Financial Wellness

Tips To Manage Your Money

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My Personal Thoughts on Living Healthy

Living healthy starts with understanding your make up. What makes you "you"? This is what the Bible says: We are triune beings; We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body. Your spirit is who you really are. Just like an astronaut needs a special suit to be able to operate in space, so does your spirit need this physical body to be able to function properly on planet earth. Your soul is your mind, your feelings and emotions, your will. And lastly, your body. All three parts are intricately connected and make you "you". You are a unique being. And, even though you may find extremely close similarities with another individual (say you have a twin), you are still you. Nobody else is and can be you!


So, what's my approach of living healthy? I have one word: TRUTH. One should be able to stop here and just receive the "truth" about the "TRUTH". But, nowadays that is not so. Truth is actually "controversial". Or, let me rephrase this: the perception of truth is controversial. You hear that it is "relative". I agree that there are different point of views and angles: if a group of four people surround one object say, a picture frame, it is obvious that every person will give you a different description of that picture frame. However, the picture frame is the same picture frame and if it could talk it would tell you that it is a picture frame! Furthermore, it won't change into a "banana" or "football" because one of the viewers says "this object reminds me of a banana". The perception of the viewer may be distorted; he may need glasses (some kind of correction to his sight). And even though he insists that he may have seen an object that reminds him of a banana, the picture frame is still the picture frame.


Uhm…are you still with me? This is my point: find the truth - research, ask, investigate, try, prove, do everything you can to find out and don't stop until you have evidence and certainty that you've found the Truth! It's a fight, it's a battle, it's a struggle! Why? Because...since I am not the ultimate truth, the very fact that I want to know the Truth implicates a battle. Some "non-truth" of mine has to go, right? The Bible calls this "death to self". Jesus said it also this way: "If anyone wants to follow me (the Truth, the Way and the Life...yep, that's what He said he is...), let him take up his cross and follow Me. OUCH!


In other words: to want to know the truth has a price! It starts with you wanting it and then pursuing it and be willing to sacrifice what is necessary to find the truth and, more than that, to obtain the grace (the ability to do God's will) to live the truth.


Aren’t we talking about living healthy here? Well yeah… But, how can I live healthy if my “view” or taste buds are distorted? What if I’ve believed a lie my entire life? Will I be able to suddenly change my habits and conform to the truth that some of my eating habits are a disaster for my health? Will I be able to change my thinking or my “life” concepts and replace them with a better way of thinking? Will I be able to refuse to eat things that I liked all my life based on the truth that those things are bad for me?


I believe most people desire to be good, and to do good. Who gets up in the morning and says: “Today I’m going to just be a failure; I will mess my life up and the lives of those around me. I will poison myself and enjoy the process”? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
(to be continued)

Psalm 55:19

Because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God.

Dinner

1st appetizer: lobster, shrimp, oysters, clams
2nd appetizer: Ahi tuna
3rd appetizer: watercress salad with mozzarella 
Main: Filet mignon, rice n asparagus
Dessert: hazelnut ice "drowned" in espresso, lemon and orange sorbets, chocolate cake
Finish: Mint tea and home made grappa!

Difference between religions and God!

Religions (including Christian ones) and other spiritual disciplines try to get closer to God.
But, God did give us what we need. Do you acknowledge what He did for you?
The man who died next to Him did.

Nobody is "better" or "worse" than their neighbor. By accepting what He did for us makes us both mere recipients of His amazing love and grace and eternal life.

Pasta n Broccoli w Shredded Cheese

A favorite!

Choose your pasta: Farfalle (bow tie), Penne or Pennette (small penne), even Rigatoni.
Have either fresh or frozen broccoli florets.

Sauce Ingredients:
1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 - 6 cloves of garlic, chopped or sliced (however you like)
1 cup cooking water

1. Put your pasta pot up with enough water, salt the water! See Pasta Cooking Instructions
2. In a smaller saucepan start heating the oil
3. Add the garlic.
4. When the garlic starts to sizzle, add one cup of the salt water (from the pasta pot) and close the lid.
5. This step prevents the garlic from burning and provides a "thinner" oil sauce, which coats the pasta more evenly.

When the pasta is almost done, throw the broccoli in the water. This will cool the water (obviously), but no worries, the boiling will resume soon. For my personal taste, the broccoli just take a few minutes till they're done.

Once pasta and broccoli are done, drain and put back into the pot.
Add the sauce mix to the pasta/broccoli.
Add freshly ground black pepper and your favorite cheese.
I highly recommend shreeded parmesan or combination of parmesan/romano/asiago...

Enjoy!

Life Line

If our very own bodies would (dys)function like the US politics we would long be dead.