For most of us our passion, joy and playfulness lie outside of our comfort zone.

Reality is not absolute, it is unique to each of us. Reality is nothing more than our excuse for staying right where we are – in our comfort zone. If we can’t come close to guaranteeing a desired outcome, few of us act. We don’t trust ourselves to emotionally navigate all that may arise so we limit what we allow. When we start to get too excited about a prospect all we need is a good reality check to shut us down.

Reality has become synonymous with pessimism and for most of us it has made our comfort zone anything but comfortable. Within most people’s comfort zones you will find disproportionate amounts of depression, anxiety, frustration, stagnated relationships and dead end jobs. Yet we stay within its confines because somewhere along the line we made the cosmic calculation that what is known is preferable to what is not. We find comfort in the fact that we can handle what we have even if we don’t particularly like it.

Going outside our comfort zone, no matter how minutely, is a risky business always punctuated by some permutation of fear. Not so much the fear of success or failure but fear of experiencing emotions beyond what we believe we can handle. We actually fear our emotions about an event or experience more than we fear the experience itself. This is because the event is finite, but the emotions persist and grow. If we fail at a new job we fear that will not be able to handle the emotional ramifications of guilt, shame, self-doubt, regret etc… Anticipating the magnitude of such feelings is paralyzing to us. We simply will not risk the possibility of us reeling out of control into some form of psychic disintegration.

Try as we might to hide in our comfort zone, life will not allow it. We contort ourselves to stay in marriages that have stagnated, jobs that stress us out, environments that make us sick, and commitments that drain us. Despite the agony, most of us only leave our comfort zone when we are outright ejected by a major life event, illness or trauma. But it doesn’t have to be that way – instead we can choose to step out a little each day or better yet invite more in…

Beyond the comfort zone of our limited reality is all possibility, the vast unknown, all that has yet to be experienced and explored. A concept that makes control freaks freak out. If only we can see our way through that mindset of fear to the excitement, wonder, and curiosity that lies just on the other side, then our experience of life can change in an instant.

Shedding the limitations of our reality on a daily basis is the only way to live a fulfilled life. I am speaking to that part of us all that knows that we are playing small – way beneath who we truly are; to the part of us that is passionate, powerful beyond measure, limitless, and an expression of pure love and joy.

How many times a day do you experience those parts of yourself in your current reality?

Peace Practice:  Expand your comfort zone

• Notice where and whenyou use the ‘reality’ excuse to keep you in your comfort zone.
• Notice what is in your comfort zone -Loneliness? illness? depression? anxiety?
• Notice what lies just beyond your comfort zone, and gently start inviting it in.

By Jill Lankler

For decades, we have relied on brief encounters with the medical establishment to help us heal and keep us healthy. We take prescription medicines to resolve symptoms of disease, and we follow the latest trends in fitness and food to lose, gain, or maintain weight. If everyone is doing it, we may as well follow suit—despite the fact that we know our bodies, our genes, and our lives are each entirely distinct.

Why do we succumb to “one size fits all” in an arena as important as our health? Early on in our lives, we learn not to ask too many questions about our own distinct health goals, largely because personalized answers were unavailable. Today, all of that has changed.

Personal health no longer has to be a mystery or a privilege. It’s a right. You have a right to know the foods, exercise habits, and lifestyle choices that will help you be your best self. You have a right to understand your body’s very own user manual.

Using your body’s own measurements and an individualized health assessment, you can access a lifestyle blueprint that is uniquely your own. Because personal health is not just about getting to know yourself and your body, it’s also about understanding the precise health challenges you may face, and taking action to prevent them from becoming a problem.

This is healthcare as it was intended to be: A system that supports you in making the personalized, moment-to-moment choices that will help you thrive. When you know the specific foods, exercises, daily patterns, and even social habits that make you feel most alive, you are free to eliminate what doesn’t work. For the first time ever, your health is truly your own.

Backed by the power of technology and the insight of your own genetic blueprint, you stand at the brink of your own personal health revolution. Are you ready to make it personal?

Learn more about yourself with the ph360.me platform.

By Katarina Smythe

I got curious about hemp when hemp seeds came up on my ‘Foods to Eat’ list as a 5 smiley food. I started doing a little research about hemp as food and where I might be able to buy it and the more I read, the more interested I became, due to it high nutritional content. I am going to try to incorporate hemp seeds into my diet and will keep my eye out for all the other hemp uses. It certainly is a fascinating plant.

