Health, Wellness, and Common Sense

Have you ever considered why we as Americans tend to be so unhealthy as a nation? After all, we are the wealthiest nation in the world, with the best schools, and one the most advanced "health" care systems among developed countries. Still sickness abounds. We live in a nation that is so unhealthy in fact, that one of the greatest health concerns among our nation's poor, is obesity. How does that happen? 

I would argue that one the the major reasons we are lacking in wellness is because we have been taught to think that sickness arises out of thin air, and we are rarely challenged to consider the connection between our personal decisions and our health struggles. The reality is that in almost every case certain conditions must exist within the body in order for sickness to arise. And more and more research is showing us that whether or not these conditions are present in our body depends almost entirely on the personal choices that we make on a daily basis. These choices include what we eat, what we drink, what we do with our time, how we handle stress, and even the way that we go about entertaining ourselves. Striving to make helpful decisions in each one of these categories is what we call pursuing wellness. 

I'm not at a doctor. I know very little about sickness, drugs, cures, or conditions. This blog is not about how to deal with those things. I'll leave that stuff to the experts. This blog is about how to pursue wellness. Wellness is about common sense. You don't need a doctorate to understand wellness. Wellness is about daily choices, personal discipline, and investing just a little bit of time in understanding simple aspects of things like nutrition and fitness. 

Really though, when it comes to wellness, 90 percent of what matters in behavior, and only 10 percent is knowledge. I know this to be true because for the last two years, I have had very detailed knowledge of what I need to do to pursue wellness in my life, and I have chosen to continue to make poor life choices. That stops now. Over the course of the last two weeks I've been implementing very simple, wellness based, common sense changes to the way that I live my life. Starting today, I want to invite you to join me. Over the next 40 days I will be writing here about my personal experience, as well as posting interviews that I'll be doing with some wellness experts who are friends of mine, and engaging in a conversation with all of you about successes and failures. My goal in doing this is not just to invite you to watch my journey, but I'm hoping to inspire you to join the journey with me. 

Over the course of the next 40 days I would like to invite you to join me in making a goal to implement the following common sense health and wellness changes in our lives that we may be a better steward of the body that God has given is for the purpose of serving Him and bringing glory to His name:

Drink Water

This is a very common sense goal toward health and wellness. The average adult body is made up of somewhere around 60% water. Our body needs large quantities of water every day in order to function properly. I'll be shooting to drink about a hundred ounces of water a day. Make your own personal goal, and stick to it. Drinking water can have a profound impact on our wellness. 

Eat Real Food

This will probably be the biggest struggle for me, because to be honest I don't like real food. I've trained my taste buds to enjoy the taste of garbage chemical based "foodish" products over the course of my life, and I need to make this transition. Over the course of the next 40 days I'm going to transition my diet from primarily processed food to real foods including at least 3 servings of real fruit and 3 servings of real vegetables a day. 

Go On At Least a Thirty Minute Walk Every Day

Researchers tell us that the benefits of going one brisk 30 minute walk every day are virtually endless. (Example:http://www.active.com/walking/articles/forget-the-gym-why-a-brisk-walk-is-a-really-great-workout) It increases endorphins, decreases stress, and provides a long list of amazing health benefits.Right now I'm starting with 30 minutes. By the end of the 40 days I hope to be at an hour. 

Go to Bed Before Midnight And Get At Least 8 Hours of Sleep Every Night

The list of benefits for sleeping 8 hours is at least as long as the list for walking is. This area has been a major area of struggle for me as well, and something I hope to improve upon significantly. 

You will notice that nothing written above is ground breaking or innovative. Over the course of the next 40 days I hope to demonstrate the fact that wellness really isn't that complicated. In fact, by the time this is all done my ultimate goal is to demonstrate that health is really just about common sense. I look forward to writing more in each of these areas, and hearing your comments, successes, failures, and improvements on what I've written. It's time to get to work! 

For His Glory

Pastor Derin

Building a Business +1: Joining Your Wife's Already Thriving Business

As many of you know I recently transitioned from working full time in a retail management capacity  to working full time in our growing Young Living Business along side my wife.  This has been an exciting but also CHALLENGING transition. In the beginning of the transition I was a retail manager working between 50 and 60 hours a week. As the business grew, and my management level income was no longer needed, I transitioned down to a full time sales rep, and then later to a part time sales rep, and then recently I fully transitioned out of my job and into Young Living. While I am incredibly thankful for our Young Living Business, and for hours that I now have to spend with my family, the transition was still a bit more difficult than I expected it to be. 

