Nutrient-Dense Foods & Your Health

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Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 13: Nutrient-Dense Foods & Your Health

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).

This week’s focus is on nutrient-density. When you seek out nutrient-dense foods, you’re providing a gift to your body. In fact, I can’t think of anything more important to your health—nutrition is that vital to your well-being.

Nutrient-Dense Foods & Your Health

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

Eating nutrient-dense foods (high ratio of nutrients to calories) optimizes nutrition and reduces the risk of obesity (a win-win). To bring more nutrient-dense foods into your diet, you can start by reading the nutritional labels of what you eat to understand the levels of vitamins and minerals and other nutrients you get for the calories consumed (if a nutrition label isn’t available, check online). That awareness alone can trigger your SAGe to nudge you to choose healthy foods that cover the gamut of your nutritional needs.

Another way to make nutrient density a part of your diet is to eat a “rainbow” of plants daily. Besides providing essential nutrition, plants also contain phytonutrients, which are compounds that give plants color and help protect them against pathogens and insects. Phytonutrients also benefit humans by reducing the risk of many diseases. Each color—red, orange and yellow, green, blue and purple, and white and brown—provides different health benefits.

What It Means

If you build healthy eating habits—what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat—you should get all the nutrition you need without going on a specialized diet or taking supplements. The operative word is if. Of course, there are always exceptions to that rule, such as being pregnant, having a nutritional deficiency, training for a sport, or having a medical condition.

Your Call to Action

When you go grocery shopping, have nutrient density be top of mind. Stock up with nutrient-dense food superstars like leafy greens, carrots, black beans, avocados, blueberries, garlic, eggs, broccoli, Greek yogurt, sweet potatoes, almonds, quinoa, chickpeas, bananas, tomatoes, soy products, apples, oranges, brown rice, bell peppers, and a host of others.

Have fun buying nutrient-dense foods and experimenting with recipes. If you find a nutrient-dense food unappetizing—no matter how you prepare it—simply drown it with hot sauce. A longitudinal scientific study conducted in my kitchen has shown that hot sauce makes everything taste better.

Have a nutritious week!

Thrive in a Disruptive World

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Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 12: Thrive in a Disruptive World

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).

This week’s focus is on thriving in a disruptive world. Disruption is all around us, whether it’s artificial intelligence transforming business, climate change, political instability, or a hundred other forms. How can you surf the wave of change? The excerpt I’ll share from The Wellness Ethic is geared toward a person’s professional life, but the insights apply universally to all types of disruption.

Thrive in a Disruptive World

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

In a disruptive climate, your happiness is at risk as your career can seem like it’s targeted by a sledgehammer in a game of whack-a-job. But, as you know, negativity stymies growth and greatly diminishes your chances of success.

There are six productive mindsets that are especially powerful when faced with disruption. Adopting these mindsets gives you an edge in life, not only in your professional pursuits but in all pursuits, during times of turmoil and times of stability.

• Growth Mindset: When you have a growth mindset, you believe that your abilities can develop over time. You view disruption as an opportunity to learn and grow. You seek new experiences.

• Positive Mindset: A person with a positive attitude has an optimistic outlook that things will work out, even during challenging times. They approach disruption with a “can-do” energy.

• Stoic Mindset: A Stoic focuses on what they can control—their thoughts and actions—and avoids getting consumed by negativity resulting from circumstances out of their control, like disruption.

• Proactive Mindset: A proactive person anticipates and addresses challenges before they arise and takes action to prevent them from worsening if they do occur.

• Resilient Mindset: When you are resilient, you’re motivated to move forward despite challenges and setbacks. You have a stubborn tenacity to persevere in the face of adversity.

• Flexible Mindset: A flexible person adapts to disruption by being open to new ideas and embracing different ways of doing things.

What It Means

A productive mindset creates positive energy. You become happier and more motivated as your SAGe fully activates to meet the disruptive moment. You take action to position yourself for better outcomes. You are more resilient when faced with challenges. You lift the spirits of those around you—positive energy is contagious!

Your Call to Action

Think about how disruption may be impacting your personal or professional life. Then, put your circumstances through the lens of the six productive mindsets. Does that inspire a different way of looking at the disruption? Does it motivate you to take action based on what you can control? Every step forward that you take, whether big or small, represents a step toward getting the most out of your life. It can add up very quickly.

Have a productive week!

Be Audacious with Your Accountability

SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius)—Learn More

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 11: Be Audacious with Your Accountability

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).

