The Offline Mind

Daily writing prompt

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

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You’ve probably heard the saying “health is wealth”. The meaning suggests that no amount of wealth can truly be enjoyed if your health is not intact, and so health trumps wealth. But we often fail to remember the wisdom of this saying on a daily basis. We seek wealth, exaggerating its importance in our lives, but often fail to seek health with the same fervour. We simply assume we will always have health, and then when it fails us we feel cheated by life rather than taking responsibility for our own behaviours and decisions.

Some things we can do regularly that will promote good health are as follows:

Drink plenty of filtered water (the Berkey water system is excellent for household use). Cut out all other beverages (with the exception of a cup of tea/coffee or glass of wine on occasion: NOT daily)

Get your daily sunlight! Spend time in nature, look up into the sun in the morning, walk on the grass and dirt with your bare feet. Connect. Grow plants. Try to live more of your life OUTSIDE.

Keep your mind sharp: read, write, do puzzles, play, converse, engage, try new sports and hobbies, TRY, watch documentaries, ask questions, get a skill board, learn to balance, practice yoga, learn a new language, practice patience, practice anything!

Make good decisions socially. Develop community, but do not be swallowed by it or make it your identity. Serve and be helpful. Learn from others. Keep a few good close friends (even one is plenty) and invest time in knowing them well and foster that relationship with love and understanding. Do not spend time with people who drain you, who make you feel guilty for prioritizing yourself and your own needs or the needs of your family. Do not keep acquaintance with people who are not authentically themselves and around whom you feel you cannot be your authentic self. Learn to walk away. Learn to say what you honestly think and feel.

Balance your diet. Understand first another old-as-dirt saying, “you are what you eat” to be true. The food you ingest is literally the building blocks of your body. Choose wisely. Plant good seeds. Choose most of your food from plants: fruits, vegetables, legumes, ancient and unprocessed grains. Choose less of your food from animal products and choose carefully/kindly. Buy local. Support local farmers. Eat with the seasons. Learn to listen to your hunger cues. Do not eat out of boredom. Do not keep packaged and processed foods in your home. Limit takeaway to 2-4 times per year. COOK.

Listen to your body. Trust your intuition. Check in each day with what new sensations or feelings or pains occur. Check in with your sleep, your digestion, your moods. Pay attention to yourself: your body is the greatest instrument you will ever play, the greatest tool you’ve ever been given. Be a good steward and fine tune you’re listening to your body’s needs and the call of your inner world/workings. Adjust accordingly.

Meditate and pray. Put love into the world. Cover those you love with protective thoughts. Focus your inner energy and love OUTWARD through prayer. Address your hope to the world. Understand that you are one with the world, with life. Then go inward with meditation. Slow down your body and thoughts. Be present. Listen. Still your mind. What keeps coming up? Why? Quiet your anxieties. Yes you do have time. Yes you can slow down. There is infinite time. You are infinite.

Stay offline. Throw your phone in a river. Delete the apps. Stand in your living room and wonder what to do with all this TIME suddenly handed back to you. Realize social media has made you dull and boring. Realize you are watching OTHER PEOPLE LIVE more than you are focused on building your own life. Step out of the matrix, everything is not as it seems. Be an offline mind.