Eat, Love, Pray

I’ve not read the best-selling book nor seen the movie, Eat Love Pray, but the title alone has the potential to create a template for a short, personal inventory of your physical, emotional, or spiritual health at any given moment.

We have to EAT to exist. Most of us make daily food choices that are either driven by impulse and convenience or meticulously calculated and planned, (or some erratic combination of both). Yet, over the past decade the increased awareness of the detrimental impact that high fat or extra-sugary foods or drinks can have on our bodies has been enough to force the average person to reconsider what and why they EAT. What (or how much) we eat is not the only consideration. Many of us eat for comfort, to relieve stress, or to drown our sorrows. Yet with the increase of obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes impacting all age groups, more of us are realizing that we must become healthy, sensible, self-controlled eaters. We understand that limitless, indulgence isn’t good for us, thus eating healthy is not an option if you want to live longer. We know we must change, but how?

To truly enjoy our lives, we have to LOVE others and ourselves. The majority of mental health experts suggest that the quality of love we received (or missed out on) in childhood is a great indicator of how we will love as adults. How we were loved as children also determines how we perceive or feel about ourselves as adults. If we were fortunate to have been given great love as children, we will find it easier to experience loving relationships as adults. But love is a decision, as much as it is an emotion. To love is to forgive, give, wait on, encourage, and believe in others. Anyone can decide to love.

To PRAY is to communicate with heaven. The online dictionary defines prayer as “speaking to God, a deity, or a saint, for example, in order to give thanks, express regret, or ask for help.” Merriam’s Dictionary similarly describes prayer as “addressing God with adoration, confession, supplication or thanksgiving.” Why is it important talk to God? There are a variety of reasons. A soldier who is in battle would say that talking to God gives him peace. A mother of a seriously ill child pleads with God for supernatural intervention, knowing that neither money nor medicine guarantees health. Prayer ranges from pleading to praising, from asking to thanking; from questions posed to answers received. To pray is to look up, to see life from an eternal—rather than temporal—perspective. Prayer releases hope. And we all need hope to get through the tough times.

Today…

(1) Consider what little changes you can make to what, why, and when you EAT in order to improve your health—less fat, less sugar, smaller portions, or fewer calories per day?
(2) Decide to make little changes in the way you LOVE others and yourself—eliminate a hurtful word from your vocabulary, hug more often, apologize more quickly, or forgive more easily?
(3) What little changes can you make in the way you PRAY? Try kneeling before you get into bed, journaling your two-way conversations with God, or consider visiting a monastery for a silent retreat.

I’m convinced that little changes will ultimately lead to big results in our lives.

Why not EAT right, LOVE generously, and PRAY passionately one day at a time?

Be encouraged,

Becky