When I was a kid, I grew sunflowers in our family garden. I was very excited, because this was the first thing that I had planted and nurtured all on my own. All summer long, I put my heart and soul into cultivating my plants. I watered them daily and pulled the weeds that sprung up around them. And my sunflowers grew to tall heights, ripe with seeds. 

When it was time to harvest my plants, I put them into our storage shed to dry, where I promptly forgot about them (out of sight is out of mind, especially when you’re a pre-teen enjoying the lazy days of summer). When I finally remembered my sunflowers, I went to collect the seeds and found that the fruits of my labor were gone! Mice had snuck into our shed and had picked my sunflowers clean. 

You Will Reap What You Sow 

I learned a valuable lesson that summer that has stuck with me through the years: Don’t put your heart and soul into growing your dreams and then shut them away where they wither and die. Instead, reap what you sow and enjoy the efforts of your work. Make a salad, can the fruit, or share your abundance with your neighbor. (In other words, finish your education, start that business, improve your love life, or follow your heart’s desire.) 

I know so many people who start down the path toward a dream or a goal and when the going gets a little rough, or they reach the smallest roadblock, they abandon their destination and take the easy way out. In this case, you will also reap what you sow, which will most like be regret. 

Plant the seeds of your dreams, and follow them through to fruition. By doing so, you will honor your higher self and live a more fulfilling life.

To get the Daily Inspiration and life coaching you need to reach for your dreams, visit 5 Minute Self-Help.

We live in a cynical world where the publicized news is mostly bad and there is a crisis brewing in nearly every country. But even though we are bombarded with negative messages each day, there are many ways to rise above the doom and gloom and live a more spirit-based existence.

This article outlines a 7-day plan for leading a more spiritual life. Apply these techniques to your life day-by-day, and within one week you should feel happier, more joyful, and enlightened!

Day 1: Perform random acts of kindness. We’re starting out with something easy, because everyone is in a position to share kindness. Whether it’s holding the door open for the elderly woman entering the bank or bringing your co-worker coffee, find little ways throughout your day to be randomly kind.

Day 2: Watch for spiritual signs. Today your assignment is to watch for signs that have a spiritual message. An angel emblem somewhere or the word “Hope” on a billboard are just a couple of ways that spiritual signs will speak to you. When you recognize a spiritual sign, acknowledge it and feel your spirits lift in response.

Day 3: Have an attitude of gratitude. When you wake up on day 3, make the choice to have a have an attitude of gratitude. Look for the good in everyone, everything and every situation and be grateful for every lesson there is to learn today.

Day 4: React from the heart. Your assignment for this day is to make every decision a heartfelt one. Throughout the day, pause before you do something and silently ask, ‘What would my heart like me to do here?’ And then listen quietly for a gentle nudge that points you in a direction. If you don’t receive a clear answer, try closing your eyes and putting your hand over your heart before asking for clarity.

Day 5: Turn routine into ritual. As you’ve noticed by now, your assignments are getting progressively more challenging. But I’m confident that you’re up to the task! Life can be very routine and mundane, which has the ability to drag you down. So today, you are going to turn routine tasks (like showering, washing the dishes, or running errands) into rituals. As you go through each segment of your day, stop for a moment and make sure that your mind is 100% on the task at hand. Instead of planning your grocery list while driving your kids to school, for example, talk to them about their day ahead and be fully present in the conversation.

Day 6: Detach from the drama. It’s so easy to get caught up in the drama of your own life as well as the lives of others, including the artificial lives on T.V. That’s why, today, you are going to detach from all of the drama. If a friend or loved one tries to pull you in, change the subject if possible or walk away if you have to. And don’t forget to turn off the T.V., or at the very least watch something uplifting. You cannot lead a spiritual life if you’re feeding on the negativity of drama!

Day 7: Visualize your desired outcome. Congratulations! You’re almost there. Your final assignment is to visualize your desired spiritual outcome for the weeks ahead. One example would be, ‘I desire to hold on to an attitude of gratitude while spreading kindness and continually being watchful for spiritual signs.’ Whatever you desire in your quest to lead a more spiritual life, hold on to that vision throughout the day.

Learning to lead a more spiritual life takes conscious effort on a daily basis. Although your experience won’t be transformed in a single day - or even a single week - if you continue to practice the techniques outlined in this article, you will experience transforming change.

“We are a lot like Mother Earth,” Hope Faith, naturopathic physician, licensed midwife and colon therapist told me when I asked about her philosophy of detoxification. ”We are loading down the earth with toxins and we are starting to have problems.”

Comparing the overload, overuse and mistreatment of the earth to what we have done to our own bodies, Dr. Faith refers to the book, The Secrets of the Soil, which talks about the havoc that is wrecked on the earth from over processing the soil until it has become diseased.

“Our bodies,” she explains, “are becoming overwhelmed by our environment. There’s so much out there in the way of toxicity and pollution that we’re starting to see more degenerative and immune deficiency diseases. Chronic fatigue is rampant and of course there’s AIDS.”

Dr. Faith believes that now, more than ever, detoxification should be a vital part of every person’s health maintenance program. People would not be so vulnerable to disease if their systems weren’t so overloaded. Periodic detoxification helps take some of that load off, similar to taking regular vacations from work.