As we were in this process my wife I wrestled through many questions that did not have easy answers, not the least difficult of which were related to what my role in the business would be when I finally had hours to contribute to it? I'm happy to report to you that over the course of the 6 month process, we have discovered and implemented a strategy that works well for us, and our family.
I am writing this blog because I have recently discovered that many of you are going through the same transition, and wrestling with the same questions. This blog is meant to be an encouragement to you, and not a step by step process.  The specific strategy that we use for our business will likely not work for you directly, because my wife and I are not the same people that you are, and our team is not the same as your team. That said, I want to give you six suggestions, three things to do and three things not to do, that will help you as you navigate through this transition. These suggestions are written as though they are directed at to a husband, because this is the most common situation, and it is the situation that I am most familiar, but many of them could be carried over to other similar situations. So here they are:

Three Things Not to Do: 

1. Don't Try To Take Over- Men are naturally inclined to lead.  This is the way that God has designed us to function.  Wanting to take a leadership role in the things that are happening in our home is a good thing.This is not an admonition not to lead. This is an admonition not to take over.  There is a difference between taking leadership, and a hostile take over. 

If your business is to the point that you are able to leave your full time job and come home, then it is likely an already thriving business. It's thriving because your wife is an awesome business building leader. To this point you may have given a lot of input into how the business should be run, but she is the one that has done the majority of the work. Therefore, at this point she brings A LOT to the table in terms of knowing how to grow and develop the business. As you transition into spending more time on the business, you will likely transition into a leadership role, and that is a good thing, but as you make that transition, rely heavily on your wife's wisdom and experience. Ask her. Listen to Her. Watch what she does and understand it. Don't try to throw all her hard work out the window so that you can have everything the way you want it.  That's not leadership. That's foolishness.

2. Don't Try To Be Someone Else- As you look around the business and see the way that other men are wrestling with this transition you are going to see that we all do things a little bit differently. That's because we are all different.  One man I know who is in the the midst of this transition is brilliant when it comes to computers and technology.  Most of his work as he is making this transition has related to making things work better and look better. Another man who is also in the midst of this transition is an incredibly talented graphics designer. Most of his time goes into presenting the Young Living message in a way that is easier for people to receive it. Those are both incredibly helpful and much needed avenues of business development. The problem though is that I can hardly get a computer to work well enough to write this blog and I don't have an artistic bone in my body! If I were to strive to make this transition exactly how either of those other two men were doing it then I would be destined for failure, BECAUSE I'M NOT THEM!  Don't try to be someone else. Bring your gifts and abilities to the table, and use them to advance you business. More on this later.

3. Don't Assume You Already Know Everything- Growing a network marketing business is not quite like any other endeavor. Growing a Young Living business is another level beyond that. There is recruitment and prospecting, leadership development, understand how essential oils work, understanding the difference between Young Living and other essential oil companies, understanding the difference between Young Living and other network marketing opportunities, understanding the compensation plan, understanding how to communicate in a way that is consistent with the FDA's rules and regulations, and the list goes on. Even with all of that, you still don't have to be a brain surgeon to build a Young Living business, but you do have to be willing to learn. The most important key to coming to the table ready to learn, is coming to the table with the understanding that you don't know everything, and you have a lot still to learn. 

Three Things To Do:

1.Appreciate What Your Wife Has Already Accomplished- Make sure you communicate to your wife that you are proud of her hard work, and you appreciate her contribution to your family. Then put actions to your words.  Interact with your business as though it has until this point been primarily the work your wife's hands that has gotten you to you where you are. (By the Grace of God of course) I should clarify, I'm not saying that you need to walk on egg shells when it comes to the business and not do anything to shake the boat. Your hours and time spent contributing to the business, as well as your strategic input and guidance can probably help the business grow considerably, just make sure that as you are making this contribution you are doing so in a way that considers and recognizes your wife's hard work in getting you to where you are, and her future contribution to helping your business grow.

