RELATIONSHIP WITH SELF

BE HEALTHY

In a word, our relationship with our self is about health—physical, mental, and emotional.

• We are each a cell of the body we call humanity.
• The health and vitality of humanity can be neither more nor less than the sum total of us taken together.
• Our civilization hinges on the state of our personal and collective health.

Each of us is responsible for our own health.

•  We can choose to live a healthy lifestyle.
• Conversely, we can abuse our health in whatever manner we choose until finally we succumb to the ravages of an unhealthy lifestyle.

Each of us is the person over which we have the most control.

 When the errors of our ways shout at us, it is absurd for us to repeat them.

• We can change our lifestyle.
• Rarely, can we change another person’s lifestyle.

Life cannot be violated beyond a critical point before its systems begin to disintegrate and fail.

 That applies to our personal health as well as to the health of our planet.

• It’s unfortunate when, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to be fully healthy.
• It is, however, tragic for us to not be healthy, body and mind, when we have a choice.

A healthy lifestyle is easy. And rewarding.

•  We are the gatekeepers of our bodies and minds.
• It is one of the rare things in life over which we have near total control.

“Do no harm” is a fundamental principle in healthcare.

 The same measure, do no harm, should be our guide to what foods and drinks we put into our bodies and what thoughts we allow into our minds.

 All of this input contributes to what we might call our health account.

•  It’s similar to, but more important than, a bank account that we contribute to for our financial health.
• Our health account is an accumulation of all that we do to enhance our health.
• There are very many people with healthy bank accounts that wish they would have given the same attention to their health accounts.
• They often discover this too late.

For physical health, we need to engage in moderate but regular physical activities of our choice.

• Our bodies require movement.
• A simple program of regular physical activity and wise food and drink choices will yield — with very little effort — enormous results for a lifetime.
• If we are born with limitations, or incur them, we can still optimize our potential as so many who are handicapped in one way or another demonstrate.

Too many of us dig our graves with our knives and forks.

The remedy is not a diet but a shift to a lifestyle that is healthy.

People resist change to a healthy lifestyle fearful that they must give up what they cherish.

Ironically, those who embrace healthy changes find to their amazement only that they have improved their lives and have given up nothing but problems.

A healthy relationship with food and drink is an enormous challenge for many people.

It need not be.

It is simple matter that comes down to the quality and quantity of food and drink that we consume.

• As for quality, we require wholesome foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, lean meats, fowl, fish, and olive oil, for examples.
• There are countless ways to combine and prepare healthy foods into meals at least as delicious as anything of lesser quality.

These foods that pass through us are what nourishes are bodies.

Why settle for less when consuming healthy foods and drinks is a win-win for health, taste, budget, and the reduction of medical costs?

 As for quantity, each of us, in a sense, is allotted so many calories daily.

 For an average woman and man, it’s about 2,000 and 2,500 calories per day respectively.

• It’s like a gift.
• We can spend these calories as we like.
• If we consume our full allotment of calories, our weight remains unchanged.
• If we consume more, we gain weight.
• If we consume less, we lose weight.
• If we engage in more than normal physical activity, we expend additional calories.
• It’s very simple.

Our appetites for and enjoyment of food are like another gift.

• Several times a day, we experience hunger which we satisfy with food and drink at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• Several tasty meals a day within our daily allotment of calories should satisfy anyone.
• Each day, we begin anew with our allotment of calories to spend and our appetite to satisfy with delicious foods and drinks.
• Eating and drinking well — quality and quantity — and regular moderate physical activity yields healthy bodies.

But there’s more.

 It is also critical to understand the indispensable role that sleep plays in our mental and physical health and the quality of our lives.

• Sleep, like exercise and nutrition, is a biological necessity.
• Give sleep the importance that it deserves.
• It plays a vital role in every aspect of our health and in every dimension and waking moment of our lives.
• Take time to rest adequately.
• It is time well spent, as much so as any other healthy endeavor in which we invest.

What else can be noted about a healthy mind?

• Particularly in a highly competitive, often chaotic, and stressful world in which all life forms strive and compete to survive and reproduce.
• The achievement of a healthy and peaceful mind is a far more complicated challenge than a healthy body.

