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Health is the foundational piece of existence that we seem to take for granted the most. That is, until our lack of health begins to present itself. We often don’t think about the common cold, or preventing the cold…until we have the cold. Most of us don’t live our lives trying to prevent disease…but we do absolutely everything at hand when we’re confronted with the fact that we may now have it. Proactive behavior goes such a long way…and seems to be the most effective way to live with good health.

Mental health is a large facet of overall health. It’s become more relevant and present in recent times…especially in the news and political sphere when discussing criminals….murderers and terrorists in particular.  I used to think of mental illness ass ‘what some other unfortunate people have to deal with.’ I’ve come to understand though, that we’re all on a scale…but no one is actually at zero in all areas. No one is perfectly healthy. Just as within physical health, we all have small ailments here and there…sickness comes and goes…it’s similar with mental health. We all seem to have a little of this, a little of that. Some more than others. We all find ourselves with anxiety at times.  Depression seems hard to define at particularly low levels, but we all feel ‘down’ at times…we all have bad days.

Health is all about balance. If we break down physical and mental health into 10 categories (5 categories in each), we can see how important that balance is. Scoring low in particular areas has an effect on the entirety of your existence. Score yourself on the following quiz, rating 0-5 for each category. 0 is not healthy at all. 5 is the healthiest you can be.

 

Physical health

Gastrointestinal __

Strength/Flexibility/agility __

Adaptability (your bodies ability to function in different environments __

Cardiovascular __

Immune system __

 

Mental Health

Anxiety __

happiness/mood __

Fulfillment/purpose/meaning __

Impulsivity __

Fear __

 

Total score (out of 50) ___

 

It should go without saying…but I’m no doctor, and just created this quiz with quick thoughts to somewhat score my own overall health. Take it with a grain of salt. Or without!

 

‘God is that which transcends our knowledge,’ is a line I recently heard a fellow named Jordan Peterson say in an interview.  I’ve been trying to think about this a lot lately…the idea of God and religion. When I heard this line, I at first felt that it told me that I’m not able to figure God out…because it’s/he’s above my intellectual ability to comprehend.  I do feel that that is partly the case. However, that’s just taking the easy way out…ignorance is bliss almost. And, I believe that it’s my responsibility to at least have a better grasp of religion…specifically Christianity, and that God.  Since humans created the idea of God, I think it’s in my grasp to understand.  I guess some would argue that God created the idea of humans. But I’m just not there. Maybe I will be after more time studying and researching.  I’ll speak to this topic from my perspective, and considering what I believe and understand now. And by no means do I mean to offend others through this.  I think what Peterson was getting at is that God is without flaw…and sin. And God (or Jesus) willingly took on the sin and suffering of all others. That voluntary undertaking of suffering…that flawless way of being…seems to ‘transcend our knowledge’.  

We as humans are flawed in nature.  We come up short in many ways. And we are mortal.  We sin…which as I spoke about in yesterday’s writing, means that we ‘miss the mark’.  Why is that? Maybe it’s the what the Taoists think of as yin and yang. It’s the balance between order and chaos.  Part of us is good, right, and alive…constantly learning and growing…while the other part is bad, wrong, and dying off.  On a much smaller scale than God, we are capable of willingly taking on suffering and moving forward into are lives. But we are still flawed in nature trying to do so.  This is actually a beautiful connection that we all have as humans. I can say that I am flawed. I am not all that I could be. I am not living up to my utmost and fullest potential.  Can you say differently? I’m not sure that any human can. In this way, we are all coming up a bit short. And as the Buddhists would say in the first of their 4 Noble Truths, ‘Life is Suffering’.  The word ‘suffering’ doesn’t seem to be a literal translation into English, and it’s more helpful for me at least to think of it in terms of stress, chaos, impermanent…temporary.

It is not in my own belief that there is an omniscient being of God, looking down on us from heaven.  I don’t live and understand life as though there is a somewhat ghostly Father figure present. In that way, I don’t believe in God.  However, looking back and wrestling with these ideas of religion, and considering how they’ve affected and influenced the amount of humans that they have…through love and war…and the fact that these ideas have been created, recorded and carried through time by billions of humans…I can’t just simply brush it all away, thinking, ‘all that is meaningless because I don’t believe in God’.  That’s lazy.  It’s ignorant.  I and we are more sophisticated than that.   

