The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels

What every woman is searching for!

• Lorayne • Season 2 • Episode 50

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What if the secret to true happiness lies in the synergy between your mind, body, and spirit? In this episode, Lorayne Michaels delves into the profound interconnectedness of these elements and how they shape our overall health and happiness. Lorayne shares her own journey of chasing unrealistic goals that led to emptiness, and how turning to a holistic approach grounded in faith transformed her life. Discover the link between mental health, nutrition, and work-life balance, and learn how aligning your thoughts with biblical truths can nurture physical and emotional well-being.

Join us as we highlight practical wellness practices that can bring about meaningful change, from keeping a gratitude journal to embracing the power of prayer and finding positivity in scripture. Lorayne offers heartfelt guidance on starting small and trusting in divine support, reminding us that healing is a journey, not a race. Concluding with a prayer for strength and encouragement, this episode invites listeners to seek joy and community support, and to share their personal experiences. Tune in for a soulful exploration of wellness that promises to inspire and uplift.

Where you can find me:
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Email Me: LorayneMichaels22@gmail.com

Speaker 1:

Hey, it's Lorraine. As you know, it's my joy and passion to teach and encourage others through this podcast, but my heart is actually at live events. Currently, I'm available for booking, so if you're organizing a live event, I'd love to share my story. Your audience will walk away with tangible tools on how to overcome limiting beliefs, break down obstacles and discover their gifts, talents and abilities in order to live a life that God created them to live. It's not the size of the audience that's important. It's the connection and impact that I will bring. For more information, email me at lorraine at theboldbeginningscom.

Speaker 1:

Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, lorraine Michaels, and today we're going to dive into a topic that's at the core of every health and happiness search. That's right how the mind, body and spirit are connected. Essentially, that's what we're going to be going over. We're going to break down how these three areas influence each other, why functional medicine and holistic practices work and, most importantly, how faith in Jesus ties it all together my absolute favorite.

Speaker 1:

So if you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed or unsure of where to begin, this episode is for you. Friend, I want to tell you about a time, a long time ago. It feels like forever ago, but I mean, in the grand scheme of things it probably wasn't that long ago. But a while back I was chasing all the wrong things as it pertains to my health. I was chasing the image of something that was unrealistic. I was overworking myself in the gym, doing fad diets and really using that healthy tool in an unhealthy way. I was chasing career achievements that, at the end of the day, meant nothing and left me feeling empty and even toxic relationships. I was chasing all the wrong things and none of it brought peace or the healing that I needed, and it wasn't until I surrendered it all to Jesus and embraced a holistic approach in tandem with this walk with Jesus, this walk with Jesus. So today, what I want to bring for you is practical ways to align your mind, body and spirit, a biblical foundation Of course, I'm always going to bring in biblical truths and verses that is going to, in this particular episode, be a foundation for your health and happiness and, of course, encouragement. I always want to encourage you, and in today's episode, I want to encourage you to start small but make meaningful changes.

Speaker 1:

So let's start the big picture what women are searching for. So, in preparation of this episode because I knew I wanted to talk about these three things mind, body, spirit and how it has changed my life and affected my life and helped me in this healing process. I found 10, the top 10 things that women are searching for. That pertains to health and happiness Ready Mental health and emotional well-being, sleep quality, weight management, nutrition and diet, chronic health conditions, holistic wellness practices, beauty and skincare. Beauty and skincare, work-life balance, physical fitness, financial security. And these searches that I was digging into reveal how interconnected our lives really are and when our mental health suffers, our physical health and our spiritual well-being those often follow. I know because I've been there and maybe you have too. So let's talk about how these things are all connected and why you can't just fix one area without addressing the others. The connection here Think of your mind, body and spirit as three legs on a bar stool.

Speaker 1:

So think of your life as a three-legged bar stool and you have those three pillars mind, body, spirit and if one of those legs is gone or off, that whole bar stool wobbles. You are unsteady, you are unstable, you are out of balance, and a perfect example is when I was overwhelmed mentally, I turned to unhealthy habits. I was eating like crap, I was drinking and abusing alcohol. I was skipping workouts. I was isolating myself, I was pulling away spiritually from God. I wasn't going to church. That imbalance left me more stressed out, more unhealthy and more disconnected. Romans 12 says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We have to let, if we're wanting this balance, we have to let Jesus in, we have to ask him, invite him in to this so that our mind can function the way it should function, and aligning our thoughts with truth or God's word. So God is the truth and so the Bible is the truth. So by aligning our thoughts with God's truth, it impacts physical and emotional health.