This week’s focus is on accountability and its relationship to adopting change in your life. Is there a change you want to make that has been especially stubborn to adopt? This Sunday SAGe can help.

Be Audacious with Your Accountability

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

This change adoption technique is my favorite. It can be a forcing function to encourage you to treat your intention as a top priority, not just in mind but in action.

What audacious reward or penalty can you create that will raise the stakes and give you almost no choice but to adopt the change you seek?

What It Means

Every human on the planet has things they can work on, changes they could adopt that would bring more happiness, fulfillment, and love into their lives. But making the change, no matter how logical it may be, isn’t always that simple. There are trade-offs to consider and comfort zones with ten-foot high fences around them, monitored by drones, that don’t allow an easy escape into a better world. Let’s face it: Change can be hard, but the status quo can be even harder.

To adopt a difficult change, you must disrupt the inertia that holds you back. What audacious reward or penalty will motivate you to blast out of your comfort zone so you can live a better life?

Do you want ideas to get the juices flowing? How about this one: If you want to exercise regularly but can’t seem to maintain a consistent routine, offer to take a friend out to dinner at the best restaurant in town whenever you miss your exercise intentions for the week. Or, if you want to eliminate a vice, promise a family member that you’ll give them one of your paychecks if you fail.

Your Call to Action

Think about a change you could make that would move your life forward, a change that would mean you’re truly nurturing the wonderful gift of your existence. Take a walk around your neighborhood and envision what your life will be like once you adopt the change.

Now, what would be an audacious reward or penalty that you could attach to it that would give you no practically choice but to adopt the change? Meditate on the possibilities. Get excited. Then, implement the reward or penalty and make the change happen!

Have a thriving week!

The Power of Deep Breathing

SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius)—Learn More

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 10: The Power of Deep Breathing

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).

This week’s focus is on the power of deep breathing. Developing a deep breathing habit is one of the simplest and most beneficial things you can do for your mind, body, and spirit. And it’s free!

The Power of Deep Breathing

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

When you face difficulty, your SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius—your best self) is eager to tame your emotions. An effective way to calm your mind and summon your SAGe is to utilize the SAGe Deep Breathing Technique. Here’s the approach:

• Find a comfortable and quiet place, private if necessary.

• Close your eyes, place a hand on your belly, and slowly inhale through your nose—and deeply into your diaphragm—while silently repeating the words, “I am activating my SAGe.” Feel your hand rise as your lungs fill to their maximum capacity.

• Slowly exhale and feel serenity spread throughout your body.

• Repeat the process until stress is reduced and negative emotions have abated. That will usually be the case after five to ten deep breaths. But take as long as required—getting to a peaceful state is worth it.

What It Means

It may seem like deep breathing is too simple to make a difference, but its efficacy is supported by scientific research and how the autonomic nervous system (ANS) functions. In stressful times, your sympathetic nervous system—the branch of the ANS that prepares your body to react rapidly to threats (fight or flight)—becomes dominant. As a result, your heart rate, stress hormone levels, breathing rate, and anxiety levels rise, which can impair your logical reasoning ability.

Deep breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system—the branch of the ANS that promotes relaxation—and suppresses your sympathetic nervous system. Once you’re in a calmer, less reactive mindset, you are happier. You make better decisions. You develop a positive perspective and feel more connected to the universe.

Deep breathing is all upside to your wellness! Did I mention that it’s free?

Your Call to Action

Try it out and mindfully connect with how deep breathing makes you feel. Do you want more of that? Schedule it into your day. Set an alarm on your phone to remind you. Have it be a part of your morning, afternoon, and evening routines. Deep breathing can be integral to your daily wellness maintenance approach. It can also be used in the moment whenever you feel stress. It truly is a transformative wellness practice.

Have a peaceful week!

The Meaning of Life

SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius)—Learn More

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 9: The Meaning of Life

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).

This week’s focus is on the meaning of life. I thought that topic would be a great way to get you in the spirit of the holiday season!

The Meaning of Life

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

Designing your life should always start with one fundamental question: What is the desired outcome of your life? The answer to that question becomes your North Star, your compass, which guides you in how to live your life and what company to keep—practically all aspects of your life should align with your North Star. The Wellness Ethic believes that feeling and sharing love—the meaning of life—would be an excellent choice to serve as your North Star.

What It Means

Love is a warm, emotional feeling of affection, care, and connection toward someone or something. When you feel and share love, you feel alive. You are happiest and most fulfilled when you love yourself, love what you’re doing, love the person you’re with, and love the positive impact you have in the world.