In the early stages of humanity, we came up against the idea of right and wrong…or good and evil.  We figured out over time what those meant, and the sources and consequences of acting out particular behaviors…the results of having particular thoughts.  We developed ethical and moral principles based on these findings or understandings. The Bible seems to be full of stories that very effectively illustrate those principals.  I admit that I am very limited in my knowledge of religions…and of Christianity and the Bible. Like I said, I have more work to do there.

But I do hold in very high esteem these ideas of right and wrong…good and evil.  I do feel that it’s our responsibility to willingly and voluntarily try to live the right way…try to be good…live with truth, and integrity.  I do believe in ‘karma’…although I don’t necessarily like the term. Simply put, I believe the good or bad energy you put out there, in a sense returns to you in some way…probably in some unrelated manifestation.  In that way, I do believe in The Path, as the Taoists believe. I do believe in trying to live with less suffering, chaos, stress…as the Buddhists believe. So in that way, I believe perhaps as Christians would, to try to live as Jesus would…doing the right thing, choosing good over evil, loving thy neighbor…doing unto others as you would have them do onto you.

I guess I can gather and appreciate and use all of that without a necessary God.  I can see how some religious people would be saying right now, ‘no idiot…that IS God!’  I can see how you may believe that this idea of good and bad, right and wrong began with God, and that I can’t have one without the other.  I see your point. I appreciate it and respect your perspective. I’m just not there. I think it’s worth mentioning again that I don’t mean to offend anyone with this piece.  I’m just a man seeking out meaning and purpose. I don’t propose that my way is better than your way. I’m not naive enough to think that I’ve ‘figured this out’. Thank you for your understanding.   

 

I’m intrigued by the idea of choices.  Lately, I’ve been structuring my thoughts around choices more so through the idea of ‘paths’.  I like this metaphor because when you make a choice, you are starting down a path that is somewhat unlike that one you’d be on…had you made a different choice.  

Let’s say you and your spouse are deciding on dinner tonight.  This is a very common, and seemingly trivial choice that many of us make often.  Your partner votes for pizza…but for some reason, you’re really insisting on tacos.  You just feel the urge. You want the tacos. No big deal or argument from your spouse.  You get your choice. You chose this ‘path’ for dinner. I think of this moment as a significant crossroads of sorts, and one that will obviously now dictate your future.  

You are now going to drive to the supermarket, pick up all of the accoutrements pertaining to tacos.  There is that life that is now going to happen.  It’s going to change the projection of the rest of your life.  The geographic movement…the timing of it all…the people that you’ll see…the amount of money that you’ll spend…are just some of the things that will be different than your other choice.  It doesn’t seem so trivial of a choice anymore. Considering what happens because of this new path, that tiny dinner decision could become monumental. Sorry to be mean and morbid, but you could die in a car accident on the way there!  Pizza delivery sounds much better than that. Ok, let’s not go that far…even though that is an unfortunate reality. You could see your long lost friend from high school. It could lead to a renewed kinship that lasts forever. You might discover the best black beans with jalapenos…a food that you eat weekly for the rest of your life.  A discovery that brings you a little lifelong happiness and fulfillment. And because of all of this, you’re on a new path. According to the writing I did yesterday…your ‘perspective’ is certainly different now.

The other side of this coin is…what didn’t you do?  Well, you didn’t get pizza delivery.  What did you miss out on there? What path are you not on now because of your choice?  If you’re in business, this is the ‘opportunity cost’ idea.  It’s what you can’t do, or what you aren’t doing, because of what you chose to do.  This could be regretful information or negative thinking. It could also be confirming and positive information.  Maybe you’re so happy that you didn’t order pizza. You’re solid and proud of the choice you made. No second guessing.  No regrets. That’s a great feeling.

