The Way to Health
Jun 08, 2019
We live in a fast world. Or at least we live in an “I want it now world.”
We have come to enjoy fast food, fast information, fast communication, fast shipping, fast, fast, fast… We abhor waiting in lines, waiting for answers, waiting for our table to be ready at restaurants, or even waiting on our lattes. We’ve even been given the opportunity to order our meals and coffees online so that we can just walk in, grab them and go. It seems that everything we do or want to do has one focus in mind: now.
In this quest for now, we even look for shortcuts or “hacks” when it comes to our health.
In the last decade, biohacking has been a pretty big thing. Although, in all honesty, biohacking could just be a clever marketing term for common sense wisdom - a rarity in today’s world, but also a hard sell. Anyway, as a whole, we are making it difficult to appreciate patience and time needed for processes. What I mean is some things, especially things of value like health, take time. There really are no hacks or shortcuts to having good health. There are principles, processes, and systems that must be honored to have good health.
Basically, we are all designed to have health, to be healthy. Yes, there are some extenuating circumstances beyond our control, but for the most part, we were intended to have health and we were given a design that functions towards having, maintaining and restoring optimal health. But our design must be honored and engaged in order to have, achieve, or restore our health.
For example, we were made for movement... and if you've read anything we've put out before, you know we are all about it.
Everything about the design of the human body screams, “move to be healthy and strong.” Our movements build our nervous system, shape our brain and enhance our functions and abilities. So not moving would do the opposite. Not moving would erode our nervous system, shape our brain in an adverse way (think to shrink), and diminish our functions and capabilities.
We were also made for thinking. Thinking is mental movement. It builds neural connections in our brain and enhances its efficiency and function. Much like movement uses the body to build health, thinking uses the mind to build health. It allows for sound decision making, focus, understanding, learning, and discernment. In fact, movement, learning, and thinking are actually the intended dance designed to keep us healthy, strong and capable.
And, we were made for relationships. Relationships, bonds with others, also affect how our brains and nervous systems work. Relationship; interaction, love, conversation, touch - all these things - stimulate growth and health in our brains. We are designed to be in relationship.
There are other facets of our design like good nutrition, that must be honored for obtaining good health. But the point is, we were designed for health. Health is not supposed to be some “white buffalo” we are chasing or some conquest of discipline. Nor is it obtained by secret strategies, shortcuts, rare elixirs, or any other fantastical, mystical thing. Health is actually ours. It always has been. Health is supposed to be the standard operating condition from which we function. But this condition is contingent on us carrying out our design. We cannot live in our “normal” world, being “normal” sitting for 75% of our waking time, “socializing” virtually and being fed misinformation that we refuse to consider as anything other than fact, without thought, and expect to be healthy.
Most of us don’t move as we should. We don’t communicate as we ought and we don’t think for ourselves. As a consequence we end up wanting and longing for things we were always meant to have; joy, freedom, strength, vitality, love, relationship - you know, all the things that create true health.
And before you dismiss what I’m saying and think that health is determined by your genetics, don’t fall for that excuse. Science has proven the way we move and think even affects how our genes express themselves. I’m not really sure we needed science to prove that as much as we just need to wake up and look around, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have a backup. If you want a real mind trip, your choices and the things you do in life can even encode the DNA of your future offspring. The power in your design is quite AWEsome.
Anyway, we were made for health. It is something we are supposed to have rather than chase or fantasize about. And so we are clear when I say health I am talking about physical health, but I’m also talking about a quality of life that is to be savored by all of us; joy.
But again, there are processes in the design, things we were intended to do throughout our time here like move, smile, share, bond, connect, ponder, imagine and more… We were meant for all of these things, things that may take time and even build over time. There are no real shortcuts for health. There is really just engagement in our design.
In the words of Captain Picard, “Engage,” and “Make it so.”
See what I did there?
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