Know your truth, and Live it!
There is increasing research demonstrating that Stress is a leading cause of chronic illness, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and mental illness. It is also becoming clear that living outside of your truth is a major cause of stress. What does this mean?
Only you know your truth - who you are, what makes your tick - and only you know if you live your life consistently within your essential self. Asking yourself these simple, but challenging questions may help you know if you are living your truth:
Are you making decisions out of love or fear?
Are you living according to your values?
Are your actions motivated by honest self-expression or by fear of judgement from society or others?
Do you honor your gut feelings and intuition, or discount them as irrational?
Does your sense of self-worth come from within or from other’s opinions of you?
If you make decisions out of love, live according to your values most of the time, do things motivated honestly by self-expression, honor your intuition when facing problems, and don’t rely on others opinions for your self-worth, you are living in your truth and are true to your our own sense of self. If you do not live according to these principles, you may not be living according to your truth and thus compromising your optimal health.
The space between living your truth and truth created by external pressure leads to stress. Chronic stress damages the body through the continual secretion of stress hormones from the adrenal glands. This can lead to an inflammatory state which is the culprit behind many of the chronic disease that cause premature death and disability. In fact, stress may be a more important factor to your long term health than proper nutrition and exercise.
You owe it to yourself to know what your truth is, who you essentially are, and live in it. It may not be easy. Study, meditation and counseling may help. But I suspect, if you are honest with yourself, and take a moment to silence the outside world and contemplate the subject, you already know if you are living in harmony with your essential self. If you are not living your truth, I suspect you already know what you need to do to get there. I pray you find the clarity and strength to find and live your truth. Once you know your truth and then live it, only then will you discover true health and happiness.
In health,
Dr. John Monaco
MONACO Wellness
(813) 541-6440