Health

 Health as Responding toward Equilibrium – again and again and again…And Health as a Joyful use of energy.

Health can be thought of as an ever-changing state of balance.

We’re naturally responding to Life over and over again, just living the day, each moment, and yet moving in and out of what can feel like a sense of balance…at least that’s our biological goal – to be in a state of homeostasis/a feeling of equilibrium. We could also call this a feeling of being calm or centered. And from that physiological state of balance/calm, or lack of balance/calm, we do the next action, moving through the day mindfully or not. Our sensing of this idea/experience of balance is, of course, within the context of one’s own body, relationships, circumstances, environment…(In this constant inner change that we live all the time, we could think of “Health” more like a verb, than a noun. We’re sort of healthing all the time – awareness of this keeps us more mentally fluid with the ever changing nature of ourselves.)… Health is something we work on, or not – either way, good health tends to be a DEEP DESIRE, to BE HEALTHY, that is. The desire acts upon us, sometimes with clarity, sometimes with unconscious impulse. There’s a longing to be healthy, to feel good. From a yogic perspective, the highest state of health, of strength, of personal power, is a BALANCED state.  It’s a kind of calm equilibrium, perhaps more like ‘contentment’ vs the popular idea of happiness.  Thinking of happiness as fleeting, fickle, dependent on a cause (and of course a wonderful feeling), and contentment as substantive, steady, ‘with roots’ that keep growing.

Interrelationship

Calm Equilibrium is something one can feel emotionally, mentally, physically, even spiritually. These varying aspects of embodied equilibrium absolutely intertwine with each other in profound intimacy. To separate them is only to functionally tend to the living aspect of them in action or language in order to learn something or communicate, or focus on a specific ability. Skillful actions toward equilibrium -(such as meditation skills, realignment, flexibility, emotional release, core strength, time spent in places of sanctuary, walking barefoot, deep breathing, intellectual study, even tending to daily living tasks) – depending on how we do them, contribute to ‘health’ as a state of living balance that affects the interwoven parts of a person in a complex way. This is good. But more importantly, this is real.

So, our mindfulness that we employ, informs our lens of seeing, of seeing oneself as a creature of complex interrelationships’ between the parts of ourselves, and seeing thus, we tend to a unified self. We have ways of seeing the world, or any part of it, that is more primary than other lenses we may use. (For instance, we may choose to act with our lens of defensive driving as primary, while driving a car, and not so much our efficiency lens, or our ego lens, though they may still be present with us and our preferences.) So, we have many lenses of seeing. And it really matters that we make primary our ability to see ourselves as a whole, rather than as parts. And to see the parts in relation to each other, rather than as separate. This matters because then we are interacting with the natural and real complexity of life, consciously.  And this kind of ‘working with things as they are’, brings a patience, wisdom, and effectiveness into our living and choosing. 

Joyful use of energy

We may begin to be able to see (though we may know it instinctively already) that using our energy in Joyful ways offers health to our whole selves. Joy is a radiant, soak it in, experience, to your nervous system, to neural connections, to cellular cooperation… With this in mind and in this health exploration, we may need to redefine the experience of ‘Joy’ as we change and grow. We may also need to see a Joyful action as having some aspect to it that contributes to health, to balanced equilibrium. So in choosing a joyful use of our energy, we can notice how our choices either nurture or deplete our health. One communal aspect of this, is that as people witness joyful choices that build health for the chooser, they too can be empowered to choose joyfully for themselves. I think Joyful choosing, as an important use of energy for health, seems very obvious, but when I look at the state of our healthcare system, I don’t see joy as an actionable relevant factor in health plans when someone becomes ill. Perhaps the lens of Joy could become more of a primary lens. Celebrating life and sharing the feelings of how beautiful and precious life is, is a foundational, rooting element of wellbeing. 

What is deep joy made of  for you?

I support this as a valid inquiry, for your  contentment, for your healthy response toward equilibrium. AND here is an important piece, I also suggest that Joy needs to be accessible to the conditions available to the realities of our everyday lives, as they are, right now.  And that visions of change and dreams for the future, though very important, cannot be the basis for the Joy that brings health today. This is certainly where practices like meditation, self knowledge, embracing our tender hearts, embracing difficult feelings with compassion, radical acceptance, etc…all have a role in cultivating Deep, Life-enhancing Joy. Joy is of the tender heart, and so our tender hearts need to be held with care.

There is of course, so much more to this conversation. Hopefully though, this is a beginning. A reflection. How do I cultivate equilibrium, and make choices, right now, today, to use my energy joyfully, which could simply be my noticing of a bit of light shining through the window, a deeper breath, a thought of a loving moment, a stretch or a sip of tea,

in true presence.