Tag: American Teacher

My Abundant Life 4-12-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

April 12th, 2026

Learning to Love and Honor Your Body

“The body is a sacred garment. It’s your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honor.”

Martha Graham (American Dancer and Teacher; May 11th, 1894 to April 1st, 1991)

“Which comes first, learning to love our bodies or possessing a positive body image?”

“If you can learn to like how you look, and not the way you think you look, it can set you free.”

Gloria Steinem (American Journalist and Social Activist; March 25th, 1934)

“Don’t wait for the world to celebrate you. Carve your own niche. Focus on what’s great, forget what’s not. Find joy in your own reflection. Instead of obsessing about a body that’s impossible to achieve without a personal trainer, begin to discover how you can feel better about living in the on e you now inhabit.”

“A woman’s relationship with her body is the most important relationship she’ll ever have. More important than husband, lover, children, friends, colleagues. This isn’t selfishness–it’s just fact. The body is, quite literally, our vehicle for being–for giving, for loving, for moving, for feeling–and if it doesn’t work, it’s fairly certain that nothing else in our lives will work, either.”

Diana K. Roesch (Health & Fitness Expert; December 2nd, 1963)

“Today, instead of hating your body, make peace with it. Choose to consciously love and honor the sacred garment Spirit provided for this lifetime’s journey.”

“I am so appreciative that my genetics and health active lifestyle has yielded me youth beyond my years. I have always liked my body and valued the movement it has been able to experience. I have counseled many young teens to adult women on body image for over 30+ years. On this path, the main culprit preventing women from achieving their health and wellness goals has largely been their own invisible conversation in their head about body image and self-love. For those who were able to share honestly with me how they saw themselves, I was able to help be their advocate and accountability partner in changing both behavior and their physical appearance. For those looking for a gimmick or a quick fix, they largely stayed trapped in their own story and thus their insides tended to match there outsides. It is not magic, it IS self love and grace for the garment that the Universe gifted you to wear in this life journey. Take care of it and it will take care of you. Use it or lose it.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 116 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 3-15-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

March 15th, 2026

Self-Nurturing: The Hardest Task You’ll Ever Do

“Any little bit of experimenting in self-nurturance is very frightening for most of us. There is a connection between self-nurturing and self-respect.”

Julia B. Cameron (American Teacher, Author, artist, poet, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, pigeon fancier, composer, and journalist; March 4th, 1948 ~ )

“Perhaps we are all Scrooges when it comes to self-nurturing because if we were kind to ourselves, our creativity might begin to blossom like a plant moving toward the light. Of course, this would mean we’d want to make some changes in our lives, and we all know how we feel about changes, even positive ones. We may be in a rut, but at least our own familiar grooves are comforting in their own insidious fashion.”

“The way to take giant leaps and strides toward authenticity, however, is through small changes.”

“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.”

Count Lev “Leo” Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian Writer; September 9th, 1828 ~ November 20th, 1910)

“Today, make a list of ten nice things you could do for yourself. Now select one and do it.”

“Before my story began…” (Heather Houston 3-15-22)

1972 Me…at my Aunt Carrie’s Baby Shower

Ten Nice Things To Do For Myself: (Heather Houston 3-15-22)

  1. Pedicure
  2. Manicure
  3. Color Hair
  4. Buy Conditioner
  5. Buy Leave-In Conditioner
  6. Face Mask
  7. Go See A Movie
  8. Make Myself A Cocktail (Pour an apple whiskey on the rocks) 3-15-22
  9. Listen To Fun Music
  10. Take A Nap.

Ten Nice Things To Do For Myself: (Heather Houston 3-15-26)

  1. Pedicure
  2. Manicure
  3. Buy Conditioner
  4. Purchase 2 Boxes to hold our Malaysian/India Spices and Mexican Spices
  5. Schedule therapist appointments to deal with past trauma. ✅
  6. Purchase indigenous medicines at the NICWA conference in Oklahoma.
  7. Exercise a minimum of 5 days/week.
  8. Bake 1x/week.
  9. Practice my violin.
  10. Plan to get motorcycle to the shop to get a tune-up and repair the speaker system.

It seems some things keep reoccurring as I am not following through with nurturing myself.

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 81-82 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.