“The way we live is directly attributable to the sky rocketing costs of health care.”  From a recent RAND study

What would you like your health to be like in six months?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.  (Rom. 12:1; NIV)

I’ve been thinking about health and wellness a good bit lately.  No, this is not a prelude to an announcement.  But I am learning that thinking about wellness is not something many people do…unless they are sick.  Even then, they aren’t really focused on wellness.  In fact, they are actually focusing on how to make their illness go away so that they can forget about their health once again.  Begins to remind me of that oft quoted definition of insanity.

I suppose it’s human nature, but we don’t think much about our toes, unless one or more of them is sore.  We don’t think about how much we need and use our thumb, unless it is sore.  Then it sticks out like a….  So I guess it’s natural to not think about being healthy, until we’re not.  That’s really tragic, though.  It is really so simple to dramatically improve our health if we would just practice a few (four actually) simple steps.  But more about that later.

Have you ever thought about the value (i.e., payback) of good health or wellness?  Probably not…for all the same reasons as above.  We’ve all got more important things to think about, right?  Well, I would like to propose that health adds value or brings benefits to every moment of our lives.  Beside to ourselves, health adds value to our families, to our friends, to our work, to our community, and to our country.  Overstatement?  Hype?  To answer that, turn the thought over and ask what are the consequences of not having good health? How about the consequences to your family?  To your friends.  To your work?  To your community?  And finally, to your country?  Something tells me that the consequences would feel far more significant if we were not so used to living with them on a daily basis.

First of all, what is wellness to you?  It’s probably different for you than it is for me.  A great coaching question is to ask yourself, “What would I like my health to be like in six months?”  To be valid, your answer must describe what you want to be or do…not what you want to be free from.  For some it might be to run a marathon.  For someone else, it might be to be able to walk to the mailbox to get the mail without getting winded.  There are probably as many short-term health goals as there are people to ask. 

Then ask yourself, “What would I like my health to be 20 years down the road?”  Think about how old you’ll be in 20 years and what would you like to be able to do when you’re that age.  Here again, everybody’s answer is going to be different, although there is likely to be some commonality, such as energy, stamina, mental acuity, flexibility, etc.

Then applying the creative process that we’ve been talking about for the last week or two, how would you describe your state of health right now, i.e., your current reality?  Do you find that comparing your desired future with your current reality motivates you to take some action that will move you toward your goal?  That’s structural tension that you’re feeling.

It’s my intention over the next several DG’s to briefly discuss those four simple steps that I promised you would dramatically improve your current reality–no matter how bad or how good that current reality is.  Interested?  See you on Wednesday.  Not interested?  Come back in a couple of weeks or so.  We’ll still be here–in fact, we’ll leave the porch light on for you.

BTW, last December (12/14), I wrote a DG entitled, “Wellness…What’s All the Fuss?”  I included a little assessment as the link because it’s been so long since most have experienced wellness (if ever) that they don’t really understand what it is.  I’m including that assessment again as today’s link because I believe it’s a great starting point for this little series.

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You that great health is Your best for us.  We thank You that You have made it possible for us to move toward great health with a few simple lifestyle changes.  We ask that You grant us the grace to begin to make those changes and realize the blessings that come from a healthy body.

Link of the Day
Wellness Assessment

Blessings on you as you make the decision to become pro active regarding your health.