Love is everything. Think about how you feel when you go on a date with someone you love. Or when you do a good deed, care for someone, or accomplish something meaningful. Love is what we live for. It is the desired outcome of our lives. In fact, I’d suggest that our life success is a function of our wellness and the love we create to the extent we can control. Here’s the equation: Life Success = Feeling Love + Sharing Love = Wellness.

Your Call to Action

Create more love in the universe this week by doing at least one thing that will bring love into your life and one thing that will create love in someone else’s life. Have fun with this challenge. Make it special.

Have an outstanding week!

Develop a Mobility Exercise Habit

SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius)—Learn More

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 8: Develop a Mobility Exercise Habit

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).

This week’s focus is on mobility exercise and the important role it plays in your vitality.

Develop a Mobility Exercise Habit

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

Mobility is defined as the ability of a joint and accompanying muscles to engage in a full range of motion. Improving your mobility can lower your risk of injuries, relieve aches and stiffness, elevate workout and athletic performance, and improve your posture. Mobility is also vital to a person’s ability to effortlessly perform everyday tasks, like bending down to pick up something, and can impact their ability to be independent (especially as they age).

There are many types of mobility exercises. An internet search will provide hundreds of examples—with pictures and videos—that can be targeted to specific joint and muscle groups. Two common types of mobility exercises are dynamic stretching, which are movements that take your joints and muscles through their full range of motion, and static stretching, which involves holding a stretch to lengthen muscles and increase flexibility.

What It Means

How frequently you should do mobility exercises, and for what duration, depends upon your objectives and the results you attain. A general guideline is to perform mobility exercises at least two to three times a week for ten to thirty minutes per session. Spreading your mobility exercises throughout the week, rather than doing them all at once, is more effective.

Your Call to Action

An easy way to establish a mobility exercise habit is to include mobility exercises before a workout, targeting the muscles and joints you plan to use. By doing so, you’ll prepare your body for the stress of the workout, which can lead to better performance and lower injury risk. And by stacking the mobility exercise habit with another exercise habit, you’re more likely to remember to complete your mobility routine.

Another effective approach is to do mobility exercises first thing in the morning or before bed.

Have an outstanding week!

Practice Radical Gratitude

SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius)—Learn More

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 7: Practice Radical Gratitude

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).

This week’s focus is on practicing radical gratitude. Do you emotionally connect with the many blessings in your life and feel love toward your good fortune, or does your happiness get hijacked by what may be challenging you in the moment?

Practice Radical Gratitude

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

We all want more. It’s okay to admit it. For example, if you joyfully devour a mouthwatering piece of huckleberry pie that reaffirms that pie is vastly superior to cake (you know I’m right), you probably would like another slice. If you make more money than you need, you wouldn’t mind a 10% raise. And if you rise to that higher salary, you’ll soon set your sights on earning more. It’s human nature to normalize around your lot in life, and then want more.

A SAGe may want more in their life, whether it’s finding more inner peace, having more financial security, or experiencing more adventure. But the SAGe is radically grateful for the blessings they already have and believes they don’t really need anything else to be satisfied.

What It Means

When you practice radical gratitude, you mindfully and spiritually connect with the good in your life that has always been present—you just needed to engage with it. You appreciate your blessings—both big and small—and embrace the love in your relationships. You savor experiences and find silver linings in adversity. You have a generous spirit.

When you radically appreciate the gift of what you have rather than dwelling on what you don’t have, you realize you already have everything you need.

Your Call to Action

What are the blessings in your life? Take a moment and list them. Then, radically appreciate the gift of the universe’s blessings and emotionally connect with the love you feel. Be grateful for loving relationships, your home, employment, beautiful art, a pet, a meal, indoor plumbing (seriously—it’s quite incredible when you think about it), nature, and hundreds, if not thousands, of other things in your life that are worthy of gratitude.

You can also consider creating a gratitude journal to capture your list and establishing a habit of adding to it (and reviewing it) regularly. It will lift your spirits. It may even transform your mindset.

Have a gratifying week!

Life Is Full of Trade-offs

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 6: Life Is Full of Trade-offs

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive.

This week’s focus is on the trade-offs that we make every day when we choose how we spend our precious time and resources. How can you intentionally create the most love and satisfaction in the upcoming week? What trade-offs are you willing to make for that noble objective?

Today we’ll build upon last week’s Sunday SAGe—Be Satisfied with Your Personal Pursuits.

