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We are passionate about health education, inspiration, and giftedness; our own, yours, and your children, because WellStone Gardens is about us; all of us. This includes the food we eat, where to buy it, how to grow and prepare it and the profound difference it will make in the battle against sickness and disease in our lives.We are also about fitness and fun. Our miraculous bodies were designed to be stretched, to be pushed, to breathe deep and grow strong. We have been physically hardwired to work hard, play hard and live vital lives, at every age.Far more than anything else, WellStone Gardens is about our hearts; not our physical hearts, but our heart of hearts. That fire that burns quietly, deep in the core of all of us; that fire that burns in you. Speaking from the bottom of his heart in a speech 8 weeks before he died of cancer, basketball coach Jim Valvano said:
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Three things; if you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that 7 days a week you’re going to have something special.
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How often do we approach our day in that mindset? What will it take for us to wake up and realize that life is short and each day is precious? Today is a gift freely given to you and I. We have both the challenge and the privilege to joyfully celebrate that gift of life; to laugh, to think, to cry and to love. More than anything else WellStone Gardens is about who we are, why we exist and how we can live and fight to make a difference. We offer information and inspiration in various workshops and blogs, as well as hosting fun and challenging events on The Farm – all to help rekindle the fire in your heart today.
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You’ve heard the expression, “if these walls could talk, the stories they could tell”. What if the cells of our body could talk? Actually they do. They whisper and even complain loudly – “we’re sluggish; we’re exhausted; we ache.” Sometimes they shout like Paul Revere – “Heart attack, stroke or cancer is coming! Obesity and diabetes is coming!” Sadly, we often pay more attention to the warning light on the dash of our cars than we do to the messages our bodies are sending.
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The alarming health statistics of Americans are speaking loud and clear as we face an ever growing healthcare crisis in this country. Are we listening? How did we get here? Certainly our diets are largely to blame. There is overwhelming evidence that we are what we eat, and every living cell is utterly dependent and helplessly at the mercy of what we consume daily.
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Maybe you feel young and bullet proof. Please hear this warning. The years fly by and they will take their toll. Maybe you feel o.k. generally speaking, but I ask – “When did just good enough become good enough for you or your children?” Perhaps you’re not even aware of what our American diet truly consists of. We weren’t and found the facts deeply disturbing.
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There is great news! Food can be medicine and delicious at the same time. Our vibrant health begins in the kitchen. Explore with us what we can do to take personal ownership of our diet. Be informed, be inspired and be a part of a grass roots revolution to take control and fight back against mediocrity, sickness and disease. Let’s wholeheartedly commit to live stronger and more vital lives, one day at a time.
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Every New Year fireworks explode, the ball drops, and we make resolutions – lots of them. No doubt many of those involve getting “in shape”. We would all love to be fit and active, and more to the point, if we were honest, we all need to be.
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Do you realize how many in modern America no longer physically work at anything? Life gets easier every generation. We don’t walk; we drive. We don’t hunt, grow and harvest; we go to the store. We are at work desks all day and on the couch at night. We mow the lawn with a steering wheel in one hand and a diet coke in the other. Just think about how much physical labor it took to wash the laundry 100 years ago.
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I’m all in favor of time and energy saving inventions, but what are we doing with all that extra time and energy? More often than not we’re at leisure. Without question we are the most entertained generation in human history. Light hearted fun is a good thing but so much of our entertainment time is spent doing what? You guessed it; sitting. We sit at our computers and while playing video games. We sit with smart phones and watching T.V. Our bodies weren’t designed for so much inactivity and there will be a price to pay both physically and emotionally.
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There is only one possible solution – get up and get busy working hard again. There are dozens of rewarding fitness programs and fun activities to choose from if we’ll only make a life changing commitment and get started. What is so amazing is that in as little as 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, you can begin to make those changes. In every way, life is so much sweeter when you are physically strong. You can do this. Allow us to encourage you and help you explore options to get started today.
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If we’re not careful life can wear us thin, with far too many days and nights filled with commitment of work, school or kids. We can become slaves to alarm clocks, day planners, our own schedule and everyone else’s. As a husband, father, grandfather and business owner, I’m notoriously bad about packing far too much in too little time; and it’s exhausting. How about you?
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Vince Lombardi once said, “fatigue makes cowards of us all”, but it can do much more. Chronic business can make us frustrated, short-tempered, depressed and worse. There is a very simple but hard to execute remedy. We must carve out time to rest and time to play. Both ideas fit well in the definition of the word – recreation; “any activity done for enjoyment when not working”.
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Let’s take the same 10 letters and add a hyphen to make a radical difference. Re-creation: to be made new; any activity done for deep soul satisfying peace, joy and laughter (my definition). Let that soak in for a moment. To be made new daily – re-newed; re-stored; re-freshed.
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This kind of activity looks different for all of us. For you it may be chess, a fantastic meal with friends, a good book or ultimate frisbee. However, the one thing we all have in common is- we all need it. Without this deep re-freshment you and I will never have the time, passion and the energy to truly live the life we were created to live. Let’s examine a whole new way of thinking about re-creation and raise a battle cry against hurry, worry, and mind-numbing, life-robbing busyness.
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What a sweet picture of life – a tender plant, stretching and growing toward the sun. The frozen winter is past, bringing the warmth of a season of new beginnings. Springtime gardens overflow with fragrant blossoms and delicious vegetables and fruit. But with the beauty comes the constant battle against weeds, fungus and insects.
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I can think of no better analogy for our lives than a garden. Our heart is incredibly fertile ground and it will grow everything planted there. All that we think, say or do is found rooted in the deep mystery that is the human heart.
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All love and bitterness, joy and sadness, forgiveness and revenge; all of our hopes, our dreams and our deepest regrets are the harvest of what has been sown in that most personal part of us. We are a conflicted people, for out of the same fertile ground we speak words that heal or words that wound. We can be so thoughtful to strangers and callous to those we love. In so many subtle ways we are at war deep within ourselves.
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Understanding fighting and winning this battle for our heart is the single greatest gift we can give to those we know, those we love and even those we may dislike. We were born for this fight; and for the sweet fragrance of honor and dignity, strength and tenderness, and for the joyful and peace that we can know on the other side of victory. Each day can be a new beginning. If you’re really serious about living well, explore this matter of the heart with us as we offer weekly reflections on our blog. I promise that it will change your life. I know because it’s changing mine.
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