Hello, my friend!
I hope you’re having an excellent weekend thus far! We kicked it off with a beach trip yesterday and are headed to the pool in a bit; we are definitely a summer family!
This week’s Top 6 consists of, as usual, tips for bettering your mental, physical, and spiritual states. I hope you enjoy!
Accumulate Health
I listened to an interview on the Now That We’re a Family podcast recently in which the host, Elisha Voetberg, interviewed Dr. Matt Angove, aka Dr. Wholeness (on Instagram @drwholeness).
Dr. Angove used a term I love and just had to share: “Accumulate Health.”
As you can probably guess, from its play on the phrase, “accumulate wealth,” “accumulating health” means making positive, small-step changes to our overall vitality, fitness, and wellbeing by taking our health into our own hands one day, meal, and workout at a time. In the words of Dr. Angove, “Moments added to moments create health multiplication when coupled with time.”
So many of us want lightning-fast results and grow frustrated, to the point of giving up, when we don’t see or feel immediate changes. It’s important to remember that very few things that are worth having come quickly and easily and that, unexciting as it may sound, good old discipline, consistency, and hard work – with plenty of grace thrown in, too! – are the names of the game.
Hack Your Exercise Set
When I’m just not that into a particular exercise, and I still have what seems like an innumerable amount of repetitions to complete of it, I implement this “hack” to encourage me along:
Count prematurely. I picked this up from a trainer/professional bodybuilder over a decade ago, and it’s always stuck with me. When he was training me, he would say the number of my next rep when I was beginning the rep, not completing it.
It was subtle, but because he had already declared, in a sense, that the rep was over before it really was, I was motivated to go ahead and knock it out, even when I felt fatigued and unsure I could keep going. So, when I’m reaching the halfway point on, say, a set of 20 squats, I’ll start naming off the next rep as soon as the previous one is done. It keeps my pace going, and proves to me that physical trials are often mind over muscle!
Memorize Scripture
I was inspired this week, by THIS VIDEO, to memorize full books of the Bible. Check it out and you’ll learn 12 undeniable reasons why scripture memorization is a vital skill!
Embrace Hard Circumstances
Look for Richness
Another excellent quote from Anne of Green Gables I had underlined to share!:
Where did you see richness and fullness this week? I’ve had the unparalleled joy of seeing it in my children’s faces as they giggle and gaze at each other. Seeing big brother falling more in love with his baby sister, and vice versa, is definitely the highlight of this postpartum season!
Take it from Me…
The following is an excerpt from my latest Proverbs Thirty What post, “37 Doilies,” which is, unsurprisingly, inspired by something I read in Anne of Avonlea. You can read the whole post HERE.