Life is a Treasure of contentment and gratification. Life is a Bundle of Troubles and Tribulations, too! The perception of life depends upon the status of your mind and health!
The term ‘health’ implies mental or psychological, spiritual, and physical health of an individual. Research shows that physical inactivity can cause premature death, chronic disease and disability. Health Canada encourages Canadians to integrate physical activity into their everyday life; at home, at school, at work, at play and on the way, that’s active living. We all are aware of the relation between staying active and staying healthy to live a happy, healthy life.
In my earlier years of life, if somebody were to ask me how I planned on staying healthy throughout the year, my mind would immediately jump to plans of preparing balanced, home cooked meals and getting in my daily hours of physical exercise and brisk walking for few kms every morning and evening. I still practice the same, per se. Nevertheless, with the passage of time, I realized that while this regimented lifestyle worked for majority individuals, for me staying Happy and cheerful was much more needed to remain physically, mentally and spiritually healthy and active!
Health, as a matter of fact, goes far beyond the physical means. Health is about finding a balance in all aspects of your life. I learned that for me, the process of self-care is required to include much more than just calories conscious diet and physical fitness. Coming to this consciousness allowed me to be truly happy and healthy – and do not feel too guilty for indulging in small pleasures that make me happy; which may be considered not very sane or wise, though! This may include indulging in a piece of delicious chocolate fudge or getting a couple of extra hour sleep on weekend or jumping and running with my leash free dog.
The unhappiness of the stressful life and draining jobs, at times, make us feel miserable from the moment we wake up in the morning to the time our heads touch the pillow at night. The despondency we experience while performing unpleasant routine tasks actually consume all our energy and the benefits we supposed to obviously reap from our active and healthful life following a strict diet and exercise routine. This phenomenon of activity related happiness to happiness related activity, actually have led me to reconsider how I understood “health”.
The mundane struggles and achievements of my life has taught me that in order to feel my absolute best at all times throughout the year, I have to find a balance between the different, interconnecting areas of health. Only then will I feel rejuvenated and ready to face each day overflowing with new challenges and changes filled with accountabilities.
For last many years, I’ve often neglected to do what makes me happy, forgetting self-care when faced with the invariable state of busy. So now, while I’m not bogged down by a full course load, I enjoy pursuing my hobbies and the activities such as singing, gardening, walking, running, traveling etc. which make me truly happy and I could see I have learnt a lot about myself, nature and divinity in the process, gaining all the benefits of active, healthy and happy life!