Life Is Full of Trade-offs

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

When you evaluate how you spend your time, you’ll likely reach three conclusions: There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do, you don’t always get as much satisfaction out of an activity as you could, and you sometimes engage in unimportant activities that don’t bring joy.

Your time and resources are finite. That truth brings us back to one of my favorite Henry David Thoreau quotes: “The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life, which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”

Everything you choose to do has an opportunity cost—you could have decided to do something else that might have been more satisfying. Life is full of trade-offs. How can you make the right choices about what you do to boost satisfaction in your life?

When feasible, a SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius) would respond to that challenge by:

• Finding creative ways to make activities more satisfying

• Prioritizing the time and resources they allocate to activities that align with their life purpose and what they love, while spending less on everything else

• Moderating the time they spend on less satisfying activities

• Saying “no” to unimportant activities that don’t bring them happiness

• Accepting a lower standard of quality on unimportant activities if it saves time or money

• Outsourcing activities that need to be done but are stubbornly dissatisfying

By applying those principles to the activities you engage in, you’ll spend more time realizing the meaning of your life—to feel and share love.

What It Means

Life will pass by in a blur if we let it. A squandered day spending time doing things that don’t bring love into our lives can easily turn into a squandered week. A squandered week can turn into a lackluster month, year, or decade.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You are empowered to say “no” to good opportunities because you want to say “yes” to something that will bring you more joy. You can break the habit of turning on TV or engaging in social media when you’re bored in favor of more satisfying activities, whether you enjoy going on a walk with a loved one, reading a riveting book, or immersing yourself in a hobby. You know what satisfies you.

You are empowered to live a satisfying life. What trade-offs are you willing to make to realize that promise?

Your Call to Action

Build upon last week’s Sunday SAGe objective of crafting a week full of experiences that engage your senses.

What trade-offs can you make this week to nurture the wonderful gift of your existence? If this was your last week on earth, how would you spend your time? Take a moment and reflect upon what you would do. For important commitments, like a job, how can you make them more satisfying? What can you say “no” to in favor of something you really want to do? What will bring you the most joy this week? Get excited about the possibilities, and then make it happen!

Live your life with intention every day. You’ll never regret it.

Have a satisfying week!

Be Satisfied with Your Personal Pursuits

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 5: Be Satisfied with Your Personal Pursuits

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive. As background, SAGe is an acronym for Self-Actualized Genius (your best self). To learn more about being a SAGe, you can access my blog article: On Being a Self-Actualized Genius (SAGe).

Be Satisfied with Your Personal Pursuits

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

You engage in personal pursuits for enjoyment or personal enrichment rather than to fulfill work or other responsibilities. The list of what you can pursue is only restricted by the limits of your imagination. To get the most satisfaction out of your experiences, try the following:

• Mindfully engage in what you do. Deeply appreciate your partner throughout a date night and emotionally connect with why you love them. Take a nature walk and engage your senses with everything you encounter. Go to a restaurant and soak in the experience—the ambience, food, companionship, and the staff’s hustle.

• Increase the challenge with what you pursue—develop mastery. Strive to set a personal record (PR) in an eighteen-round of golf (for me, a PR would be to hit fewer than four people with an errant golf ball). Join a recreational sports league. Take classes in something that you love. Become a buff (Civil War, Disney, classic cars). Perfect your own brand of home brew.

• Diversify a pursuit. Experiment with different kinds of meditation. Start a blog or podcast around a passion. Read books from unfamiliar genres. Sample music or poetry from diverse cultures.

• Add other loves to a pursuit to multiply the love. Instead of exercising by yourself, exercise with a friend. Take a dance class with your partner. Listen to a podcast on a subject you love as you do housework, drive, or go for a walk. Travel with a group of friends. Organize a charity softball tournament.

• Pursue something you have never done before. Take scuba diving lessons. Volunteer in a foreign country. Go to an opera. Visit the Galapagos Islands. Learn how to play the bagpipes. Try a new water sport. Go to Burning Man. Learn how to paint. Start a garden.

With personal pursuits, the world is your oyster. How will you slurp that gift?

What It Means

Your time and resources are finite. How can you get the most joy and fulfillment out of every precious day on this planet? Do you want to try something new? Something off the wall? Do you want to spend a Saturday afternoon losing yourself in a Ken Follett paperback? Or do you want to scale back on a current activity because it’s not giving you enough joy?

Seek experiences that make you feel alive; experiences that create love. You’ll look forward to those experiences. You’ll love the moment you’re in. You’ll create memories that can last a lifetime. It’s all upside!

