Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez
Ever wish you had your own personal cheerleader or coach in your ear, whispering encouraging words? Telling you how to kick butt in life, plus showing you how to get there? That’s exactly what you’ll get when you tune into Your Joyful Order Podcast. Each week you’ll get a mixture of preaching and teaching from your host Leslie Martinez who is a Certified Life Coach, Business Owner, Wife and Mom. Listen along for some entertaining real talk about life, business and relationships. Leslie wants to help you to reach your goals and motivate you to live out your God given purpose, by bringing you insightful knowledge, resources and sharing some tips and tricks to take action. No topic is off the table here, just know that faith will always be the foundation of our conversations and an occasional kick in the butt might come in the most loving way! Get ready to take your life to the next level and learn how to chase joy!
Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez
#105 Whole Woman Wellness: From Burnout to Balance-How to Care for Your Body, Mind & Soul
We explore holistic wellness for women, emphasizing the critical interplay between mind, body, and spirit. Our discussion covers the vital importance of preventative care and living a balanced life in light of stress.
• Introduction to holistic wellness
• The significance of women’s health
• Overview of preventative care practices
• Discussion on chronic stress and health implications
• Understanding nutrition and personalized health
• Importance of spiritual health and meditation
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Email: lmartinez@yourjoyfulorder.com
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Welcome back, friend, to another episode of your Joyful Order podcast. This month, we are diving into something that impacts every woman it's our health. It's our mind, body and spiritual health. This month, I am focusing on women's health and we're going to have some very insightful conversations with some amazing guests and just talking about what it truly means to be well. And again, that's our physical well-being, our mental well-being and our spiritual well-being. Now, these are all topics and conversations that will equip you to not just survive but thrive in every area of your life. Today, we're kicking it off with a powerful episode on holistic wellness for women how to embrace health in all aspects of life. So grab a drink, grab a notebook, get back here and let's get started with this episode.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, I'm Leslie Martinez Martinez and you're listening to your Joyful Order podcast. Each week I will bring you joyful stories that will motivate and inspire you and, at the same time, bring order to your everyday life. Let's just say the show will be a mixture of preaching and teaching, with a kick of motivation from your girl here. Welcome to your Joyful Order podcast.
Speaker 1:Ladies, let's be real for a second here. When was the last time that you truly felt balanced, not just physically, not just mentally, but emotionally and spiritually also? So many of us are constantly juggling responsibilities, trying to stay healthy, managing stress and keeping our faith strong. Us women, we wear lots of different hats and oftentimes we're doing it while just barely keeping our heads above water. Does that sound familiar? I've been there.
Speaker 1:Well, today we're diving deep into holistic wellness and how you can truly thrive in mind, body and spirit. But before we get into it, I just want to give a little disclaimer here. I'm not your doctor, I'm not your therapist, nor am I a medical professional. In case you didn't know, I'm just Leslie. I'm a coach. I'm someone who loves to learn and pass that information on to you. But because this episode is based on research and insights and just personal experience, I want you to know that everything that we discussed today is simply for educational and informational purposes only. Please make sure that you consult with your own medical provider in making any health-related decisions. You ladies are smart. I know you get me, but I just want to throw this disclaimer out there, because we will be talking about some things that are going to impact your health. Now, if you're ready to step into a healthier, more vibrant you, let's keep going.
Speaker 1:I want to start with just the foundation of our health. All right, ladies, and that starts with our bodies. Our bodies are the foundation of our health. Our bodies are what house everything right. Our bodies house our mental, our brain. Our bodies house our spirit, our soul. So our body is a very important factor in just laying the foundation for all of this. God has told us that our body is a temple also, so we're only given one body right, and how we take care of it also will determine the quality of our lives.
Speaker 1:All right, ladies, I want to start off with talking about preventative care. Preventative care is so important to our physical well-being. Now here's a fact that actually might shock you. According to the CDC, one in three women in the US actually dies from heart disease, which is one of the most preventable diseases out there that women die of, and it's preventable simply by lifestyle changes, changes. So when I read this, I thought, wow, it is so important for women to practice preventative care to avoid things like heart disease, which affects one in three women. How can you initiate preventative care into your lifestyle. That means regular screenings, going and getting blood work checkups right For not just when you're feeling sick. Going in getting that mammogram, getting your well woman's visit right they are all for catching things before they become major issues.
