A lot is being said about health in newspapers, social media etc. While a lot of it is interesting, I have a somewhat different perspective that I want to share with everyone! I want to focus on how a lot of it is related to each other and how to work toward better health by taking baby steps!

Before starting to talk about how different dimensions of health are related to each other, its important to first talk about what those different dimensions are.

The three dimensions of health are

• Physical
• Mental
• Spiritual

We mostly worry about physical health and fail to recognize and work on the other two dimensions!

There is no right sequence in which all of this can be covered because all three of them feed into each other.

Good mental state leads to great physical state and vice versa.

If you are stressed because of your work, because of any other life situations like desire to do better than you have done before or better than others or stress in your married life or stress given by your parents, kids, other family members, neighbors, friends…it could be anything, it will have an impact on your physical health. Hormones released in your body may get out of control and you may want to eat more or less, feel lethargic etc. On the contrary, feeling happy, satisfied, loved can make your physical health better.

Similarly, bad physical health may lead to bad mental health also. And good physical health may help you overcome the stresses of life and make you feel happy and content also.

Baby steps for better mental health

I don’t need to write all details here. You can google and get help on this topic. I just wanted to highlight the fact that one needs to identify baby steps towards better mental health and not giant steps. Its very important because baby steps are repeatable and wont add to stress. Some of the baby steps I keep trying are

• Forcing myself to get bored by keeping my phone away, keeping away from TV, laptop and other gadgets.
• Reading the newspaper, sometimes I have to force myself to read beyond just the headlines.
• Watching motivational movies…reading motivational stories
• Listening to music
• Be in the company of positive people
• Walk away from negativity.
• Prioritizing myself before others
• Doing what’s right! – Very difficult at times because it leads to short term agony but brings peace in the longer term.
• Get your hormones in control – super important – Read this article – https://india.curejoy.com/content/how-to-reset-your-belly-fat-hormones/

Baby steps for better physical health

• Eating right – Prefer Vegetables, Fruits, locally grown stuff over everything else. Avoid Sugar in all forms.

• Work on your Strength – This means doing free hand exercises or going to the gym!
• Work on your Flexibility – This means doing yoga or other stretches.
• Improve your cardio Vascular system – Running, cycling, swimming!
• Naturally Alkaline your body

How to naturally alkaline your body and why is it important!!!

• Alkalinity has gained importance because of the food which we eat normally which is acidic in nature. Generally one is required to keep pH within a range and not really alkaline or acidic.
• More acidic means a fertile ground for bacteria, viruses, fungus and even cancer cells.
• Alkalinity In the body means these bacteria, virus, fungus and cancer cells can’t survive.
• Same thing goes for more oxygen in the body. Oxygen induced in the blood due to exercise means these bad cells can’t survive.
• More alkalinity also means body will take time to reach your lactate threshold which means you will run longer and perhaps faster.
• Two easy ways to alkaline your body naturally is running/exercising and eating right.
• Lemon water, spinach, almonds and garlic are my favorite. Pack your day with some or all of this and notice that you are falling sick less often and running better!

Spiritual health and its impact on us

If you are spiritually not enlightened, meaning if you haven’t realized that there are higher life forms and you are a part of their plan, then you will never be a part of a bigger plan! Which is going to lead to bad mental health, dissatisfaction etc. And we just discussed that bad mental health leads to bad physical health.

Understanding that you are part of a bigger plan, leads to one working in a somewhat selfless manner. Meaning dedicating part of your time for others. Others may be your family, friends, loved ones, unknown people, anybody!

You don’t have to take a giant leap and start working selflessly all the time. You can take baby steps but its important to start somewhere.

I have realized that suddenly I have become aware of something that has always been around me! I wonder why it took me so much time to realize that. I want to give that credit to the higher living form that saw my contribution to others and said…ok lets make him aware of this. This will help him help others better!

The importance of awareness in such a scenario is that its 50% of the battle won. As soon as you are aware of something, you can make a plan on working towards realizing it and rest is easy. It almost feels like it fell on your lap! The reality is obviously that you worked hard towards it and the universe made it happen because it saw you working hard towards it!

Baby steps for better spiritual health

• Start with your loved ones because its easier. Help them out. Make a difference in their lives.
• Look around – There are too many people in need of help. Start with helping one of them.
• It could be donating your time, money, your knowledge, other things, all of them!

 

My learning from all of this is that keeping a balance of all this is the most important thing. You may be doing more on the physical front or mental front or even spiritual front at the moment but eventually balancing all of them out gives the most pleasure. And improvement in one, leads to improvement in other aspects.

Work hard towards better health because – Zindagi gulzaar nahin hoti, zindagi ko gulzaar banana padta hai! Aur Zindagi gulzaar ban jati hai, thodi mehnat karne se.