The Power of Connecting
We wanted to share with you the power of relationships in action...I (Sean) would have never imagined a simple hike, with a group of dear friends would turn into such a wonderful transcendent experience. Our hope, in sharing just a few of the highlights of our trip will encourage and strengthen you. We hope you enjoy it!
Leading researchers, from all over the world, have concluded regular physical activity and exercise, healthy eating, quitting smoking and or managing stress, while all important, are not the most powerful interventions to improve one’s health. What is the source that generates the most power and energy to live well and be happy according to leading scientists?
If you guessed “healthy relationships” you’d be correct! In fact, according to medical scientists, the three relational sources which influence your physical health more than anything else is; Love, deeply connecting with others and friendship. You mean it’s not our diet? It’s not our exercise? It’s not how we handle stress? But rather, it’s how connected we are that has demonstrated to have the greatest impact on our emotional, spiritual and yes, even our physical health?
Consider what best-selling author and Harvard trained physician, Dr. Dean Ornish says about what impacts our motivation to exercise, eat healthy and live well more than anything else:
“Medicine today seems to focus primarily on the physical and mechanistic: drugs and surgery, genes and germs, microbes and molecules. I am not aware of any other factor in medicine--not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery--that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness, and premature death from all causes then love and intimacy! Love and intimacy are at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well, what causes sadness and what brings us happiness, what makes us suffer and what leads to healing. If a new drug had the same impact, virtually every doctor in the country would be recommending it for his or her patients.”
When we are experiencing love, nurturance, acceptance, being cared for and supported we are much more likely to be happier and healthier and choose behaviors that we know are best for us, like exercise!
So this week, consider who are the people who nourish and support you? Who are the people you can encourage and bless? How can you begin to develop and or strengthen your most important relationships?
We want to encourage you to plug into our RISE Community. We are here to support you in any way we can.
God’s blessings to you and yours!