2. Make a Plan- Before any actual transition happens in real life you need to have a plan written down on paper.  This plan needs to include what your role in the business is going to be, what her role in the business is going to be, what each of your roles in the family are going to be (For me it was important that my wife and communicate that I was not coming home to be a stay at home dad so that she could continue to grow the business. My strong conviction is that men need to work to provide for their family, and this was an important part of our plan.), what your family structure as a whole is going to look like in and after this transition, how much time are you going to dedicate to the business between the two of you, are there going to be any other priorities that you pursue along side the business (For us we are planting a church. Which affected a considerable number of our answers to many of these questions.) and most importantly, your plan needs to include how you are going to keep the business in its proper place on the priority scale for the sake of your family. Since the business is going to be the primary focus for both you it will be easy for you to spend every hour of every day working on the business. This isn't the goal. One of the amazing things about Young Living is that it gives children BOTH of their parents back, but it can also rob them of both of their parents if you are not careful. Your plan needs to put boundaries on the business. When you are a business owner there are no natural breaks. You never leave the office and come home. Home is the office, so you need to have a plan for transitioning out of business time into family time EVERY day.

3. Use your Strengths and Know Your Weaknesses- This point couples with the one above about not trying to be someone your not. Know your strengths and bring them to the table. For me the majority of my contribution to the business consists of researching, writing, and speaking in public. Those are my strengths. (Although, as you can tell by reading this blog, I need to brush up in he writing category) I also provide leadership and accountability to my wife. She is the face of our business. She answers all the emails, deals with the customer service issues, and maintains a constant online presence to our downline. The way we communicate this to people is, I function primarily as the CEO of our business. I set the vision for our business, and promote our business by researching, writing, and speaking. Katrina is the COO of our business.  She manages the day to day activities and makes sure that every running according to plan. My presence in the business allows my wife to have the opportunity to THRIVE at what she excels, and she does! Likewise, her presence allows me to thrive.  We both know the other's strengths and weaknesses and we try to operate according to those categories. Things like networking, prospecting, and leadership development we do together.  This is what works for us.  But the only reason that it works is because we each know what the other brings to the table, and we've agreed upon a plan for running our business accordingly. This kind of communication regarding strengths and weaknesses is absolutely imperative to running a healthy business.

This process has been a blessing to us, as God has used to it draw us closer to Himself, as well as to one another. I hope these tips are helpful. All for His Glory!

Essential Oils: The Beauty of Just Trying Stuff

We have been conditioned to think about wellness and sickness in a certain way in our culture.  Generally when we are sick we go to a doctor, or some other kind of an expert, they prescribe us something, we take it, and a certain amount of time later we experience relief of our symptoms. We are generally not encouraged to think about why we are sick, or what lifestyle changes we could make that may help to keep us from getting sick in a similar way in the future. Just take a pill and feel better. Then if we get sick again, we follow the same process.  Most of us that choose to take a more integrative approach to healthcare tend to look at this process with suspicion and disdain. We have abandon the "traditional medical model" for a better way! We have taken responsibility for our own health! We no longer strive to eliminate symptoms only, but rather to address that actual problem that is causing the symptoms! We are not going to be roped into taking medicine for the side effect of a side effect of a side effect of a drug that we started taking for something completely unrelated to our current problem.  We have been changed from the "Take two of these and call me in the morning" route to wellness! But have we really?

Often times, even when we begin to transition into a more natural way of thinking, we still bring some of the same old thinking with us in the process. We see this in the essential oils community when we constantly see questions like, "What is the regimen for this sickness?" "How do I go about treating my child's this or that?" and "What would you recommend for someone who has this disease?" These kinds of questions abound in our discussion groups and our business builder groups, and they are all good questions.  There isn't anything necessarily wrong with any of them.  The problem is that they demonstrate that often times we approach essential oils in the same way that the traditional medical community approaches medicine. We use oils when we're sick. And we need to find the perfect combination for our specific problem.  But this isn't the way that natural wellness works. Oils may help your body overcome sickness, disease and other impediments to wellness, but the goal of using essential oils is not to just relieve this symptom or that symptom.  The goal of using essential oils is to help your body achieve optimal wellness and avoid sickness as a whole. 

