Blog by Tania
The first few months of the new year often get us thinking about our goals–more specifically, our health goals. It’s often high on the list. Yet, the attrition rate of newly acquired gym memberships are not as high. The misalignment of goals with action leads me to question: what exactly does “being healthy” mean to people?
How do we want to feel, look, and live in our daily lives? Those are the three primary motivations.
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what helps you come alive and go do it….because what the world needs is PEOPLE who come alive. — Howard Thurman
I tend to view the world from the inside out. I realize how that sounds: self-involved, egocentric, self-serving, narcissistic, etc, etc. However, it’s quite the opposite. I recently read an article about people who experience the world in this manner. The article detailed that what they are really doing is tapping into their FEELINGS of the type of person they want to be. So, what type of coach/partner/friend/daughter/woman am I or do I want to be?
If I perceive the world from the inside, then I am motivated by, and capture the feeling of, success; the feeling of living longer, the feeling of freedom, the feeling of happiness, the feeling of…well, you get the idea. What happens when I don’t feel these gooey, awesome, positive feelings? The experience is uncomfortable. It’s really just my ego running wild…….with no pants on……in -30 degree Celcius cold Canadian weather. Fear, anger, and sadness arise. Then, I ask myself:
How can I translate all these negative emotions in a positive way?
We have full control over the feelings we want to feel and the life we want to have or live and experience. So, to tie this all together, our quest and query for a healthy lifestyle could be somewhere along the lines of: What is the feeling we want to experience in order to attain (or maintain) a healthy life or fitness goal? I decided to take a random but very tiny (and maybe scientifically insignificant) poll, from a couple of folks who taught me their version of healthy–my parents. For my dad, being healthy means “living life”, which is a “combination of [whole, organic] foods and exercise–you can’t have one without the other”. Wise words! For my mom, being healthy means “living a life that is pain free and disease free”.
Being healthy is whatever we want to feel, whatever we want to experience, whatever we set our mind to, and whatever we desire. We all have a vision of what we want for the world or what it needs. Being alive and healthy is a pretty good start.
