Become Successful

By Dr Sandra Cabot

Success means different things to different people – to some it is to find love, others to be rich, others to be famous, others to be powerful; however, one day most people realise that their health is the number one thing they need to be successful at and of course to stay alive. I know a lot of rich people who died relatively young. My mother used to say to me “the hardest thing is to stay alive” and she lived to the age of 94.

My head naturopath Margaret Jasinska often says to me “Sandra, people are not motivated because they think every health problem is genetic and there is not much they can do about it.” Today we have an epidemic of chronic disease such as obesity, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, mental health problems and autoimmune disease. Lifestyle factors and mental attitude are more determinant in the genesis of these diseases than genetics.

So, if we desire to be successful in achieving good mental and physical health, what is the most important strategy we need?

Is it motivation or is it persistence?

To me persistence wins every time. Why is this? Well motivation is a fickle or changeable state of mind. For example, some days you may feel a bit down and your mind tells you that you need a break from exercise, or you need to cheer yourself up with alcohol or sugar etc. You may have been to motivational seminars and come away all hyped up believing that you can achieve your dreams quickly. Usually that does not last as reality sets in, and your negative mind seeds the doubts and anxiety.

Persistence is quite different to motivation because it is independent of your state of mind and is a discipline and indeed can be quite robotic. You know what is good for you – either you have educated yourself or you have been fortunate to find an excellent teacher and mentor. You can develop a healthy routine for yourself and stick to it and not let your mind, world events or other people interfere with it. You focus on the holy grail of mental health and physical wellbeing and practise the habits to achieve this.

It is the little steps and habits you make yourself do every day, or as often as is possible, that make a profound benefit in your life. Making sure you buy healthy food, drink enough water, take some time for exercise, take some time to relax or meditate, take your supplements, eat a salad everyday etc. This produces a gradual improvement but is very powerful.

These habits and routines are non-negotiable with your mind and can be done in a robotic way. Don’t think about it – just do it! Generally, people over think things and make them too complicated. Keep it simple and just do it!

Persistence requires patience, and integrative medicine and healing take longer than the effect of drugs. It takes months to renew your cells and their mitochondria, and you will not see a miracle the next day but eventually you will impress yourself! You want to impress yourself and not someone else. The greatest healer is the self – you are immensely powerful, don’t forget that. With persistence you can transform and renew your whole body.

Don’t let your expectations get in the way of your persistent efforts. Your mind may tell you that you should be feeling better after only a few weeks, but it depends where you started from. You may have a bad day, or you may plateau for a while, but the magic repair of your cells is happening silently within your body. You are growing new brain cell connections and new liver cells, boosting your metabolism, restoring a healthy gut microbiome and much more. You are even reversing and slowing down the ageing process. Your body is programmed to heal itself, but it needs the right tools.

Lose the expectations and just persist with your new healthy routine and habits. Focus on the habits and routine and not the results.

Have gratitude for the courage of your human spirit, your gift, that walks with you every step of the way and enables you to persist.

If you need support and more information you can email us at support@liverdoctor.com