Practice Makes Perfect

Recently while I was stuck on a broken-down train at the border of Switzerland and Italy while border agents argued with train conductors over a replacement train, I became enthralled with Sudoku.  Now I will admit that I have seen many people on the T, in the grocery store line or even waiting at a stop light, whip out their little books and grit their teeth in concentration.  It never interested me a bit ... but boredom and the thought of shlepping my luggage from one train to another without falling to my knees will make something look far more interesting than it ever has. So I began my Sudoku journey ... easy, then on to medium, then on to tricky, then on to challenging, etc.  Now I have developed a habitual rhythm to solving them and actually find them very relaxing and stress-reducing.  My point here is that practice really does make perfect, and not just with mindful time wasters.  It also is true with your body.

Your body develops habits and rhythms based on frequency of use, availability of essential nutrients, energy availability, etc.  For instance, when I'm tired (like when I was STILL doing Sudoku at 1 AM), then I can't make decisions or solve things.  Fatigue is something that occurs on so many levels that you may not even realize that you are functioning at a reduced capacity.  I have many patients who complain that they can't focus, they can't remember, they can't make decisions and want to know why?  FATIGUE!

Fatigue can occur in muscles, in cells, even systemically if you run out of oxygen, run out of nutrition, run out of available energy reserves, essentially when you are running on empty.  That's why I often recommend concentrated food supplements like Min Chex, Trace Minerals B12 and E-Poise to give you the food you need to have for optimal function.  So when we say we are STRESSED, what we're really saying is that we are fatigued.  What we are experiencing is straining our resources and making it more difficult to accomplish tasks.

But how you train your body to manage things is what makes for perfect health even in the face of severe stress.  The more your body is used to having all the nutrients it needs without having to "make due", the more it will power up long-inactive systems.  You can't just take vitamins and eat healthy today and expect that to change things.  Change takes time ... practice makes perfect.

It's the same thing with training your body to breathe correctly.  Singers can take years to develop the incredible breath control needed for Wagner!  Exercise won't change our muscles overnight, nor will adding fiber to our diet make our bowel movements better instantly.  No, it all takes time for change to happen on all the levels the body has.

So practice good eating habits, practice taking vitamins every day (I really recommend Catalyn!), and practice getting your sorry ass to the gym on a regular basis.  Then be sure to practice giving yourself space and quiet to really process your day, your thoughts and your experiences.  Perfection will be the result.