first thing in the morning. I am determined that my procrastination in doing the essential things in life — MUST stop!
The Lord Gave Me A Temple
The Lord gave me a temple to live within on earth.
Once in Heaven I was spirit, but I left my home at birth.
I’ll make my temple brighter; I’ll keep my spirit free.
My body is the temple my Father gave to me.
Words: Donnell Hunter
Music: Darwin Wolford
“Treat your body like the temple it is!”
This is a quote from chapter 74 of the book 30 Days—Change Your Habits, Change Your Life written by Marc Reklau. This book was published in 2014, but I just listened to it on Audible this month. Reklau has many good suggestions on how to permanently transform a person’s life—the book has 94 short chapters on different subjects! I totally agree with his advice on the necessity of taking excellent care of our bodies each day!