{"id":8034,"date":"2016-05-02T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=8034"},"modified":"2016-05-03T11:40:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T15:40:14","slug":"love-life-through-self-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/05\/love-life-through-self-care.html","title":{"rendered":"Thrive Vs. Survive Your Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Smaller\"<\/a>Is your life a great adventure or are you just trying to survive the day? Be honest. When it comes to everyday living, most of us would opt for more adventure and less boredom. We waste too much time fretting about things we can\u2019t control and being distracted by the unimportant. The result is a gnawing restlessness and awareness that there is more to life than simply existing.<\/p>\n

This is because God wants us to enjoy our lives, not waste them by obsessing on our thighs, wishing we were married to Brat Pitt or hoping to win the lottery even though we don\u2019t play it! He wants our lives full of purpose and meaning, while resting in Him.<\/p>\n

So how can we, as the Apostle Paul admonishes, be content but also embrace life to the fullest? Recently, I sat in a mental health training session in which the leaders were trying to help us to this end. The chosen path was through eastern meditation–not exactly my cup of green tea since it was incompatible with my Christian faith. So I decided to concentrate less on my naval and more on those essentials that really do lead to an enjoyable life. Those essentials involve our whole person.<\/p>\n

Despite volumes of research that connect the physical body to our mental, emotional and even spiritual states, we simply don\u2019t do what we need to do in order to improve our chances of enjoying life. Yet, physical self-care results in improved living. Here are four areas to consider in terms of self-care.<\/p>\n