8 Tips for a Healthy Mind and Body

Exercise. Eat right. Move more. 

We’ve heard these tips a million times. They make perfect sense, but when you feel bad about yourself, the same negative thoughts keep looping in your brain, or you’re surrounded by negative people, getting motivated to do them can be nearly impossible.

These eight tips will help get you on the path to healthy living.

1. Be grateful. Record one good thing in a daily blessings journal, even if it was just drinking a perfectly brewed coffee. Then, when life seems overwhelming, go back and read your entries.
2. Laugh. There’s a reason they say laughter is the best medicine. Laughing is fun, but it also releases endorphins so you feel more energized. And, that’s just what the doctor ordered to help you get out the door, walk a trail, take a class, or soak up nature.
3. Encourage yourself. “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” There’s a reason this quote from the movie “The Help” resonated with so many people. We all need to feel like we matter, and the best way is to feel it from within. Leave positive notes on your mirror, in your car, wherever you’ll see them.
4. Expect the best. Don’t create negative, self-fulfilling prophecies. Make a habit of telling yourself you can and will do it. 
5. Relax. Sometimes, your body and mind need tranquility. Meditate, pray or listen to calming music. Quality quiet downtime will give you strength and mental preparedness to tackle what needs to be done to achieve better health.
6. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Standing your ground for important issues is admirable, but going ballistic over a broken glass or a perceived insult not only raises your blood pressure, but puts you in a negative state of mind. Let it go.
7. Stop the negative loop. Those negative thoughts that play over and over in our heads are not only destructive, but they’re usually not true. Work on changing the recording in your head, and start by being kind to yourself. You will start feeling better and more motivated to make positive changes in your life.
8. Be kind. Being kind is infectious. It takes so little to make someone happy, which, in turn, will make you happy. Do something nice for someone every day. Whether it’s giving a compliment or buying a stranger a cup of coffee, kindness strengthens self-worth and that’s what we need to obtain better health.

Provided by Cherokee Women’s Health Specialists.