What is your ideal health destination?
Clarity is important
All journeys are similar. They require getting clear on your destination and where you’re starting from, which makes everything else in between so much easier. The good thing is you don’t have to have all the answers before you start.
You need to just start moving so that you can begin to identify the strategies, skills, tools, and support that you will need to get to your desired destination.
Your health journey will require your willingness to learn, to grow, to trust your intuition, and to trust the process; And yes, it is okay to learn as you go. Don’t allow overthinking or analysis paralysis to keep you stuck, because sometimes we just ruminate over and over in our minds on what we need to do and end up doing nothing at all.
Many of us strive to be healthy, but do we clearly understand what being healthy means? Health can mean different things to different people, but before you can comprehend where your journey will lead you, you must first understand what health is.
What does being healthy mean to and for you? You need to consider things such as: Your age, the type of condition you have and how long you have had it, your health history, and your mindset, because all of these will play a role in what good health means to you!
Wait a second…
I really want you to take a moment, stop reading if you need to, and jot down a few ideas about what your current definition of health is. Review your definition. Did you focus on symptoms or general well-being? Did you focus on what you can or cannot do? Did you make it about lifestyle or physical activities?
Now, put your definition aside for a moment while I share a few definitions with you. Here’s the first one:
- According to the World Health Organization, “health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
- Here’s another one, according to Merriam Webster, “health is the condition of being sound in mind, body or spirit, especially freedom from physical disease or pain; the general condition of the body; a condition in which someone or something is thriving or doing well: WELL-BEING; general condition or state.
Now, these aren’t my definitions! We’ve already established that the meaning of health differs depending on who is asked, but these definitions are quite vague in my opinion. Both definitions of health are more disease focused and defines health as an absence of disease or as the state of being free from illness and injury.
So pretty much, they are saying- if you are symptom free and disease free, you are healthy.
That is far from the truth! You cannot determine your health by the symptoms you have. Being symptom-free does not mean healthy!
What do you think of these definitions? How do they compare to yours?
Symptom suppression isn’t the solution
I believe it is fair to say that most of us do or did believe that our health is based on our general well-being and the amount or lack of symptoms we have; Unfortunately, this is because our current healthcare system has taught us how to embrace this definition of health.
It has been narrowed down to symptoms and physical appearance. It has taught us how to manage and live with our symptoms instead of understanding how to heal.
Symptoms can be common, but they are not normal, and if you have any symptom, (suppressed or not) it means your body is not functioning correctly. Your body is not coping with stress. Your body is breaking down.
Don’t suppress the headache. You need to figure out why you have the headache! Was it a food sensitivity? Dehydration? Malnutrition? Lack of sleep? Healing occurs when you get to the underlying cause of your headache or any other condition. You need to uncover the imbalance and correct it, not ignore it or suppress it.
You can even be unhealthy and have no apparent symptoms. In fact, there are usually no symptoms of the underlying disease of the blood vessels. A heart attack or stroke may be the first warning sign of underlying disease!
We have been conditioned to depend on others to look after our well-being. Most health systems fail to incorporate wholeness. They try to adopt one or two elements, such as diet and exercise, and not the rest. You cannot attain whole health by diet or exercise alone.
Take back control. The ideal health destination is wholeness!
The word “health” originates from the old English word, “hal”. This root word is related to wholeness, “a being whole”, “sound or well”, “entire”, “whole”.
With wholeness, there is soundness of body and mind. Instead of wholeness, health has been reduced to quantifiable health metrics, such as body mass index, cholesterol levels, blood pressure readings, and resting heart rate; We need to put the “whole” back in health. We put more focus on avoiding the effects of escaping disease instead of promoting life-long health.
We’ll take a blood pressure pill to avoid a heart attack, but won’t change our toxic habits. We cannot keep relying on these medications to cover up our bad habits. Eating nourishing foods, seeking fresh air, drinking clean water, getting sufficient rest and exercise is taken as an inconvenience or a burden and that holds many of us back from the ideal health we claim to want.
Healthy decisions lead to a healthy life. Unhealthy decisions lead to an unhealthy life. PERIOD. It’s time to change the paradigm and get back to wholeness. It’s time to redefine our definition of health.
Mental Note: (Don’t forget)
- There is a true way to achieving the health you desire.
- There is a way to get healthy, to stay healthy, and to age gracefully.
We just got to get back to obeying the natural laws. Disease is the result of violating these laws. Nourishing food, fresh air, clean water, rest, sleep, cleanliness, exercise, physical and mental soundness, are all essential for a healthy life. Taking away one or more of these can lead to disease.
Takeaways
- Being symptom-free does not mean healthy
- Rewriting your health definition is the start of rewriting your story
- If your definition of health is about wholeness and being of sound mind and body, you will take more of a holistic lifestyle approach and addressing all areas of your life
Let’s discuss about how I can help you get to your ideal health destination. Request a free 45-minute Breakthrough Call. CLICK HERE to get on my schedule.
Until next time, go out there and achieve more freedom in your health and your life!
Dr. Leona
