Taking the steps to become healthier

“Carolyn, this is my second go around at asking you a question. Recently at dinner, friends and I were having the healthy talk, and we could not agree. What is health and how does food connect? How do we become healthier? P.S. I like your answers.”

Thanks for not feeling you only get one shot at asking a question. Please ask as many as you have, and thanks for this really great question.

Health and one’s sense of health seems to have many different meanings for different people in different situations and circumstances. Most times we base health and wellness on how we feel. If we feel good, we say we are healthy, and when we feel bad, we know something is wrong.

If we are worried about a diagnosis or a treatment option or concerned about a child or parent, our sense of wellbeing may shift. It’s all relevant to the situation we are in at the time.

Health is defined by the World Health Organization as: ”(The) state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

To me this means not just being physically free of disease and discomfort, but also being of sound mind and socially connected in ways both fulfilling and comfortable.

Our overall sense of health is connected to our physical, mental and social presence in this world. To be truly healthy, we must be alive, active, happy and able to express who we are in every way that is relevant to our sense of self.

As I work with clients, it is my intention to make them aware of the multi-dimensional persons we are and to offer tools which help them take personal inventory at every level of consciousness. I work mainly in my area of expertise, which is nutrition; however, because we live in a physical body, I know that keeping it strong, active and well-nourished adds to a clearer mental status, our sense of purpose, as well as our energetic capacity and the body’s ability to ward off all enemies.

So much of what we do and believe comes from what we were taught growing up. What we often overlook is that over time things change. If we are not alert to the changes, we are left doing the old things in a new time. Not paying attention to the change has allowed us a feeling of comfort as we ride the waves of illness, thinking we have no control.

Taking control of our lives, our body and our thoughts is key to creating and to maintaining health on every level.

How do you become healthy? First, take inventory of your personal condition.

What are you eating? How are you sleeping? Are you engaged in work you love? Do you have someone to love and who loves you? How do you deal with stress and stressful situations and disappointment? How do you relax? How do you express your creativity? How much exercise do you get regularly? How do you recharge? Do you practice caring and generosity? Have you learned to let go of past hurts and to forgive? Have you settled your own mistakes of the past? Are you drinking enough water? Do you have a vision for the future you desire?

What are you living for? This is a question someone asked me many years ago. It started as a quick lunch, and turned into a conversation that caused me to truly take inventory of my life. Not until that day did I consider what my life’s goal would be. It took time before I was able to create an exact vision for my life. As I pondered my heart’s true desire, it all came together.

I hope you’ll take the time to examine your life, seek that which excites you and makes you happy, that which is truly meaningful to you, and then build your life around it, and edit as needed. Keeping a journal helped me.

Joy in life is central to health. Being free and able to live purposefully and independently, work, to walk three miles comfortably, dance and sing, travel at will, to live pain-free, medication free, and to basically do as one wants - is described as joy by an older gentleman in a recent conversation. And I agree. There is nothing like being able to make your own choices.

The way to health is in honoring your body. When you do, you pay benefits into your long life and happiness.

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