Well balanced diet, smart food habits, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight suited to your height is considered being healthy. But that's just 60 percent of what contributes to good health. Over all wellness is about having a balanced system operating in our bodies that includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. When one of them goes out of balance, you become deeply affected. If you are undergoing stress due to negative people in your life, a demanding job, financial difficulties, marital crisis or child issues; if you are suffering from unhappiness, sorrow, anger issues, depression, well, all this can cause a dysfunction in your body. Negative emotions cause toxins to be released into your system, disrupting the mind-body-spirit relationships, causing illnesses. It's already been established that all sorts of allergies, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, depression are all lifestyle diseases threatening more people today than ever. It's even worse when all this happens along with eating high calorie, fat laden junk foods.
It surprises me how some people (a few I personally know) do everything they can to eat healthy and exercise, absolutely figure conscious, but they have neglected their emotional and mental aspects of their health. They look good from the outside, and miserable from the inside - highly strung, bitter, aggressive, rude, obnoxious, suffering from hypertension and depression and they have nothing good to say about life. Then there are others who are so overwhelmed with anxiety, they seek comfort in food, overeating, or eating junk food and putting on weight and feel helpless overtime. Another dangerous factor is falling prey to anti depressants and substance abuse to drown one's sorrow and pain like alcohol or drugs.
We are living in a beautiful technologically advanced world, but our deep emotions and needs are not met. We usually expect others to meet these demands. We depend on our spouses, children, colleagues, bosses, friends, relatives to interact, treat and deal with us fairly and in the manner we deem right. But the world doesn't function that way. It's never sunny all the time. Like the ever changing weather, we will always have challenges to meet, difficult people and relationship to handle, stressful days at work, losses and a period of time when things don't go the way we want. At the same time, when you examine your life, you would agree that there was always good and wonderful things happening as well, and good things will continue to happen for you and good people will keep coming into your life. It's the natural law of the universe, that there is a calm after the storm.
Feelings and emotions are never permanent. They keep changing according to your experiences. Never give up on trying and aiming for your dreams. Don't give up on people who are important to you. Disengage yourself from mean and toxic people you can do without. Don't be afraid to change that job if you are truly unhappy. Sometimes you have to hang in there with great faith...when things go rough. When you don't give up, life surprises you with great miracles and rewards for your efforts. When we learnt to accept life's imperfections and make a choice to not let people and events affect your mind, body and spirit in negative manner, appreciate your self and celebrate your existence, we come to peace within ourselves. Take up a new hobby or pursue a hobby that you used to once enjoy. Spend 5 to 10 minutes in meditation. It has a great calming effect. Make time to exercise three to five days a week. Exercise releases good hormones that contributes to your wellbeing. Share your joys and sorrows with trusted family or friends. The aim is to be 100 percent healthy to live a fulfilling life, in the midst of the good and in the midst of chaos. A lotus or lily never gets affected by the muddy water it grows in.
When I had this discussion with someone, she told me, 'you don't understand, we are humans, ofcourse we are affected by the negative events in our life'. But then again, because we are humans, we have a choice, whether we chose to be affected; choose to be a victim or a victor. Our attitudes and responses to the world around us can greatly affect our lives positively or negatively, make us sick or healthy.
