What I'm about to write is simply a collection of opinions and should not be taken as advice. We are all different after all and I'm not a scientist or doctor. Or am I? No. I'm not.
Introduction
What is 'health'? For me, it is a complimentary physical and mental state which, in the absence of disease and with a 'reasonably normal' social dynamic, represents a living organism's actual and sense of well-being. There are therefore levels of health one may achieve and the more healthy an individual, the greater potential for functioning optimally in any given situation. There are many ways to define 'health.' I hope you find mine adequate.
There are many activities, inputs and outputs that contribute to the physical and mental profile of an individual, the interactions of which, will determine the perceived level of health at any particular point in time.
Healthy from cradle to grave
Health starts for each of us when we are too small to influence it ourselves. It comes from the environment, society, your genetics and the choices your primary care givers make for you. There's nothing your parents can do about the radioactive contamination that is all over the place (busy bio-accumulating in our food supply) and not much about the toxic particulates being sprayed into the air or the chemical waste in the water. They can, however, start early to maximize your health potential in spite of those social travesties. In the womb, only the best possible nutrition...no fucking sugar, booze, fags or drugs.....just a balance of good, fresh organic produce. Trying not to indulge any weird fancies like paint or nail varnish remover will also help. Then, after-birth.....pun intended....good old fresh organic fed boob juice. If that doesn't work out, then organic baby formula. It seems there's a bit of a theme here. It's also of vital importance not to pump any toxic chemical shit into a newborn, for obvious reasons. 'Why would anyone do that?' You ask. I just don't know. But they do. Ok, so we've made a good start. What's next?
Next comes all the physical, mental and emotional support a primary care giver can stand. Hopefully, the little mite will begin to grow into a well adjusted ' healthy' toddler. Add some more fresh organic produce and within a few short years a fully fledged child should spring up! Healthy ones normally have a lot of energy and too many questions. For optimal development, try to avoid physical and sexual abuse. Keep your fucking hands to yourself. Also, remember that children are not to blame for adult problems, so should always be treated with compassion. Adults might take care to moderate their behaviour so that, no matter what, a nurturing domestic atmosphere pervades the home. Oh and never forget.....no fucking sugar!
The child, teenager and young adult phases are bursting with health potential but there also lurks great potential for physical, mental, emotional and social hardship. A balanced diet of fresh organic produce can improve the outcome or impact from these challenges. Children of all ages need to be educated as thoroughly as possible with special attention to the costs of a sedentary lifestyle, over obsession with social media and sheep-like, debt-slave thoughts. When they hit the right age (whatever that is nowadays) brutal facts about STD's should be provided because nothing wrecks health like an antibiotic resistant superbug in your privates. Although fresh organic produce may help. They will not appreciate the benefits of discipline at the time these lessons are provided....so one must push on and get the job done regardless. Their short-term impression of discipline on their health will be wildly skewed against the idea that it's good for them. But discipline comes into it's own later on and more than makes up for it's ignominious start.
Perspective is an important, often under-appreciated, component of health. In order to gain perspective, you need experience.....lots of it. So the best thing you can do when you are growing up is go fucking crazy. Suck the god dam marrow right out of life before it runs away from you. Do it, but do it with a care for your fellows. There's no need for your risks to become someone else's risks. What are we talking about here then? Well assuming you are of age, it means travel, get out, see what's around the corner or on the other side of an ocean. Meet people of every culture you can and embrace them all. Find the time to do some exercise and eat plenty of fresh organic produce. Coupled with just enough sleep, you can, to a great extent, erase the health-damaging effects of booze and drugs. Speaking of drugs.....because everything that is illegal is obviously going to damage your health.....I'm referring of course to 'medicine.' That's right, the legal shit that fucks people up more greedily than the illegal shit. You can't avoid it all and in rare cases, you may not want to, but always have a care and make an effort to redress any side-effects with fresh organic produce.
So, you've had some fun and you're getting sick of marrow. What to do now? Have some more fun and pay for higher quality marrow of course! To achieve maximum health in this phase you need to be even more balanced and have even more fresh organic produce than ever before. If you are lucky enough to have a job, you'll begin nurturing a different part of your health profile. Being a part of the global economic machine can have one of two effects on your health. If you retain sheep-like notions, it will undermine or fulfill you depending on how you think you're doing compared to everyone else around you. Yea, you've bought in to a quasi well-being metric called smug. Smug can give you the appearance of health, but beware. Smug can turn to despair at the drop of a hat and rip your fucking guts out. The other road you can take is to become aware of the way the world works, fold it into your being and work to make it better.
Become worldly, wise and content you have. Your body is aging.....you are way passed your peak. But that's ok, because you have a rich mind, full of memory and perspective to compensate. You've tasted glory and defeat, suffered loss and connected with the essence of existence. You've come to know yourself and have developed empathy. There's more work to do, but just as soon as you've topped yourself up with some fresh organic produce, you'll be positively glowing with health. Fucking well done. You are the bomb. The interplay between confidence and insecurity can wreck havoc on one's sense of well-being and therefore health. Enjoy the one but be mindful of the other......like smug, insecurity can be punishing. We all live within a terrifically thin bubble of security. Enduring health comes from a recognition and tolerance for insecurity.
Can anyone old claim to be healthy? Possibly. But only if one has nurtured the mind and eaten a prodigious amount of fresh organic produce. In my definition, the absence of disease is a contributory factor.....and yet, the line between disease and the aging process itself is not clear. Clearly, 'health' is highly subjective (Do psychopaths know they are unhealthy?) and it is certainly possible for an older person to be more 'healthy' than a younger person. However, if the ravages of accumulated wear-and-tear do set in, the well-being one might feel in the twilight years might be considered a store of mental and emotional wealth that continues to provide health. At some point the health runs out for us all. But, can health be passed on? Yes it can. The actions one may take over a lifetime to achieve or maintain health can engender health in others.
Things that help me stay healthy
- Regular masturbation. It's free fun and helps to keep your figs fresh.
- Turmeric, pepper & chili sauce on all my fresh organic produce.
- Sexercise. It's free fun and helps to keep your figs fresh.
- Sleep is good. When you can get it.
- Ditch the smug. It's just too much of a tear-your-face-off liability.
- Spread as much love about as possible. Not your sex.....I mean compassion, empathy, listen, help....stuff like that.
- Lots of fresh organic herbs and all manner of fresh organic teas.
- Sunlight.....actual outdoors sunlight. Just not too much.
- Laughter is the best medicine. I don't know who said that, but they were right. Possibly more effective at keeping you healthy than 'medicine.'
- Avoid nuclear radiation, drinking toxic water, breathing toxic air and if you can't avoid these things.....start making the people who put them there, get rid of them.
- I know it's hard, but really try not to eat fucking sugar! I know they said all our troubles were because of fat. I'm sorry, they lied. If you must eat it, have some sweet-tooth once a week. I pray you took notice during your discipline training.
- Take every opportunity to have an adventure. Take the rough with the smooth.
- Look after your friends & family.
- Be nice to strangers, especially those who are the most different to you.
- Every time you take a bite to eat, drink some clean water, lay down to sleep, come home from work, enter the place you call home, go on holiday......fucking enjoy it. But remember there's someone out there who doesn't have or can't do any of those things.
Well that's it. Good luck :)
And don't take anything I said too seriously....we are all different. Or are we?