Speaker 1:The shift towards preventative care or preventative wellness is crucial in reducing burnout and long-term health problems. Oftentimes people wait until they're sick, they start not feeling good, there are some red flags that might come up and then they're like, oh, I think I need to go to the doctor and oftentimes they find out that there are things that might be wrong with them that could have been preventable or could have been caught in time to eliminate things from getting worse. So we have to shift our mindset to know that preventative care is very important. Is it fun going and getting a mammogram? Absolutely not. If you are at that age where mammograms are part of your wellness care now it is by far one of the most uncomfortable things that you have to experience right Going and getting the girls squeezed and it's just. It's not fun y'all. But I make sure that I go and do it every year, especially since breast cancer runs in my family. It is a preventative practice that I make sure that kind of around January, february, the beginning of the year. I know that that is my time of year, that I have to go and make sure that I get a screening In addition to that just your well woman checkup right, we're going to get a little like TMI in this. But, ladies, I know that you're listening and I am certain that all of you have experienced having to go get your well woman's exam. Put your leg up in the little stirrups there and have yourself poked and pricked down there and it's not fun, making sure that they take that swab and do the tests that they need to do to make sure there's not, like cervical cancer, any kind of other, you know, things that might be going down there when your lady parts Y'all. It's not fun, but it is something that we have to do in order to honor our body and make sure that we are doing the preventative care that our bodies require. If you are up there in age, in your mid-40s for my young girls that are listening you might be like oh, I didn't know you got to do that.
Speaker 1:A colonoscopy. Oh, ladies, the dreaded colonoscopy. Now I'm going to give you a little insight on this one Now. Initially, colonoscopies were not recommended until you hit the age of 50. Well, long and behold, when I turned the good old ripe age of 45, which was last year, which was last year Actually. No, I'm 46. Y'all, I lost track Two years ago. I'll be 47 this year, y'all, I just threw you a fact that you didn't need to know. But two years ago, right when I turned 45, I went to my well woman's exam and my doctor informed me hey, you just are going to turn 45 this year. It's time for you to get a colonoscopy. And I was like hold up, no, that's not until I'm 50. What are you talking about? And I don't like colon cancer doesn't run in my family, it's not something that you know. I there's like a red flag for me where I should get early screenings. And she was like no, they actually have moved up the age at which they are recommending colonoscopies and it is at the good old age of 45 now. So she wrote me a referral and did I go? No, I y'all.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of like you know, giving you a little inside track as to. I'm kind of like you know, giving you a little inside track is to I'm like, of all the preventative care things like I'm on board for the mammogram, I'm on board for the well woman, you know, the pap smear and all that stuff. I'm good for the blood work, whatever else you need to do with me, but when it comes to the colonoscopy, I'm just like, oh, I don't want to do it y'all. There is something about like just having to sit on the toilet for 24 hours before you go for a colonoscopy that I'm just not looking forward to, in addition to that, having to be put under anesthesia. I've only been put under anesthesia one time and I actually did not respond very well to it. So I I'm more like worried about being put under anesthesia and I'm like, you know, I think I might wait till I'm 50 for that, because I don't feel that there's like a need for that. Don't feel that there's like a need for that.
Speaker 1:However, after preparing this episode for y'all, I did come across some things that were a red flag for me, and not nothing that I am experiencing or anything but reasons as to why they bumped up the age to 45, right, and it has a lot to do with age to 45, right, and it has a lot to do with, like now, there are environmental things our foods, different things, you know, even just like having our cell phones in our back pocket. There's lots of different things that can attribute to things that might, you know, come up with that. So I have my Well Woman exam in March this month And'm like you know what, if I'm going to preach it, I got to practice it also. So when my doctor writes that referral this year for the colonoscopy, I am going to make sure that I follow up and I go through with it and maybe I'll come on here and tell you my experience, maybe I'll just share about it on, and maybe I'll come on here and tell you my experience, maybe I'll just share about it on social media. I'm not looking forward to it, y'all. So just say a prayer for me and for those of you that have gone through it and you're like oh, leslie, it's no big deal, as I have talked to people about it that have gone through it. They're like it's not a big deal, you just go and you get it done and stuff Y'all.
