The concept of “living your best lifehas caught our attention. It evokes ideals of living the full and fulfilling life that we all dream of.
However, the pandemic has shattered many of those dreams and the recent report on stress in america tells us that war, inflation, and money problems increase stress levels and contribute to an alarming rise in inactivity, unhealthy eating, and poor sleep. Consequently, physical, mental and emotional health problems are on the rise as the body has become Ground Zero of stress in our time.
Taking care of the life inside our body is therefore an essential first step to living life at its best. And exercise, eating healthy foods, and the blessing of sleep are essential to ensuring that your body is living its best life so you can live your best life.
The best of life inside you
Perhaps like most people, your the greatest fear is not death but rather the dreaded specter of age-related decline in physical health; the appearance of diseases and chronic pain; the inability to move; develop dementia and become completely dependent on others.
These age-related declines are the natural result of a gradual depletion of the energy reserve of our vital organs (eg, kidneys, liver, heart, brain). Although each organ accumulates a reserve of energy greater than it needs to function under normal conditions, exposure to prolonged stress accelerates the rate of exhaustion and puts our organs at risk of serious damage.
Certainly, during the last year, the energy reserve of our organs is likely to be depleted rapidly by high levels of chronic stress, increased inactivity, eating unhealthy foods, and poor sleep. Severe cases of Covid-19 have also taken a toll, causing damage to multiple organs, including the heart, lungs, and kidneys.
To make matters worse, the rapid decline in our organ reserve makes us increasingly unable to participate in fulfilling and satisfying ways of living life.
Unlock your superpower
Each and every one of us is a superpower; the center where the energy reserve of our organs is combined and used to initiate life forms. Consequently, our ability to live life, at its best or not, cannot be separated from the energy reserve of our vital organs. We’d be wise to figure out how to replenish the reserve by making sure our organs get the nutrition and rest they need to live their best lives. Therefore, every night, after a hard day of work and play, we should take advantage of sleep and let our organs revitalize while feasting on the nutritious foods we consume during the day.
There is something mystical about exercise. When you exercise your body is vitalized. Energy surges through your being as you become a larger force among the forces of nature and a center of power that commands every cell in your body to work together and become more than just “a body at rest”
You and your body like that feeling of being vitalized.
Is it any wonder that people always report feeling really great after exercise? Isn’t that feeling of being alive what living your best life is all about?
Energy, forces, power, and work are more than Newton’s phenomena of motion; They are the phenomena of life. Throughout the cosmos it is the same phenomenon of movement; the same flow of energy; the exercise of forces and power, and the work that makes the planets rotate and orbit around our sun; the rivers to run to the sea, the wind to blow through the trees, and the blood to flow through our veins. It is every center of power; galactic black holes, our sun, the violets of May, and you and your body, which is unique in the way each transforms the chaotic barrage of incoming energy, forces, and power into the phenomena of life.
The truly mystical thing about exercise is how it transforms energy, strength, power and work into the phenomenon of living life in the best way.
The enabling force
Exercise is an enabling force that improves our physical and cognitive abilities, adds years to our social and emotional well-being, empowers and expands our chances of living life in the best way. Exercise increases all the energy, forces, and power that hold our physical and social lives together.
Regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, the life-enhancing benefits of exercise do not discriminate.
Exercise freaks are necessary during these stressful times.
When you exercise, your body becomes more cohesive and resilient, and you become a greater force of integrity among the forces of nature. Even during this pandemic, Infected people who exercised regularly had a significantly lower risk of experiencing severe illness, hospitalization, and death compared to inactive people.
In these stressful times, exercise promotes greater physical and emotional well-being, and preserves higher levels of cognitive functioning. In addition, exercise maximizes the benefits of good nutrition and sound sleep by creating a synergy of efficiency that enhances the restoration of your vital organs’ energy reserves; increases energy storage, bone mass density and increased force production capacity.
The result of these exercise benefits is not just a higher level of resilience to all types of stressbut possess the energy, strength, and ability to live independently and enjoy going out, socializing, and doing things with friends and family.
Remember this: ‘We are’
Perhaps a wiser and more mystical concept of life and its “we are” phenomenon is needed during this time of increasing levels of stress. You and your body, your family, friends, community; you and this planet that we share with other living systems, are the unified embodiment of the inseparable phenomena of the “we are” of life.
Ironically, the oldI think therefore I am‘” philosophy separates us from our body and teaches us to despise our body and other living systems. And we were very wrong about that. Throughout life, each “I am” is the total product of a “we are”. Our notion of “living my best life” must encompass the “we are” of every cell, organ, and organ system working, striving, and thriving together to live their best life and become something more; the whole that you proudly affirm when you say “I am.”
Throughout the centuries, learning to live life at its best begins with a philosophy of wholeness that guides thought and turns it into striving and working together to become the best life has to offer. Exercise, good nutrition and sound sleep are the cornerstones of this philosophy of integrity, providing vital support while building a core of resilience against the stresses of our times.
They make you a pillar of strength, a center of power, a life force ready, willing and able to venture out and participate in the social and ecological adventures of life; ready to contribute to the mystical wholeness that has made us the best that life has to offer and compels us to live life in the best way.
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Esteban J Almada, Ed.D. She is a health psychologist and the author of Exercise, Life, and Love: The Making of a Sedentary Society.