This brings me to my point: the beauty of just trying stuff. I love to answer a question with a question.  I believe we are often to quick to answer questions, and as a result we give bad counsel because we don't have all the necessary information to give a good answer.  So when people approach me with specific questions about how oils may help with this problem or that issue I usually respond with an important question of my own. What oils do you use everyday? I actually don't so much care what oils they use. What I do care about is that they use oils every day. Often times they don't.  They use oils like drugs.  They "take" them to relieve a certain symptom. Drugs are synthetic compounds designed to address a specific symptom. Essential Oils are organic compounds that are designed (by God) to work within your body to achieve optimal wellness. STOP THINKING OF OILS LIKE DRUGS! Oils do not "cure" "diseases" both of those words have been co-opted by the medical model. Only the FDA can say that a product cures a disease. The goal of using essential oils is not to cure diseases. The goal of using essential oils is achieve wellness.  Sometimes, that means helping sick people become well.  Sometimes that's  helping people who are generally healthy achieve a higher level of wellness.

With all of that in mind I want to encourage you to start doing two things today: First, start using oils every day. I have three oils, a blend and a meal replacement that I use every single day. I rub Frankincense around my ears and along my jaw line every day, because over the last two years I have discovered this oil helps me to think more clearly, and it helps me not to be dizzy. I also put a drop of peppermint in both hands, rub them together and then spend 5 to 8 minutes with my hands cupped over my nose heavily breathing in and out. I use Goldenrod every day for men's health purposes. I put a drop of Thieves under my tongue every day to help build my immunity  because I work with people who have all manner of sicknesses through out most of my day. Finally, I drink two ounces of NingXia Red every day to help with general health and well being.  In addition to these 6 things I use every day, I also rotate three new essential oils in every week. On Mondays I pick three new oils to use for the week, and I use them in completely random ways throughout the week.  If I find one to be incredibly helpful in a certain way then I will incorporate it into my daily activity.  This is what I do every day. I'm just trying stuff! In addition to my every day routine, if I'm sick, or have a problem, then I do seek out how oils may be a remedy to my problem.  I'm not saying that there isn't a place for seeking out a regimen for specific issues, and learning how oils may have helped others with those issues, but what I am saying is that when cases arise where you need to do these kinds of things you should add them to whatever you are already doing in your daily life to achieve optimal health.

Second, I want to encourage you to start thinking of oils in terms of helping you achieve wellness, and not in terms of curing sickness and disease. Your bodies immunity system is an incredible blessing from God, designed to protect your body from sickness and disease. Think of essential oils as tools to help build your immune system, and to help contribute to the overall proper function of your body. The essential oils themselves do not cure anything. They only help your body do what God designed for it to do. If we think of essential oils as tools to help with our wellness then we will approach the way that we use them, and the way that we communicate about them in a way that promotes wellness, and not just in terms of sickness and disease.

Start today. Use your oils everyday. Talk to people about your oils everyday.  But do so in a way that celebrates them as God's gift for promoting wellness, and not in a way that is shackled the traditional medical models way of thinking. 

Theology and Essential Oils: Rethinking the Secular and the Sacred

Part of what it means to have a biblical worldview is to examine every topic through the lens of God's Word. Since we believe that the Bible is the Word of God it is therefore the standard by which we go about judging all truth claims. This means that we must constantly be asking ourselves everyday how the various truth claims that we engage on a daily basis line up with what the Word of God says.  This concept is grating sometimes though.  We live in a world that likes to separate, distinctly label, and categorize every activity, thought, and idea into distinctly specific different spaces with no room for overlap between them. There is family, there is work, there is church, there is play, and they are ALL separate. And we are taught that in order to have true balance in our lives we have to have the correct combination of all of these categories. But while we need all of them, it is also important that we keep them separate and distinct from one another. In this way of thinking, the Bible is relegated to church, and MAYBE family. The problem of course is that while this thinking may be consistent with the narrative that is constantly pushed on us by the culture, it is exceedingly inconsistent with a Biblically consistent Christian worldview. For Christians God is a part of every aspect of our lives, indeed He should be the center piece of all that we do. And since He is the center piece of all that we do, His Word ought to govern our thought in every aspect of life. There is no distinction between that which is secular and that which is sacred in the Christian worldview. God is at the center of all of it. We strive to worship Him in all that we do.  We may distinguish the way that we go about worshiping Him in different contexts such as for example, corporate worship, verses family worship, verses worshiping in the context of work, verses worshiping Him through intimacy with our spouse. Clearly not all of these elements of worship share propriety in all settings, BUT none the less, for Christians they are all worship.

