Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was filled with love, friendship, laughter and grace. 

Welcome to 2020, a new decade and year beckoning with opportunity, challenge and promise. This time of year is one of reflection and planning for many, the first of a new set of blank pages on which to write a new story for yourself.

As part of my own reflection, I had a conversation with a friend recently about the veracity of the old adage, “When you know better, you do better.” Both of us noted several occasions when we absolutely possessed the information needed to make better choices, yet we didn’t make those choices. Both of us marveled about how, when confronted with serious health issues and told, “If you do not make these changes, you will die,” it’s remarkable how fast we set the necessary changes in motion. It turns out not wanting to die is a pretty powerful incentive!

That got me thinking about the role worry and fear can play in our lives. While frequently viewed as negative emotions, in an acute situation it turns out these can actually be catalysts for beneficial behavioral change. Often we spend energy and time in an anxious state, worrying about things that don’t really matter or may never happen, measuring our activities by an imaginary scorecard of perceived value. At the same time, we live in willful denial/ignorance about self-actionable things that truly do have a huge impact on our well-being. Our focus can become so warped and externally oriented that we may miss critical internal cues trying to tell us what we truly need to do to keep ourselves safe and healthy. 

The good news is there is so much we can do to help ourselves feel better when we’re ready to do better because we know better! The articles in this month’s edition are devoted to supporting that kind of effort. We offer practical and empowering articles about how to live longer and healthier lives, including cultivating properly functioning immune systems, improving fertility and engaging with the essential natural environment. Particularly inspiring is the story of hikers in their 80s (and older) who walk five to 10 miles per day as both healthy exercise and a way of staying active in community. They are great examples that the best way to stay well is to avoid falling ill in the first place!  

Step into this new decade with a well-ordered priority list: you come first and everything and everyone else comes next. It may sound selfish, but as the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty vessel. You will be better able to serve others if you’re serving yourself well. Don’t wait until you fear death to make hard adjustments to improve your well-being. Start now… in the only moment you’re sure to have. 

Lookng ahead… next month’s issue is our annual Natural Living Directory! Please be in touch soon if you would like your business or practice to be included in the biggest issue of the year. Distributed throughout 2020, the directory edition puts the spotlight on the practitioners and businesses that make this area such a vital community. Don’t miss your chance to be included in this key reference guide with an ad, profile, listing or some combination! The deadline for the directory issue is January 12th!