Speaker 1:

Think about when you are not feeling well or you think you're coming down with something, and if you start saying I'm sick, I have a headache, I don't feel good, I'm getting sick, and you're naming all these things, at the end of the day, you have now brought that on because you were thinking about all of it. And it may, it might be true that, yes, you were coming down with something, you might have caught a bug right, and you're like Lorraine. That's the reality. I, I, I was getting sick. I did have a headache, you know, and I and I did end up getting sick. Hear me out.

Speaker 1:

There has been times where someone around me is sick and maybe I started getting a little twinge of something, but I continued to rebuke it. I upped my water intake, I made sure I was doing my supplements, my vitamins, my greens, and I kept telling myself I am healthy. I am healthy, I feel great, my energy is high and I was talking to myself about how good I felt and I was able to not get sick. That's happened before in my household with my husband being sick, get sick. That's happened before in my household with my husband being sick, my son being sick. I've done it many a times and, conversely, I have also been in a place where they were sick and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to get sick. Great, oh, I could feel it and I just was this perpetual negative thought process of how awful I felt and it wasn't in the front of my mind to drink my water, take my supplements, make sure I'm getting my grains. So the health aspect of it, the mindset aspect of it I got sick, and so I just really want to hone in on the fact that our mind is so powerful and it plays such a big role in our health and happiness.

Speaker 1:

And so why functional medicine? Why holistic, natural practices? Why do they work? Well, they work because we get to the root cause of what's going on, whatever it may be High blood pressure, imbalanced hormones, whatever medically is going on. With functional medicine and holistic practices we dive deeper and we get to the root cause of it all. That's why functional nutrition is so healing and so important and it works. We don't address the symptoms, we address the root cause of what's going on. And when I worked on my healing journey with my gut health and my hormones and I was trying to fix all of this my mood, the anxiety, all of these things when I worked on healing my gut, my energy improved, the anxiety I was constantly feeling lessened, dissipated, and I could finally focus on my spiritual growth.

Speaker 1:

And it never seems to fail that the spiritual pillar seems to be the last house on the block, the last place we go, the last thing that we try and fix and I've done it before, I used to do it and I'm guilty of it sometimes still, but I have to have that on the front of my brain that my spiritual health and my relationship with Jesus has to be first, because if that is out of whack, then everything else crumbles behind it. So when I focus on my faith and my walk with Christ and getting in the word and allowing Jesus to renew my mind and focus on truths, my health comes naturally. My health comes naturally, my happiness comes naturally, my physical health comes naturally and I'm more energized and I'm ready to work out and I'm more apt to take care of my body and I feel better. These practices give me hope and strength beyond I can even express, and strength beyond I can even express your faith. If it is not the foundation for you, everything else is so futile and fragile and everything else seems to fall out of whack so much easier. And so I'm telling you by lived experience and changed life and seeing, I've been close to Jesus and far from Jesus. I've tried to do it on my own and I have completely surrendered it all and only taken my next steps because I have Jesus's hand, because I know I don't want to do this without him and I don't want to control it. So in the Bible, jesus doesn't just heal people physically, he addresses their emotions and their spiritual needs. John 10, 10 says I have come that they may have life, and life abundantly. And that's just not material things, that's not wealth, but that's your spiritual health. And if you invite him in and surrender it and ask him to come in, he is going to give you an abundance. I promise you that. So what are some small steps that you can start taking to live in alignment, to bring these pillars mind, body, spirit into alignment and making sure that they are balanced? Choose an area to focus on. I personally have switched my mindset to focus on my spiritual pillar first, because I have realized that when I focus on the mind pillar or the body pillar, then the spiritual pillar falls by the wayside and then I'm all out of whack. But when I focus on my spiritual pillar first, it brings me joy, it brings me peace. Like I said before, it helps me, it makes it easier for me to focus on the body pillar, the mind pillar. So choose one to focus on this week mind, body or spirit and then take one small step.

