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We’ve partnered with Life Extension for this post. Opinions are our own.

I was playing tennis with a friend the other day. It was the day before Father’s Day and he had mentioned he needed to go to the doctor for a basic check-up since it had been a few years and he just recently celebrated his 40^thbirthday. He asked me if there was anything unique he should be asking his doctor about or checking into now that he’s entered the 4^thdecade.

Why yes, yes there is.  Typical checkups include a simple lipid panel.  Good start, but what else is going on – there’s more to your body and blood than just cholesterol and other lipids.

“Can my doctor do all these tests and are they covered by insurance– she usually just tells me about a lipid panel?” 

Sure can, but it will probably be out of pocket, depending on your insurance and what you want to look at.

I’m hesitant to offer recommendations unless...

<sub>The other morning I was driving the kids to school.  Each day in the car I ask the girls to create an intention for the day. As I got to that time in the morning drive, I said to Ella, "Ooh, It's Intention time. Okay, what are you thinking? What's your intention for today?"  Ella, sitting in the backseat, head down, was reading and I could tell she wasn't that interested in answering me.  She absently responded, "To pick a good book in library today."

I looked at her in the rearview mirror: "E.  You can't make that your intention.  You're going to do that anyway.  Let's think of something that stretches you a bit.  That you have to be - I don't know - Intentional about."  She put her book down and thought for a second before saying, "My intention is to not fight with Sophia."

Yessss. That's more like it I thought.
I responded with a smile and said, "That certainly is a good stretch goal."  I was about to move on to Sophia when a minute...</sub>

Today I want to start by introducing you to your roommate. Not necessarily the person you live with in your home.  Though you do live with them.  Constantly.  Do you know who they are?  They are the voice within your head.  Constantly narrating, describing and telling you what you should do.  And they definitely have an opinion about today’s topic.

Self-care. It’s an interesting word.  Although it sounds self-explanatory, many of us have no idea what it looks like.  Or, our “roommate” holds judgment about it.  We say things like self-care is selfish.  Self-care is for the weak or the indulgent.  Or perhaps we associate it with experiences that are removed from our daily lives, things like spa appointments and vacations, so it feels inaccessible.

So  we don’t take care of ourselves. We don’t give ourselves the very things we need to thrive.  Things like rest, healthy food, water, real...

I’m at the Louisville International Airport.  As a professional speaker who travels to most of my clients, this place and the way I move through it feels almost as familiar as my routines at home.

After I leave security, I stop and fill my water bottle at the same water fountain I always do.  I use the same restroom: the one right past security because the ones by the gates tend to be so busy.  I walk next to the moving sidewalk - not on it. At the end of the walkway, the airport divides into 2 Terminals: A or B.

I choose the opposite terminal of the one my flight leaves from.  My routine is to do a full lap at the opposite terminal before doing a lap at the other terminal.  Depending on the time and delays, I may do more laps.

This wasn’t always the case.  For a year or so I almost forgot that travel was the rule and not the exception in my life. Which means that any trip had the power to derail my choices and even my health.

Crappy weather...

The other day we were traveling to speak to a group of executives.

While grabbing breakfast, we were waiting to get some eggs, smoked salmon and some bacon.

We were in line behind someone and it seemed to be taking longer than it should. But we were talking and weren't rushed so it wasn't a concern.

As he got to the bottom of the bacon holding tray he turned around and said, "sorry about that, but I really enjoy bacon but they're bringing more" as I noticed the entire side of his to go container (imagine the biggest of the 3 sections) was completely overflowing with bacon. 

To estimate it was easily 1 pound on the side of his scrambled eggs. 

Wait?!  EGGS?!

But the headlines are out. Eating eggs causes heart disease. Yup, there it is again. While we wouldn't recommend adding raw eggs to a glass and drinking them like Rocky did in his first movie, eating eggs shouldn't quite cause the concerns it does. In fact, no food has probably caused more concern than eggs...

Reprinted with Permission from Men's Health https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/a26882200/pesticides-in-kale/

Today the Environmental Working Group released this year’s update to their Shopper’s Guide to Produce. Their "Dirty Dozen" list ranks the pieces of produce that, according to their analysis, turn up with the highest concentration of pesticides and/or the the greatest number of different pesticides.

The screaming headline from this year's Dirty Dozen: After strawberries and spinach, kale comes in as the third "dirtiest" fruit or vegetable.

Kale.

KALE!

America’s beloved leafy green superfood—found everywhere from farmers' markets to Chick-Fil-A—is a newcomer to the Dirty Dozen list this year. According to EWG, the USDA hadn’t tested kale in a decade. What they discovered is that more than 90 percent of tested samples of kale had two or more pesticide residues—and multiple kale samples had 18 different pesticides.

Does this mean...

We have 100's and 100's of thoughts every, single day. Some are just fleeting thoughts, while others may be more meaningful.

For me, as an avid mediator, I often have many thoughts during my meditations - some take me off track, others are a bit more meaningful and stick with me.  

Recently I discovered a guided app that goes through a series of different prompts, including asking yourself the question, "Who am I?"

Have you ever wondered this? Not 'me' -- but you,.

I was on a walk with a friend and was telling her about this, when she asked, "What do you come up with as the answer?"

"Well," I said. "Right now I get nothing. But maybe… one day… if I sit with it long enough I will."

**************

The other night I had a long discussion with our nine-year-old daughter. Turns out she’s been having conflict with another girl in her class, and as kids do, she’s been treating this girl poorly and saying unkind things. When we were talking about...

One day when Sophia was in preschool, I her up from school. As I walked toward the playground gate I could see her sitting on the bench swinging her legs.  The second she looked up and saw me, her shoulders slumped forward and she reluctantly pushed off the bench, defeated.
 
Hmmm, I thought. Someone’s not happy.
 
“Hey sweet girl! How was your day? Is everything okay?” I asked. 
 
“M-O-M-m-m-m-m, “ she whined.  “Today was the worst. day. EVER!”
 
Oh boy.
 
Minutes later, buckled in the car and ready to burst into tears, Sophia told me the source of all her trouble.
 
“So at lunch today – I only got to eat ½ my Goldfish package before Faith took them and ate all of the rest! Hmmmph!” she said angrily.
 
That’s it? 

“And what else happened?” I asked. 
 
“What do you mean?  Nothing. She ate them and now I don’t get to...

As reformed all-or nothing thinkers, we still get fired up by the promise of a New Year to buckle down on intentions and re-energize goals. 

After all, it's hard to resist the appeal of a clean slate. 

But we've also learned (personally and with our clients) that the decision to go ALL-IN, head first is a usually a short-term strategy. 

After a few weeks, it's hard to maintain changing All. The. Things.  And life steadily commands you back to the status quo.

For many of you, life resumes as normal tomorrow.  Maybe it's already happened... the kids went back to school or you went back to work... but we know that the first full week of January is when most people really want to buckle down and take charge of the year ahead. 

What if you did things differently this year?

What if instead of tackling everything you want to improve in your life, you just picked one thing to target in January.  

If starting an exercise habit is your goal, maybe you...