The word healthy is thrown around quite a lot and all over the place too. I use the word a lot on my blog and I like to think of myself and my family as healthy or at least health-conscious. I thought today that I might take some time to explain what exactly healthy means to me, to get me thinking and to hopefully explain to others what I mean when I use the word healthy. Once I got typing away, I realized that “healthy” can mean a lot of different things. I broke up the definitions into three categories, body, mind and spirit.

In My Definition, Healthy Means…

In Body

• To be able to carry on normal activities with ease and to live life relatively disease and illness-free.
• To not have to be taking supplements, medications or other things.
• To eat as naturally and close to the source as possible. No genetically modified foods, refined sugar or flour, processed foods, or  unpronounceable ingredients.
• To not be addicted to any substances or having to rely on any substances to feel normal.
• To not have to think too deeply about food and complicate food. To have a sense of knowing what feels right to ingest.
• To not have to count calories or analyze the nutritional profile of foods too closely, but to use common sense.
• To fuel ones self with simple, organic foods.
• To not have feelings of guilt, shame, anxiety, or stress over eating something/not eating something or exercising/not exercising. To follow what feels right and natural for ones self.
• To enjoy your food and eating! It is one of the greatest pleasures in life.
• To eat mindfully and with gratitude.
• To not have to try and be “perfect” or follow diets, rules or dogma.
• To relax and rest when needed. To get a good nights sleep. Naps are great too!
• To stay hydrated. Drink plenty of water.
• To exercise regularly. Get up and get moving doing whatever you love and whatever makes you feel refreshed, energized and alert.
• To be moderate about food intake and exercise. Balance is key!
• To listen to your own body and what it needs over what you have heard, read or been taught to believe.
• To not be afraid to listen to your own hunger and fullness cues and to eat what feels right at any time/exercise when you feel like it and don’t exercise when you don’t feel like it.
• To not harm your body with over eating or under eating or over exercising or under exercising.
• To respect your body as the home of your spirit and treat it as such.
• To be in tune with and trust your body, listening to what it needs rather than what you think it needs.
• To go easy on yourself if you do something that you feel is not healthy and goes against your definition of health. You are human you know!

In Mind

• To have mental clarity.
• To not be stressed or have anxiety about life.
• To be at peace.
• To not worry.
• To think positive thoughts most often and have an optimistic outlook on life and situations.
• To think kind and loving thoughts about yourself and others.
•  To be present. Not living in the past (regret, guilt shame) or the future (anxiety, fear and worry).
• To be able to focus on the task at hand.
• To be able to watch your thoughts and see yourself as separate from them, not having them control everything you say and do.
• To think before you act or speak.
• To have a strong sense of self and to think for ones self. Not be swayed by the opinions of others, but to be able to question things and to discern the true from the false.
• To be able to handle and stay in control of your emotions. Knowing that your emotions change and that feelings come and go, they are impermanent.
• To take time to calm the mind and just be. No rushing, no thinking, no worrying, breathing in peace.

In Spirit

• To keep an open mind.
• To be accepting of others beliefs and values, even if they are different than ones own.
• To not be stuck in ones own way and believe that you know what is best for everyone just because it works for you (avoid judgement, pride and superiority).
• To be humble and to know that your knowledge is like a grain of sand in the infinite universe.
• To love yourself, so that you can do better to love others.
• To work at discovering who you really are, your true self and seek to remove hindrances to allowing that true self to exist.
• To bring your uniqueness to the world, find yourself and let your light shine.
• To be generous and giving.
• To put others before yourself and be strive to be selfless.
• To seek to help others to be their best selves and live their lives in peace and freedom.
• To connect and have a sense of oneness with others and our planet.
• To care about the health of others and our planet and take actions toward living in such a way that reflects those values.
• To live life in such a way that you are conscious of your thoughts, words and actions, knowing that they hold great power and influence over your life and others.
• To be conscious of what seeds you are sowing. As you sow, so shall you reap. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. To remember that what goes around comes back around. Karma.
• To see yourself in everyone that you meet. The people who are in our lives are there for a reason, to teach us something and to help us along our journey to grow. Whatever we judge and see as fault in someone else is usually something that needs acknowledgment in our own lives.
• To trust that everything is going to be OK, especially when it doesn’t feel or look as though it is and to know that everything that is happening is ultimately for the greater good.
• To forgive. Know that we are all human and we all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect.
• To acknowledge your inner darkness, embrace it and not run from it or deny it. To learn from this darkness and use it as a catalyst for your greatness, molding you into what you were destined to be.
• To accept that you are human and cannot go off and live in your spiritual dream land. There is a reality and a life that you were given to live. Life in itself is a great spiritual act, even if you are only staying at home changing diapers, going to work or living out the monotony of everyday life. There is always something deeper going on and something greater at work.

I really enjoyed writing this list as it helped me to really understand what health means to me and to see that the definition of health can indeed be very broad. I think I will continue to add to this list as I think of more. Perhaps you might find it helpful to define health in your own terms, to see what works for you and what kind of healthy you wish to be.

Best,