Your Call to Action

Think about approaching this week differently than you may have in the past. How can you intentionally craft a week full of experiences that engage your senses and make you grateful to be alive? The week doesn’t have to be earth-shattering. Do things—big or small—that bring love and joy into your life. Then reflect upon how the week went. Do you want more weeks like that?

Have an engaging week!

Nurture a Growth Mindset

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 4: Nurture a Growth Mindset

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive. As background, SAGe is an acronym for Self-Actualized Genius (your best self). To learn more about being a SAGe, you can access my blog article: On Being a Self-Actualized Genius (SAGe).

Nurture a Growth Mindset

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

Underpinning a SAGe’s positive mindset is a devotion to growth. In her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” Carol Dweck introduced the concept of a growth mindset.

A person with a growth mindset steps out of their comfort zone, leans into challenges, and takes calculated risks. They have a zest for self-improvement and seize opportunities that push their boundaries. By doing so, they unlock their vast potential. When setbacks occur, they are resilient and view failure as motivation to learn and grow rather than a reflection of their competence.

To nurture a growth mindset, motivate yourself to get out of your comfort zone and embrace challenges (you’ll figure things out along the way). Seek opportunities to learn (you can learn anything). Act upon feedback (it truly is a gift). Give yourself grace when you struggle, knowing that obstacles are a part of the growth process (everyone has struggled). If you do stuff like that, a growth mindset will become your default position. You’ll approach opportunity (and life) with enthusiasm, and happiness often comes along for the ride.

What It Means

You have unlimited capabilities, no matter what your starting point is. You can learn how to paint. You can learn an advanced technology. You can develop a new skill at your job—heck, you can even be successful at a radically different career. Everything you know now, every skill and talent you possess, was acquired at some point in your life. Often, it was the result of hard work, getting out of your comfort zone, and trial and error. If you struggled, you sought help and persevered.

Take a moment and reflect upon how growth has been a vital ingredient to your life satisfaction.

Your Call to Action

Identify a growth opportunity in your life, whether it’s exercising regularly, eating healthier foods, being a more positive person, learning how to throw pottery, going back to school, or a thousand other things you could pursue that would enhance your personal or professional life. Is anything holding you back? Apply a growth mindset to your opportunity and enthusiastically move forward. Take it step by step. And as you do, be energized by your empowering belief that your potential is unlimited. You are capable of doing practically anything. That is your truth.

Struggle breeds wisdom, and you can use that wisdom to break through with the growth you seek.

Have an outstanding week!

Imperfection Is Unavoidable, and That’s Okay

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 3: Imperfection Is Unavoidable, and That’s Okay

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive. As background, SAGe is an acronym for Self-Actualized Genius. To learn more about being a SAGe, you can access my blog article: On Being a Self-Actualized Genius (SAGe).

Imperfection Is Unavoidable, and That’s Okay

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

As you live your life, expect imperfection. In fact, if you don’t experience your fair share of false starts, stumbles, setbacks, goofs, embarrassments, curveballs, temptations, annoyances, do-overs, or even the occasional epic disaster, then you’ve accomplished something no one else has ever achieved. It’s also thrilling news. It means you’re immortal! If that’s the case, invite your divine buddies over, tap the nectar keg, and let the festivities begin!

For the rest of us non-deities, imperfection is a familiar companion. How imperfection impacts you is more often the result of how you respond to it than the imperfection itself (ask a politician). When life challenges you, do you summon the wisdom and optimism of your Self-Actualized Genius and intentionally respond to your circumstances, based on what you control, to take your life in a positive direction? Or do you impulsively react in an emotionally charged way that undermines your interests and digs the hole deeper?

What It Means

A reality of human existence is that good and bad things happen to all of us. No one escapes that variability. Sometimes, we experience a streak of good fortune, and it’s wonderful. Savor those times. However, something unfavorable will cross your path eventually. It’s not personal when it happens. You may have been the cause of it, or it could have been out of your control. But it will happen. That’s life.

When the imperfect knocks at your door, you have a choice to make: You can respond in a positive way that moves your life forward or impulsively react and let the situation’s negative energy drive your actions. When you choose a positive response to life, you put yourself in position to achieve better outcomes. You become happier and more fulfilled.

Your Call to Action

Identify the imperfect that is present in your life today and be mindful when it occurs throughout the week. Then, be intentional with how you respond: Nurture a healthy perspective that accepts the imperfect nature of human existence. Take action that infuses positive energy into your life and moves you forward.

Be bold and create love in the universe, no matter what crosses your path.

