Taking risks has always been a big part of my personality. Whether it was jumping off a 50 foot cliff, paddling out after a hurricane attempting to surf enormous waves, walking on to try out for a division 1 football team, or starting my own business, I was game. My motivation has always been a desire to overcome my fears and insecurities. I really can’t come up with a better explanation except that whenever I was faced with something that scared the life out of me I felt compelled to go after it anyway. It didn’t take someone to persuade me or push me either, there was just this undeniable need to do whatever it was that was challenging me. Some of my earliest memories are the ones where I went to battle with my fears. Fear has always been my biggest nemesis, but facing those fears has taken me places that I never would have dreamed of going. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I didn’t take on some of those risks that presented themselves. So with that said, I want to share with anyone and everyone out there some words that will hopefully encourage you to take risks. I’ve noticed that many of us humans, myself included have a tendency to make mountains out of mole hills. We allow ourselves to think in worst case scenarios way too often. Don’t allow irrational, pessimistic, or delusional thoughts to cloud the reality that all things are possible. If you can dream it you can manifest into reality. So my humble advice to all of you is to take those risks and go out there and create the life that you so desire. And have fun doing it. Tell old man fear to come back around some other time, you have something important you’re doing and it doesn’t concern him. Go ahead and be a risk taker, you won’t regret it.

There are so many things to consider when thinking about the word flow. Here in America one of the most significant would/should be blood flow because of the overwhelming number of U.S. citizens that get struck down by heart failure every year. If I’m not mistaken, heart disease has held the top spot on the cause of death list for quite a while. Within the last year, two of my very good friends, both well under the age of fifty, took a shot to the heart. One had to have quadruple bypass surgery and the other had two stents put in when he discovered one of his arteries was 100% blocked after he had a massive heart attack. Both of these problems were caused by lack of flow. Insufficient flow within the human body, whether it’s blood flow or energy flow can cause big problems and has sent way too many people to an early grave. The good news about this seemingly dire situation is that in many cases, disaster can be avoided with adjustments to the diet, some consistent exercise, and a lesson or two in stress management. When it comes to creating optimal health for ourselves there’s something fundamentally important that needs to be considered and that is Chi flow: the life-force energy that resonates within our body. Similar to the vascular system we have meridians throughout our body where the chi flows. Being sedentary, eating poorly, lacking stress relief, bad habits (alcohol, drug abuse), fear, anxiety, and having a negative attitude can all impede the flow of this vital energy. When we neglect to take care of ourselves and aren’t mindful of what is required to prevent illness it is only a matter of time before something wicked will come along and try to take us down. Keeping the Chi flowing is a big part of what we do at my studio in Red Bank. I was very fortunate to have spent several years studying with a man that was an expert in understanding the energy system of the body. He taught me a variety of exercises that elevate our body’s vibration, break up blockages, and increase the flow. So for those of you that live in Monmouth County come on down to The Power Center and get your chi flowing!

Last night I was listening to a seminar and the speaker used the word relentless two different times in his speech. Both times it caught my attention, leaving an impression strong enough that it inspired me to use it for my blog post. I have an understanding of the word’s meaning but I looked it up in the dictionary anyway because the dictionary’s definitions always offer a much clearer and detailed description, which can often prove helpful when using a specific word as a writing topic. The definition I came across for relentless is this; “showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace.” Now here’s where the dictionary definition proves helpful. I most likely wouldn’t have thought of the word ‘promise’ if I hadn’t looked it up and promise is the perfect word to elaborate on in regards to the question I pose to myself and all of you. In order to be relentless with our well-being making a promise to ourselves and each other, especially our loved ones is paramount. A promise to approach taking better care of ourselves. Putting forth a determined effort promising not to let up, to stay committed and to follow through with our efforts. Intensity and strength are two more perfect words to acknowledge with this topic. When you think about the potential dangers that were faced with day in and day out it’s imperative that we remain strong and intense. It’s gotten to the point where letting your guard down could very well lead to a very dangerous place. Our environment has become very toxic in a variety of ways and not only to we need to take precautions but we also need to do our due diligence in order to know what were up against. We need to ask ourselves why there’s such an onslaught of deadly diseases running rampant, diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes to name just a few. What can we do to prevent these unforgiving killers into our lives? Well one thing that’s for sure, if we remain relentless in our efforts to stay healthy in body, mind and spirit at least you’ll give yourself a fighting chance to avoid the suffering that comes with poor health. So why don’t we all start to take matters into our own hands and reverse this overwhelming trend of sickness and disease. Collectively we are capable of anything we put our minds and hearts to. So I’ll leave you today with a question: What on earth is more valuable or more important than your health?