Speaker 1:I'm just worried about my reaction to anesthesia. That is my worry because, again, I had a bad reaction to anesthesia when I was under it for a surgery I had on my hand. Years ago I woke up and I broke out in a rash all over. I couldn't breathe, and I just remember waking up and being like super groggy, like what's going on, and I was like gasping for air. I started getting itchy all over, like I started itching. I was trying to change my clothes because I had, you know, the gown on and I remember my husband being there with me and I was like itching and he was like Les, no, something's not right, like what's you're breaking up and like hives. I like look, and then I'm just like I can't. I can't breathe, and he's like nurse, the nurse came and stuck something in my IV and I passed out. That's all I remember y'all.
Speaker 1:And come to find out I had an allergic reaction to some of the meds that they like used to put me out. And, yeah, ever since then I'm like I don't ever want to be put under anesthesia again. I don't want to wake up and have that experience again. Cause it wasn't fun, kind of freaked my husband out. We wanted to be like in the recovery room for several hours after because I was put out and just completely knocked out and it wasn't fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, I did not intend to share any of that with y'all. It just kind of went off on a banter there. But let me get back on track and saying how important preventative care is and I am realizing the commitment to it and that I have to again practice what I preach, again practice what I preach. So I am making a commitment to y'all that I'm going to get my colonoscopy done this year and I know everything's going to turn out fine. I know I'm going to be good, but I am committed to making sure that I take care of my body and honor my body, as I am telling you to do. I need to make sure that I am not just only practicing what I preach, but that I am encouraging you guys to do it, and I am a good example of that for my community of you ladies that follow and engage. And you know, kind of, just take the advice that I am giving you Now.
Speaker 1:Preventative care matters, those regular screenings, the blood work, all of that because it catches things before they become major issues, right. But there is also a shift that we have to make mentally, of shifting to preventative wellness and knowing how crucial it is in just reducing the burnout and long-term health problems. Now I kind of want to shift a little bit in talking about chronic stress, because as women, we tend to carry stress and anxiety a lot just because of the different hats that we wear. Now the thing is that chronic stress is kind of a huge deal when it comes to our long-term health. Researchers have found that stress has numerous impacts on the ways that our mind and our bodies function, and it is actually linked to chronic illness and disease and even structural changes within the brain.
Speaker 1:Now I am certain you are well aware that chronic illness and disease is on the rise. Why is that? Because we are inundated with so many different external factors that cause women stress and anxiety and complete burnout, and our bodies are only made to handle so much. We are inundated with so much information, right, social media gives us so, so, so, so much, but it's like an overload that our body and our brain just cannot handle it, which then leads to certain chronic illnesses and diseases. There are chronic illnesses and diseases today that didn't exist back then, and it didn't exist back then because we were not inundating ourselves with information overload like we are today, and that also impacts the structural changes within our brain.
Speaker 1:I've shared about this before in other episodes on how certain things really impact our brain and that information overload also is something that changes the structure of our brain. There's so many different aspects to what allows our brain to function right. You have hormones. You have, like, your thyroid allows certain parts of your brain to function. Also, your brain is connected with your biome, so there are foods that we ingest that have to also do with how our brain is functioning and firing. Now, exercise is a big part of that also. So we want to make sure that, as we are looking at our body as a whole, our physical well-being, that we are looking at the actual structure of our brain and how that all aligns with every other part of our body, of the physical elements, of how we honor our body and take care of it.
Speaker 1:Now, exercise is by far the best medicine for your mind, body and your spirit. Studies have showed that even 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five times a week can reduce your risk of chronic illness by up to 50%. Ladies, if you are struggling with a chronic illness, I want you to think about how active are you. Are you exercising, are you getting out? Are you moving your body at least five times a week for at least a minimum of 30 minutes, and that can be something as simple as just getting out and doing a 30-minute walk, y'all. If you got a dog, take your dog with you, go out, take your headphones, take your phone, listen to a podcast, listen to some worship music, listen to some of your favorite music. That just gets you going. But you can reduce chronic illness by 50% if you just get out and move your body.
