The human body is a tremendous miracle. We are all given one free of charge. But when you receive a gift, you’re expected to take care of it, aren’t you? You’re expected to appreciate and treasure it. Yet most of us have abused our bodies in more ways than one, and we continue to do so.
Most of us consistently take for granted this invaluable possession we’ve been entrusted with. Eventually, neglecting our bodies will catch up to us in the form of poor health, which is will spoil any success we achieve.
Because of every day demands that our society puts on us, many people have destroyed their health by means of trying to achieve prosperity. Isn’t that ironic? Our health has been destroyed by trying to achieve prosperity. We’re not eating right, not exercising enough, and we’re too stressed, in other words, trying to achieve the so-called “good-life’ is bad for us.
Consider our diet most people don’t eat on the basis of nutrition: we eat on the basis of looks, taste, and convenience. For example, breakfast the average person might eat cereal (based on a television commercial or what is labeled on the box cover), or a breakfast sandwich (because it’s fast), and several cups of coffee with lots of cream and sugar.
For lunch the average person may have a greasy hamburger, fries, or a pizza, and then wash it down with 12 ounces of carbonated syrup. For dinner because both the husband and wife have had a busy workday they’ll just throw some frozen food in the microwave. Don’t forget, all day long people usually snack on things like potato chips, cookies, and candy. If that’s not enough many people top off the day with a little alcohol and cigarettes, making for the most abusive diet imaginable.
Possibly the biggest change in our physical lives in the past 60 years has been a marked reduction in exercise and a marked increase in stress. Achieving success has become synonymous with a lack of exertion. For example, when we get up in the morning, we’re usually so tired from the day before that instead of exercising we’ll just walk (usually with our eyes closed) into the bathroom, pull a knob and take a shower. We drive our cars to work and to save time use elevators and escalators to get around. All day long, we use one laborsaving device after another, just so we can save time and accomplish more.
The problem is we’re pampering ourselves to death. Without knowing it, we’ve become so lazy and so inactive that our bodies are wasting away. Yet we still tell ourselves that we’re doing it to achieve success and prosperity. We’re busy, but we’re not doing anything in terms of real exercise. We’re just filling all the extra time we save with decisions and demands that create harmful stress.
Subsequently, more and more people are ruining their health. Recent studies by the Harvard School of Public Health have shown that more than half of the American population is overweight, and even those who aren’t don’t eat right. The risk of cancer, heart attack, and diabetes has virtually skyrocketed in the last 60 years.
This means we’re doing something seriously wrong in our physical lives, and at the same time, we’re abusing a precious gift that we can’t replace. Rather than taking care of it, many people are systematically destroying their bodies, and they wouldn’t treat any other expensive item like that.
One need that we all have in the area of our physical self is a need to watch what we eat. Notice that I did not say to watch our diet, that’s because diet is a very negative term to most people. It’s like a root canal. It makes people jumpy. So forget dieting. Let’s talk about watching what we eat.
Statistics show that 95 percent of the people who go on a diet fail because changing your eating habits is a matter of conditioning. Bad habits are hard to break and new ones are hard to form. So forget about dieting, it just wastes a lot of time and money.
You’ll be more successful by simply watching what you eat instead of depriving yourself, because depriving yourself eventually backfires. So keep an eye on your food intake, and try to develop healthy eating habits over time. For example, instead of having two cups of coffee have just one. Instead of drinking a soda, have a glass of juice. Instead of eating potato chips eat some fruit.
This won’t be easy. Trying to break eating patterns is very difficult, but substituting water or juice for carbonated soft drinks or sandwiches for burgers or pizza can make a big difference over time. If you do this little by little, you can alter your eating patterns and make the changes you need to make.
Now let’s talk about the second need in our physical lives, exercise or burning some calories. Exercise doesn’t have to be hard and strenuous. In fact most studies show that all you really need is some activity that gets your pulse pounding for 20 minutes three times a week. It can be as simple as few free-hand exercises, aerobics, or even a brisk walk in the park.
Now, that doesn’t require much. Yet if you don’t find time to do some type of exercise for 20 minutes three times a week, over time the consequences can be disastrous. A continued lack of exercise can ruin your health completely. Exercise is a vital source of health and energy and it can extend your life. It is something you absolutely must make time to do it on a regular basis.
The third need we all have regarding our physical lives may be the most prevalent of all. It’s the need to relax. We all feel the pressure of today’s fast changing society. We live in a world that’s characterized by worry and hurry. It’s so rushed we have to run to keep up with it. To achieve success and financial freedom we’re constantly doing more things in less time, and our output is so high, it’s exhausting just to think about it.
Recent surveys have revealed that 87 percent of Americans suffer from too much stress in their life. The same surveys asked people to identify the greatest problems that they face in their life today and stress topped the list for most people. If you have trouble falling asleep at night, if your mind is racing, chances are you’re experiencing a noticeable amount of stress.
What exactly is stress? The term comes from the Latin word strictus, which means “to be drawn tight.” That gives us the image of a bow being bent back to shoot. If the bow is drawn too tightly, it will break and that is when it becomes dangerous to your health. Someone is getting on your nerves, you’re late for an appointment, or a report you’re working is not finished and the deadline is approaching.
Stress is part of life. You can’t escape it, but you can learn to do deal with it by learning to relax and making relaxation a new habit. A major part of being able to achieve success is being able to find relief so you can feel relaxed and in control again. Otherwise, it will ruin you physically.
You have to learn to weed out the things in your business and private life that are not necessary. Remember, human beings are limited; we can only do so many things and do them well. So learn to say no to things that may appear good so you can say yes to the things that are best. You need to learn to streamline by being efficient in a few things instead of being efficient in everything.
Giving yourself downtime is a great reliever of stress. This means setting aside time every day to rest and do nothing. As hard as it may be to set aside some time when things get busy, that’s when you need to do it the most. It’s even good for you productivity. When you take at least 30 minutes of quiet time to meditate, you’ll get more done in the remaining time than you would have if you’d worked straight through. So give yourself some downtime even if you can’t afford to, because you can’t afford not to.
Learning how to have fun is an important tool for combating stress. Remember, all work and no play makes you dull and that will not get you where you want to be. Successful people are not boring; they’re fun and nothing could be better for you health than having fun. People who are successful laugh a lot, they have a fresh perspective on things, and they enjoy life.
Constantly improving your physical life is a part of achieving success and financial freedom. You can improve your physical life significantly by watching what you eat, exercising on a regular basis, and setting aside time to relax each day. Your life is out there waiting for, but if you take too long, it will be gone.
