Health is one of the core pillars of human life.
The majority of what we do is based on our need to feel well.
We alleviate suffering and pain by getting our needs met.
And when those needs do not get met, we aren’t well.
Let’s talk about what some needs are:
· Food and water
· Shelter
· Clean air
· A safe community and connection
· Sex
· Self-esteem and a feeling of progress and achievement
· Learning about and understanding the world
· Self-actualization, realizing our full potential, and creating meaning
· Self-transcendence and seeing beyond our ego
Understanding and prioritizing these needs is essential for achieving and maintaining good health and well-being.
It is important to note that these needs are interconnected and influence each other.
For example, not having access to clean air can impact our physical health and hinder our ability to learn and achieve self-actualization.
I find it interesting how little education we receive about wellness, what it is, and how important it is.
We commonly think that health can be boiled down to this simple formula:
Eating a good diet + Exercise
Wrong.
Human health is far more complex than this.
Is a Nazi who eats well and goes for his morning run healthy?
Abraham Maslow asks this question in his book "Toward a Psychology of Being".
Until I read that book, I never did much contemplation about human health.
He spoke about it so frequently in that book and used it to describe humans who were at higher levels of consciousness and psychological maturity.
A healthy human is one who has their basic survival needs met and is moving beyond them into self-actualization and self-transcendence.
Until that point, we are deficient in some need and must get it met.
Our attention and mind are dominated by the specific needs we have to get met and our level of consciousness.
If we lack food, we think about food.
If we lack connection, we feel isolated and lonely.
If we lack self-actualization, we feel disconnected from our authenticity, sense of purpose and meaning, and natural instincts.
If we lack self-esteem, we feel incompetent.
Every single need has a learnable set of skills that increase your capability of getting it met.
Example are:
· Relationship skills
· Self-restraint
· Taking control of your focus
· Proper meal preparation
· Self-awareness
· Emotional Intelligence
· Business and money skills
And a lot more.
The skills we learn and develop dictate how well we will get our needs met.
To clarify, we can get a need met, but how well are we getting it met?
We can get food, but how nutritious is it?
We can get water, but how clean and hydrating is it?
We can learn new things, but how accurate are our knowledge, wisdom, and understanding?
We can connect with people, but how deep is the connection, and are we being authentic?
So it isn’t enough to just get the need met.
We must ask ourselves how well the need is being met.
In order to truly prioritize our health, we must also take into account our mental and emotional needs.
This includes managing stress, dealing with trauma, and finding ways to cultivate joy, gratitude, and fulfillment in our lives.
By addressing all of our needs—physical, emotional, and psychological—we can achieve a state of optimal health and well-being.
We tend to think about our health in strictly physical ways and remain ignorant about the mental and emotional aspects.
Five examples of needs for a healthy mind are:
· Curiosity
· Creativity
· Autonomy
· Mastery
· Purpose
It takes quite a lot to be a healthy human.
This is something we must do every single day.
It isn’t enough to sit around, eat celery, and go for a run.
We need to reinvent:
· The way our workplaces operate
· Our relational patterns and how we treat each other
· How we think
· Our relationship with our difficult emotions
· The foods we consume
· How we exercise
· Our awareness of ourselves
And of course, far more.
I want to place a special emphasis on changing our awareness of ourselves.
"What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself."
Abraham Maslow
As humans, we tend to be very habitual and lack awareness.
We usually adopt some repetitive pattern and run with it.
Where these patterns exist are:
· In our own thinking
· Our relationship with difficult emotions
· How we organize our society
· Our workplaces
· Our relationship and attachment styles
When we get stuck in a routine, habit, pattern, system, or some form of organizing structure, it becomes hard to see outside of it.
From the point of view of being inside the system, it seems like just what life is.
It seems normal.
From the outside point of view, it seems like what it actually is.
An organizing structure that we orient ourselves around.
The way to break free of these patterns is to:
· Increase self-awareness.
· Do new things.
· Question our way of life and behaviours.
· Observe our moment-to-moment behaviours and actions.
In order to transform ourselves and live a healthy life, we must increase our awareness of ourselves on individual, relational, and collective levels.
Without a shift in consciousness, how will we see the patterns we are stuck in?
How will we see our self-imposed glass ceilings?
How will we see our stubbornness and resistance to changing any of this?
As we get stuck in a particular organizing structure, we just let our autopilot mode take over.
Our subconscious mind kicks in, and we don’t need to expend very much energy taking the actions we are taking.
Relatable examples of this include:
· Brushing our teeth
· Taking the same route to work every day
· Checking our phone first thing in the morning
· Eating the same meals every day
· Reacting to stress in the same ways
Of course, many of these routines are very innocent.
But many of the routines we have are not very innocent.
Many are lazy, complacent, and lacking in conscious creation, deep meaning, purpose, healing, and connection to others.
We must break free from these automatic patterns and consciously choose new ways of being in order to achieve optimal health and well-being.
Without actually realizing how robotic and mechanical we are, we stand no chance of truly increasing our awareness of ourselves and growing.
On top of this, we tend to be extremely stubborn about change.
We formed an identity and way of life out of our systems, and they became our comfort zone.
To challenge them feels like an attack that we need to defend ourselves from, especially if another person is doing the questioning.
To truly become as healthy as we can be, we must be willing to challenge our patterns and embrace change.
This can be extremely difficult.
Embracing change is a skill.
It is a trait that must be developed.
We can develop it by:
· Relaxing our physical body and tension when presented with new things
· Using our curiosity to explore
· Being open-minded and flexible
· Meditating and increasing self-awareness
· Consciously choosing new ways of being
· Being creative
· Continuously learning
· Committing to personal growth
· Becoming more resilient
Another way to develop it is by seeking out support from others through therapy, coaching, and talking to friends and family.
By embracing change and prioritizing our health, we can achieve a state of well-being that encompasses all aspects of our lives.
It takes effort, dedication, and commitment, but the rewards are worth it.
After all, we only have one life.
What other option is there?
To remain an unconscious animal?
To settle for mediocrity?
To ignore everything you just read and go back to sleep?
I’d recommend taking action on the information you’ve just read instead.
Start noticing how mechanical and familiar your life is.
Become aware of how you numb and distract yourself.
Find out what your life purpose is.
Create a creative project and work on it.
Use your awareness and attention to construct the self and life you desire.
You do not need to remain stuck in toxic patterns. You can change them.
Your mind is capable of creating such a radical degree of freedom by increasing your self-awareness.
Don’t fall asleep again.
Don’t numb yourself with endless entertainment.
Don’t sedate yourself with junk food.
Pursue personal growth, health, a meaningful career, and deep connections.
This is your only life we’re talking about.
Don’t waste it.
Sincerely
Lucas