Raise your hand if you desire to live a healthier and happier life. Fantastic! Now hands down.
I'm glad you recognize how integral good health is in designing a fulfilling, successful, and euphoric life. You realize that money isn't enough. You see the bigger picture - that a life of true "wealth" requires genuine happiness, peace-of-mind, dream-fulfillment, and more. Kudos to you!
But how do you construct such a life? Well, there aren't any "perfect" templates to conform to (thank goodness!). Amazing health is achieved through personal discovery and adaptation. It's unique to you. Be bold and creative.
However, like in life, there are harsh truths about health that you must understand if you are to improve your health (and life) experiences. Look for the Eureka! lessons - they'll help you!
Bonus!
The quality of your health is not a responsibility you can delegate. Nor can you legitimately blame others for your unhealthy plights. Healthy lifestyle choices matter. And they're made by you alone.
Be mindful! Your health responsibilities aren't just regulated to food choices. You're equally responsible for keeping active, staying well-rested, reducing stress, having fun (very healthy!), and everything else that influences your overall health and wellness.
The Eureka! Lesson:
Yes, you're fully responsible for your health. But that means you're fully empowered too! Thus, your health responsibilities aren't burdens. They're gifts of opportunity and self-expression.
Unfortunately, all things health are not created equal. Some have better genetics than others. Some have received more meaningful health education than others. Some have better socio-economic conditions than others. Some are flat out luckier. And all of these things are excuses.
The Eureka! Lesson:
Fairness isn't the point. Opportunity is. America sines as "the land of opportunity", not the land of handouts. The same applies to your health. You have a chance for greatness. Just how great is up to you.
Is health perfection really the goal, or is health greatness? I vote greatness! After all, perfection doesn't guarantee greatness, and greatness isn't perfect.
Perfection is quicksand. It snares you in a devilish trap of illusion and frustration. It's too heavily nuanced with details, rules, false promises, and other venomous constraints. As a result, your enthusiasm and momentum for a healthy lifestyle will suffer, ween, and possibly die. How tragic.
The Eureka! Lesson:
Don't strive for perfection - strive for greatness! Greatness is a healthy attitude that inspires you to focus on the big picture, live unconventionally, and learn from missteps. It's about BIG thinking and BOLD living.
"It's 'okay' for me to eat this gluttonous cake wedge because I'm going to the gym later."
How silly.
You cannot out exercise poor nutrition. First, losing fat, gaining muscle, and just getting healthier isn't only about "calories in, calories out". That's far too simplistic. Your nutrition choices affect your metabolism, sleep patterns, mental acuity, stamina, and happiness (just to name a few).
Second, such misguided beliefs ingrain the wrong health behaviors. Unhealthy indulgences aren't "rewards", they're unhealthy indulgences. Believing otherwise traps you in a vicious loop of stagnant health (at best) or a downward spiral of decaying health (at worst).
The Eureka! Lesson:
Certainly "reward" yourself for staying active. That's important! Just don't do it with crap food. Use pleasurable experiences, reasonable purchases, more quality family time, etc. instead.
"No pain, no gain" - or so the saying goes. I disagree.
Pain is painful. Humans have a simple response to anything painful - we stop! So, isn't the whole "no pain, no gain" argument backwards? Pain incites de-motivation, resentment, rejection, even fear. Which of those promotes improved health and happiness? Try none.
The Eureka! Lesson:
Here's my version - less pain, more gain. Embrace your true health passions - those healthy pursuits that magnify joy and create meaning. That's the secret for maintaining awesome health! Skip the pain, it's for dummies.
Pretending our society's unhealthy plights don't exist exacerbates the problems. Ignorance is not bliss. It's an intellectual and human-decency crisis.
67% of US adults are overweight or obese. The US ranks 1st in health care costs (as % of GDP), but 49th in life expectancy. US health care costs are estimated to be $13,100 in 2018 for every man, woman, and child.
We cannot wish-away these facts. And the trends are getting worse.
The Eureka! Lesson:
Hope remains! We made this calamity, so we can unmake it. Knowing is half the battle. So, let’s learn these inconvenient truths and use them as calls-to-action for better health and happiness.
