Live with Intention

Last year Dylan and I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Patch Adams speak at UNCA. He was more amazing in person than the movie could ever capture. Everything he said was motivation to be a better person, a healthier person, a happier person. He said that people quite often ask him how he can be so happy all of the time. Surely there are things that get him down, make him feel sad. Sure, he says, there are sad things that happen, in life, in our community, in the world. Happiness is not the result of ignoring or burying sorrow. It is the result of embracing that pain, feeling it all the way through, releasing it and deciding that, despite that inevitable moment of sorrow, I will live with the intention of being joyous. Is it hard? Of course it's hard. It takes practice and effort. But it is worth it. The comparison he used, that I will never forget, is this: You live every day of your life with the intention of not getting hit by a semi truck. And so far, you have been very successful! Now, just live every day of your life with just as much intention to be happy.  Choose to smile at the elderly driver in front of you traveling 15 miles an hour slower than you would like to be going. She knows something you don't in that moment: that there are very few things in the world worth being in that big of a hurry over. Smile at the crying baby in the restaurant. He is learning how to communicate with the world around him. Smile at the unhappy customer. She has had a long, hard day and your smile will make the rest of it just a little bit brighter.

It reminds me of the lessons taught by the beloved Chad O'Shea at Unity Center in Arden. Since I was 8 or 9 years old, I have soaked up the lesson that no one is responsible for my feelings. I choose my reaction to my surroundings. That sound is annoying because I allow myself to feel annoyed. I choose to put my focus there. I could instead choose to put my focus into enjoying whatever task I am engaged in. Misery is optional my friend. It is absolutely optional.

I have chosen a certain level of misery over the course of the past 10 years. I have indulged and overeaten. I have pumped my body full of nutritional garbage. I've been lazy, convinced that because I had so much to do everyday it was okay for me to spend four hours a night glued to the TV, "relaxing."  I was wrong. In the past two months I have chosen to redirect my energies. Work is important, but it doesn't come first. My relationship is so very important to me, but it doesn't come first. My children mean the absolute world to me! But they don't get to come first either. Because if I am slowly sinking into a pit of depression by starving my body of vital nutrients and exercise, I am of absolutely no use to anyone! No wonder I was so snappy and moody all the time. No wonder I felt so tired! No wonder I just wanted to be left alone every night to live vicariously through the hour long dramas of prime-time television!

And now that I feel so awake and alive, I want to share this feeling with everyone I know! Put down the Doritos, man! They are KILLING you! All of those artificial flavors, MSG, hydrolyzed this and modified that, and the muck that are artificial sweeteners are confusing your body, making you crave foods that are about as nutritionally complete as a can of beer. And those cravings simply lead you to even unhealthier choices that feeds the cycle of munch, work, munch, sit, munch, sleep, repeat.

You can do two small things this week that will begin to change your life. Swear off high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, and go for a 15 minute walk every day. And when you survive the first week (and you will survive it, I promise!), give yourself a great big hug, acknowledge how hard you worked, and feel the radical awesomeness of your body thanking you by releasing serotonin and helping you be HAPPY!