There are many ideas, and opinions, on what constitutes good
health, or what a meaningfully healthy lifestyle feels like or
looks like. It could be said that health should be a natural
condition, or at least a consistent state of well being. But
what is this natural condition? There are some people who
accept pain and discomfort in the body as a necessary part of
living. This pain is considered to be a motivator, something for
the body to fight against. They accept this condition because
they observe that there are so many people with health
complaints and so few people free of problems. It is even taken
for granted today that dying of a degenerative disease is
acceptable if the person had led a 'good life'.
My parents both died of cancerous type diseases. I seem to be
the only one who is not saying, but they 'lived a full life'.
Keep in mind that I am the one nobody can understand. I am not
quite the black sheep. I am the different one who stopped
eating sugar thirty years ago. No one could understand why I
would go to so much trouble to read food product labels trying
to find something that did not contain sugar. Today it is many
times worse because of all the sugar substitutes in our food
products. If I were reading labels today I would choose sugar
before the sugar substitutes if I had no other choice. My
choice today is to not buy any processed food products. I
believe that my continuing good health depends on me making my
own food from simple organic ingredients. I seldom read food
labels these days because I buy very little with a label on it.
Is good health some sort of perfection? In homeopathy good
health is said to manifest when a person's "vital force" is
being expressed by perfect functioning of all parts of the body
and by a sense of general well being. This holistic approach to
health states that nature, of which we are an important part,
has a constant tendency toward what is best for it. This vital
force of nature reaches its masterpiece in the human body and
the human consciousness. Harvey Diamond in his part of the book
Fit for Life II: Living Health states that humans are
"constructed for health and happiness." Life on earth lived in
its ultimate achievement is a constant and unshakeable zest for
well being and enthusiasm, says Diamond. I have a lot of
respect for the diet that the Diamonds recommended. It still is
an excellent diet for cleansing out toxins. I am not a great
fan of being all that you can be, going for it all or pursuing
excellence as a lifestyle. To me this is a short road to burn
out and premature grey hair. I was unconsciously going for it
all in my younger years. I worked very hard. I cannot say that
I experienced good health or happiness back then.
If we wanted this 'ultimate achievement' of good health our
goal would be to reach old age and maturity without aches and
pains, to be well-balanced and spared emotional traumas and
stress-related illnesses. To have zest for life we would wish
to be like the beaming, healthy-looking 90-year-olds featured in
vegetarian magazine articles. Working out at the fitness club
at 91 years of age could demonstrate the principle that the best
condition for the body is resilience and flexibility. To take
up piano lessons at 83 years might demonstrate an absence of
constricting contractions in body and mind. The problem is that
we tend to extrapolate these stories into believing that this
example of 'good health' is the best way to go. Pushing yourself
into the gym when you are exhausted and should be resting is not
good health.
It seems apparent to me that for millions of years people lived
in some sort of harmony with the natural forces of nature. Good
health was some sort of consistent state of being. Otherwise,
how would we be here? If we were always in poor health for
millions of years I cannot see how we would have survived. A
long time ago the dinosaurs disappeared suddenly. Today species
of plants and animals are becoming extinct at an accelerating
rate. Throughout history at least some of us must have
maintained an instinctive natural knowledge about how to live
healthily enough to allow our species to continue. How we are
doing today is a mute question. Are we going to continue to
survive or is our current acceptance of sub-marginal health a
sign of something?
Perhaps it is time to take a look at what this instinctive
natural knowledge of good health might look like in our modern
culture. I feel that it is not that much different than it has
been for millions of years. This 'knowledge' probably includes
simple things like sunshine, pure water, sleeping when the sun
sets, relying on wholesome foods from nature, having daily alone
time in the outdoors and living physically active lives in
communities of loving supportive people.
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thomas@thomaseldridge.com
Thomas Eldridge is the founder and director of The Center for
Highly Sensitive People. The motto of the Center is
'Sensitivities are a Blessing, Not a Weakness'. You can find
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