Of all of the things we do, how important is fitness? Is it as important as going to church, or to work? Is "right up there" with those; or is it less, like possibly going to a sporting event? Could we get along with it?
Before any of these questions are answered, there needs to be an understanding of what fitness is. Fitness is "a state of good health, generally the result of exercise and nutrition," so says Wikipedia. That is, "a state of physical, mental and social well-being." Most of us would have no trouble with any of that as it points toward how we want to think, feel, and act--not just now and then, but all of the time.
So, how important is fitness to us? People who are into it say that it is first and foremost. It is on our minds when we get up, and it is there throughout the day. That is because we want to live our lives to the fullest possible extent. That means doing so when alone and with others. We want those feelings of expecting to fully live until we die, always open to those whom we care about, and being forever ready to do whatever our lives may demand. To think, feel and act otherwise is indicative of being ill.
If we accept all that, it becomes only reasonable to do whatever we must to make this happen. However, far too many of us do not know what we can do to actually make that happen. Rather, we live in a state of blind trust, expecting that having no bad habits and going through our daily responsibilities will keep things "as good as they can get.." The thought of anything more than this is only for the rich and famous, or possibly some real life version of Peter Pan.
Even though we live in the wake of the fitness revolution, launched over eighty years ago by the late Jack Lalanne, we really do not realize that there is more to being healthy than simply passing our annual check- ups. We seem to accept that life gets harder as we age--that it becomes less fun with the passage of birthdays, and that the best we can expect is to just remember what life was like "back in the day.". Those were the "golden days of high school and college, when life was fun and free."
Few of us are aware that those times can still be there for us, even as we age. Rather, we act as if programmed to accept the decline of good feelings and human effectiveness-- anticipating the retirement community, assisted living facility, and beyond. Indeed, gracious acceptance of these is glorified as the epitome of maturity. To even think otherwise or hope for more is considered immature or indicative of a need of counseling.
A fitness lifestyle can be the answer to our unspoken desires., It instills and maintains feelings of optimism and positive regard. That means it enables us to look forward to the good things we do and the people we interact with. In other words, it takes the drudgery and boredom out of our jobs and personal lives. This is much like getting a raise everyday or always winning at poker. Those same feelings can be in our present times, everyday of the week, When they are, they make everything in our lives go more smoothly.
What most of us do not realize is that these feelings are under our control. We need not wait for them as a result of some external event. We can cause them to occur just by doing what a fitness lifestyle demands. That is to say, as a result of eating right, supplementing properly and never missing a daily workout, we can enable ourselves to feel the way we did in our late teens and early twenties. How can that not be absolutely crucial for all of us?
As adults, we are expected to perform certain functions for the good of others. It is assumed that doing so will meet our needs in every way, most basically by getting a paycheck. This enables us to pay the household bills and thereby derive whatever happiness we can from our families and home. This is right and good, but the process is expected to be be hard, burdensome. That is why the retirement carrot is always held in front of us, the donkeys. We are made to believe that we just need to keep pulling the cart to get our reward. (If only we would be young enough at sixty-five to enjoy it!)
The MD's function in all of this is to make sure that we keep on pulling as is expected--until we are supposedly too old to pull anything anymore. Their advice to get us there is to : 1.) eat cautiously; 2.) rest often; and 3.) sleep well, always staying clear of obvious bad habits. Accepting this advice and faithfully living in light of it is the essence of maturity and gets us thought of as a real person.
All of that is good, but is not as good as it can get. A life of ; 1.)low fat low sugar dieting. 2.) adequate supplementation; and 3.)faithful daily exercise will make life even better for us, and everyone else in our lives. But it will never do that if it is in the same category as sporting events frequented now and then, to say nothing of church on Sunday along with one or two of it's weekly meetings. Fitness cannot be that much of a "once in a while" activity to work. If it is, it will never make our lives like they were "back in the day."
Rather, fitness has to be primary--even more so than our jobs or careers, if they are of the five day a week variety. Fitness needs to be more essential--like the brushing of our teeth. That is something we would never think of leaving the house without doing. Why? Because we know what good can come of it. Too, we know what bad can come from not doing it.
Fitness is, or ought to be, just like that. It needs to come before everything else that we do. That is because it enables everything else to go better. Never missing at doing it will enable us "to be all that we can be" and keep us from the bad that comes from living in the standard American way.
