Dear Friends,

I heard a sermon from Fr. Mike Schmitz on the Hallow app during Lent. He discussed crossroads and how many are NOT, in fact, major events that shift us in a dramatic way.  

Don’t get me wrong, those life-altering moments obviously happen — but really only a handful of times in our lives. It is the smaller intersections that lead us down side roads that happen everyday. The decisions we make at these junctures are the ones that shape our lives.

And they do so slowly and insidiously as we weave our way through life. The roads we choose to walk down tend to lead us into neighborhoods that have certain characteristics.

A few years ago, my sister— who now lives in NYC — was visiting our childhood neighborhood near Cleveland, OH. She ran into Suzy Q, who immediately recognized her from St. Anthony’s grade school. WOW. Not to age us, but that was 45 years ago!! My sister looks the same, with a more New York hairstyle. Granted we were Lebanese kids growing up in a Polish neighborhood and so we stood out a bit, but still!! Suzy Q, on the other hand, did not fare as well. As they chatted, it became obvious that her health was in disarray.  

After that encounter, my sister and I discussed how there had to be thousands of cumulative decisions and crossroads that created this divergent path. Set aside your defense of bad genes, or hardships that are beyond control. At an intersection, you are in the driver’s seat and get to make a choice.

At a crossroad: “Should I go to a bar, or go for a walk? Eat fast food or grab a salad? Stay up late and game or get some quality sleep?” Let us take a look at the last one. You stay up and game, now your late blue light exposure throws off your sleep cycle. That means when you finally do go to bed, your sleep will not only be less quantity, but also lower quality. The next morning, you will wake up tired, which may push you towards decisions like jacking up on sugar or excessive caffeine to get going, which in turn leads to a midday crash…this is sounding very much like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, but with health consequences.

Get where this is headed? It is rarely the big things that matter. It is more often the accumulation of small turns in the road. Which means, when you start correcting your course, that you need to give your GPS time to reroute. It may take some time to find your way out of the “neighborhood” you are stuck in, but with enough turns you will find that you arrive where you want to be.

So plug some good lifestyle habits into your GPS and hit the road. You don’t have to move across the country to make a change in your life! You will find your path and your desired destination; the key is to keep driving. And don’t be afraid of a few wrong turns or taking the scenic route on the way there.😊

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2 Catalyn (whole food multivitamin)

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1 Turmeric Forte (powerful anti-inflammatory formula)

God Bless,

Dr. Dan