Truth: If I allow myself to spend too much time on social media, I find myself exhausted. Especially in the beginning of the year when everyone is shouting out about what they are going to do with the new year and what they will do to reinvent themselves, their business or lives. If I allow myself, I will start to feel like maybe I am not doing enough and feeling left behind in the new year shuffle. Do you ever feel this way too? Am I the only one? How do YOU keep yourself from falling prey to this emotion?
I have discovered this trap can be a large part of people feeling exhausted, creating anxiety then from being exhausted. It is my belief that mental exhaustion can be just as detrimental as physical exhaustion.
Years ago, (we are talking 2006) I was studying for my Nutrition Certification through a great program called Venice Nutrition created by my very good friend and international health advocate and #1 bestselling author, Mark Macdonald.
VN taught about building a health structure or ‘laying down the foundation’ for your house or body.
Did you know that the apostle Paul also taught about our body as our ‘home’ and temple for the Lord.. 😉
Originally Venise Nutrition taught that there are 5 parts to health:
Sleep
Nutrition
Exercise
Supplements
Water
and later they brought in Stress management.
Being an international fitness competitor, model and presenter/performer starting from the early 90s, I had never heard that sleep was this important. I had been taught for years it was all about food and exercising. Plus, as I was only in my early 30s at the time, so it was easier to go on less sleep. So, this was a new concept to me!
Here is the reason Sleep was given 1st priority for the health structure/foundation of life.
“Why is sleep number one? There is a gland, part of the endocrine system called the adrenal gland. It is similar to the cell phone battery. Every night most people charge their phone, leaving it fresh and ready to make unlimited calls. What happens when the battery is low at the start of the day? Just a few calls and eventually it runs out of juice.
Your adrenal gland functions in a similar way. Each night your body uses sleep to recharge itself. If the day is began rested, your 5 systems work much more efficiently. If sleep has been neglected, your body will function at a lower level. Remember you are what you metabolize; lack of sleep prevents propel metabolizing of nutrients and slows fat loss.”
Side note.. with this in mind, here are 3 ways to maximize your sleep. You are welcome! 😁
READING - of course I like to read the Bible as it brings peace and comfort to me
Listening to relaxing music - I have found a wonderful lullaby music box from WHOLETONES_SLEEP
(this is a clickable link to the exact box I use- No, I’m not making $ on it)Not eating TOO late ... and ABSTAINING from drinking alcohol … but instead drinking these tasty calming/non caffeine teas from: PIQUE TEAS
(Yes, this is an affiliate link … anyone that orders from them has one too- I’ve been using them for a few years now and really love them).
Assuming you have heard the statement knowledge is power, right? Most secular ‘proverbs or quotes’ tend to originate from the bible’s teachings. The following secular ‘proverb’ is given credit online to Sir Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, and statesman, who also served as the Attorney General of England.
” The saying 'Knowledge is power' signifies that the true power, which a person can attain, is knowledge. Physical strength has its restrictions, but knowledge is what allows you to do bigger things than you would have ever thought of before. The simple meaning of this proverb is that the more knowledge you have, the more you can control situations.”
Back to sleep, if you dive into more information online, you can find more ways to enhance your sleep thus, allowing your ‘battery/adrenal gland' to recover and work more efficiently for you from day to day. We all need our bodies to work better creating more energy for us, stronger immune systems, lower BMIs and less brain fog plus a myriad of more health benefits. The list goes on and on..
And yes, this is GREAT NEWS and if you are like me back in my early 30s and have not been privy to this knowledge before, I am so happy to have been the one to share it with you now!
However, this is just 1 part of our 3-part body. We are ‘Body, Soul and Spirit’.
I’ve really never heard it said differently, have you? Notice how the word ‘SOUL’ is WRAPPED by the words ‘body and spirit’. I believe words are very important for us and how they are put together gives us understanding and speaks to us, if we are READY to listen anyways.
IMO, what we do with our body AND spirit is how our soul goes. Our soul is where our mind, emotions and will reside. Our soul is what lives forever, eternally in one place or another (Heaven/Hell).
Take note, our body and spirit can be ALIVE or DEAD. This goes back to the ancient language of what the words mean. The word ‘spirit’ basically means breathe and wind. Have you ever said, “The wind is dead today.” Or “There they took their last breath.”? or something similar… notice how wind or breath can be alive or dead. Like spirit, soul also has ancient meaning... it means LIFE. - From Wikipedia ‘an immaterial aspect or essence of a living being that is believed to be able to survive physical death.’
So, like the body where we can build it (the body) and strengthen it and feel ALIVE in it, we can also do this with our spirit!
Or we can waste away our body by unhealthy activities that create death overtime… sometimes faster or slower, depending. Same is true for our spirit… it can be alive in the Word of God, strengthened by the Holy Spirit or it can be dead in our transgressions or at least on its way to being dead. Hence eventually loss of all HOPE leading to the most tragic of tragedies, depression/suicide.
In Genesis 1 -KJV, God’s Words were, 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Friends, we are created in 3 parts, just as God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are 3 in 1! You can see His own words above in the scripture. He said, “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness…” Have you caught that before, or did it go over your head like it did mine for many years? When God revealed that to me by MY studying, it was a revelation, and it was so fun to learn by hearing the Holy Spirit share that with me! It did not stand out to me in any of the sermons I listened to for years, it was revealed when I spent my own time studying the Word alone. This is how God speaks to us and reveals Himself to us!
This is fantastic news, and we can certainly dive into more of this topic in a later ‘minutes’ message… but for now, we are focusing on exhaustion and how to recover from it!
Since we are now at an 8 mins read, I am going to have a continuation on how to ‘rest your soul’ in the next minutes message. I am excited to share this wonderful information with you…
Remember this- no matter who claims to have said something that brings knowledge like the example I gave above; truth and real knowledge is from God, and we can read all about it in the Bible!
Proverbs 2:10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
Since words are important, here is a fun understanding of the word ‘pleasant’.
adjective
1- as in enjoyable giving pleasure or contentment to the mind or senses (remember the mind resides in the SOUL)
Synonyms & Similar Words (as you read these below you will see that all of these allow for REST!)
HIGH Relevance
pleasurable
Live Radiantly… today!Monica