Remember though, the pizza worker you spoke to on the phone could have been that long lost friend.  The delivery driver could have been too! Remember, there is no option of you getting in a car accident with the pizza delivery option.  So…shouldn’t you second guess all of this???

No way.  Move forward into the world with confidence and conviction.  Go ‘all in’ to more of your choices. Be quicker in your choice-making process…and then commit to the choice you made.  Even try both choices when that is an option…when it’s not counter-intuitive. Do more. It will give you more data to learn from.  Living like this will encourage you to create the life you want to live. By being grateful for what you have (and the choices that you made), you create more of a positive purpose and meaningful existence.  

Sure, there are choices that you made that didn’t turn out so well. Those are to be appreciated too. They exposed you to what you now know as ‘what not to do’. They helped you discover what it is that you are passionate about now.  You can now define yourself more effectively. ‘I am this. I am not that anymore,’ or maybe, ‘I never was that.’ Those are good things to know. I don’t think that it’s often enough that we (or at least I), check in with ourselves to find out who it is we really are.  What do I believe in? What don’t I believe in? What principals to I want to follow? And how do I act in accordance with those principals. I’m going to try to do that more often.

What’s interesting about the option or choice that you don’t choose is that…well, you’ll never know all of the information about that choice.  You can weigh pros and cons about your two options up front, but you can’t look back and know everything about what that other experience might have been.  You chose tacos. You can’t know how pizza would have gone. That’s another reason to not dwell and give energy to ‘what you might have done’. Again, move forward with conviction.  Choose, and go.

I suppose another option for our choices is to NOT choose.  For the most part, I disagree with this option and don’t recommend it.  I believe too many of us sit with worry and wonder, but also with desire and passion.  We have a couple of options, but we are too worried to choose either, because of how we’ll be judged by others…maybe because of a worst-case-scenario you’ve constructed in your mind.  Of course there are some occasions where it’s beneficial to NOT choose…or you could say, choose not to choose. It’s still a decision, and maybe the correct one. But I believe that more often, we benefit from choosing with that conviction.  

If you’re lacking conviction within your decisions, this quote might help.  It’s by Paulo Coelho, in his novel (one of my favorite books), The Alchemist.  In the story, he writes, ‘And when you want something, the universe conspires to help you achieve it.’  It describes how when you’re passionate about something, or when you decide…when you make a choice, whatever that may be…the world will then help you to see that through.  Think about this, and try to notice where it’s happening for you. It’s a very powerful and optimistic theory. I love it. And it helps me recognize the possibility and potential of my existence.  It helps me recognize yours.

Each day this month, I’m going to try to write on a given topic.  It’s really a journal entry of sorts, but I’ve selected the prompts ahead of time.  Hope you enjoy!

Perspective

Perspective is how we see the world.  From what angle…and with what judgments?  And perspective is shaped and skewed by our own personal experiences.  For example, when I’m looking at the bluebird perched on top of birdhouse out my picture window, I’m taking that scene in and defining it for myself based on my prior experiences, and based on my current situation as well, based on my feelings, opinions, and judgments, based on my understanding of the world and of that bird.  What I see…and my perspective…has everything to do with where I’m sitting now. There isn’t another person with the same previous experiences as me. And no one is sitting exactly where I’m sitting. Therefore, our perspective will always be varying with others.

It’s very helpful though, or at least it has been helpful for me and seems to be helpful for others… to try to see things from other perspectives.  By attempting to see how others see, we can gather a fuller picture, more of a 3D image per se…one which we have a deeper understanding of. We realize that the bluebird with it’s back to us, isn’t simply made up by the kobalt blue color…but it’s breast contains deep burgandies and browns…and rust.  We realize that it’s a male. And we see that he’s guarding the hatchlings within the box below, from the swallows swarming above.

Holding onto and keeping our own limited perspective is therefore a very ‘narrow’ way to live.  When we open ourselves up to how others see things, we expose ourselves to more of what the world has to offer. We grow more empathy.  We don’t just ‘feel bad’ when we see adversity for others…we’re able to identify with what we see. We’re able to somewhat walk in the shoes of others, appreciating a more broad expanse of the human experience. It’s more realistic.  And it’s actually a more fulfilled life.

