Let me be blunt; there’s no supplement, vitamin, medicine, or shiny program that can come close to being more effective and efficient at making you feel well than do the foundations of health and happiness. By focusing in on the simple cornerstones of both, I guarantee you will feel more balanced, energetic, clear minded, and healthfully powerful than you ever have before. Once you experience your pinnacle of health, maintaining it is simple and there is nothing that will ever stop you again. Nothing.
Before we jump in, let me clear up a few fine details. Believe it or not, your potential to attain improved health and happiness is already within you. Your body, mind and spirit are already there, it’s the obstacles, however, that have blurred your current connection to them. Secondly, you don’t need money, complicated programs, expensive food, supplements/vitamins/medicine or hours of time to get you there. You do however, need to be willing to say yes to a few simple changes in your current living approach. Lastly, it is about you. It’s not about how you compare to anyone else, better or worse, it’s about you. Once you feel the shift, you will find it easier and easier to shift even more.
Foundational wellness cornerstones
Wake up and go to bed feeling rested: If you need work in the area of sleep and energy, start by spending the first and last 5 minutes of your day (sunrise and sunset) outside exposing your eyes to the suns rays. This will single-handedly stimulate your brain and nervous system, and balance your circadian rhythm for the day.
Consume sea salt and water upon waking and going to bed: The trillions of cells that make up who you are function solely on the proper balance of water and minerals. Consuming a pinch of sea salt in a glass of pure filtered water upon waking and going to bed will energize your cells better than anything.
Grounding/earthing: To simplify, our world is bombarded with positive ions. The reference to positive is usually a good thing, but not when it comes to the invasiveness of ionic charges. Wifi, stress, poor eating/sleeping, medications, and being chronically disconnected from nature overcharges the human battery too far from its balanced state. Connecting bare feet to the earth (ocean, lake, sand, rock, grass, dirt) allows natural negative ions to rebalance the human electrical system to optimal.
Fasting: There’s so much information into healthy eating, nutrition and the like, however not enough effort toward giving the digestive system time to rest. Better than a poor diet and complimentary to someone who already feeds their body well, fasting from food is one of the best things you can do for your health and happiness. An easy way to do this is ‘fast’ from mid evening (ie 6-8pm) and for 12-16hours (including overnight) until the next day.
Human connection: Focus time on connecting with a loved one, friend, or other. Independent of all the leading benefits influencing health, happiness and longevity, building and community is at the top. Reach out to an old friend, meet someone for tea, or spend 2 minutes talking to a family member or even a stranger. The energy and benefit of human connection is unparalleled.
Into nature you go: Nature is free and powerful medicine. For the body, mind and soul. From the scientifically validated benefits of ‘forest bathing’, to the clinical outcomes of ‘blue minds’, leaving man made structure and heading for the woods (or green space if you’re not a proponent of going deep into the trees) shows real, validated health and wellness benefits beyond belief.
Slow Down: I’ve written a lot on the expansive benefits of slowing your life pace, so all the evidence is clear. Essentially, commit less, say no more, and take more time for you. Period. Read more here and here.
Move: High intensity exercise is exceptional for some, but not for others. Movement, as I’m referring to here and in past blogs, is about moving your body, regularly, throughout the day. Stretch, stand up, go for a short walk, perform focused exercise for 5 minutes, partake in an outdoor activity that you enjoy. Not enough time and working too much? Read more here.
This list is far from exhaustive, however are a few key cornerstones to improving health and happiness. What’s known is that you can choose both, health and happiness, or just one, yet one will always influence the other. The simplicity of health and happiness may not always seem as straightforward as I have proposed it to be, however regardless of where you are at, there is nothing more powerful than the simplicity of the basics on the potency of happiness and health.
Dr Jeremy Hayman, ND helps patients at Cornerstone Naturopathic Inc. feel better, live better, and achieve optimal wellness and health. Years of patient care coupled with dedication to personal life balance has helped Dr Jeremy employ the adage that “your approach to health should be simple”
