Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise
will sooner or later have to find time for illness.
~Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby, 1873

 

I am very proactive when it comes to my health. I brush and floss my teeth to avoid cavities and root canals. I try to get eight hours of sleep so that my body can recover from the day and my brain can build new pathways. I eat a mostly vegan diet with reasonable portions so that my body and brain have the fuel they need to work the best. Learning and practicing how to move with alignment are like other forms of personal hygiene.

Doing these kinds of things doesn’t mean we’ll never have problems with our health. They just put us in the best possible position to avoid most problems and be able to deal with the rest with less pain, less effort, and less money.  It’s true that some people who make poor health choices still live long, healthy, active lives. It’s like winning the lottery. We can take our chances and hope that we inherited those genes.

Or we can stack the odds in our favor now to be more assured that we’ll get the aging process we want.  Each time we practice a healthy habit, we increase their benefits with less effort. If we wait until we already have pain, we’ll have to stop everything else we’re doing to focus on recovery and relearning how to do things correctly.

We know what happens to little pigs who make their houses out of straw or twigs. Don’t wait until the house is blown down to consider building one with a stronger foundation. We can choose to put in small amounts of effort now to have a brick house that supports us our entire life.