Here we are nearing the holidays and every time we turn around we hear more bad news:

The stock market is sinking like a rock one day or exploding like a cannon the next. Sometimes both extremes in the same day. Our 401K's are flippling around like leaves in the wind.

Foreclosures are rocking the real estate markets. Property values continue their downward slide. Home sales are the lowest in over a decade.

Daily jobs reports show more layoffs.....55,000, 9,000, 200, the numbers just keep adding up. Unemployment of 6.5% nationally and rising.

Personal debt from car loans and credit cards continue to climb. How do you pay them off without a job or high net worth you can tap into?

Geez! The black hole of despair!

Life is not for Pansy's!

The YMCA has pushed the idea of the mind,body,spirit connection for close to 200 years. And it works. Begin paying attention to the balance of your mind,body and spirit to see and feel the positive difference in your life.

Life balance begins by each of us feeding and caring for these three things every day. The proper care of ourselves strengthens our resolve and improves our resiliency to work through all the problems and anxieties, real and imagined, heaped upon us.

It is important to understand the connection between mind, body and spirit. When any of the three are not working well....then you are out of whack!

Start now. This very minute. Get up, stretch your arms over your head, take a deep breath and go for a walk. Twenty minutes will do for starters or if time is a problem then do your twenty minutes in five minute increments throughout the day.

The important thing is to start doing.....

Something.

Maybe its doing pushups, situps, deep knee bends. Lifting weights. Running. Or my favorite, riding the bike for 5, 10, 20, or more miles every day.

It helps to combine different exercises to work the whole body and avoid boredom. I like to vary my bike routes....some are city, some are country, some are in the mountains. Then on some days lifting weights at the rec center, or at home wrapping up with a 30 minute walk to stretch my cardio.

The exercise puts me in action, revs up the bod, makes me feel good --- all those endorphins --- and my mind works better. In fact, some of my best ideas have come while biking or hiking. While I'm exerting it seems that my brain goes into high gear and all I have to do is focus on a subject and new thoughts begin to flow.

Later, after the workout, I really relax which helps calm me down as I review my stock portfolio. I'm telling you this stuff works and will get you through the endless bad news of the media.

If you want better, more productive, more meaningful and useful thoughts all you have to do is focus on what information you are putting into your mind.

Computer programmers have said for years that garbage in equals garbage out in terms of data output from a computer.

Its the same for the human mind.

Spend more time on educating yourself or being absorbed in enjoying and creating art, music, or crafts. Spend less time obsessing over the horrific things we are bombarded with from the media and current authors.

Practice discernment.

Be aware of poison for the mind through advertisements in the media. Take nothing at face value. Don't give in to the emotion of the moment...media, advertisements and most social movements all rely on highly charged emotion to cement their ideas into your brain.

Be skeptical. Question all ideas for value without the emotion.

Remember --- good stuff in, good stuff out.

Be thankful. For who you are, what you have, where you live, your family and your friends. Think of these things every day and offer a prayer of thanks to your God for these blessings.

Be generous. With your time, your energy, your spirit, your money --- help where help is needed. Recognize people who serve you....make their day by calling them by name and showing interest in them. Recognize and help a stranger. The satisfaction you get back far outweighs the effort put forth.

Be consistent. This takes work sometimes. Not every day goes well for any of us. But the more we practice showing and using our good spirit the more good spirit we have to give.

Jump on the merry go round --- mind, body, spirit. Daily pay attention to these three elements of your being and you will build balance in your life to handle whatever life throws at you.