I’ve found that people tend to treat either their bodies, their souls, or even their minds somewhat like a spare room in a house. It’s just a place to store things that we “happen” to accumulate. When we accumulate junk, old bikes, or boxes of old college stuff where does it go? Without even thinking we just throw it in some bin in the garage or simply just store it away in the spare room.

Unfortunately these physical places can be a representation for what we have going on inside. If you walk into somebody’s house and it’s piled wall to wall with junk, it might be a safe assumption that their finances are also out of control, as is their physical and spiritual health. Not always but it’s probably a pretty safe bet.

When we begin the journey of really caring what kind of foods we put into our bodies, eventually it starts to bleed into other areas of our lives.

Has it for you?

For me, this happened with information and media. I don’t believe one can start on the path of really being passionate about health without growing in so many other areas of life.

For example, your health practices start to change the way you think about…

Political matters

• Can we get access to raw milk?
• Why are they trying to vaccinate our kids?
• Why are alternative cancer clinics forced by law to operate in other countries?

Spiritual matters

• What were our bodies designed to eat?
• How does the vibration of foods affect the ability to heal?
• Does God care about what we eat, if so how much?

Environmental matters

• Are my food choices hurting the planet?
• Am I eating locally?
• Am I supporting organic farmers?

Financial matters

• How does inflation effect my ability to provide for my family?
• How can I make and save more money helping others get healthier?
• Are there ways to protect myself against inflation?

Social matters

• How can I start to not be so reliant on the grid?
• What are some ways to support ethical businesses?
• How can I be a good example of health and vitality to others?

If you’re like me and have been on this path for a while, I’m sure it has changed your life or turned it completely upside down. The question is, now that we have a good handle on what we consume in our diets each day, how do we start to change other areas of our lives in terms of not exposing ourselves to psychologically harmful stimulus…no matter what form?

For example, we know from the research of people like Bruce Lipton and his work in epigenetics (Read The Biology of Belief) that our diet might only comprise 20% of our overall health. What about the other 80%? If you’re eating all the right foods and feeling great about that, but you surround yourself with negative people or watch the nightly news and are getting programmed by that, how can you start to develop strategies to protect what you are exposed to, or completely remove those things in your life which no longer serve you?

What we eat is important but it’s equally important to start protecting our emotional state and our spiritual state as well.

Let’s explore some ways to start moving in that direction.

Be careful what you listen to

This can apply to what you read or watch on television. Personally I recommend getting rid of your T.V. with all its pseudo intellectual mind control baggage that comes with it. You’ll be better off, plus you can put the extra savings into your favorite supplement or book. You know, things that actually help you. On top of that you’ll have extra time to devote to that book you “haven’t had enough time” to get to.

It’s important to protect our spirit (the essence of who we are) the same way we protect our digestive system and bodies from harmful food. If you’re listening to negative talk radio or if you’re listening to music that is changing your emotional state towards something that’s depressing or destructive, it’s important to be aware of what’s going on and make an immediate change.

Why do all the right things in one area of your life only to make less than optimal choices in other areas of your life? Being healthy is holistic. It means being vibrant and alive and thriving in all areas of your life not just physical health.

Now that you’ve developed the habits and daily disciplines to your nutritional program, let’s start employing those same strategies towards ALL areas of life.

Care what you’re listening to. Realize that it means something. I realize every now and then you want to put on some good tunes or veg out on something but at least be conscious that you’re choosing to do so. Listen to information (podcasts, audio books, talk radio, music) that’s uplifting, inspiring, motivating or energizing. Why waste your time listening to stuff that’s going to make you become less of who you are right now?

Start exposing yourself to ideas where you’ll grow

Start expanding your mind beyond what you’ve been exposed to your whole life. Begin exploring ideas that might seem far fetched or simply ideas that seem interesting to you. When we start to look at life using new perspectives, our minds start opening up to new realms of possibility.

Just to know that something is possible, creates excitement, energy and joy. When you begin to realize that you can leave your soul sucking job in corporate America and pursue your dream of doing XYZ it starts to encourage new neuro pathways to develop in your brain. You realize there are other people who have done what you are only dreaming of.

When you read a book you love and the author mentions somebody or some thing that has inspired them, go look it up online. Search Google for it. In today’s world, we’re 1 or 2 clicks away from finding ANYTHING.

One person or idea can lead you to the next and you can follow this rabbit trail for eternity. That’s one of the beauties of life. We can keep learning and growing.

Violently protect who you are

We ought to protect our bodies, our minds and our soul from that which is harmful, destructive and disempowering. I look at it like how a mother bear protects her cubs. If she sees you in the woods and you get too close to her little ones, she’ll instinctively attack and kill you. She doesn’t care who you are, what your motives are, she’s going to hunt you down and tear you up.

She does this because she’s perceiving a threat to the ones that she loves and takes care of. We ought to have that same type of emotional reaction (maybe not ripping people to shreds, that might be a little excessive) to media or people we encounter who adversely effect our inner state of being. We ought to protect ourselves from anything that doesn’t serve us in some positive way.

These things can creep up in our lives. We think we can handle a little violence in a movie or watching that gruesome murder won’t effect us. Or maybe you’re knowingly listening to political propaganda on the news but think it won’t affect you.

Think again because it does.

Over time this stuff radically effects us. Using an analogy of sailing around the world, you only have to be just slightly off and that can make you get off course to the tune of thousands of miles by the time you get to your destination.

If you’re really interested in getting healthy in every sense of the word, consider doing better quality control and screening what types of things you allow in. Don’t allow just anything to come into your reality.

The first step is awareness and the second step is taking some positive action in the right direction so you can start to develop better habits.

If you don’t value what you have on the inside, you’ll simply expose yourself to anything for the thrill of the moment. But if you really value what you have on the inside and want to protect that, you’ll cultivate your inner self like a garden.

You’ll prune it by letting go of certain people or situations that don’t serve you. You’ll take care of the soil by feeding your soul uplifting positive information. You’ll fend off plant diseases by learning new information and expanding your way of thinking.

Treat your spirit and soul like something that you value and will protect at all costs. Don’t let media or low level people influence your thinking by their constant exposure.

What does that mean for you? Getting rid of friends? Changing jobs? Confronting certain people? Only you can make that choice.

So what will it be for you? How are you going to start protecting your inner garden from people, circumstances and situations?