Most of us know what Marijuana is. It’s a plant that, when smoked or ingested, makes you ‘high’. It is a drug and has been illegal for as long as most of us can remember. In modern times, the growing, selling, and using of Marijuana has been prohibited, but historically it was a widely farmed plant with many fantastic uses. Throughout history Hemp has been used for many things by the Chinese, Indians, Europeans and many Asian cultures, that didn’t include getting high, and its use can be dated back to the stone age.

Now, just to clarify – Marijuana, Cannabis and Hemp all refer to the same plant. Just like any other plant, there are different varieties of Hemp and it is only the ones with high amounts of THC that make you ‘high’ when smoked or ingested. All other Hemp grown as a crop has very low amounts of THC or none at all. It is this Hemp that is incredibly versatile and useful in a surprising number of ways. Some of the alternative uses for Hemp include:

• Food and Nutrition – Despite being treated as a non-food product by some governments, the Hemp seed is safe to eat and incredibly versatile. It is rich in protein, calcium, iron, and omega-3 and can be made into oil, powder, milk and other things
• Building Materials – Hemp can be used as a substitute for concrete, plastic, wallboard, and insulation and is more sustainable than timber.
• Fuel – biodiesel or biofuel can be a bi-product of Hemp cultivation.
• Clothing, Paper, and Other Fibers – Hemp has been used for textiles, paper, rope, carpet, nets, and many other things for thousands of years. It is strong, durable and unaffected by water.

These are just some of the potential uses for hemp. Every single part of the plant can be used for something and it is a resilient and sustainable crop.

Have hemp seed, milk or oil come up in your ‘Foods to Eat’ list? How do you incorporate them into your diet? Have you come across any of the above mentioned uses of Hemp? We would love to hear about it!

Generally speaking, most of us would consider highly processed, packaged foods, which are high in fat, salt or sugar (or all 3!) to be bad for us or unhealthy. But, depending on who you are, heralded superfoods like kale and coconut oil can often do more harm than good!

I would have thought that collard greens, being packed with antioxidants, potassium, and vitamin C, are super healthy. However, after every time eating them, and noticing that my abdomen would them swell to double the size after eating them, I learned that collard greens are a cruciferous type of vegetable and, due to the sulphur content, may cause bloating in many people… Including me!

Now this isn’t an issue for everyone, but for me specifically, collards are a no-no. For others they are an important part of well balanced diet. The important thing is to find out what is right for you – and thanks to today’s technology, we can now actually do that from the palm of your hand! Thankfully, the only issues I had were poor digestion and discomfort as a result. For some people, eating certain foods can be downright dangerous. One man’s cure can be another man’s poison.

Here are 3 healthy foods that could be dangerous for you:

• Kale, cabbage, and brussel sprouts are great examples for this because they are super healthy greens that are often promoted as very healthy1. However, they are brassicaceae (aka crucifers or brassica). They contain goitrogens which means that they can affect the thyroid and cause goiters^{2, 3, 4}.
• Licorice root is another great example because it’s great for so many things like stomach problems (colic, ulcers, inflammation, heartburn) while also being fantastic for fighting bacterial and viral infections, bronchial problems, coughs and sore throat^5-10. The problem is that it increases blood pressure, which can be dangerous for people who already have high blood pressure^11-15.
• There are pros and cons to phytoestrogenic foods, such as soy and flax. While soy has gained a bad reputation now due to such a large portion of it being genetically modified around the world, flax is promoted as a superfood because it is full of Omega 3, lignans and other great nutrients. Though some women benefit from an estrogen boost^16-20, others need to stay away from it; especially if they’ve had or are currently fighting a hormone-positive type of cancer^21-24.

The key to superfoods is finding the foods that are super for you right now. Everyone is different. We are all genetically unique and we live in various environments, with different lifestyles and levels of stress so naturally we are going to have different digestive systems and unique dietary needs. I don’t have high blood pressure so I can eat all the licorice root I like! I’d better stay away from those collards though unless I want to waste time in pain and discomfort. The opposite may be true for you.

After getting sick of not being able to zip up my jeans, (yes, it does seem quite quite superficial, but the fact is I only have one pair!) I cut collards out of my diet. I’ve personalised they way I eat – getting the nutrients I need from sources that I know are perfect for me right now, rather than following the often farcical food fashions. My digestion has greatly improved as has my bloating. And those jeans slide on without a problem.

The best way to avoid potentially harmful foods is know your body. Find out how it works and how different environmental factors can have an effect on it. Know the quality of foods that you ingest and of course, be conscious of what you are putting into it. Find out what your body wants with Shae. The right food can help you feel like a million bucks and have you in optimum health. The wrong food might well just poison you.

References

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