So, what does all of this have to do with Young Living and Essential Oils? Three things. First, our thinking regarding Young Living and Essential Oils needs to be governed according to Scripture. As part of our walk with God as Christian we must have a worldview that is deeply rooted in and informed understanding of the Word of God.  This is accomplished by fully immersing ourselves in the study of God's word, in reading good books by good authors (R.C. Sproul, Voddie Baucham, John Piper etc.) that teach us truth about God's word, and surrounding ourselves with fellow brothers and sisters that have the same passion for God's Word that we have. One of the functions of this kind of worldview is to determine truth according to the Word of God. In other words, as we grow in our understanding of God's Word begin to learn how to think FIRST according to what God's Word says, and then evaluate other materials. In the case of essential oils this thinking would include a discussion of God's created order, the purpose for which God created plants, the impact of the Fall in Genesis 3 on creation, and a general biblical understanding of what human wellness looks like.  

 Second, we need to evaluate claims made regarding Young Living and Essential Oils against the Word of God.  There are lots of materials published about Young Living Essential Oils. Some are published by Young Living (Product guides and advertising materials), some are published outside of the company (Healing Oils of the Bible, and Chemistry of Essential Oils by David Stewart), and some are published by distributors (Blogs such as this, and ebooks that can be found all across the web). These resources contain a wealth of excellent information regarding the history, chemistry, and use of essential oils. The problem is that there also can be a dangerous mixture of truth AND error in these resources.  As the saying goes, error mixed with a little bit of truth is the most dangerous kind.  Specifically, the New Age Movement is very heavily involved in the Essential Oils industry in general, and in Young Living specifically.  This doesn't mean that we can't use and promote Young Living, but it does mean we need to be vigilant about the way that we go about reading, and repeating this material. We need to evaluate this material against the Biblical worldview that was discussed above. Is it consistent with what the Bible says about God? Is it consistent with what the Bible says about man? Is it consistent with What the Bible says about Creation? Is it consistent with what the Bible says about the Gospel? To clarify I'm not saying we need to walk on egg shells, or spend hours weighing every word whenever we write something about Young Living. I'm simply saying that we need to be thoughtful as we read and repeat the material that is out there. Specifically, we need to evaluate the claims made against the Word of God before we receive or repeat them.    

Third, building our business should not be an end in itself, its should be a means to the end of brining Glory to God. This one is actually the most important of the three. We all have a lot of "why's" for building our business. Knowing why we do what we do is an incredibly important element of building a business. There can be any number of reasons that we are building our own business, but for Christians the ultimate "why" is always the Glory of God. Making sure that the Glory of God is our first and most important why will change the entire way that we go about building our business on a number of levels. For the purpose of this blog, prioritizing the Glory of God means striving to please Him in every element of the way we go about building our business, and NOT compromising our faith, EVEN when our faith gets in the way of our business. It's important to remember that God is the ultimate provider of all good things. (James 1:17) God will use your hard work to bring about your success, but ultimately your success does not depend solely on you. It depends primarily on Him. It is incredibly freeing to know that you work for the Glory of God when you realize that the results are ultimately in His hands. 

Finally, why do I keep beating this drum? Since I started writing blogs on this topic some have accused me of being nit picky, divisive, and annoying. I actually can appreciate where these people are coming from. I mean aren't there enough issues to worry about with adding this whole other layer? But the reality is that I'm not addressing new issues here. Accusations have been persistently raised against Young Living and Christians who participate in Young Living regarding the New Age Movement. At this point I have spent HOURS defending the legitimacy of Christians participating in the Young Living both in public forums as well as private conversations. I fully believe that Christians can participate in Young Living with a clear conscience regardless of some the New Age Theology that is out there within Young Living.  However, if Christians are going to participate then we have a responsibility that comes along with our participation. That responsibility is to see that the Gospel and the Glory of God does not get draged through the mud as a result of our participation. We need to be aware of the dangers, we need to point out the dangers, and we need to be able to differentiate truth from error. We have the responsibility to make the distinction between our approval of using Young Living Oils and our disapproval of New Age Theology. We have the responsibility to see to it that the Glory of God remains supreme in all things, including our Young Living business, even when this means a little extra work and vigilance on our part.

