March 15, 2010 in Emotional Healing by empoweringwellness

What is love?

I rarely open emails that are forwarded to me. You know that kind of email I am talking about – the kind that asks you to forward it on to 5 of your friends. 

But, last week I received an email that really moved me, and I thought I would share it with you here. Apparently, a group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds ‘What does love mean?’  The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.

Here are their replies.

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”

Rebecca- age 8

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”

Billy – age 4

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”

Karl – age 5

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”

Chrissy – age 6

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”

Terri – age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.”

Danny – age 7

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss’

Emily – age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”

Bobby – age 7

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.”

Nikka – age 6 \

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, and then he wears it every day.”

Noelle – age 7

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”

Tommy – age 6

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.”

Cindy – age 8

“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”

Clare – age 6

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”

Elaine-age 5

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”

Chris – age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”

Mary Ann – age 4

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.”

Lauren – age 4

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.”

Karen – age 7

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.”

Mark – age 6

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

Jessica – age 8

And the final one. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

“Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

I hope these descriptions of love brighten your day. Spread the love friends!

Peace.

March 1, 2010 in Wellness by empoweringwellness

Understanding Wellness – The Keys to Illness and Health Lie Beneath the Surface

Dr. John Travis, who created the “Wellness Inventory,” identified 3 critical components to overall wellness. Today, I’d like to talk about the second of these components:

Illness and health is only the tip of an iceberg. To understand their causes, you must look below the surface.

You may find it interesting to know that 90 percent of an iceberg is submerged, below the water. Only about 10 percent of the iceberg is actually visible. When we consider that state of your wellness, icebergs are a perfect metaphor.

Why is that? Because regardless of whether you are ill or healthy, your current state of health is just like the tip of the iceberg. It’s just the apparent part, the part that shows. You can treat what is apparent on the surface – chipping away at a condition that is unwanted, but unless you deal with the 90 percent that resides below the surface, the condition will continue to rise back up.

If we begin to look below the surface, the first level we encounter is the lifestyle / behavioral level. That level consists of your diet / nutrition, how much exercise you do, how well you manage stress, and other lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking, drugs, etc.

The next level down is the cultural / psychological / motivational level. This is the level that tells us why we do what we do, why we make the choices we do, and why we live the lifestyle we have chosen for ourselves. Understanding our motivations can help us understand the “payoff” we might get from being overweight, why we smoke, or other destructive lifestyle choices. At this level, we can also learn how popular culture affects us – smoking is seen as being “cool,” or being excessively thin is seen as “attractive.” Important keys and understandings about why we follow lifestyles that we know are destructive reside at this level.

The spiritual / being / meaning level resides one level down. There are no clear boundaries to this level as it includes the mystical and mysterious, plus everything that we hold in our unconscious mind. This is the level where we grapple issues such as our reason for being, finding meaning in our life, and understanding our place in the universe. The way we address questions like this permeate all the layers above. Ultimately, this realm determines whether the tip of the iceberg, representing your state of health is one of disease or one of wellness.

And taking a look at what lies beneath the surface, exploring all of these realms begin to give us true insight into the why’s of our own personal health and wellness.

If you’re interesting in bringing more wellness into your life, take The Wellness Inventory.