Your dreams and goals can be derailed if you forget to take care of business.  I’m not talking about getting your hair and nails done, clothing yourself with the best, entertaining the body, or even the abode, trinkets, or transportation you work so hard for to make the body comfortable. “There are only three gross substances that we consciously take in to support our life process: food, air, and water,” wrote Gabriel Cousens in his best-selling book ‘Spiritual Nutrition.’

If we don’t eat, we die.

So, obviously eating is critically important.  And if eating is critically important, it stands to reason that what we eat is critically important as well. There are healthy foods and unhealthy foods.  Just as you would not put any type of gas into your car, you should not put just anything into your body.  There are super-foods and junk foods.  There are live foods and dead foods. We must make eating a conscious affair and be aware of what we are putting into our temples if we want to be healthy, energized, and pain-free.

If we don’t breathe, we die.

If breath is vital to life, and it is, clearly the quality and quantity of the air we take in is also vitally important.  How many times have you caught yourself holding your breath?  Our body needs oxygen to live.  We must get outside and breathe fresh air.  I love yoga because it forces me to breathe deeply, to send oxygen to all parts of my body, to relax, to tune into my spirit life force, and to mentally let go of the negative forces around me. Everyone is aware of the negative impact of pollution and air quality, but few are willing to acknowledge their contribution. Check out Annie Leonard’s video for a wake-up call on our role in trashing our planet.  Then answer the question, “Are you contributing to or fighting against the polluting of our planet?  Finally, we must be conscious of the water we are drinking.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.