What does it mean to be healthy today compared to the past?
Most people would say health is the absence of disease. In the past this also included not having any symptoms that need to be managed by medication.
Today, we often describe ourselves as being ‘healthy’ if we do not have any ill symptoms, or even if our blood pressure, cholesterol, stomach acid, blood flow and other body functions are managed by medication–either pharmaceutical or natural.
But health should not be just the absence of disease and symptoms.
What we consider and accept today as health and well-being is falling way short of what our experience of health and vitality can truly be.
Consider that health and vitality can be a state of being that encompasses so much more than we have considered before now, a state of being we can continue to build on it as we get older, rather than see decline which we accept currently as the norm.
It’s important to understand that our relationship with the body and the way we live has a substantial impact on our health and well-being. In other words–the way we eat, sleep, work, walk, exercise, play, communicate and interact with each other impacts our vitality in a significant way.
Could it be that it is time to RE-DEFINE what it means to be vital and healthy? With our escalating rates of illness and disease, alcohol and drug misuse, stress, poor food choices, relationship difficulties, sleep disorders, domestic violence and many other daily challenges, it seems we have forgotten what it means to be truly healthy, vital and well.
Do we wake up refreshed and ready for the challenges of the day ahead?
Are our relationships rich and fulfilling and do we burst with joy, or do we feel like life is wearing us down and we are just getting through?
The way we live has a substantial impact on our health and well-being. In other words: the way we eat, sleep, work, walk, exercise, play, communicate and interact with each other impacts our vitality significantly. You could say how we live forms the foundations for a healthy body. Therefore, our lifestyle determines whether our body is working in harmony or homeostasis and all functions including our defence systems, immune system, digestive system and more are firing on all cylinders. Besides the obvious, healthy nutrition, regular gentle exercise, deeply restful sleep and dealing with stress, there is more we need to pay attention to if we want to establish harmony in all our body’s systems as previously described.
To be truly healthy:
- Build loving rhythms, whilst supporting order and flow in daily life
- Establish loving relationships.
- Connect to a strong sense of purpose that carries through your entire life.
- Work purposefully and know that our contribution is valuable with everything we do.
- Deeply nurture ourselves and others.
- Be joyful, playful, spontaneous, light and engaged not only with family and friends but with the wider community – everyone that crosses your path.
- Resolve emotional issues and allow steadiness within.
- Make food choices for vitality and not to reward, numb or check out.
- Focus on appreciating life and all it brings and therefore engaging with life in full.
- Confirm ourselves and others, including our realisations and steps taken.
- Appreciate your strengths as well as those of others around us rather than focussing on weaknesses.
- Observe how we communicate and interact with others, that is respectful, open, caring and loving instead of being rushed, annoyed, abrupt, dismissive or judgemental
These building blocks form the foundation of a health and well-being. Professional guidance may be necessary once we’ve embarked on this undertaking of rebuilding the body. There is much valuable information available on the internet but it is necessary to first establish a starting point, and to find this, testing is often the initial step.
These results will establish a basis from which to work, determining a course of action and how best to support that.
Consider that any health test-results are just a stocktake and our body will always support us to rebuild once given the right environment. By no means should this be taken as “I am doomed and cannot do anything about this”; that is far from the truth and we do not need to be hard on ourselves.
Once the body begins to respond to true support, nutrition and nourishment, energy levels increase and then it is not so challenging to approach rebuilding, as this supports the foundation for any treatment. Remember that a healthy physical body is the foundation needed to support all the other approaches.
With online consultations (telehealth) being made available to us, we are fortunate to have access to a wide variety of practitioners and professionals who specialise in all aspects of health, well-being and medicine. Their support, skills and experience, as well as their lived experience, brings synergy to the rebuilding process. This rebuilding process needs to be founded on a continuous commitment to healing which can support increased vitality and new-found purpose and joy in daily life.
It’s also important to be aware that there will be times where your progress plateaus and you may feel you have lost your way. This is quite normal; there is no need to beat yourself up. In order to take the next steps, it is important to stop, appreciate the commitment and changes you have made.
Patience is also key with the rebuilding process. If you are feeling impatient with your progress, it may help to consider how long it took to get to arrive at your current state of health.
For example, if your body takes 6–12 months to re-build, this could be considered ‘fast’ compared to the possible 5,10,20, or 40-year journey to reach a stage of poor health.
An “Are we there yet?”approach will not work with re-building your health.