Soli Deo Gloria

Three Keys to Better Reaching Your Network

One of the greatest mistakes that network marketing professionals make early in their business is  attempting to be someone they are not.  This is done in the name of being duplicable. They see someone who is growing their business by leaps and bounds by writing a blog, so they start a blog.  The problem of course is that they have never written a blog before, and are not particularly good at writing.  But because someone else is having success by writing a blog they think writing a blog is the absolutely key to being successful. On the other hand, they see someone else who is being successful by teaching classes.  So they begin steps to start as many classes as they possibly can.  The problem is that the other person is particularly gifted at public speaking, and the budding Network Marketing Professional is terrified of speaking in front of people. The point here is this, just because someone is having success with one form of communication does not necessarily mean that you will have success with the same method.

Key 1: Know Yourself
If you want to be successful at recruiting and prospecting, you have to know yourself. Know your strengths. Know your weaknesses. If you are terrified of speaking in public then teaching 101 classes in person may not be your best strategy.   If you don't enjoy writing, then starting a blog may not be the best strategy for you.  You don't have to do all the things that your upline is doing.  Being duplicable doesn't mean you have to match their talent or personal strategy.  We are not attempting to reproduce every aspect of each leader; we are reproducing a process. How you go about prospecting and recruiting does not necessarily have to be the same as the person who is coaching you.  If your coach is a incredibly good at public speaking, but you are a master of social media then you should consider doing your 101 classes online rather than in person. It's okay to prefer social media to person to person. It's also okay to prefer one on one to groups, or groups to one on one.
Know your strengths. Focus on your strengths first.  Start your business by doing things that you love to do! Grow in your strengths.  Practice them and get better at them.  Find other people who are using the same things that you love to grow their business and look at how they are doing it and follow their example.
Know your weaknesses. Understand that you may be able to start your business on your strengths, but eventually your going to have to improve your weaknesses. You may not be great at public speaking, but eventually your probably going to want to address your whole team at one time in person. You're going to have to work on this area.  You don't have to make it your favorite thing to do, but you do need improve yourself by stepping outside of your comfort zone. If you don't want to grow as a person then you probably shouldn't be a business owner.

Key 2: Know Your Network
This may not seem like a very profound statement but it's true, and it's important to say so here goes: YOU KNOW THE PEOPLE THAT YOU KNOW. Your network is made up of all kinds of people whose life you influence in some way.  These are friends, family, acquaintances, coworkers and business associates who all have at least one thing in common: they all know you. You are in the best position to communicate to them how your product can positively affect their life. Since they are your network, you are in the best position to determine how best to reach out to them. If your network is primarily made up of computer geek hermits who hate to leave their house, an in home 101 is probably not the best option for reaching them. On the other hand if your network is made up primarily of stay at home moms who can't wait for a chance to get out of the house, a 101 class in your home may be GREAT! Don't just try to match what's working for someone else.  Strive to do what works for you, and for your network.

Key 3: Know Your Upline
Know several generations of your upline. Seek them out and listen to what they say.  Strive to follow their leadership and model them in their process. It's important for you to understand that their success depends on your success. They are there to help you be better.It's also important for you to understand that they are paying attention to their entire downline. They often see the 10,000 foot view which means they know what's going on in general, and they are more aware of what's going on in the company in particular, but they may not be aware of your specific situation.  So you are going to need to seek them out. My wife and I have a very specific policy in this area.  We don't chase people down and try to coach them.  We coach people who are committed and seek us out for coaching.  Also understand that part of your uplines job is to help you be a better team member.  Sometimes that means your upline may strive to help you see how you can solve the problem yourself. They are doing this to help you be better, and to help them better manage their time. Any good upline has as their primary goal in all of their interactions with you to find some way to help you be better. If you allow them to influence you in this way it will usually be to your benefit.

Seeking to have a better knowledge of these three areas will require effort on your part.  It will require thoughtful consideration and time commitment. But you will be better because of your commitment to grow as a business builder.