When I share my passion for a healthy lifestyle, I list the ingredients for success that I found in changing mine. Discovering the power we have in making choices, developing and maintaining a positive relationship with food and understanding the mistakes we have made in the past. These are a few of my critical ingredients. I am leaving one out as a sort of “cliffhanger” to get to the reason for this blog’s title.
When we change our lifestyle for the better, we become a “how to” example for others searching for the same path. We inadvertently chuck a stone in the pond and it begins to ripple. Those ripples can travel to places we never thought possible! Sort of like “fame” we enter the spotlight. This is not by choice, it is a byproduct of a successful lifestyle change.
If we think back to influential people in our lives that we revere, admire and want to emulate, usually they all have one thing in common: leading by example! Years ago when I was in school I remember a poster of a parent holding a cigarette between their fingers while shaking that same hand at their children. The caption read: “Don’t Smoke, It’s Bad For You”. I have always understood irony!
Like it or not, we become Leaders! People will watch us as well as listen to our successful strategies. Just like the movie stars, we are thrust into the limelight and put on display to a degree. Our integrity is in full view! We are leaders! We can help others who are searching just like us!
I attended a Gala last Saturday night for the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation ( A leader in the field of heart disease research). I am a product of this organization. They raise money through donations to provide cutting edge research to the staff at Minneapolis Heart Institute where I had many procedures along with two heart surgeries! At the Gala they reported on a project they undertook 10 years ago in a very German town in southwestern Minnesota. Their goals center around implementing education, activities and tools to become healthier. In the last 10 years this town has changed their health for the better. Riding bikes to work, learning how to shop with a nutritionist, exercise and educational activities are just a few of the programs they developed and have run very successfully for all these years. The town is New Ulm and the project is called Hearts Beat Back: the Heart of New Ulm Project.
Check them out on Facebook.
This is my best current example of Leading by Example! If all the towns in all the world would do this?….. WOW!
