Certainly, we see health at its extremes these days. A woman can be in her 20s and in good health, but then she looks at Instagram models and feels inadequate. She can spend hundreds of dollars to adjust her diet and achieve a look that was brushed up by a filter.
For men, maybe no matter how hard they workout, their genetics don’t allow them to have a six pack, and they’re considering plastic surgery to add the definition they want to their body.
I think we also have to consider health as a balance of the mind, body and soul. For example, we can pray a lot but then sit on the couch in front of blaring TV all day.
We’ve gotten to the point in history where we can literally modify our bodies and decide how we want to look. On the other end of the spectrum, we can decide that it’s all too hard and indulge in whatever we want, whenever we want.
I think health also is relative to our age and what we’re living through. My sister was 15 when she was diagnosed with lupus – a disease that put her body in an excelled state of deterioration. By the time she was 25, her doctor told her she was living with symptoms of an 80-year-old person, like rheumatoid arthritis and connective tissue disorder.
How do we define good health and achieve balance within a diagnosis like that?
I think we also have to consider health as a balance of the mind, body and soul. For example, we can pray a lot but then sit on the couch in front of blaring TV all day.
Our brains need to remain active, especially as we age. But we also need to allow our brains to rest. Sometimes balance means taking a break from the bleak news cycle.
For our bodies, I think there is a place of balance as well. We can be conscious about what we eat and how we move without starving ourselves or abusing our bodies with excessive exercise.
In the United States, we seem to separate our soul, our beliefs and our religion from our everyday life. In other cultures, your religion is with you no matter where you are. It defines you in how you react and how you eat food. But Americans tend to leave our souls at the door and don’t talk about religion in certain places.
For those of us that believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, I think our beliefs and the health of our soul should drive the other aspects of our life even more. Personally, I believe that God would want us to be healthy so that we could do the work that he has called us to do here on earth.
How do you balance the health of your mind, body and soul?
At Heart2Heart, we believe in supporting the mind, body and soul of the seniors we serve. As a volunteer, you can feed the body, nourish the soul or keep the mind of a senior engaged. We invite you to join us!
