What Does It Mean To Be Healthy?
Let me ask you a simple question: ‘How healthy are you?‘
I bet you’ve got an answer pretty much straight away, most people do. But it’s not quite such an easy question as it seems at first. In fact, the more you think about that one simple question, the harder it gets to answer. Because in order to answer it, you first need to know the answer to another, deeper question:
“What is healthy anyway?”
There are lots of ways you could answer this question. At the most simple level, health is simply the lack of any recognizable illness or condition – this is pretty much how we look at things in terms of Western medicine.
But that’s only part of the story.
Picture this scene – you feel exhausted, with no energy reserves, and you’re under a lot of stress. You have various aches and pains, don’t sleep well, and sometimes find it hard to concentrate. You sometimes get indigestion, bloating or heartburn after eating certain foods. To put it simply, you feel lousy.
So, are you ill? Not by any regular measure – and your doctor won’t be able to help. But are you healthy? Clearly not. It’s this kind of person I see all the time in my clinic. In fact, I’d say that this isn’t far from the ‘normal’ state of being for many people.
When you think about health, it’s easy to imagine it as the opposite of illness – as a scale with health at one end, and illness at the other:
ILLNESS <——————————————–> HEALTH
I’d like to suggest that this is broadly right, but that simple ‘health’ should not be at the top end of the scale. In fact, it should be in the middle.
So let’s extend the scale. The worst your health can possible be is dead, so what is the complete polar opposite of dead? Not simply getting by, or doing OK, but being vibrantly, energetically, joyfully ALIVE!
This state can be seen as the peak of human existence, the most alive we can be. It is a state where body, mind, emotions and spirit are strong and resilient. Everything works at maximum efficiency, and illness and disease are entirely absent. In this state you feel relaxed and content, with a strong flexible body and a clear, sharp mind. You are grounded, centered, happy and balanced. You feel connected to the world around you, and you savour every moment, living entirely in the present.
This is the state that I call ‘Radiant Health’, and moving towards this state is the chief goal of Chinese Medicine.
So now the scale looks like this:
ILLNESS <———> HEALTH <———> RADIANT HEALTH
We are all somewhere on this scale, and decisions and choices that we make every day will move us either in one direction or another. So why not make sure that you’re pointing in the right direction, and moving away from illness, and towards Radiant Health. If you can do this, health improves on all levels, and life becomes easier and more enjoyable.
And let’s get something straight – ‘enjoyable’ is an important word here.
I’m no puritan, and my aim is not to make you feel bad, to stop you having fun, or to give you a stick to beat yourself with. Quite the opposite. My aim is to show you practical and simple ways to improve your health and well-being (to bring more joy into your life!) and to introduce a set of tools that you can pick and choose from, to help you on your life’s journey.
If that’s an idea that resonates with you, then you’re in the right place… stick around, and I’ll show you some of the best hints and tips I’ve found for exactly how to speed along on your own journey to Radiant Health…
For a head-start towards Radiant Health, sign up to my mini-course Conscious Cultivation – it’s free!