Throughout the ages, countless teachers have addressed and continue to address this dimension of life.

• Many of them compete with each other for your attention and money.
• One could spend many lifetimes reading their recommendations.
• None of us have the time to sift through it all.

What is the essence of wisdom?

• After more than seven decades of rich and diverse experiences in an array of fields and the acquisition of a couple of advanced degrees from fine universities, I would say that the essence of wisdom is to get grounded in the extraordinary phenomenon known as reality.

• Pay attention.
• Endeavor to see and understand life as it is.

In human interactions, we find trickery and virtue everywhere.

• It’s normal.
• Keep it all in perspective.

Rudyard Kipling summed it up beautifully in his poem “If.”

 As for making personal life changes, a firm decision is required to trigger the process.

 Otherwise, the effort is doomed at the start.

There is a well-known quote by German writer and statesman Johann Goethe, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius power and magic to it. Begin it now.”

Most people who are familiar with this inspiring quote are unaware that this is just the end of the quote.

The part that precedes it is even more insightful:

• “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
• “Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth (the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans).
• “That is the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
• “All sorts of things occur to help one that would have never otherwise occurred.
• “A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no person could have dreamed would have come his way.”

In other words, decide and commit.

• Make a plan and execute it.
• When you do, you will be astonished at what follows.

Our Relationship with Self is our first and core foundational relationship.

It determines our physical and mental health and, as a consequence, affects our relationships with other people and our environment.

Let me share the following with you as it relates to living a healthy life.

Many years ago, I wrote a book entitled Russell, Alexandra and John.

Russell is a wise teacher, an ageless sage.

Alexandra and John, twin youngsters, befriend Russell and seek his advice about life.

In response to one of the questions from John, Russell offered the following:

• “High priests and priestesses are not in short supply these days.
• “One has quite a varied menu of both teachers and teachings from which to choose.
• “It’s remarkable that so many claim exclusive possession of the truth.
• “Surely, they cannot all possess this most exclusive treasure.
• “Many people are inclined and content to adopt a creed or fall under the spell of some charismatic personality.
• “It is the result of a persistent human need for clarity and a leader who will show the way.
• “As a consequence, you are overwhelmed with purveyors of many varieties of dogma vying with each other for followers, financial support, and power.
• “The path that was to have led to liberation leads then only to another cell in the prison block, another blocked corridor in the maze.
• “The purity and simplicity of that which was sought is lost to needless complexities, adornment, and exploitation.
• “I do not claim to possess the truth, perhaps some truths.
• “I do not claim to know the way, perhaps a way.
• “I do not claim to have the answers, perhaps some answers.
• “Go deep into the well that is you and seek the teacher within.
• “Challenge belief systems.
• “Challenge authority.
• “Live life in the present, fairly and honorably.
• “See the beauty in simplicity.
• “Treat others as you wish to be treated.
• “Respect your environment.
• “Avoid self-centeredness.
• “Fill your life with quality in the fulfillment of your genuine needs.
• “Seek and experience learning but avoid teachings that are divisive.
• “In all these things, be who are.
• “Express your individuality, the beautiful imprint that is you uniquely.
• “Trust yourself.
• “Keep life simple.
• “Don’t be misguided, for there are those who would dazzle you with their costumes, settings, and rituals.
• “I would suggest that the truth that you seek, elegant in its simplicity, is without need of adornment.
• “There are those who would have you believe there is but one path that leads to peace.
• “I would suggest that at the point where all paths converge, there begins the final leg of the journey to peace.
• “There are those who would limit you with a rigid set of rules that restrict, bind, and diminish you, and then they modify these as convenience and events dictate.
• “I would suggest that you avoid rigidity, but rather align yourself with that which is fluid, spontaneous, and you.
• “There are those who would define you primarily as a spirit and have you focus your attention on your next life.
• “I would suggest that you acknowledge, experience, and celebrate the reality of your current life which is far from an illusion.
• “There are those who would have you follow and serve them as their disciples.
• “I would suggest that you follow yourself as all have equal access to the source of inspiration.
• “Learn only from those who seek, not to bind you, but to set you free.”