Speaker 1:

If you choose mind, start a gratitude journal. Wake up every day and write down what you're grateful for. I um was recommended this journal. It's amazing. I absolutely love it. It's called her I can't remember the exact name, but I'll put it in the show notes. But basically, it's every day is the same prompts, the same three prompts in the morning and the same prompts in the evening, and then at the end of the week you do a recap and it's amazing. The journal is amazing. It's helped me so much because I was forgetting the journal. I didn't know what to say. I was, you know, it was just becoming more and more difficult because life was lifing and mom was momming, wife was wifing, you know, and so this journal helps me stay on track. I keep it by my bedside. It's the same questions every day, but it helps me so much. I'll put it in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

Body If you're choosing the body pillar to focus on, add one nutrient dense food to your meal a day. My son and I have talked about doing a no label diet, so basically focusing on whole fruits and vegetables, whole foods, nuts, seeds, meat, fruits and vegetables. Basically, if it has a nutrition label, you don't get to eat it. Granted, we're not going full force into that, but it's something fun that we are going to be doing. It's something fun that we are going to be doing so your body. Or walking, if you don't have a gym membership. If you're, you know uneasy about going to the gym working out. If you're insecure about it, message me. I have two free downloads One is a seven day in the gym workout and one is a seven day at home workout routine. So if it's fitness and you want to start with your fitness journey, message me, I will send that to you. Or just walk Walking is so good. Move your body if that is a pillar that you want to work on.

Speaker 1:

Spirit, which is the one that I absolutely focus on. Spending five minutes in prayer each day. I recommend I mean, I do this all throughout the day, but because of the journal, it forces me to get still and get quiet and pray in the morning and in the evening. I have a journal as well. I will link my journals in the show notes as well. I have a journal that's just a line journal you can get on Etsy. Or I have another journal that has two prompts what am I grateful for today? And then that's the morning and then the evening. One is what is something I want to remember about today? So you are expressing gratitude the first thing in the morning and then at the end of the day, it's the same thing You're expressing gratitude and you're reflecting on something that you want to remember that day Both of my journals are available on Etsy and just praying and getting in the word and spending time with Jesus and inviting him into what is going on in your life to help you balance those three pillars. So I really want to challenge you to do that this week.

Speaker 1:

Focus on one of those things and, if you're up for it, grab a verse. Find a verse that resonates with you Philippians 4.8. He talks about focusing on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure. Focusing on these things Because sometimes my thoughts start to spiral out of control and I start thinking negative things, negative things about myself, negative things about the situation. And you play the tape and you have the conversations. You know you role play in your head about what they're going to say, what you're going to say yada, yada, yada. And I have to stop myself and I have to pray immediately. God, fill me with truth, help me to focus on what is true is honorable, what is lovely, what brings me joy, and I have to really reframe it and focus. So find a bible verse that you can cling to this week to help you.

Speaker 1:

But I want to encourage you that this healing journey, however, you want to make 2025 the best year so far, if you want to heal, if you want to heal, if you want to get better, if you want, you know you just want joy and happiness. It's not a sprint, friend, it is a marathon, and it's not who can get to the finish line first, but who makes it there and how do you get there and what we learn along the way. And I just want to remind you that to start small and to trust God and to invite him in every step of the way and not to give up, because you're worth it and because you're here for a reason. So, if you don't mind, I would love to pray over you and pray us out, god. Thank you so much for whoever is listening to this podcast today, lord. It is not by mistake. You have orchestrated it and they happen to find it or they listen regularly. Orchestrated it and they happen to find it, or they listen regularly.

Speaker 1:

God, I just pray a special blessing to whoever is listening to this. Give them strength, lord, to do whatever it is that they are desiring to do, whether it's focusing on their fitness, focusing on healing, focusing on strengthening their relationship with you, god, or maybe they don't know you, lord, and they are curious. God, I pray that you speak to them in a way that they understand that you bring earthly angels into their life that can help them along the way, that can walk with them, pray with them, encourage them, lord. You know every hair on all their heads, lord. You know everything about them, lord, and what they're going through. God, I pray that you give them peace, give them comfort and remind them that they are loved Again, I just pray that you surround them with people in their life that remind them of the same thing that there's a reason for them and that they are loved, and I pray all these things in your name, amen.

Speaker 1:

Friend, if this has helped you in any way, please let me know. Like, subscribe, share, give it a review. That's the easiest thing you can do is to give it a review. And until next time, just remember you were divinely created for a divine purpose and there was no mistake in you.