Category: Body (Page 1 of 6)

4 Tips on Quality Living from an Unexpected Place

August 27, 2022 / Matt McMann / 0 Comments

Great advice can come from unexpected places.

As I munched the delicious Purely Elizabeth chocolate and sea salt granola my daughter had recommended, I glanced at the back of the package to read the ingredients. To my surprise, I found simple but insightful wisdom on living a quality life:

1. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

“Focus on plant-based, nutrient-rich food. Limit inflammatory foods.”

I am not a nutrition aficionado, but even to my limited knowledge, this sounds like sage advice. And when the person promoting this way of life provides delicious snack food that fits the bill, who am I to argue?

2. FOLLOW THE 80 / 20 RULE

“80% of the time, be your healthiest self. 20% of the time, indulge—guilt-free.”

One of my core life principles is balance in all things, so this sentiment resonates with me. It’s in line with one of the tenants of intermittent fasting that my wife and I follow—delay, don’t deny.

3. GOOD HEALTH IS MORE THAN DIET

“Exercise, stress-management and relationships are equally important.”

Yes, yes and yes. My daily exercise routine, meditation and prayer time, and regularly scheduled time with friends are essential to my whole-life health.

4. LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE

“Live with intention, innovate, evolve, grow and be grateful.”

What a great definition of personal development. Change is a constant. Healthy things grow. Choosing gratitude daily can literally revolutionize your quality of life.

Which of these bits of wisdom stands out to you? Choose one to work on today. Keep your efforts simple and manageable. Let the rewards you experience from one change motivate you to incorporate the next. If you do, you’ll enjoy a more satisfying life, and you’ll take another step toward Becoming Yourself.

3 Fun Resources for Your Body, Mind, and Spirit

July 16, 2022 / Matt McMann / 0 Comments

I love M. Night Shyamalan movies.

There is a weightlifter in Lady in the Water that worked out only one side of his body.

I think he missed the lesson on balance.

We laugh, but how often do we do the same thing? It’s so easy to forget that we are body, mind, and spirit. To become the best version of ourselves, we need to nurture all three.

Here are three fun resources that I use:

BODY

Yoga with Adriene (YouTube)

I was clueless about yoga until a few years ago when injuries left me looking for a new workout routine. My daughter recommended Yoga with Adriene, so my wife and I decided to give her YouTube videos a try. It’s been wonderful. At a basic level, yoga is simply stretching and strengthening exercises you can do at home that have mind and spirit benefits too. Adriene is a charming and relaxed guide, especially helpful for beginners. Her channel has a number of “30 Day Yoga Journeys” that are a great place to start, and her lovable dog Benji always makes an appearance.

MIND

MasterClass (masterclass.com)

MasterClass is a streaming service with video-based lessons by the best experts in the world on basically everything. Want to learn how to cook? Take lessons from Gordon Ramsey. Interested in improving your backhand or your three point shot? Serena Williams and Steph Curry are there for you. Curious about photography, interior design, cosmology, business, comedy, acting, directing, public speaking, gardening, negotiating, etc? The finest teachers anywhere are waiting. As an aspiring author, I just finished Neil Gaiman’s series of 20+ video lessons. That alone was more than worth a subscription. Each class comes with a pdf class guide, and the production quality is stunning.

SPIRIT

Travelzoo (travelzoo.com)

One of the many things that COVID-forced restrictions have taught us is the importance of travel. Seeing new places, meeting new people, and having new experiences not only helps us grow, it nurtures our spirits. After the year we’ve had, most of us could use all the nurturing we can get. Travelzoo’s weekly Top 20 Travel Deals email (sign up on their website) provides an amazing variety of incredibly cheap travel around the world. A few years ago, I booked a Travelzoo package and spent eleven amazing days in China, seeing the sites with an English-speaking guide and staying in top hotels. Literally everything was included for a price cheaper than booking just the flights on my own. My wife and I spent eight days island hopping in Greece on another fantastic Travelzoo bargain. Fully refundable deals with travel dates into 2022 are available now at rock bottom prices.

So what part of you could use a little TLC? Your body, your mind, or your spirit? Try a little yoga. Scroll the list of Masterclasses. Sign up for the Travelzoo email. Set aside some time for yourself today, and you’ll take another step toward Becoming Yourself.

This post was originally published April 3, 2021.

How to Refresh Your Mind, Body and Spirit

October 16, 2021 / Matt McMann / 2 Comments

It’s cold this October morning in Vancouver.

I snug my jacket closer and take another sip of hot tea as I gaze up at the star-filled sky. Dawn is still an hour away, and the only sounds are the gurgling stream and the birds stirring in the nearby forest.

I love the walkable city in Arizona where my wife and I live. The convenience. The restaurants, shops, activities, and friends.

But after awhile, I feel a pull in my spirit. A restlessness. An itch to wander beneath towering trees. To breathe clean, crisp air. To soak in the beauty and stillness of nature.

Here in Vancouver, Canada where our daughter lives, nature isn’t hard to find. The deck of our Airbnb sits on the edge of a primal-looking forest criss-crossed with trails. Stepping a hundred feet off the road is like being transported to Middle Earth.

I’m far from the first to point out the positive effects of being in nature. How it heals our spirits. Cleanses our minds. Awakens our bodies. But as clearly as I know this truth, I’m prone to forget it. The busyness of life, all its demands and distractions, pushes the need for time in nature to the back of my mind.

So I write this as a reminder to myself as well as an encouragement to you. Find ways to regularly spend time in nature. Stroll through a park. Take a drive to the country. Make the effort to get to a natural environment for a week, a weekend, a day, an afternoon, an hour. Go for a hike. Sit in silence. Soak in the beauty. Just be. If you do, you’ll find yourself refreshed in more ways than one, and you’ll take another step toward Becoming Yourself.