Our perspective is seeing. And seeing is ‘aiming’. It’s pointing and guiding our vision in a particular direction.  A significant distinguishing trait between us humans and our related chimps before us, and all other species around us is in fact our ability to aim. In particular, it’s our ability to aim and throw, which at the early stages of hunting and gathering, we can understand how effective of a utility that would be.  We could throw rocks at our prey. Then shoot arrows. Then propel bullets through a gun. All based on seeing, aiming, throwing. This allowed us to obtain food more efficiently, and consequently grow physically as individuals. More pertinent to this conversation though, is how it allowed us to diversify our energy, applying it to areas ‘other’ than ourselves…like family, community, society. Of course there are other factors within that diversification and development. But we shouldn’t underestimate the sovereignty that seeing and aiming has provided us. And as much as that has allowed us to hunt down (and kill) animals to eat, it has ironically and paradoxically employed us with the ability to understand, help, and save or protect other beings. 

Considering this ability to see, aim, empathize, and use a broad range of perspectives, we have some good tools in our kit, useful in passing the world off to the next generation in the best shape possible. This is our responsibility as humans. In other words, we owe it to our ancestors, ourselves, and our future citizens…to make the world a better place.  And whatever ‘perspective’ you have, is the truest and most effective one to use for moving the world  forward.  It’s so awesome to think how you are the result of all of the evolutionary growth and knowledge of the family tree behind you. You are a condensed version of them…and what they accomplished, what they created. And you are the highest intellectual form of…the most sophisticated and innovative form of…all who came before you. All of that led to you. So powerful.

Don’t take your responsibility lightly.  Don’t take your ‘perspective’ lightly. The way that future generations will accept the world in part rests on how you hand it off to them. Gather the perspectives of others by using gratitude and empathy…and humility. Attempt to understand that your perspective matters so very much.  It’s the hand you can play. In contrast to that, realize that your own perspective is almost meaningless and small. Again…this is why we need to consider others during this monumental undertaking and responsibility.  

An interesting note to close…I’m not much a religious person, but I am doing my best to learn and take in a new perspective within theology.  It can’t be ignored considering it’s strong influence throughout the time of humanity. So, I’m going to end with the idea of ‘sinning’. The literal translation of the word sin, is ‘to miss the mark’. It’s interesting to realize how close that definition is…how related it is to a lack of seeing, aiming, using our perspectives, and considering others.  Let’s not sin. Let’s broaden our perspectives. Let’s use them accordingly. Let’s hit the mark.

Verse 1:
Waited all morning, you never appeared
and a dream last night made it all so clear
So the sun cast lines on my windowsill
where I sit within, my heart sits still

Your shoulder so soft, took the pain away
but a heart so cold gives it back to me
A sleight of hand would keep you close
As the rainfall bleeds, as the river flows

pre-chorus:  And now it’s clear that I served you wrong…

Chorus:
Growing up isn’t counting days
It’s gold-plated china, it’s paper plates
We’re getting wise, not getting old
on a box of red wine, there’s glitter and gold

Verse 2:
The hunger pains came to Chapel Hill
Tobacco Road burned like a paper hill
A plastic cup became a travel mug
As the ashes stuck to moonlit mud

The road turned west through the Piney flats
Those words you said turned my gray to black
Now the well’s run dry in this tight-fisted town
But water flows freely where freedom is found

pre-chorus:  And now it’s clear that I served you wrong…

Chorus:
Growing up isn’t counting days
It’s gold-plated china, it’s paper plates
We’re getting wise, not getting old
on a box of red wine, there’s a story told

Bridge:
You can find hope through working with your hands
You can find fault in others who wouldn’t understand
There’s a story told with wood and steel
Isn’t that innocent, innocent, innocent? (crescendo)

pre-chorus:  And now it’s clear that I served you wrong…

Chorus:
Growing up isn’t counting days
It’s gold-plated china, it’s paper plates
We’re getting wise, not getting old
on a box of red wine, there’s glitter and gold