If you need to make some changes, you should look at yourself from your different selves

Moving into fall, what should we be eating?

I find that the physical sense is a good place to start because it is what you see every morning when you get up; you do not see your emotions, spirit or mind; you may feel them but the physical is right there in front of you.

Physical self

When I want to make some changes in my physical self, I always think of exercise. And this can be a problem for many people who do not want to join a gym or take an exercise class.

I begin my path of the selves with just a walk. I have been walking daily for as long as I can remember. Even as a child I was walking or riding my bike.

You do not have to get a personal trainer, just do something that you like to do and turn it into an exercise.

If your physical self is more concerned with the way you look, then you may want to start doing some passive type of work to your body like tai-chi or yoga. It is amazing how much younger people look who do alternative modalities. Even tapping and acupressure points can be a good place to start with your physical goal, or a good foot rub on yourself while you self-study some reflexology or the potent points of acupressure.

And of course the lose weight agenda. So many people are concerned about losing weight, but if you put some concentration on learning how to decrease the stress in your life with the self-help of yoga, tai-chi or acupressure you will be on the road to losing some weight. And for the diet conscious; a great new diet plan could be starting with a plant based diet where you slowly get rid of some of the meat and replace it with grains, beans and nuts.

Emotional self

For my emotional self I turn toward aromas. I believe that there are many scents that can quell your anxiety and help you in your emotional self.

Lavender is the first to come into my mind’s eye as a great way to calm down. I make lavender eye pillows for my yoga students and we use them in class during relaxation and meditation time.

Spiritual self

A great way to get in touch with your spiritual self is meditation and prayer.

Both  prayer and meditation can be helpful to bring balance in life,  but many people shy away from it or say that they tried it and could not do it. I believe that meditation and praying  are like any other skills; practice helps you to gain knowledge and a skill set that you need in order for it to be an effective way to help your emotions and spiritual self.

Mental Self

I feel that the intellect needs to be fed in order for you to come to a balance in life. You need to self-study some of your interests and learn from others. Your mental capacity can grow until the day you die, and it needs stimulating talk, challenging readings and the challenging puzzles of life. Even your relationships with others can stimulate your mind; the good and bad times are part of the learning curve that you need in order to survive a marriage or friend relationship.