What is Health?

by Al Noeng

Health is a state of mind. There are unhealthy people who follow all of the experts’ instructions. There are healthy people who seem to break all the rules of healthy living. What is the difference? What is the reason?
The difference is attitude. Loving life and looking forward to the next experience can cancel out seemingly unhealthy practices. Fear and worry can cancel out seemingly healthy habits.
There are, of course, limits to what the human body can handle in terms of chemical and physical abuse, but many of the people who test these limits are amazingly healthy for amazingly long times before their abuse catches up with them. Unchecked abuse always eventually destroys people, though. The people who quit abusing themselves are a tribute to the resilience of the human body and the soul’s will to survive.
The will to survive, fascination with life, and a lack of fear are some of the things that are a part of an attitude that leads to a healthy life. These traits lead to satisfaction with life which leads to peace of mind which is essential to a healthy attitude. Peace of mind is the result of the knowledge of having done the best that a person is capable of, in spite of the limits of imperfection. Peace of mind is the key to mental and physical health.