Staying healthy may seem like a daunting task. In reality, it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Not Doing” is more important than “Doing”
The common misconception is that staying healthy takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and planning. It’s been sold as something achieved with blood, sweat, and tears... or a thick wallet. Actually, health is the simplest thing in the world to find because—like the best things in life—we were born with it, free and clear. Regaining health is a matter of rediscovering what we’ve always had, and bringing it to the surface.
Here is the key to this entire series, summarized in one short quote:
Health cannot be achieved, it can only be blocked.
This fact cannot be overstated. Health is not a destination to arrive at, or a goal to be won. It’s an integral part of every moment of life, and an absolute prerequisite for any form of living.
If you’re reading this, it’s because you’re alive, and therefore already enjoy some degree of health. Health is yours by default. It’s your birthright, and you deserve to be in perfect health for as long as you choose to live.
What does this mean, in practical terms?
Here the trick: there’s nothing you have to do to get that vibrant health you wish you had. Some people may try to convince you that there’s a magic pill that will fix your health problems, or an insane workout that will tone your muscles and organs into perfect working order, or some miracle fruit that expels all toxins from the body. These people are trying to sell you something. Although these methods may help, they’re bandaid solutions. Their real value lies in their ability to convince you that you’re on your way to health, and this new thought pattern sets in and affects your decisions. You begin to construct a health mindset, adopt a healthier vocabulary, and learn how to make decisions aligned with health. This is all fine, but it all starts with the mindset.
The good news is: you can start working on your mindset without the magic pill, superfood, or gym membership.
Accepting health into your life
For the most part, you were born into perfect health. Had you been born into an environment or society that knew how to nurture that health by encouraging healthy thoughts, talk, habits, and lifestyles, we’d enjoy perfect health throughout our lives. Since our environments may not be ideal and our societies aren’t perfect, your best bet is discovering your own path to health. Find out what health is to you, and what your body needs. Investigate. Then, act on what you learn.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. -Lao Tzu
Your body is programmed for perfect health, and that health is being blocked from manifesting externally by your thought patterns and lifestyle. If you’re unhealthy, then the only thing you need to do is this: stop doing what you’ve been doing.
I understand that there may be exceptions to this rule. Many people are born with genetic conditions and diseases that require effort and/or medication to keep in check. Although I do believe the principles in this article can help improve and even cure those conditions in some cases, some obstacles are greater than others and definitely require more than a simple shift in perspective.
Severe genetic conditions aside, for the most part, it takes a lot more effort to be unhealthy than it takes to be healthy. This is illustrated by the fact that all the body’s vital organs operate automatically or subconsciously. Rather than having to think about breathing, filtering your blood, digesting your food, or regenerating a cut… the body does this for you, and you can focus on enjoying life. These functions are far too important to be handled by the conscious mind; in fact, often we make things worse by overthinking or over-tending to minor conditions. It’s best to leave these vital functions to the infinite intelligence of the subconscious mind that we’re all connected to, naturally, from birth. It’s gotten us this far.
On the other hand, think about how much effort it takes to do something unhealthy like, for example, drink tequila (Note: I happen to like tequila. As with everything, drinking tequila in moderation can be healthy and abusing it can be unhealthy, just as drinking water in moderation is healthy, and abusing it causes drowning). First, you need money to buy the tequila; you work hard at your job or business, and you win some cash. Great job! If you’re earning 30$/hour, you can buy yourself a bottle of average-quality tequila with an hour’s work. Then, you need to get yourself to the liquor store and pick out a bottle, bring it home, and pour a glass. Add ice, and enjoy. In total, you’re looking at 2-3 hours of work before you can sit down and enjoy a few glasses of tequila. If you don’t abuse, you’re only slightly less healthy than when you started.
If you’d decided to give up alcohol instead, then you’d either have extra time or extra cash to do with as you like. You could use it to work, study, play outside, take a nap, or practice the great Italian art of “il dolce far’ niente” (the sweet art of doing nothing). Doing nothing (again, in moderation) leaves you healthier than when you started, because your body is free to regenerate, heal, digest, and generally enjoy existing.
The same goes for smoking. Do you know how much more energy it takes to smoke than to not smoke? Smoking takes a large amount of planning: you need to buy cigarettes, get over the unusual taste, buy a lighter and keep it with you at all times, etc. It may seem like the easiest thing to do once you’re already in the habit, but in fact, it’s a ton of work. To not smoke, all you have to do is: not smoke.
This is what is meant by “not doing”. You may feel the urge to smoke, but know that you’re spending a huge amount of energy on something that has high costs and relatively low benefits. Next time you feel like doing something like this, consider the alternative of not doing it instead. It’s cheaper, healthier, and will get easier once you break yourself out of the habit and create new ones instead.
When deciding how to spend your time, ask yourself: do the benefits outweigh the costs?
Changing your habits to change your life
Of course, you’re free to do anything you want to. Your journey through life is your own, and discovering lessons for yourself is part of the joy of living. You can go to the gym, smoke, meditate, drink, or any combination of these things if that’s what you really love doing.
Loving something imbues it with energy that makes it healthy. If an activity charges you with feelings of love, regardless of what it is, it’s your body’s way of telling you that that’s the best way to be spending your time right now. This principle applies to any habit you’ve developed. The body has few basic needs: water, basic nutrition, shelter, sleep. Once these are met, you can spend your time focusing on the rest of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Remember, health cannot be achieved, it can only be blocked. So if something you’ve been doing isn’t serving you, then the best thing you can do is: stop. Do something else instead, like karaoke. Karaoke is awesome!