Speaker 1:Now, your physical body, mind you, is not just about, like the weight we focus so much on. Are you at a healthy weight? Are you at a healthy BMI? Just move your body to move your body so that your physical, mental and spiritual health are intact. Don't focus on the numbers, don't focus on the scale. It's not just about weight. It's about longevity. Longevity so that you can continue to do what God called you to do, what God put on your heart. All right, now, part of all of our physical aspects is the nutrition and personalized health. Now I want you to remember what works for one person might not work for another. That's why it is so important for you to talk with your doctor about getting a personalized nutrition plan for you getting supplements that you need. And, ladies, as we begin to age, it is so important, as our hormones start to deplete and change, that we supplement what our body is lacking with proper nutrition and supplements for our body so that our mind and our physical body can function fully.
Speaker 1:If you are in that perimenopause phase of your life right now, like I am, I have been learning and researching all these different things about perimenopause phase of your life right now, like I am, I have been learning and researching all these different things about perimenopause and I am learning. There are so many side effects of perimenopause that might cause a lady to might think that she's going crazy, that I'm losing my mind. Why, all of a sudden, do I have like ADHD brain? Why can I not focus? Why am I struggling with things that were just so easy for me before? Y'all? It's because your hormones are depleting and your hormones have such a huge impact on the function of your brain. So it is so important that, as hormones are being depleted from us, that we look for ways to supplement that depletion, and I am on this journey right now. Y'all I am, you know, looking at different holistic ways to supplement that and I want to give you guys a little insight into something that I did as I have been learning of perimenopause. I have been researching online, reading books, following doctors, watching documentaries, listening to different podcasts about it and really diving in.
Speaker 1:Last year I asked my doctor to test me to see like am I in full on perimenopause? When I went for my well women's exam, they did blood tests. She did all these different panels on me to test my hormone levels and all these different factors went in right. She did tests and I didn't even know what they were. So I got my results back and I got an alert in like my little app, my like healthcare app, and it told me that the results were in. And I went to the results and I'm not a doctor, I'm not like a blood specialist I had no idea what any of it meant. I was like what even is this test that she ran on me Like I didn't know. So I called my doctor and I asked my doctor hey, actually I didn't even ask the doctor. I talked to the schedulers of the people that answer the phone and I was like, yeah, I got my results back and I have no idea what they mean. Can I get a call from my doctor so that she can let me understand my results a little bit better.
Speaker 1:So I got a call back, not from my doctor, from the PA, and she was like oh, yes, you know. Um, yeah, well, your results show that you are in perimenopause. Okay, gee, thanks. So what does that mean? What? What do these like? I have a drop in estrogen, I have a drop in testosterone. What does that mean? What do I need to do? And she's like well, let me ask the doctor.
Speaker 1:So then she comes back and she's like she calls me back. She's like oh, the doctor said that we can put you on a birth control that can give you some of this like estrogen and testosterone. They were very quick to come back and want to give me drugs, right? So I was actually very upset by that and I was like look, is there any way that I can talk to my doctor? I want to understand what all of this means. And she never called me back.
Speaker 1:I never got a call back and I absolutely love my OBG and I was actually really shocked about this, because my OBG, she is the same age as me and she is going through perimenopause also and I do understand they're inundated with a lot of you know clients and patients, and I would think that she could take the time to come on and say Leslie, this is what it means, this is. You know probably what you're experiencing, but unfortunately, doctors are not trained to really address perimenopause right. What they want to tell you is like, oh, yeah, it's just part of life, like, yeah, you're just going to go through it, that's it. But they don't tell you how to thrive in it and how to supplement what you are lacking. They very quickly want to give you a prescription for it and in this conversation of holistic health, I'm not okay with that. So I'm going to tell you, ladies, what I did. And again, this is not that.
Speaker 1:This is what I felt that I needed at the time, because these perimenopause symptoms are real and I don't feel like myself. And I want to be able to feel like myself again. I want to be able to focus, I want to be able to have energy, I want to be able to not feel depressed or anxious or like have rage, where you just want to punch someone's face out. Like it's real, y'all, it's real. And I'm certain many of you are relating and you're like oh, I just thought I was going crazy or something right?
