Mind, Body and Soul
“HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AWARENESS”
It is February and love is in the air. But don’t worry; this month’s blog will definitely not focus on Cupid, Eros or any of those heart-carrying, red cheeked entities promising eternal love and happiness! We will, however, focus on love – self-love, love for one’s mind, body, and spirit. After all, we are always with ourselves; we may as well love ourselves then.
February is also “Healthy Lifestyle Awareness” month, but what does it mean? We are bombarded by information on health – what to eat, drink, do, think, be and feel in order to be a better, more balanced, happier, zen etc etc etc individual. I often get tired just receiving these messages, never mind reading them and let alone trying any of the suggestions.
So, it seems that healthy lifestyle awareness is all around us; awareness is in the air, one might say…. What then is stopping us from living healthier? Yes, I know, most of us will probably be able to list a great many reasons, things, situations and people that are keeping us from nourishing our minds, bodies and souls. However, the greatest stumbling block is the “I”. Yip: Me myself and I.
The main problem it seems is our tendency to revert to negative thinking and language patterns – “I’m too tired…”, “This will take too long…”, “I’m too old…” However, research has shown that 90% of our long term happiness is not the external world but how my brain processes this external world.
This internal processing is also known as mindfulness. Mindfulness, however, is a very difficult concept to define. Nilsson and Kazemi (2016) (Review of General Psychology, 2016, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 183–193 ) attempted to help in this regard, by comparing 33 definitions of mindfulness.
Literature agrees that without mindfulness no lasting internal change is possible. Therefore, mindfulness is the core issue we need to address if we want to truly live a balanced and healthy life. To measure your own mindfulness, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire of Dr R. Baer can be completed using the link.
There you have it.
The only stumbling block to living healthier and wiser is myself – how I think and talk about myself to others and to myself (internally), as well as how I use my thinking and language to describe my world and my experiences; again to myself and others.
Practical Exercise: Focus in the next week on when and how you use the word “I”. Is it mostly in the negative? “I’m stupid”, “I knew it was too good to be true”, “I deserve this (bad)”. Awareness is often the first step to change.
To conclude I want to share the words of Dr Alastair McAlpine, a paediatric palliative care physician, who asked some of his young critically ill patients what gave them joy and meaning in life. From their responses he concluded: