It is a great thing to do a balance at the end of every cycle. The end of the year is one of these times. So, what is the status of your health account like at the end of 2023? If you think of it as a money box, how did you use your currency? Did you cultivate enough energy and looked after your body as well as after your mind? And are there any changes in your wellbeing you wish to make in the year to come?

What you sow, you reap, the wise saying goes. When you treat your body, mind and spirit with the respect it deserves, it rewards you in more ways than one. How do you respect your body? By nourishing it with healthy food choices, feeding it with the things that help it feel metabolically at its best, and avoiding the things that do not. Only you know what suits you best really, as the subtle clues you get from consuming the meals you opt for lead you to understanding it deeply. And it is not just eating junk foods and drinking too many stimulating beverages that may be too much for you, whilst not affecting another person. It is arriving at the best selection of micronutrient dense options at a given time of the day as well as well adjusting it when you are placing more demands on your body, like at times or extreme stress. It is also giving you the most energy without feeling heavy, overexcitable, or depressed. This is partly what feeds your brain, and your mental health will also be sending you clues as to what suits it and what does not. To help you go through the day feeling comfortable, active, and mentally able to deal with any challenges life throws in front of you.

Though physical health is important, it is but one aspect of the intricate interplay between your mind and spirit within you. Science has shown the many interactions between the physical and the mental body, highlighting the interdependence of one on another in terms of microbial status, enzymatic and hormonal exchanges, and the physiological outcomes of these. The gut-brain axis and the brain-gut axis, together with any external factors that impact them are just a few mechanisms at the basis of this symphony of your wellbeing. But looking after your mental health is much more than providing good substrates for your neurotransmitters and the micronutrients as their cofactors by means of food. It is also minding your thought patterns, your beliefs, the stuff you watch and read or listen to, the company you keep, and the relationships you are in. Since it came into public awareness over the last few years more than ever, mental health has become a major focus of attention of authorities and organisations. Have the last few years left a mark on your mental wellbeing? Are you able to maintain relationships in real life, rather than virtual? And what are they like: empowering and honest, or superficial and rather boring? Are you forgetting yourself in these by being a pleaser, or are you manipulating them to your advantage? Do you cherish those in your life and embrace lessons they offer you regardless? Do you leave the room when conversations become difficult as you feel threatened, or do you state your truth without the need to convince anyone and leave it at that? Do you feel life flows for you, or do you struggle with day-to-day chores and responsibilities? Only you know this deep inside, even if you hide it from everyone else and pretend to the world outside of you that things are going swimmingly…

There are many benchmarks of mental and physical health you can check yourself against at any time of your life, but are they serving you if they only make you feel too thin, too large, too slow or too fast? Is comparing yourself to others of any value? At the end of the year think of where you were in all these respects when the year started: this is your best mark of progress and self-development. But when you do it, do it with compassion and treat yourself like a best friend would treat you, with no judgement. After all, if you do not love yourself, how can you expect anyone to love you as you are? If you notice that you are not fully happy on a given day, do you punish yourself and reject yourself as a bad company? Or are you able to stay with the feelings you feel at that moment, acknowledge them and explore why they arrived? Ultimately everything comes down to one question: do you like being you? If you don’t, just notice it and don’t allow your negative self-talk get you down even lower. There is most likely a reason why you think that way but it does not have to define you for the rest of your life. Help is here for those who are willing to look at it and wish to change things.

And what about the spiritual you? Do you even realise you are a spiritual being? Or maybe deny it as no one has yet proven the existence of a power greater than a human? Do you think that by the time your life is done, there will be nothing left of you? Do you have a need to investigate the larger reality for yourself, even beyond the boundaries of standard organisations and their dogmas? Are you feeling free to do so or dread the consequences of even contemplating these questions? Are you open to discussing such topics as soul, afterlife, God, angelic hosts or gurus? Do you feel free to explore the boundaries between religion and science and how they impact your health and your life? See if you can examine this part of your life by the time the year comes to a close. Without judgement as well.

We have been conditioned to think that life has to be a struggle to be worth anything, and told to embrace ‘no pain, no gain’ motto. If you were to put all the struggles you endured this year on the scales and weigh them against all the triumphs you had, which end would they tip towards? Is your overall health balance in the black or are there areas you wish to focus more on in 2024? Ascertaining where in the past things may have been neglected or underinvested can help you arrive at a new starting point. With the intention you set, any strong desire can be manifested in your internal and external reality (as many of those who had experienced the quantum modalities I use know). Today is always a great start for a better tomorrow and it is only up to you. I invite you to use the end of the 2023 to check the balance of your health on all its levels. Why not consider the possibility that divine health can be yours? I trust you will choose wisely and enjoy the best of health in the year to come!