The US financial sector was recently rescued from their appalling behaviors by a shiny $700 billion government bailout. But appalling health behaviors cannot be similarly rescued. Why? Because poor health behaviors create health debts that cannot be neutralized by a pen stroke.
What are these health debts? The things that matter - quality of life, longevity of life, emotional health, disease prevention, psychological health, physical health, overall wellness, and more. These debts corrode your life as it's happening. And no bailout later in life can reverse time.
The Eureka! Lesson:
Your health is not "too big to fail". So don't wait! If your health needs bailing out, then bail it out NOW before things get worse. The rest of your life's health and happiness depends on it.
"Do not take life too seriously. You will not get out of it alive." - Elbert Hubbard
Context matters. Yes, these harsh truths are, well, harsh. Hence, I hope you regard them as calls-to-action to improve the awesomeness of your life. Your health is that powerful.
But don't go mental. Life is too precious and delicate to take too seriously. Enjoy your health and your life. Be creative. Be bold. Be unconventional. And (perhaps above all else) be a kid! If you unleash your inner-child you'll discover that a happy, healthy, and spectacular life is rather easy.
I don't contest that these seven truths represent an exhaustive list. But I have learned them from my own health adventures, many the hard way. I share them in the hopes that they help you with your health adventures!
Yes, you may disagree with a few. I hope you do and that you share your comments because health is too important and personal to be passively accepted and rendered mundane.
Written on 5/10/2010 by Matt Gartland. Matt is a healthy lifestyle geek extraordinaire. He writes at Healthy Lifestyle Design (HLD), where he unleashes his passion for remarkable and unconventional living propelled by amazing health. Follow Matt on Twitter and join the HLD Tribe on Facebook.
The 5 Extraordinary Benefits of Martial Arts
Posted by SoMeOnE at 3:09 AM Labels: Brain, Fear, Health, Stress
While I am no martial arts expert, I enjoy training and taking advantage of the benefits they deliver. I like to train just to train. I find martial arts fascinating and enjoy the camaraderie. The bad news is that martial arts are often misunderstood.
For me, it’s about discipline, meeting awesome people, training your mind and strengthening your body. This all will vary greatly depending on what art you choose. It’s incredibly easy to start, and there are so many different arts to choose from, you’d be crazy not to at least try and see how it feels.
What stops most people is intimidation. If you’re like me, you will be afraid in the beginning, but once you get past that first hump, you’ll be glad you did. When I took my first martial arts class, I went alone and I was a bit afraid. I was 16 at the time and had no idea what I was doing. In hindsight, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done, even though I ended up quitting six months later because of an injury. A few years later I picked it up again and here I am.
Here are some of the benefits that I've realized:
There are many different martial arts you can choose from, so it doesn’t have to be all-out fighting if you aren’t into that. Usually you will get one-free pass to see how a class is. Take advantage of that and try everything you can find!
Every martial art will increase your coordination. Some more, and some less. Karate may not improve your coordination as much as Capoeira, but they both make you stronger and flexible in their own way.
What’s important is that you pick something where you enjoy the trainer, the people and the art itself; otherwise you’ll end up quitting.
You’d be amazed at how friendly the people are. This also depends on where and what you train. The more aggressive arts will obviously attract a different group than something softer.
As you try different arts, you’ll quickly see if it’s right for you. I personally love practical arts, which means I can use it in real life. Luckily, I’ve never needed to do that, because I’m a pretty friendly and easy-going guy.
A martial art with a good teacher can transform the way you think. You may go in with one mindset and come out a completely different person. Now, I’m not saying this will happen instantly, but definitely over time.
Many martial arts are considered “dangerous”, so many kids are told to stay away from them. It isn’t the art itself that is dangerous, but how it is taught. Always look at what values the teacher has. Is he humble and friendly? Or does he use a more “old-school” way of teaching?
Use common sense to pick a good teacher. Listen to your intuition. If there’s any common trait I’ve observed in good teachers, it’s humbleness, and this has definitely rubbed off on me.
You will go through periods where you absolutely do not feel like going to class. It will feel tough and nothing seems to work when you do train.
Discipline is a cornerstone in all of the old arts, and something that is required in whatever you do. If you can make it past the six month mark, you will be ahead of the large majority of people.
One of the biggest benefits I’ve noticed from martial arts is the psychological part. When you start out, you’ll probably be scared of putting your heart into what you’re doing.
