There's been so much talk lately about who is anti-America and who is pro-America, I feel it is un-American not to speak up as the 2008 U.S. election campaign winds down and the final vote is taken.

In a time of turmoil, a new president is being chosen to lead our country. Is the sky falling, or are the heavens opening? I suppose it depends on your point of view. So does living a healthier lifestyle; you have the freedom to choose …

— Taking a 30-minute walk every day.

— Just saying no to fake food and 600-calorie desserts.

— Growing some of your own food — even in a windowbox.

— Creating less garbage.

— Seeing what alternative energy systems work for you, from solar to wind to the human-energy alternative known as a push mower.

— Yoga.

— Replacing your toxic, poisonous cleaning products with gentle clean green cleaners.

— Having a practice for staying calm that does not involve a shot glass.

All these and more are part of the politics of living a healthier, happier lifestyle, and that unnamed party is one you can belong to any time you decide. No sign up fee. No emails. No Reds vs. Blues. Great health benefits.

One thing we know for sure: This isn't an ordinary election. The tectonic plates of U.S. politics are shifting, and so are the cups, saucers and all of the silverware. We are feeling the shake, rattle and roll of it worldwide. We are surging into the next thing.

My friend David Houle, a futurist, calls that next thing The Shift Age, and he's spelled it out in fascinating detail in his new book, "The Shift Age," (see www.Theshiftage.com). If I were your friendly airline pilot instead of your most personal trainer, I'd come on the speaker at this point and say that this bundle of energy called Planet Earth, deeply linked in ways modern physics is only beginning to understand, "is experiencing some turbulence. Fasten your seatbelts."

I would not go on and tell you how to actually click the buckle. Don't United and Northwest, et.al, know how long the seatbelt's been around? No wonder the airlines are going out of business. But I do feel the American thing to do is offer up three ways you can move through the coming change in a way that keeps you healthy, happy, focused and free. That's the goal. We will all fall short:

TAKE CARE OF YOUR BRAIN. Aggravation and worry mess up your mind in such a way you often forget to take care of your body. If you want proof, read up on neurobrainology as I have, and you'll learn that your brain thrives when you give it certain things — including rest, bridge lessons, beautiful music and love — and it functions less well when you give it other things — worry, anger, many prescription drugs, jealousy, beer and taco chips.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY. If ever there was a time when exercise should be mandatory —forced upon innocent schoolchildren who would so much rather sit in the hallway and text — it is now. Take to your cross-trainers. Hit the running path. Have a garage sale, and use the proceeds to buy one great stationary bike.

PREPARE FOR A SIMPER LIFE. Is less more? There's an odd shift going on in the country. It has to do with living a simpler life: smaller houses, homegrown food, fewer air trips to leave a lighter footprint. More and more people are choosing to live that way. Call it scaling down or living zen, it all comes down to desiring fewer material possessions so you can make room for simpler pleasures, slower food, less time on the computer or mobile phone. If you choose this life, in green circles you're a hero. If you find this simplified life dumped on you because you lost your job or your home, that's a very different and sad story. One person's house sale is another person's liberation. Is the day you trade in your gas-guzzling SUV a day to celebrate or despair? Change is neither good nor bad. It is just change, and our job is to make the best of it.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! THRIFT AGE IS PART OF SHIFT AGE

"Why do things happen so fast? Why do we feel so unsettled, even out of control? . . . We have entered the final, global stage of humanity's cultural, social and economic evolutionary journey, the Shift Age." — David Houle

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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