Takeaways from the GOOD Fest
I recently attended the GOOD fest, a one-day wellness event dedicated to all things healthy living. I walked away feeling pretty inspired, having learned so much from Jessica Sepel, Kelsey Patel, Energy Muse and more. These messages resonated with my own so much, I just had to share. Here are my main takeaways:
“Wellness” isn’t about a destination or achieving some state of being…it is about the being. It is the verb. The living of wellness. Knowing that what works for one person - what wellness is to someone else - might not be what it is for you. Stop the comparison and tune in to your individual self.
Dieting instills fear. As women, it’s so easy to use weight as a measurement of self worth. The number on the scale can act as the barometer for your mood for the day. If this is you, throw out your scale.
If you’re listening to the noise and chatter around you, or to the expectations that everyone else has of you, that means you have stopped listening to yourself. Release the external influences and tap back into your intuition. Allow that to be your guide. You are your best compass.
Shifting to a real, whole foods way of eating helps you to connect to your body. It’s a journey, and one the continues to evolve. Diets, restriction, deprivation all strain your relationship with food and your body.
Eating real and mindfully allows you to adopt a kind and balanced relationship with food. It’s about embracing a mindset that is based on love toward yourself. Eating well is one of the best ways to show self-love. It allows you to truly connect to your body, your appetite and those foods that make you feel good.
Diets lead to stress. If you are sitting down to your meal feeling stressed and anxious, you aren’t going to properly digest your food. Elevated cortisol on a daily basis leads to irritability, poor sleep, hormonal imbalance, disease and dysfunction.
Dehydration is a huge cause of fatigue.
The only way out is in. To find freedom is about looking inside and connecting to your true self.
Self-worth is intrinsic. You are enough. You don’t have to do anything to prove yourself. It doesn’t matter what others expect of you. Authenticity is how you grow.
To show up for yourself - to make the choice to be willing - is the biggest power that you have. Know that it all comes down to an accumulation of choices. Both big and small. Whether it is the choice to smile or not to smile at a stranger, or whether it is to eat nutritious food or not, which one stems from a place of love, and vice versa, a place of fear? Choose the one that stems from love.
Surrender is when you are willing to let go of trying to control. When we are too busy doing we too often forget about being. You’re making everything else matter more than yourself. This is self-abandonment. Take 5 minutes to tell yourself something positive.
So often we believe that what we do equals our self-value. It’s about getting out of the mind. The stories we tell ourselves are coming from safety mechanisms that you no longer need. You have to be willing to choose to see yourself differently. Be alone with yourself. Let go of the "never enoughness." It’s a journey to become the best version of yourself.
Feelings pass. They come and they go. Emotions should be looked upon as signals. If negative, this means that something is amiss and change is needed. Positive emotions signal alignment.
FEAR: "false evidence appearing real." When fear shows up, take a step back and look at it objectively, knowing that your ego are telling a story that is likely to be untrue. It is a choice to shed those stories and release the fear.