For me, the Five Health Essentials have one advantage over all the fad diets and exercise programs: The fifth Health Essential.
Remember, in European Natural Medicine, there are five Health Essentials:
1. Water (note that I didn’t say: bottled)
2. Movement (note that I didn’t say: exercise)
3. Food (note that I didn’t say: superfoods)
4. Herbs (note that I didn’t say: vitamins)
5. Order.
Number five – order - is the one I want to talk about today. Number one to four are only the means; number five tells you that there are goals in life beyond living for the perfect diet or the perfectly sculpted body. We live to enjoy life to the fullest: to love, to learn, to share, to explore, to nurture, to care, to create.
Number five tells you that you are part of the natural order: You are born, and you will die. In between are your days and nights, which you can fill with garbage, or can fill with purpose and meaning.
Nothing in nature comes in round numbers (think 80-10-10! – one of the current fad diets) and nothing in nature comes in a square (think tofu!). Natural order makes you laugh and weep, sleep and wake, work and rest.
You know those over-exercised zealots – those narcissistic bores. Or those food faddists whose brains seem build from tofu with Swiss cheese holes. It is not about how you look or how many push-ups you can do (actually, being able to do one would be swell) – it is about leaving the world a better, happier, more just and more beautiful place for all its inhabitants.
Order – think what it could do for you. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
The Here and Now
October 27, 2010
Yesterday at yoga, my wonderful teacher Carol Nelson encouraged us to be in the Here and Now.
A great suggestion!
But then I thought: Wait a second!
As a physician I know that the people most in the Here and Now are Alzheimer’s patients. First, in the development of dementia, one loses the future and dwells on the past. Later on even the past dims, and there is nothing there than the Here and Now – a sad state of affairs.
That is not to mean, when your thoughts are churning about a project at work or a past lover who jilted you, it is not a good idea to focus on the Here and Now, take some deep, slow breaths - always start with exhaling! – and feel your diaphragm move.
It only means one shouldn’t stretch a philosophical tenet too far. The Here and Now has it merits – but driven to exclusivity, it becomes hollow and ridiculous. Moderation also is a reigning principle in philosophy.
However - now look at “moderation”, as a concept. When you are falling a love, deeply in love, do you want to “moderate” yourself? Or do you want to live the most important moments of your life?
Questions, questions… Read More
Berlin – About Friendship
October 5, 2010
I don’t know how I would have made it through my life without my girlfriends.
When I was younger, a girlfriend and I had a saying: “Love is more important, but friendship lasts longer.”
After a few false starts, I have found a wonderful man in my life. But my friendships with women still sustain me through rocky times. And give me much laughter.
Without the advice and support of other women, how would I ever have raised my children? Every little domestic disaster was talked through – and the big ones too. When I had my first child, I was all alone without any friends – living in our little nuclear family, talking to nobody outside, burying myself in reading. Nowadays, I think they would diagnose me with depression. But I know I was not depressed – I was without friends.
Presently, I am visiting Berlin that are filled with women friends for me, friends from far, far back, newer friends, and some in the middle. The last few days, I have reconnected with several old friends, having so much fun. During long walks, over tea or a good meal we told each other what happened in our lives since we met last time, we laughed and were touched.
Men seem to discuss work and politics, fishing and farting (not that I really know what their subjects are when they are alone!). Women talk about life and love and death, about childbirth, boyfriends, menopause, children and old parents. About work too because we all have deep interests. Even politics we mention occasionally.
What makes a good friendship? If you haven’t seen each other for a while – or many years – it is a sign of solid friendship if you click again the moment you meet. No repercussions why it took so long – just pure bliss that you are together again.
Recently in Iran, a made new friends who will stay friends for many years to come. Berlin has renewed some old friendships. New and old friends, they make you examine your life. Without them, life is not worth living. Read More