Toxins Weaken the Body

“The body,” Dr. Faith states, “has a normal detoxification process. It would cyclically detoxify on its own if we were living an easier life.  But people are working 12 hours a day, grabbing food whenever they can and they don’t have time to slow down. So the body’s detoxification ability is suppressed.” This translates into more colds, flus, sinus infections and upper respiratory problems - just to name a few illnesses that start with toxic overload. 

Because the system has nowhere to dump its toxins, it starts to overgrow bacteria, becomes more susceptible to circulating viruses and activates viruses that are already in the body.

The process of detoxification is very individualized. “If you take a person who’s really ill,” Dr. Faith reasons, “you can overwhelm their system by detoxifying too fast or too strong. You really need to know what condition a person’s health is in and what’s impacting their lives already.” She finds that the best route is to follow the lead of her patients. Many of them have educated themselves about their bodies and like to have control over their health. 

The Pitfalls of Detoxification

When asked about the pitfalls of detoxification, Dr. Faith responded with a very common stumbling block encountered in today’s world.  “In our society, we have this ‘push-it’ attitude that implies that more is better. What happens in detoxification is that people expect way too much from their bodies. They’re working a lot of hours, not eating great and all of a sudden they decide they want to do a cleansing program. I think they can weaken the system if they push too hard and they might quit because they become discouraged.”

Other common errors people make, says Faith, is to break their detoxification with the worst kinds of foods or go into it thinking that fasting is a magic pill.  ”Most people are living a pretty fast-paced lifestyle and fasting takes a lot of preparation. I think if it’s not done in a gentle way, it doesn’t help the body.”  Dr. Faith encourages an approach that includes resting, decreasing stress and fasting of another sort: from work!

Detox Diets: A Better Way to Go

“I think detoxification diets are more effective in this day and age,” Dr. Faith admits, “than fasting.”  This would entail a diet that is very low in fat and would exclude animal products, dairy and fast food. “Food it would include is vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, juices (especially live juices), herbal teas and cereal.”

She suggests a minimum of two weeks on this kind of diet, with modification if the person is having trouble adhering to the protocol. Staying on this diet for an entire month would be even more ideal, especially if someone is using things to cleanse the bowel and work on the liver to get an overall detoxification of the system.

There are benefits of extending a detoxification diet. “I’ve had people do that detox and find that it is really easy to move into a different kind of eating style because they stopped habits like coffee and sugar. They find that they can do without or they actually feel better without those things.”

Dr. Faith does caution those thinking about detoxifying to make sure that it is an appropriate time in their life for this process.  ”There’s been many times,” she says, “when I started at detox and realized, hey, this is not a good time.  I’m under too much stress, it’s too cold for me or I’m not ready mentally or spiritually right now. And so I wait until my body says it’s time.”

Colon Hydrotherapy

Are there options if you’re not ready to embark on a detoxification program, but would still like to cleanse the body?  Dr. Faith feels that colon hydrotherapy can fill this need.  As an example, she talks about an elderly patient with terribly arthritic knees to illustrate the benefits of colon hydrotherapy.

“I talked to this woman about diet and herbs. She wouldn’t take anything, she wouldn’t make any changes in her diet. But she had colonics every week and they were the only things that helped her to be able to walk up and down her stairs. When she didn’t have her colonics, she’d be really stiff and in a lot of pain.” Cleansing the system with colon hydrotherapy, Dr. Faith explains, is another way to create a positive impact on your road to optimal health.

A Spiritual Experience

As for her own experience with detoxification and colon hydrotherapy, Dr. Faith relates an element of spiritual uplifting. “I did an extensive detox and moved an incredible amount of stuff out of my colon. I felt lighter in my body. I felt alive and energized. I felt this incredible peace inside.”

After all, when your body is weighed down, and in survival mode trying to deal with all the toxins, it’s hard to be spiritually uplifted.

* * *

If you like this post, you can get more interviews and articles like this one — plus unlimited self-help coaching — at  5 Minute Self-Help.

I recently had dinner with a friend in a quaint, waterfront community. Being portion-conscious, I had part of my dinner boxed up to go. After eating, my friend and I took a long walk up and down the lake’s shore.

It was a beautiful, balmy night. The sun was mostly gone and the lights of the evening reflected brilliantly off the water. Couples snuggled on benches, mothers walked their babies in strollers and joggers pounded by, their skin glistening with sweat. The walk should have been perfect, but was marred by one thing: my box of leftovers.

The Burden of Carrying Stress

As I walked along in conversation with my friend, that box became more and more annoying. I shifted it from hand to hand, lifted it up and down. Nothing I did with it was comfortable.

Our lakefront loop lasted about two miles. We decided to sit for a while and visit some more. Next to our stone perch was a garbage can. Without thinking about what I was doing, I threw my box of leftovers into that can.

Suddenly, I was uplifted, liberated. My hands were free from the burden of that box and so was my mind. I no longer had to think about new ways to hold or position the box to be comfortable.

In reflection, that box of leftovers symbolized the leftover burden I carry every day. The burden of work and family and of feeling less than perfect. The burden of carrying extra weight and constantly trying to find a way to be comfortable in my skin.

Releasing the Stress that Weighs You Down

The simple act of throwing that box away freed me from that particular burden and made me realize that I have the power to release anything that weighs me down.

Now, when my work day is done, I visualize throwing out the excess “trash” before turning my attention to my family. And when I worry excessively about my  weight or some other issue, I stop myself and take those unproductive thoughts off my shoulders and dump them where they belong - with those leftovers.