The Most Powerful Source of Health and Wellness Information

It’s not the Mayo Clinic or your mom

“Ours is a generation bloated with information and starved for wisdom.” — Arianna Huffington

If you’ve ever browsed the health and diet section of your local bookstore, or searched for health advice online, you know that there is a wealth of information available. Sometimes too much. You are always a click or a book away from a new diet, diagnosis, or health recommendation.

Even though I am often overwhelmed with the quantity of information, I am so grateful for authors and bloggers who have inspired dramatic change in my health and for standing out by providing great wisdom. People like Kris Carr, Joel Fuhrman, Matt Frazier, Leo Babauta, and Lissa Rankin. Each of them made a valuable contribution to my health and wellness journey, along with my medical team, friends and family.

After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2006 while training for a cycling event to raise funds for MS research, I’ve been on a quest to feel better, live healthier, and help others be well.

I don’t want to discourage you from looking for answers, but if you are always searching for the next best thing, you may be forgetting about the most powerful source of health care information available to you.

It’s not the Mayo Clinic, the latest health craze, your doctor, or even your mom. It’s you.

You are the most powerful source of health and wellness.

You may not know it or even believe it, but it’s true. You have all the power.

The Power to Listen. Your body sends you important messages, but if you are to busy to listen, slow down, and tune in, you can’t hear. You need to hear this.

The power to change. Every habit you have contributes to your well-being in a positive or negative way. Changes to those habits are always in your power.

The power to heal. If you believe that healing is possible, it is. You can reverse irreversible disease, slow progressive conditions, and put an end to chronic, incurable illness. Your body will do the work, but you have to support the process in how you think, what you say and what you believe.

The power to choose. You can quickly move from victim to warrior when you realize that you choose what you put in your body, what you expose your mind to, who you surround yourself with and how you choose to live.

The power to build a team. Choose the medical professionals that will be on your team. Rally your friends and family. Thoughtfully build a powerhouse team to support your best health and then demonstrate your gratitude by saying thank you over and over again.

The power to ask for help. You cannot do this alone. Admitting weakness will be your biggest sign of strength. Not to mention that people who love you want to help, but you need to tell them how.

The power to start over. Even if you only ate chips and cookies all month, or if you drank too much last weekend, or if your TV got more mileage than you did last week, you can start over today. And if you slide tomorrow, you can start over again.

The power to inspire. Recover, thrive, and heal. Understand the research, prognosis, and statistics and prove them wrong. When you take back the power and fully participate in the healing process, your story will inspire others to take action.

The best thing about all of this power is that you don’t have to look for it, research it, or buy it. You already have it.

You have all of that power and more, but if you want to access it consistently, you must do these 3 things …

1. Simplify. Eliminate the distractions, the negativity, the hopelessness and the naysayers. Get rid of the clutter, debt, shitty job and people pleasing. Remove the noise and nonsense so you can listen, learn, grow and heal.

2. Trust. When it comes to your health, trust your voice first. Learn from professionals and other stories and then get back to you. What do you really need to be healthy?

3. Deliver. No more “I’m too busy.” or “That’s too expensive.” or “They will think I am weird.” There will always be another reason why you can’t take better care of yourself. Excuses are so much easier than action, but they never result in better health. Take action. Deliver. You got this.

The Mayo Clinic and your mom know their stuff, and probably have really helpful advice to offer, but once you know that you know what’s best, you’ll always have acesss to the most powerful source of health and wellness information and the opportunity to embrace and enjoy a healthy life.

Courtney Carver helps you simplify your life and work so you can focus on what really matters. She determines what matters most by eliminating everything that doesn’t. Learn more about her work at Be More with Less or say hi on Twitter @bemorewithless.