Speaker 1:There are many women in this phase that I have learned through listening to doctors and doing research and reading books that many women are diagnosed with chronic illnesses during this phase of life. They are also diagnosed with many mental disorders like depression, anxiety, bipolar ADHD, and it is simply because you have a hormone imbalance and doctors are labeling you with this because they don't understand perimenopause. So it's important that we go to a doctor that can address and understand perimenopause and then come from maybe a different perspective, a holistic perspective of it, to allow us to address the symptoms from a different, holistic approach to it. Okay, so now I'm going to go back to telling you what I did, because I'm like I don't know who to go to. I went to my doctor and she came back like, oh yeah, you're in perimenopause and oh, let's just give you some drugs for a bit.
Speaker 1:So I took my chart. I took my chart from my portal, I took all of the tests that I took, put the results into ChatGPT, all right, and then I said look, I am in perimenopause, these are all the symptoms that I have experienced. Put it in ChatGPT. This is the blood work results that I have had from a test that was now it's been a year old, okay, or it's almost a year old. I took my blood test that I have had from a test that was now it's it's been a year old, okay, or it's almost a year old. I took my blood test that I took was March of of last year. Um, I did this thing in chat GPT about a month ago, so let's call it January of 2025.
Speaker 1:So I put my chart, or my blood results in there, and all the tests that they did to me gave them the symptoms that I am experiencing of perimenopause. And then I said this gave it an insight of my lifestyle, supplements that I am currently taking, and I said I want to feel like myself again. What are some supplements? Give me supplements, give me nutrition, exercise, all of that of what I can do to help me thrive through perimenopause. And y'all like, drop the freaking mic of what ChatGPT gave me. It literally broke down everything of what I need to do. Now I will be fully transparent, fully honest. I haven't initiated everything yet.
Speaker 1:There are specific supplements that it told me that I need to add to my daily routine. A lot of it was like magnesium. My daily routine. A lot of it was like magnesium. I'm lacking in magnesium and I know that that is something huge. There are very different types of magnesium and it clearly told me the type of magnesium to take.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go through all the details of what it said, because what it gave me may be very different of what it gave you based on test results, and all of that Is Chachi PT, your doctor, no, but y'all. It gave me insight that I couldn't even get from my own freaking doctor. It told me what supplements to take. It told me certain foods to take. Like, you need to be on a high protein diet. Exercise. You need to focus on strength training, strength, strength, strength, not cardio, not yoga. I need to focus on strengthening my body. All right, I am going to tell you, ladies, try it, see what Chachi PT creates for you. You need to become your own advocate. This is what I chose to do and I'm following through with what it does, and I will come back and share with you, ladies, a little bit later. Like, hey, this really worked for me. I did start to take some of the supplements and again, this is just a couple of weeks that I have been practicing it, I have been adding a lot more protein to my diet. I typically am not a red meat eater and I am learning to balance and take the right portions of red meat that work for me.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going back to my disclaimer. Chatgpt is not a doctor. I am not a doctor. This is all educational purposes, to give you a different perspective and a different insight. So I want to challenge you with this. For the physical part of it, go and make sure that you get your well woman exam. Make sure you get your mammogram. If you're over 45, you're going to have to add the wonderful colonoscopy to that. But I also want to encourage you to create a plan of action for your physical health. What does that look like with supplements? What does that look like for nutrition? What does that look like for exercise? Allow ChatGPT to create a wellness plan for you. You got to give it some insight about yourself. Oh, I also probably forgot to add like I did tell ChatGPT my age, my weight, my BMI. Like I took everything from my chart and I put it in there so that I can get a very well detailed perspective, like health plan, that I can initiate. Now there are other support out there, like if you have a great doctor, that you can go to MidiHealth, which is a holistic women's health platform out there that can help you with actual trained doctors that can prescribe supplements and other stuff for you. So look into that. That's another option for you All.