We aren’t used to attacking and defending. It’s a whole new playing field, and it opens up your mind. Once you allow yourself to get in the zone and improvise, something in your reality changes.
When this happened to me, my performance (if you can call it that) doubled and everything I did flowed. There are many benefits you can derive from martial arts. I’ve always been fascinated by the psychological improvements that I have experienced.
Written on 4/16/2010 by Henri Junttila. Henri is addicted to living a free and passionate life. He runs the Wake Up Cloud, where he shows you how you can learn how to find your passion and live consciously.
How To Shape Your Lifestyle to Improve Your Fitness
Posted by SoMeOnE at 5:49 AM Labels: Health, How To
Fitness, in the past, has not been a big part of my life and I imagine that's true for many people reading this. I want that to change.
I don't like running out of breath, aching after minimal movement and not being able to do the things I want to do just because I'm not physically prepared for them. For the longest time I felt this was just who I was. I was the computer geek, someone who wasn't built for sports or to be fit and healthy.
The reason for this though wasn't because I had any physical impediments preventing me from participating in sports or working out. It was simply because I felt a disconnect between my lifestyle and fitness. The two categories seemed worlds apart. I've completely flipped that belief around.
There's still a long way to go before I consider myself "fit," but over the past few months I've been shaping my lifestyle to support fitness rather than trying to fit in a run or a few push ups in the deep recesses of boredom. It's a subtle shift with a big impact. Here are some of the tactics I'm using:
The world's greatest athletes didn't get to where they are by segmenting their life and fitness in two different boxes. You don't have to dedicate every waking hour to a healthier you, but it's obvious to see that forming a lifestyle that is conducive to fitness is far more powerful than trying to transplant the latest buzz-wordy routine into your day. Now, how are you going to shape your lifestyle to improve your fitness?
"Training" and "working out," while convenient descriptors bring up thoughts of slogging away at a gym for hours, feeling helpless and basically doing things you don't want to be doing. And that's why I say, don't train.
Starting a traditional training regimen has two fundamental flaws:
The approach I'm taking is much simpler. First, I chose one exercise that I loved: the pull up. It's a difficult exercise, but the technique is easy to pick up and for a skinny guy like myself it's quite powerful for building strength. Then, for the next 2 months, this is all I did. 100% of my focus went towards maintaining 2-3 sets of pull ups, 3 times per week. Now, at the 4-5 month mark I've also adopted doing floor presses with dumbbells, and am working them into my habits quite effortlessly.
Yes, this is essentially the same as regular training, but the key difference is that you progressively work towards forming fitness habits with the path of least resistance and tailor the habits to your specific goals and desires, as opposed to adopting a whole new set of routines in one swoop. Save the effort for when you lift weights or go for a run; the process of adopting the fitness lifestyle should be met with the utmost simplicity.
Why are you trying to improve your fitness? If you answered "Uh..." then don't worry, that's normal. You know you should improve your fitness, and you "get" the benefits, but you're not sure of that higher purpose to spark change in your life.
Say you're overweight and sit at home all day watching television. You've adapted to this lifestyle since it's comfortable - you're not going to want to do away with it unless there's a very compelling reason. Personally, I want to improve my fitness because I envision a life of travel and sports like kayaking and swimming, and these would be considerably more fulfilling if I was physically more capable.
Creating a purpose is difficult since there's so much choice in the world. So, don't be too concerned if it takes time to discover your reason why; just make sure that you do come up with one. Oh, and it helps if your purpose comes from within (such as wanting to be the best version of yourself) rather than based on external motivations (like how other people perceive you).
Everything that is holding your back from your fitness goals is "background resistance" that needs to be eliminated. For me spending too much time on the computer has been my biggest crux which I've made significant progress in overcoming with a little bit of patience mixed with pragmatism.
What is holding you back? Limiting beliefs? Lack of money? Distractions? Identifying these detractors sets you on the path to overcome them. Write them down on a piece of paper, prioritize them from most painful to least painful and set a plan to cut these detractors from your life.
Written on 3/18/2010 by David Turnbull. David is an ectomorph who writes about what it's like to live the life of a skinny guy. He's trying to defy his ectomorphic genes through strength training and eating copious amounts of food.