Kids and exercise equals natural health and wellness.

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Kids benefit from swimming

Kids need a lot of exercise and it needs to be fun. Look around my yard and you’ll see a trampoline, skate boards, basketballs, baseballs, tennis rackets, roller blades, bicycles, frisbees, and scooters. I trip over all this stuff on a regular basis. LOL.

I purposely resist buying my kids the motorized stuff because I want them to have exercise more than a thrill ride. They whine about it all the time like “But Daaaad, the neighbor has a dirt bike!” I’m a real meany!

But I urge all you parents to resist also. There are so many neat motorized toys for kids to ride on these days it’s amazing. And I’m not even concerned about kids having accidents with those – it’s quite rare. What I am concerned about is the growing problem of obesity in children. Much of that obesity is due to inactivity in children. They need more physical activity!

Television, video games, and computers are another blessing from God, but like all blessings, abuse of them leads to problems.

In my new book Whole Health Healing, I have a chapter called Raising Healthier Children. In that chapter I explain how I control my kids electronic gaming by requiring that all home work be completed, household chores be completed, and a series of exercises be completed before they get some computer or gaming time. I suspect some adults need this same control. LOL.

Having a variety of physical activities for them is crucial because the most common reason anyone quits exercise is boredom. We are blessed with a nice pond to swim in and I notice that swimming is a wonderful choice for warm summer days. Sometimes it’s hard to get the kids out of the water (and me too!) LOL.

In the right sidebar of this website, you will find an opt-in to receive a free report with more details about getting control of your child’s electronic gaming. If you’ve allowed it to get out of control you’ve got a real challenge to regain control of it. But regain control you must! This is serious stuff. The physical inactivity can lead not only to obesity but also poor posture, blood sugar imbalance, and even weak bones and joints.

I remember my parents and grandparents asking “What’s going to become of the world with all these misfit kids?”

Now I’m asking “What’s going to become of the world with all these unfit kids?”

So fill your yard with all kinds of fun, physical activity. And start using it yourself too! The activity will do you good and the time with your kids will be priceless!

Kids and exercise equals good health.

Gardening is not work unless you let it be. To those of you with soil under your finger nails, I applaud! LOL.

Dr Potisk picks rhubarb

Dr Potisk picks rhubarb

I just harvested a big bag full of beautiful rhubarb and that took all of 5 minutes. How much time did it take me to plant it? None, it comes up automatically year after year.

Yesterday I picked a big bag of delicious asparagus and that took all of 3 minutes. How much time did it take me to plant it? None, it also comes up automatically.

I could go on and on about my apples, pears, raspberries, blackberries. etc. Okay, okay, I’ll admit there are some weeds to yank occasionally, but that’s not work either, in fact it’s how I vent my frustrations from putting up with some of you skeptics! LOL. Yank!

So where’s the work? Hoeing the soil? That’s not work it’s exercise and you’re supposed to get exercise everyday anyway so why not do exercise that will produce something you can eat.

And the benefits? Incalculable! I wish somebody would do a research study on the benefits of gardening. But it’s hard to measure satisfaction. Maybe someone should calculate the sizes of smiles to the amount of dirt under finger nails – I bet there’s a correlation. LOL.

Now I know you can buy satisfactionquite reasonably especially in peak season. And some of the stuff at the farmer’s markets are pretty darn good quality, but the only way to be truly sure it’s grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers is to grow it yourself.

Dr Potisk planting peas

Notice in the above picture some of the shortcuts I take like raised beds (less bending) and landscape fabric covering the soil (less or no weeding). I’m using my knoggin more than my muscles.

All this fun, satisfaction, and health benefits are the reason why I could not resist placing gardening in my book Whole Health Healing – the Budget Friendly Natural Wellness Bible for All Ages. Gardening is a must for optimum wellness.

Today is May 11 and already my peas are 3 inches high, onions 6 inches, spinach 2 inches, and lettuce 1 inch high. Around the end of the month I’ll plant tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, pumpkins, lemon cucumbers, regular cucumbers, and zucchini. Then about the only thing close to work is watering. Watering is really hard you know – holding a hose and spraying water –oooooooh! LOL.

So lets get going gang. No excuses! Pick a sunny area. Dig out the grass. Dump a bag of mulch and a bag of manure on there and dig it in. Then buy your plants and plug them in. That’s it. No yard you say? What about pots I ask?

The way I type (with 2 fingers) it took me longer to peck out the above sentences than it will for you to start a garden. LOL.

What do you grow? And if not, why?

Gardening is not work.

Relaxation comes naturally, if you let it.

I observe how my animals relax and learn a lot from them.

Pork Chop and Quiigley take a nap

I find some people are confused about relaxation. For example, some people will say “I’m going to relax and watch TV” or “I’m relaxing with a good book”. This is only partially relaxing. Remember that we are physical, mental, and spiritual. Watching TV and reading a book may relax the physical but the mental and spiritual are left out. This is quite a problem in our current era. All the media and electronics are wonderful advancements but they are stealing our mental and spiritual relaxation.

Recently, a very popular Pastor was interviewed as he was nearing the final chapter of his life. This world renowned Pastor was asked “Now that you can look back and reflect on your extraordinary life, what would you have done differently that you believe would have allowed you to accomplish even more?” His answer was profound. He said “I would spend a lot of time just sitting in a quiet private spot and just listen to God.” Wow!

So the solution to more relaxation is partly elimination (No, not a bowel movement. LOL). By elimination I mean getting away from and eliminating the distractions that interfere with our relaxation. The mind and spirit need as much rest if not more than or physical selves. TV, radio, internet, cell phones, and even background noise all interfere with our ability to really relax deeply.

This concept of real relaxation is so important that I placed instructions about how to attain it in my book Whole Health Healing – The Budget Friendly Natural Wellness Bible For All Ages.

Now if you have not done a true, deep mind and or spiritual relaxation before, you don’t know what you’ve been missing. You will likely discover an aspect of yourself that you will really like – inner peace. That attainment of inner peace is severely lacking in our American society compared to other cultures – especially eastern cultures.

Start by setting a time to be alone, in a quiet place for at least 30 minutes. This runs so counter to the norm in our society that if someone sees you or learns of your plans they may likely suspect that something is wrong with you. Just laugh it off and tell them that what’s wrong is that you haven’t been doing this enough.

Next, after getting in this quiet solitary place, lay or sit comfortably, pray for inner peace, and then just listen to the things around you. You may hear birds, cars, planes and may likely notice sounds you had not been paying attention to – that is a good start. If it’s a totally quiet place you may likely hear your self breathing or even your own heartbeat – this too is good.

The greatest battle you will have is fighting the thoughts of all the things you think you need to be doing that will initially be popping into your mind. It may take days or weeks to master clearing your mind, but each time you work at it you will get a little closer and you will notice 2 amazing things happen: 1) you will feel more refreshed and energetic afterward, 2) you will find it easier to recall and reclaim that feeling of inner peace in tense situations throughout your day.

You’ll also likely notice health benefits like less musculoskeletal pains, lower blood pressure, and even stronger immunity. Best of all – it’s free. Warning, it’s also addictive! Some addictions are good. LOL

Some people wonder “Why doesn’t God tell me what I should do?” When you get in this totally relaxed state, you may find out God was talking all along – you just did not take the time to hear. This is spiritual relaxation, letting go and letting God.

Do you think it would do you good to really relax?

My dog Lou relaxing

Relaxation: Don’t fight it