Speaker 1:Right now I want to move into just the mental health perspective of this holistic well-being for us women. Now I want to talk about just our mental health in general, because, let's be honest, if we are physically healthy and our minds are not in a good place, we are truly not thriving. And I kind of went back and forth about starting off with our mental health, because I really believe that our mental health has so much to do with our physical health also, if our mental health is not thriving, our physical health is not going to thrive either. And a lot of times, when we carry that mental stress and load in our mind, our physical health starts to feel the impact of it. That's why so many women deal with different forms of chronic stress. Now, did you know that women are twice as likely as men to experience anxiety and depression? So I want to talk to you a little bit about like stress and the nervous system.
Speaker 1:Now, high cortisol levels just will wreak havoc on our health. So one simple way to reset, to allow those cortisol levels to just kind of come down a little bit pray, take a walk or do some floor time. What is floor time? It is literally just laying on the back on the floor with your palms up and just breathing. And this is, this is research that I found, y'all, and I'm like, hey, I do that and it works, y'all.
Speaker 1:You know it's so funny that we're talking about like all of this right now, ladies, and like perimenopause, y'all. I am having like this, most serious, like hot flash right now, and I don't get hot flashes, I get like night sweats, but I am sitting here like I, my y'all. This is, this is real time right now. Y'all. I'm not even like kidding with you guys. The back of my neck is like so great now. This is absolutely crazy. I'm going to leave all of this in. I'm throwing my hair up right now because the back of my neck is drenched right now. Y'all. Maybe this is like God's way of laughing at me and is like Leslie, you're talking about this and you're going to live it right now and I'm going to take a sip. I have a cup of ice, give me a minute, but this is real. Y'all. This is crazy. I got a total major hot flash right now.
Speaker 1:Okay, learning how to combat those is part of Women's Health Month. Welcome to Women's Health Month. Okay, let's go back. How can we calm our nervous system? Pray, take a walk.
Speaker 1:Floor time. Let me share what the floor time is all about. It is just like a very mindful self-regulation technique that has actually been shown to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Yes, you'll learn something today and, as I did for this episode, as I'm doing research and trying to pull stuff together, I'm like oh, floor time. I do that all the time. I do it every morning after I do my exercises. I just lay there for a couple minutes, close my eyes, with my back on the floor, palms up, and I focus on my breathing, and this actually activates your parasympathetic nervous system and it helps to reduce stress and anxiety. Sometimes at night, when I've had a stressful day and I need to get ready to go to bed and I know that my brain is just not going to shut off, I will lay there and I will just like close my eyes and just focus on my breathing Floor time is a phenomenal way to help you to reduce stress and anxiety. So there are so many different ways for us to eliminate that mental load that we have, to eliminate that mental load that we have, and I just want to give you quickly a few very practical ways that can help you to eliminate some of that mental load that we carry.
Speaker 1:And it's stuff that isn't going to be a surprise to you, because I have shared it many, many times. And it's journaling. Y'all, go get yourself a journal. Okay, and I know there are some of you that have said, leslie, I'm just not a journaler. I don't. I'm not one to typically write or do this. Figure out a form of journaling that works for you. If it's not pen and paper, if it's on your phone, there are tons of different apps that you can use. Maybe it's just on your computer. You have like a note page or something on your iPad, something, but you need a place for you to dump, like brain dump. All right, take that load that you are carrying in your brain, those open loops that I've talked about so many times. You need to put them somewhere, and adrenaline is the best form of therapy that is going to help you to reduce that mental load that you carry.
Speaker 1:Journaling, a daily gratitude practice, have all been proven to improve mental resilience. All right, I don't create journals just to create journals. I create them because it is proven to help people thrive, to help with mental resilience. Joyful Order Journal I'm going to put a little plug in here. It's a gratitude, goals and prayer journal. It will help with your mental resilience. It is a practice that I have done for several years now and I will tell you, since I created a practice all around journaling and a morning routine and exercise, I have completely, completely reduced the amount of stress and anxiety that I carry. I used to have frequent anxiety attacks and I can count like maybe two, three that I have had in the course of like the last eight years.