For further thought on the importance of fitness order my ebook "Think and Grow Fit."
Before any of these questions are answered, there needs to be an understanding of what fitness is. Fitness is "a state of good health, generally the result of exercise and nutrition," so says Wikipedia. That is, "a state of physical, mental and social well-being." Most of us would have no trouble with any of that as it points toward how we want to think, feel, and act--not just now and then, but all of the time.
So, how important is fitness to us? People who are into it say that it is first and foremost. It is on our minds when we get up, and it is there throughout the day. That is because we want to live our lives to the fullest possible extent. That means doing so when alone and with others. We want those feelings of expecting to fully live until we die, always open to those whom we care about, and being forever ready to do whatever our lives may demand. To think, feel and act otherwise is indicative of being ill.
If we accept all that, it becomes only reasonable to do whatever we must to make this happen. However, far too many of us do not know what we can do to actually make that happen. Rather, we live in a state of blind trust, expecting that having no bad habits and going through our daily responsibilities will keep things "as good as they can get.." The thought of anything more than this is only for the rich and famous, or possibly some real life version of Peter Pan.
Even though we live in the wake of the fitness revolution, launched over eighty years ago by the late Jack Lalanne, we really do not realize that there is more to being healthy than simply passing our annual check- ups. We seem to accept that life gets harder as we age--that it becomes less fun with the passage of birthdays, and that the best we can expect is to just remember what life was like "back in the day.". Those were the "golden days of high school and college, when life was fun and free."
Few of us are aware that those times can still be there for us, even as we age. Rather, we act as if programmed to accept the decline of good feelings and human effectiveness-- anticipating the retirement community, assisted living facility, and beyond. Indeed, gracious acceptance of these is glorified as the epitome of maturity. To even think otherwise or hope for more is considered immature or indicative of a need of counseling.
A fitness lifestyle can be the answer to our unspoken desires., It instills and maintains feelings of optimism and positive regard. That means it enables us to look forward to the good things we do and the people we interact with. In other words, it takes the drudgery and boredom out of our jobs and personal lives. This is much like getting a raise everyday or always winning at poker. Those same feelings can be in our present times, everyday of the week, When they are, they make everything in our lives go more smoothly.
What most of us do not realize is that these feelings are under our control. We need not wait for them as a result of some external event. We can cause them to occur just by doing what a fitness lifestyle demands. That is to say, as a result of eating right, supplementing properly and never missing a daily workout, we can enable ourselves to feel the way we did in our late teens and early twenties. How can that not be absolutely crucial for all of us?
As adults, we are expected to perform certain functions for the good of others. It is assumed that doing so will meet our needs in every way, most basically by getting a paycheck. This enables us to pay the household bills and thereby derive whatever happiness we can from our families and home. This is right and good, but the process is expected to be be hard, burdensome. That is why the retirement carrot is always held in front of us, the donkeys. We are made to believe that we just need to keep pulling the cart to get our reward. (If only we would be young enough at sixty-five to enjoy it!)
The MD's function in all of this is to make sure that we keep on pulling as is expected--until we are supposedly too old to pull anything anymore. Their advice to get us there is to : 1.) eat cautiously; 2.) rest often; and 3.) sleep well, always staying clear of obvious bad habits. Accepting this advice and faithfully living in light of it is the essence of maturity and gets us thought of as a real person.
All of that is good, but is not as good as it can get. A life of ; 1.)low fat low sugar dieting. 2.) adequate supplementation; and 3.)faithful daily exercise will make life even better for us, and everyone else in our lives. But it will never do that if it is in the same category as sporting events frequented now and then, to say nothing of church on Sunday along with one or two of it's weekly meetings. Fitness cannot be that much of a "once in a while" activity to work. If it is, it will never make our lives like they were "back in the day."
Rather, fitness has to be primary--even more so than our jobs or careers, if they are of the five day a week variety. Fitness needs to be more essential--like the brushing of our teeth. That is something we would never think of leaving the house without doing. Why? Because we know what good can come of it. Too, we know what bad can come from not doing it.
Fitness is, or ought to be, just like that. It needs to come before everything else that we do. That is because it enables everything else to go better. Never missing at doing it will enable us "to be all that we can be" and keep us from the bad that comes from living in the standard American way.
For further thought on the importance of fitness order my ebook "Think and Grow Fit."
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