The Zen of Vitamin-Taking

30 years ago only the health nuts of the world took vitamins; after all, they were pretty “out there”. But the mainstream didn’t pay any attention, since the medical fraternity defended the idea that following the “four food groups” would provide all the nutrition we needed for a healthy body.

Well, haven’t times changed since then?! Statistically, 1 in 4 people get cancer, heart disease and diabetes are at an all-time high, and Coca-Cola recently bought Vitaminwater for over $4 billion!

Yes, we’ve changed our minds about vitamins. Just the other day a (not typically health-conscious) relative told us exactly how many mg. of calcium she needs per day for strong bones at her age—advice she learned from religiously following Dr. Oz, a media sensation in his own right. Vitamins are a $25 billion industry, and there are added vitamins in our skin care, cereal, smoothies, pet food, and even alcoholic beverages. As a culture we are finally pretty sure we need vitamins to counteract the effects of unhealthy living, aging, and pollution.

Nevertheless, it’s not always easy to remember to pop those horse pills after breakfast, and being “healthy” can still feel like a chore or something you do to appease your nagging mother or spouse.

That’s why I want to share 3 reasons why taking vitamins is actually a “Zen” experience, and one that will have lasting benefits beyond good health.

• 1.      Every time you take a vitamin you are letting the universe and your subconscious mind (one in the same) know that you matter and are worth caring for. Ok, sounds a little woo-woo, I know. But think about it: you can’t take a vitamin without acknowledging and honoring your body and its need for proper supplementation and care. You are declaring, at least in part, that your body is a temple, and valuable enough to invest the time and money it takes to feed it vitamins. When you build value in yourself by taking vitamins, you are opening yourself up to receiving blessings based on that feeling of value (worthiness) of such blessings. 
• 2.       One good habit leads to another: Have you ever noticed that when you slack in one area of your life, all of a sudden it becomes easier to slack in another area? Well, the converse is also true: when you do something positive for yourself in one area, all of a sudden you feel energized to continue the pattern. When you finally take the time to purchase and consume vitamins you realize that spending just a little more time to floss your teeth isn’t such a big deal. But be forewarned…next thing you know you’ll be finding 20 minutes to meditate!
• 3.       When you practice new, positive self-care habits, old, negative habits become pronounced and increasingly uncomfortable, which makes it easier to let them go. When we do good things for ourselves, we raise our consciousness. We enter into a more positive state of mind, leaving behind our former, more negative mindset. When operating from this new consciousness, we can no longer tolerate former negative habits; they seem foreign to us, to the point where the discomfort of maintaining them outweighs the comfort these habits once provided. Letting old habits go becomes easier when we build a new consciousness which can no longer accommodate the old.