Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.

– Lao Tzu

Spring, that incredible time of renewal, is just around the corner. Today, we have a simple exercise to help you gradually melt away less wholesome habits and make room for new nourishing practices to take Over the course of the next 3 days, we invite you do a self-nourishment assessment.

By growing more aware of who we are and how we sustain ourselves, we can begin to make small adjustments that will help us feel and be our best.

The self-assessment is easy. All it requires is your attentiveness and honesty for the next 3 days.

Here’s what to do: From the moment you rise to the moment you go to sleep, observe how you nourish yourself in the following ways:

What do you put into your body?

Be mindful of both what you eat and how you eat by doing these 3 things:

1. Pay attention to your diet and your shopping cart.What nutritious, clean foods do you enjoy regularly? Where could you improve? For example, can you replace certain processed products with fresher alternatives? Eating whole, real food is one of the most powerful ways to help curb cravings and maintain your vital energy.
2. Chew more, eat less.  Because digestion starts in the mouth as food interacts with saliva, under-chewing unnecessarily taxes the digestive system. Plus eating consciously is a powerful way to avoid overeating and support weight loss. Studies have shown that chewing thoroughly reduces calorie intake by 12%. Over the course of a year, that adds up!
3. As you observe yourself over the next 3 days, think about tangible ways you can make your diet even more nourishing.  It could be as simple as taking a few extra minutes in the morning to pack a healthy snack or maybe even lunch, or giving yourself 5 extra minutes to eat mindfully.
   

   This wholesome lunch can be thrown together in 5 minutes. We just had to roast the purple sweet potatoes in advance.

If journaling is a practice that resonates with you, write what comes to mind down.

Next, what do you put on and around your body?

Look out for invisible toxins!

Did you know that 1 in 8 of the 82,000 ingredients used in personal care products like lotions and cosmetics are industrial chemicals? This includes carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, and hormone disruptors.  Nor are there any shortage of plasticizers, degreasers (like what’s used to get grime off of your car), and surfactants (stuff that reduces surface tension in water, as found in paint and inks).  And, it’s also not rare for items marketed as “all natural” to still contain carcinogenic preservatives like parabens.  It’s crucial to pay attention as our skin, which is our largest organ, absorbs about 60% of what we put on it!

Over the next 3 days, take a look at what’s in your skin and hair care products, as well as perfumes and household cleaning agents.  For assistance in figuring out what to avoid and why, check out this chart by Natural Healthy Concepts.  Another great resource for determining what to buy is www.goodguide.com. (Note: Quite a number of smaller, certified-organic skincare companies have yet to be listed on GoodGuide.com. Trust your ability to read labels to determine what’s best)

Next, what steps can you take to make your home invisible-toxin-free? Maybe you commit to buying an organic cleaning agent or laundry detergent next time you go to the store, or phasing out your less natural facial serum and replacing it with a greener alternative. Making these changes might seem daunting at first, but your body and whole being will thank you!

Lastly, observe how you emotionally nourish yourself.

Over the next three days, pay closer attention to what activities and interactions energize you and which ones do the opposite. What adjustments can you make to maintain a greater sense of flow in your life?

Remember, great change is dependent on small, confident steps. With this in mind, we’d like to leave you with the following Chinese proverb:

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.