Balance, Health, and Dreams

I started working with my dreams, making changes to my diet, and began a regular exercise program over forty years ago after being introduced to the material in the Edgar Cayce readings. After I read There is a River, the story of Edgar Cayce, by Thomas Sugrue, I found that it rang true and something within me said that I should pursue a study of Cayce’s work. One of the aspects of the readings that particularly appealed to me was Cayce’s emphasis on having balance in one’s life. 

I soon realized that I couldn’t change just one thing like diet; I had to take a holistic approach and make many changes while keeping my life in balance. In addition to analyzing my dreams, I had to meditate, exercise more, and change my attitude in a number of areas. 

I had to make time for play as well as work. By constantly keeping balance in mind, I was able to avoid some of the potentially dangerous pursuits that I saw others follow. I will say more about this in a later post. 

I did not consider the changes I made to my diet and exercise some heroic effort that somehow placed me on another level. The changes were not made because I thought they would elevate me spiritually, although I did begin to meditate for spiritual reasons. 

My approach to Cayce and his recommendations has always been a practical one. They had to help me live a better life.

In the early days, I did a certain amount of experimenting with diet and exercise to see what worked best for me. In the final analysis, the changes were made because I felt better and had more energy. 

Sometimes I changed my diet for a period and then relapsed back to my old ways. However, I quickly found that I did not feel well compared to how I felt on the Cayce-inspired diet, so I returned to the diet. 

The same can be said of exercise. I have always enjoyed walking, so I made it a habit to walk for a half hour each day at a fast pace. Again, there were brief periods when for various reasons I did not walk for several days. Each time, by the second day, I would fell a little stiff in the morning, and after several days, I did not have the same energy that I had with regular exercise. (I should note that Cayce recommended walking as the best all-around exercise, which fit me perfectly.) 

My holistic approach to health kept me healthy over the years. Despite times of extreme pressure at work, I was able to stay healthy and function at a high level. This I attribute to meditation and my dreams, as well as my diet and exercise.

Regular meditation has been shown to have medical benefits and is now recommended by medical professionals as a way to reduce stress. My day at work always seemed to be more harmonious when I meditated in the morning prior to leaving for work.

My dreams provided a great feedback mechanism for any changes I made. Sometimes I would have dreams about my diet and exercise program, and other times I would be shown that I needed to adjust my thoughts to improve my overall well-being. 

My focus was always on the practical; any changes I made had to improve the quality of my life in some way. And my dreams kept me in balance by quickly showing me when I was getting out of balance in some area of my life. 

There is no shortcut to a healthy, productive life. It is true that sometimes people with an extremely obsessive behavior achieve a great deal in some field, but I have no desire to emulate their lifestyle because I believe there is a great deal they miss. 

Sometimes they barely know their own family and rarely experience the joy of their own children. And often a lack of attention to their physical health cuts short what could have been an even more productive life.