As members of the LDS church, I grew up always being told that phrase, "My body is a temple." I always understood the basis behind the words. Treat your body with respect. Only put healthy things into it. Don't defile your body in anyway. Our Heavenly Father gave us this body, a pure creation from him, and just like a temple, we should take care of it as such. But for some reason, I always only thought of the physical aspects my body encounters. Food, exercise, abstaining from harmful drugs, etc.. I never really considered things that would be mentally harmful to me, and yet looking back at when I was my heaviest, it was at times when I was under true mental stress. I've been watching a documentary entitled, "Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America's Greatest Threat." I watch these kinds of shows as I work out to scare the fat off of me. It works. I yell at the computer screen and kickbox a little hard as I watch. In the movie they discussed a study that was done concerning stress and weight gain. In the early days of man, if the body of a hunter or gatherer experienced stress, it was most likely due to not being able to obtain food. These people had to work very hard for their food, and so if they weren't able to obtain it, the body would go into a stressed state and turn on its own survival mode. While in the survival mode, the body's metabolism slowed down, and fat burned more slowly, allowing the body to save its energy due to the lack of food. But now in this day and age, the factors that cause stress to our bodies isn't usually about lack of food. Stress is now caused by other factors such as over-powering bad news on the tv, or money issues, or traffic, or family members. And, just like the cave man, when our bodies become stressed, they go into survival mode, and our bodies stop burning the amount of fat as before. But what do we do? We keep eating. And not just good stuff. What do I crave when I'm stressed? A quarter-pounder with cheese, fries and large sweet tea.
About a week ago, I found myself in a very stressful, very confrontation situation. It has taken me close to a full week to recover from it. During that week, my energy was low, my desire to eat properly diminished, and my will power to exercise was near non-existent. My body shut down. I wasn't sad and moping all over the house in my pjs for a week. I got up every morning with the intention to do my workouts and eat good food. I was able to speak with good friends that could help to uplift me. I still managed to get other obligations done and did them with joy in my heart. But that stressful moment had a negative impact on my body and I could feel it.
It wasn't until today, however, that I really thought about what was happening to my body. I have seen the Lord send blessings my way this week, especially through supportive friends, to help me cope with my stress. Today, however, he sent a lightening bolt of a blessing my way. I was sitting down at the kitchen table preparing our family home evening lesson. I decided that Byron and I would talk to Wyatt about respecting our bodies through nutrition and exercise, since its been something we've really been focusing on, and I don't really remember learning much about it as a child. We now live in a time where our children's generation is not expected to have the same life expectancy as our own, it is to be less than our own, and I'm hoping I can prepare Wyatt to defy that statistic. I sat at the table cutting out these cute little pictures. Some pictures were of bad things such as cigarettes and alcohol that were to be glued on a trash can. And others were good things like healthy foods and exercise that were to be glued on these cute little kids. Then I saw a picture that stopped me in my tracks. "Kind words." I looked at it and pondered the statement, "I can treat my body as a temple by saying kind words." And then I said to myself, "I can treat my body as a temple by hearing kind words." All this time, I tried to be around people who were positive and happy, just because it made me feel good. But I realized today, that by being around people who make negative statements, who treat others poorly, who criticize me, and who cause me stress are preventing me from treating my body as a temple. Is it their job to change what they say just for my benefit? No. But it is my job to create an atmosphere for myself and my husband and child that is positive and full of kind words. It is my job to say kind words to everyone around me. Negative statements were doing more than just making me sad, they were hurting my body, my temple.
About a week ago, I found myself in a very stressful, very confrontation situation. It has taken me close to a full week to recover from it. During that week, my energy was low, my desire to eat properly diminished, and my will power to exercise was near non-existent. My body shut down. I wasn't sad and moping all over the house in my pjs for a week. I got up every morning with the intention to do my workouts and eat good food. I was able to speak with good friends that could help to uplift me. I still managed to get other obligations done and did them with joy in my heart. But that stressful moment had a negative impact on my body and I could feel it.
It wasn't until today, however, that I really thought about what was happening to my body. I have seen the Lord send blessings my way this week, especially through supportive friends, to help me cope with my stress. Today, however, he sent a lightening bolt of a blessing my way. I was sitting down at the kitchen table preparing our family home evening lesson. I decided that Byron and I would talk to Wyatt about respecting our bodies through nutrition and exercise, since its been something we've really been focusing on, and I don't really remember learning much about it as a child. We now live in a time where our children's generation is not expected to have the same life expectancy as our own, it is to be less than our own, and I'm hoping I can prepare Wyatt to defy that statistic. I sat at the table cutting out these cute little pictures. Some pictures were of bad things such as cigarettes and alcohol that were to be glued on a trash can. And others were good things like healthy foods and exercise that were to be glued on these cute little kids. Then I saw a picture that stopped me in my tracks. "Kind words." I looked at it and pondered the statement, "I can treat my body as a temple by saying kind words." And then I said to myself, "I can treat my body as a temple by hearing kind words." All this time, I tried to be around people who were positive and happy, just because it made me feel good. But I realized today, that by being around people who make negative statements, who treat others poorly, who criticize me, and who cause me stress are preventing me from treating my body as a temple. Is it their job to change what they say just for my benefit? No. But it is my job to create an atmosphere for myself and my husband and child that is positive and full of kind words. It is my job to say kind words to everyone around me. Negative statements were doing more than just making me sad, they were hurting my body, my temple.
I urge you to take care of your temple. Eat good food, go exercise, and say kind words. And try to surround yourself with kind words! It is your right to protect your temple!