Have an outstanding week!

Lead with Love

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 2: Lead with Love

Happy Sunday!

Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive. As background, SAGe is an acronym for Self-Actualized Genius. To learn more about being a SAGe, you can access my blog article: On Being a Self-Actualized Genius (SAGe).

Once you read this email, I encourage you to try out the ideas that resonate. See what works during the week. See what you learn. You’ll find that the positive energy you create is all upside! Sunday SAGe can be a great way to keep wellness front and center in your life.

Lead with Love

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:

You think differently when you put your experiences through the lens of love before passing judgment. You think more clearly and in harmony with your spirit’s inherent goodness.

When you take it a step further and choose the most loving response possible to a situation, you produce love within yourself and the world. That’s leading with love’s ultimate objective: Create as much love as possible from your experiences.

What It Means

When you lead with love, you are empathetic and understand that people are inherently good. They’re trying their best to make life work. They’re not perfect—no one is. When you lead with love, you choose a kind response to the people you interact with. You do good deeds. You go out of your way to bring joy to someone’s life. You take actions that lift the lives of yourself and others, in both big and small ways.

When you lead with love, you intentionally create love in the universe through your thoughts and actions.

Your Call to Action

Focus on “leading with love” throughout the week. Be mindful in your interactions with others and consider what options you have to respond to your circumstances in a loving way. Examples of loving responses could be to:

• Offer your time, talents, and resources to help someone in need

• Simply say kind words to lift someone’s spirits

• Forgive someone

• Perform a kind deed

• Show genuine appreciation toward someone

• Be a positive force at work and lift up everyone’s spirits

• Choose the most loving response to a challenging situation in your life that serves both you and others

How else can you lead with love?

To keep your intention to lead with love in front of you, consider writing the word “love” on a Post-It note and placing it on your computer monitor, a bathroom mirror, or in your car. You can also journal to reflect on what impact leading with love is having in your life. The more you keep your intention to lead with love top of mind, the more likely you’ll follow through.

Or, start a streak of leading with love at least once a day. Track it on a calendar. Before you know it, leading with love will become your default position—it will become a habit.

Have a great week!

Detach from Negative Forces

Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 1: Detach from Negative Forces

Happy Sunday!

This is the first installment of Sunday SAGe, a weekly email communication that shares inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive.

Once you read the email, I encourage you to try out the ideas that resonate. See what works during the week. See what you learn. You’ll find that the positive energy you create is all upside! Sunday SAGe can be a great way to keep wellness front and center in your life.

Detach from Negative Forces

An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic (inspired by the Stoics):

One of the guiding principles of The Wellness Ethic is that you control your perspective regarding what is happening around you. You can choose to have a positive or negative outlook.

“Begin in the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil … I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, not can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him. For we are made for cooperation … To act against one another then is contrary to nature.”

—Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, Stoic philosopher

The Stoic understands that they alone can’t alter the course of the world, nor can they prevent the malcontent from trying to cast a loveless shadow through their insensitive words or misguided deeds.

The Stoic expects they will encounter negative forces throughout their day, so they’re not surprised when they do. When it happens, they accept that things will happen in life that they can’t control. They then detach themselves from the negative energy by focusing on what they can control: maintaining inner tranquility and acting within their sphere of influence. The Stoic understands that negative forces always want to occupy their consciousness—it’s their choice whether they allow them in.

What It Means

You will encounter positive and negative forces throughout your day. It’s the nature of human existence. Your mindset in the moment and your response to your circumstances are the primary drivers of your happiness. When something negative occurs, you have a choice to make: You can allow the negativity to consume you, plummeting you into unhappiness, or you can detach from the negative energy by focusing on what you always control—your state of mind and positive response to what happens in your life.

Your Call to Action

During the week, make a conscious effort to be aware when negativity knocks at your door—whether it’s something someone said or did, a current event that bothers you, like climate change or politics, or an unfortunate situation that is out of your control. Then, accept that what has happened as a part of life and focus on maintaining a peaceful mindset as you choose a positive response to move your life forward. That is always within your control.

If you struggle maintaining a positive mindset in the moment, try diverting your mind through meditation, taking a walk, exercising, reading, or listening to music. By doing so, your subconscious mind will process what happened and help you work toward developing an optimistic outloook as you decide how to move forward.

To keep your intention to detach from negative forces in front of you, consider writing the word “healthy detachment” on a Post-It note and placing it on your computer monitor, a bathroom mirror, or in your car.

Have a great week!

Blog Post Title One

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Two

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.