I couldn't help but leave Canyon Ranch a few months back without a fresh take on healthy living. I'd spent four days healing myself from the inside out. I'd eaten the freshest and most nutritious foods, energized my muscles with twice-daily exercise, and invited therapists to fine-tune my chakras and balance my out-of-whack cancer body. I had my hair cut, my make-up done, my mind cleansed. I was massaged, scrubbed, pedicured, and pampered. I'd become relaxed, refreshed, recharged, revitalized. There's no way I could throw all that away.

Now back in Florida, I'm trying to live like I'm at Canyon Ranch's Tucson oasis. I've changed my diet, committed to exercise, and perhaps most important in the whole scheme of lifestyle change, I'm letting go.

I've identified three priorities in my life -- my family, my health, and my sanity. Any extraneous stuff, I'm tossing it. Commitments that take me away from my kids: no. Jobs that cause me stress: gone. Responsibilities I don't wish to tackle: I won't. A jam-packed calendar: never again. I tend to go with my gut. If something comes up and I feel a sick little feeling inside, I pass that something right up. I simply let it go.

Letting go makes me feel happier, healthier, more in charge of the joy in my life. It's good for my health, good for my soul. It's just plain good. And there's just no way I'm letting go of that.

Thanks Canyon Ranch for the inspiration.