What are your health goals for 2016? Pyschologist and author MARGARET LAMBERT has some suggestions in her first column for the year.
Happy New Year to you all! I’m off to a slow start having had a wonderful long break away from regular work and routines, with some of my time being spent in parts of Africa.
While I was there, I learnt about “African time’’ which means that things will happen when they are meant to, not when the clock tells you that things must happen; things will happen when everyone is ready, with just a general idea of what day or part of the day people will expect them to happen.
Ah, the wonderful freedom – and incredible frustration – of living like that.
In setting some goals for 2016, I have thought about becoming a little more relaxed with my clock watching! I am generally a stickler for time – for being on time and for having a routine according to time, and getting annoyed when others are not so time conscious!
I know I am not alone in this. Most of us live by the clock – we work by the clock, we eat by the clock, we play and relax by the clock and we sleep by the clock.
Our world operates on the clock and on the Gregorian calendar so it makes no sense to disregard it.
What does make sense is that we become less rigid in our adherence to the clock.
It is our rigidity to time and schedules that cause us additional stress.
Notice how stressed you become when you are running late for an appointment. Does the stress increase your ability to arrive on time or does it generally result in you becoming flustered with the likelihood of additional problems along the way?
Stress is the number one factor that compromises our health. For this year, I am going to try to incorporate a bit more “African time’’, particularly in relation to my attitudes.
I will still keep my routines and work schedules in accordance with the clock, but I can relax more when things are not progressing in accordance with the set schedule.
I can even use some of my relaxation time to be clock-free, allowing my body its own time and aligning myself more with my body’s intuition.
Join me on Blab today to discuss your health goals
♦ Have you thought about your own health goals for 2016? People will be joining me today, Wednesday, January 20 to discuss this on Blab – feel free to join in if you can or watch the replay via the Live Streaming page on my website.
I hope it’s a wonderful year for you with many blessings and good health.
• Margaret Lambert’s column, HEALTH FOCUS, is published in the South West Voice every fortnight.