Speaker 1:Honestly, y'all and it's just journaling is a form of therapy. If you go to an actual therapist, go to an actual therapist they are going to tell you to journal. It is a resource and a tool that therapists use to help you align yourself in the right direction when it comes to your mental state or your mental health. I should say, if you are struggling. Please go out and seek a therapist. Make sure that you find someone that aligns with your values and just your views, and just know that therapy is not a sign of weakness. It actually is a strength. To bring someone in to help you is a strength. Now I want to just take a second here and reflect Like, where are you at? How are you really doing? What is one small change that you can make today to help to just make your mental health that much better? How can you support your mental health? Think about it, think about just the things that I said.
Speaker 1:Now I want to move into our last segment here, and this is just our spirit, our soul. Women often pour into everyone else, but they forget about their own spiritual well-being. Now, research has shown that a strong spiritual life helps to reduce anxiety, helps to reduce depression and stress among working women. Finding the balance of the mind, body and spirit is definitely a challenge. Whether it's prayer, meditation or worship, or even finding time to just connect spiritually can change everything. Now I want to touch a little bit upon this. I've talked so much about prayer. I've did episodes about creating a strong prayer life. Um, worship is just another form of prayer, you know, reading your bible, really getting into god's word, but meditation as a faith-based podcast and being someone that speaks boldly about my faith and all of that.
Speaker 1:In the Christian world, meditation can be perceived as very un-Christian-like, and if you ever and I know I've used the term before, but I just really want to touch upon this because meditation has a big factor on our not just mental health but our spiritual health as well, and I'm going to read to you what the actual definition of meditation is it is the practice of focusing the mind, often in silence or with guidance, to achieve mental clarity, emotional calm and spiritual awareness. Now, there are certain cultures and other religions that use meditation in a very different way. That does not align with the Christian beliefs. So there are some Christian believers that believe or that will say that, oh, meditation that's so unchristian or unholy. Leslie, you shouldn't be talking about meditation. When defined, meditation is the practice of focusing the mind in silence, with guidance, to achieve mental clarity. Okay, anytime I reference meditation, this is what I am talking about Now. There's a biblical definition for meditation as well.
Speaker 1:In the Christian context, meditation involves deeply reflecting on God's work, on his character and his work, and the Bible actually tells us to meditate on his work. In Joshua 1.8, it says keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it daily and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. God's word tells us to meditate on it. Okay so meditation, focusing on God's word, like just sitting and being still. God tells us in the Bible be still, be still.
Speaker 1:It is so imperative for us to learn how to shut our brain off so that we can hear from God, and that will come through meditation, that will come through worship, that can come through journaling and that will come in a healthy prayer life. Now I want you to think what is one thing that you can do today to nourish your spirit? Is it going to church? Is it setting quiet time aside so that you can really sit with God and meditate? Or is it even just taking a walk in nature and just listening Y'all? We cannot hear from God when the chaos and the noise is just on replay, when we are constantly here on our phones, when we're constantly on the computer, when we are constantly distracted. We have to be able to know how to shut that off, sit, pray and just be still. We have to make space for God in a world that just wants to fill that empty space with so much distraction. You got to make space for God to move in your life Now, ladies, we covered a lot today, a lot of different things that I hope will challenge you, give you insight and maybe you'll learn something today.
Speaker 1:But our physical, mental and spiritual health is so important for us to thrive. We need to learn how to take care of each of those Now. The truth is that you deserve to be well in every aspect of your life. Take what resonated with you today and start making small shifts. I am so excited to carry this conversation out this month. I have a couple of great guests that are going to come and really speak value to this, and y'all. I also am so excited.
Speaker 1:I found a doctor that is all about women's health and perimenopause and menopause, and I have her that's going to be speaking.
Speaker 1:I wasn't able to get her for this month, but I'm going to be sharing her episode, probably like in April or May, and I just I can't wait for that conversation because I think it's so important again for us to really seek out this conversation. As we begin to age, our bodies start to change, to learn how to be an advocate for our bodies and how to take care of our bodies with a holistic approach. I want to be able to continue this conversation with you, share your thoughts on social media with me. I have a text feature here in the show notes that you can send me a text and we can chat and continue the conversation. And if this conversation just resonated with you, share it with a friend. And if this conversation just resonated with you, share it with a friend. And until next time, friends, just take care of your whole self, because thriving isn't just about surviving, it's about truly living, and remember to always, always, keep chasing joy.