A sound mind in a sound body

We live in an continuously accelerating world, where even everyday life overwhelms us with stimuli that we can't sort out in our sleep. Our body primarily functions as a tool that allows us to respond to our environment and pursue our goals. We expect a lot from ourselves – physically and intellectually – and we need that to challenge and develop ourselves, to unfold all the potential that lies within us. Precisely for this reason, it is important to return to ourselves at some point. Instead of treating the body like a pet and blindly trusting its abilities, which we use daily, it is crucial to initiate a dialogue and strategically take good care of oneself. Anyone who creates a place in their mind dedicated entirely to their body and regularly meets with themselves will not only find a retreat where they can collect themselves and perhaps even briefly escape the rest of their thoughts, but also create an inner balance that becomes noticeable in all areas of life. One gains stability, inner peace, and awareness, both for oneself and for everything that surrounds them. Quality time with oneself varies individually. However, the following are a few methods that have proven successful when applying this mindset.

The Breakfast Triangle

Many are probably familiar with it: The alarm clock rings, new day, new luck, full schedule. A quick breakfast or maybe just coffee and off you go! The race against time begins. But it doesn't have to be this way. It's worth getting up half an hour earlier and indulging in the combination of coffee, ginger-lemon tea, and water. While coffee and ginger (more precisely, the dominant pungent compound gingerol in ginger) stimulate the metabolism and really wake you up, tea and water ensure hydration early in the morning. This allows the first proper meal to be postponed by 1-2 hours without the body noticing it as disturbing or signaling hunger. For this, you can take your time later, which leads to the next point.

Eating times / Intermittent fasting

Especially when trying to balance career and social life, the question of a meaningful, sufficiently energizing diet arises. Before opting for quick gobbling in free minutes, stress eating, or even large post-binges on days spent in complete isolation in front of the TV, one can consider the possibility of setting aside specific times for a decent meal. Assuming that 3 meals a day should be the absolute minimum (plus 1-2 snacks) and that the body should be given about 4 hours to absorb the nutrients obtained from them, times like 10 AM, 2 PM, and 6 PM are suitable (with a smoothie or shake at 4 PM). Warning: Please do not become inflexible here or simply skip meals.

The Relationship with Nature

Nothing is more suitable for creating inner peace and balance than hours spent in nature. Whether it's extensive excursions into the mountains, thorough exploration of the surrounding area through long walks, or searching for a special spot in the forest to practice some yoga or simply stretch properly; the effect achieved is invaluable. It is advisable to turn off your phone or even leave it at home and connect directly with your inner self, to come to terms with yourself in the literal green, before returning regenerated to everyday life.

Evening Workout – Pushing Yourself Before Bedtime

While it is certainly advisable to set up a fixed training program and follow it regularly, it is often also helpful to schedule the planned workout for the end of the day and push yourself beyond the set program. This not only burns off excess calories, but also makes it easier for us to fall asleep completely exhausted after a strenuous and exciting day. Any racing thoughts or even meticulous pre-planning while falling asleep can thus be skillfully avoided, and this supports the most important component of a healthy lifestyle: deep, restful sleep.

Progress comes with time

Once the changes in daily life have become habits, which, according to the writer's personal experience, takes about 3 weeks, the transformation begins. New perspectives emerge on the environment, on the problems inherent in it, and not least on oneself as an acting individual. The key term in this context is time. Anyone who builds their own thought concept and allows time to pass, while maintaining it, enters the fascinating state of observing their own development. One examines the effects, follows their unfolding, and treats oneself as an object of research. The position thus gained, namely that of a human animal continuously working on itself, not just thinking but also acting, can be intoxicatingly lived out.

And don't forget…

The time you invest in your body and your lifestyle must be one that you enjoy. It's about curiosity about yourself and about everything you try. It should never be tedious waiting or even meticulously working through rules. Days are not for being worked through, and neither body nor life is a project. The joy lies in new experiences and finding yourself in those, which you can be proud of. Above all, the focus must be on appreciating your body for everything it can do and learns. It is not our lifelong pet that we feed and take for walks. It has a say and must be heard just as much as our enthusiasm, our determination, and our wishes. Working on it means working with it. And even if there should be days when you overcome perceived failures or experience relapses into bad habits, you must always return to the fundamentally positive thoughts and build on them. The core of the matter is the loving engagement with one's own person, not resistance and certainly not a struggle against it. The motto is: If being yourself is exhausting, you are doing it wrong.

Tips and Tricks against Relapses

In order not to undo all the good developments, it is important to question your concept. Ideally, you inform yourself well and negotiate the details with yourself. Every healthy thinker knows that the key lies in balance. So it is definitely advisable, for example, to reward yourself for a good workout with a few sauna infusions or to regularly treat yourself to new recipes (those who cook themselves clearly have an advantage). Downtime must, of course, also find its place in a functioning concept. In addition, it should, of course, be paramount when dealing with nutrition what you eat and why, and not what you absolutely must forbid yourself. If there is no prohibition, there is no reason to break it. Rather, the focus should be on intentionally consuming healthy ingredients to benefit from them. The apple is not just evil fructose, but also very rich in vitamins; rice is not just full of frightening carbohydrates, it also dehydrates the body (preferably basmati or brown rice). The goal is to eat sensibly and not to burden yourself with long fasting episodes and then blindly binge again. Excessive preoccupation with calories only drives you crazy and does not produce reliable results in the long run. How much energy a body derives from a product, whether it prefers to replenish carbohydrate stores or absorb more fats, cannot be calculated. That's why it's important to get to know yourself and your body and try many things. Through the experiences, the body's reactions, and your own intuition, you will best notice what works for you, and the results that emerge from this form of self-observation will not be long in coming.