As I have sought to grow spiritually and become healthier physically, I have come to see how spiritual happiness and physical health are intricately connected. God made us as spiritual and physical beings. It helps me to think of it as two sides of the same coin. When one side is neglected, the other side suffers. It’s when we attend to both, that we are the healthiest and happiest we can be. Through experience and much prayer, I developed these 11 “E”ssentials to help keep my priorities straight and to make sure I’m polishing both sides of that coin. These have been life-changing for me:
- Enjoy Jesus.
- Experience forgiveness.
- Extend forgiveness.
- Encourage others.
- Engage your mind.
- Eat real food.
- Enhance your diet with supplements.
- Exercise.
- Eliminate stress.
- Energize through sleep.
- Emanate your natural beauty.
I developed these 11 “E”ssentials, because I’ve seen them address the issues I’ve had in my own life. I know they will work for you too. This is by no means an exhaustive list. These are just the basic categories I developed which seem to include all the major issues we face day-to-day. I also placed them in this specific order, because this is the order in which they work! I’ve found that I can’t focus on encouraging and loving others (Essential 4) if I’m harboring unforgiveness and bitterness toward them (Essential 3). Similarly, I can’t hope to benefit from supplements (Essential 7) if I’m not regularly eating real, fresh food (Essential 6). That’s not to say that you can’t work on more than one simultaneously. In fact, as you begin making each of these essentials a priority, I think you’ll be eager and ready to tackle the next one.
