7 Days - 7 Ways

Improve your Health & Help Save the World!

These Big 7 Healthy Habits for individuals and the earth itself have been proven true over decades of scientific studies. I can personally attest to them working from my own experience. I have applied them to days of the week with easy to remember phrases, but this does not mean you can or should only do them on these days. Do them all whenever you can. But be sure to do them on a regular, ongoing basis or they don’t work! We have to be the change we want to see!

7 Days - 7 Ways

Improve your Mental, Physical and Spiritual Health and Make the World a Better Place!

Meatless Mondays

Eat less meat! I must give credit to the legendary musician Paul McCartney who has promoted this concept of Meatless Mondays, which he picked up from the Vegan movement. Eating too much meat is not healthy for your cardio-vascular (heart) system and is riskier than ever with all the meat based food poisonings happening all the time from factory farms. Eating cows (hamburgers/steaks) in particular is one of the biggest causes of Global Warming via cow’s methane releases and all the petrol products used during its production/feed creation etc. Factory Farms, where millions of animals are cruelly confined in tiny spaces and filthy conditions is morally/ethically wrong and must end/change ASAP! Finally, did you know that 80% of all pandemics are from humans eating meat? Food for thought - pun intended!

Teachable Tuesdays

It’s never too late to learn as recent brain plasticity studies have proven. You can teach an old dog new tricks and it helps fend off dementia as we age. Hobbies are a great alternative to endless stress inducing scrolling online or vegging out in front of the TV. Read a how-to book, learn a new language, how to play chess or an instrument or draw/paint etc. As AI takes more jobs in the near future - healthy mind expanding hobbies will be necessary to fill up our increased leisure time. So start now and get ahead of the game!

Work Out Wednesdays

Get up and move! A plethora of studies have established that exercise is key to over all health. Just a few minutes a day can make a difference! But more is better and if you can - try to get at least a half hour of cardio (keep heart pumping/aerobics) and some time (15-20 minutes) for stretching and some kind of muscle training calisthenics as in push ups, sit ups, free weights etc. Walking, especially in a nature setting is the easiest attainable exercise goal. Bike riding, yoga, sports, swimming etc. Like the Nike ad says - Just Do it!

Thermostat Thursdays

Use less Energy! Drive your car less. Turn down/up the thermostat depending on where you live and what time of the year. Just a couple of degrees in either direction (warm/cool) can prevent tons of nasty, Global Warming causing fossil fuel CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere and adding to the Global Warming extreme weather crisis we are now in! The transition to cleaner renewable energies will take time, so in the meanwhile it is crucial that we cut back on our fossil fuel use. As President Jimmy Carter (who put solar panels on the White House roof - only to be taken down later by corporate stooge President Reagan) once urged American citizens during the 1970s Middle East OPEC Oil Embargo - ‘turn down your thermostats and put on a sweater for the common good.’ If only we had made the necessary sacrifices and moved toward cleaner energies way back then as President Carter was pushing for - we would not be in the Global Warming nightmare scenario we find ourselves in 50 years later! #Exxonknew

Family & Friends Fridays

The core finding of most happiness studies done over time find that close connections to family and friends is vital for long term contentment. So reach out to family members and friends today! Our hyper individual American society ethos is not a healthy philosophy or lifestyle. The invention of the internet and smart phone have only fragmented us more than ever before. We need to foster better relations with our families, friends and neighbors/local communities if we wish to have a more harmonious country and world. It’s never too late to reconnect or make new friends!

Screen-less Saturdays

No screens - at all! Similar idea to Meatless Mondays. This includes all screens, including computers, phones and the TV. My wife and I just started doing this and it is amazing! It was not as hard as I expected. It forced me to be more creative with my time and do more healthy things like writing (on paper!), reading, doing exercise, and playing my guitar just to name a few alternatives to mindless scrolling or watching the same old boring remake films and shows on TV. My wife and I were more at ease/relaxed, free from the agitation and emotional roller coaster content/hype on the internet and TV 24/7. We spent more quality time together. We ended up reading together and then playing cards at night with cool music in the background. We older folks remember a time when we spent a lot less time in front of screens. Just try it - I promise you will like it!

Spiritual Sundays

Yes - I am a product of my Christian and Western upbringing where Sundays are when even God rested after 6 days of creating the universe. Yet there are other spiritual rituals and wisdom to be engaged, from other cultures as well. Meditation and Yoga from the East are big ones for me and millions of others in the West. Granted, after 20 plus years of an on/off meditation practice - I am still not very good, but even 5 minutes a day keeps me flowing in the right direction. When I don’t do my daily morning prayer and meditation routine - the negative effects are immediate in that I do not feel grounded, mindful or grateful for the miracle that this conscious life represents - which then leads to me being grumpy, impatient and sometimes judgemental. Listening to classical or other types of mellow music has been shown to be conducive to spiritual practices. A quiet, chill environment is also important to achieve inner peace and connection to the greater force. Silence is truly golden on occasion. Just the sounds of nature as God intended. The birds singing, the cicadas buzzing and the wind whispering through the leaves on the trees etc.

7 Days, 7 Ways - Go for it! Be the Solution! For a healthier you and planet too!

PS Peace Dove Painting by me