My name is Leo Harley and I turn 40 this year. Not your average guy though, in my 39 years I have been a Martial arts athlete, a Rugby player, a Bodybuilding champion, a Personal Trainer, a fitness model, go-go dancer, singer, actor and everything in between. I always just wanted to live my dream to do all the things that make me happy, and to me that’s the best form of self-care.
Since we were all gifted with unlimited potential to do everything, and to become anything that makes us a better self, we might as well do so! That’s being alive and living it too, unafraid to be young, and not afraid of aging either. Each moment is valid and offers the opportunity for growth, so we never get old, we simply evolve, as long as we allow ourselves to be happy.
Turning 40 is not scary, rather, it is quite exciting. Looking back at all the dreams I made come true, it reassures that eventually they always do, so I keep on dreaming bigger, aiming higher, always eager to go further but grateful for where I am.
Now that I am a more mature man, I’m able to understand that self-love is the key to be happy, and happiness is a conscious choice we have to make every day to stay in harmony. When we are at peace with who we are, we feel better, we look better, we even attract better simply by raising our vibration, and that makes us more magnetic towards blessings, miracles and dreams come true.
Life becomes more fun when we simply accept ourselves as a work in progress. No pressure! We are all learning how to go through life, and the best we can do, is all we can do, and that’s alright! We are enough, our potential is infinite apart from restrictions we create for ourselves, and yet we have the choice to upgrade and be free at any time.
Self-care is about making better choices for us. Every time we have fruit instead of ice cream, or even when we could have been mad about something, but we choose inner peace. When we show up in kindness, wearing a smile instead of a frown, that’s more than self-care, it’s self-love.
It’s not about spending lots of money on clothes or cosmetics to look good, it is about feeling good! Doing what makes you feel alive, like honoring our bodies with exercise. This will activate our natural production of feel-good hormones, and that gets us ‘literally high’ in rewards. Keeping healthy eating habits allows it to work even more efficiently for us, and that will also help us look good with or without any clothes on. The body is so smart and will always do the best it can with what you give it to work with, and it is our job to give it what it needs.
However, the body is only the outer layer of self-care, like a 3D projection of what is happening within our thoughts and emotions, so it is essential to keep our hearts and minds in balance. Our brains are so powerful, especially in coherence with the heart. When we declutter beliefs that no longer resonate with the heart, we find alignment with our true potential, and so we start using all that power to our advantage.
In almost 40 crazy years on earth, I was able to travel the world, work with the public, learn new cultures, and understand human nature from a general perspective. And I found that the only secret to a happy life, is what we already know but refuse to accept: Happiness is a choice! We are creators, once we take responsibility for our own decisions, we regain direction of our lives.
In the end, you’ll only have yourself to thank, so give yourself reasons to be grateful
Leo Harley
Note from Scott Holland (Associate Publisher): I would like to introduce everyone to Leo Harley, who is on the July 2024 cover of HOTspots Magazine: Self-Care Edition and will be taking over the Hot Bodies column moving forward. Hot Bodies was a very popular column written by Tom Bonanti for many years. When Tom retired about 18 months ago the search began for the right person to take over. Welcome Leo to the Hotspots family!
