What does it take to get healthy? Not quick weight loss. But actual lasting health? If you’re wondering this question, this brand new podcast series is exactly what you need. Eight life-changing health tips you need to know, starting with the question, how would you define health?
I hate cliche.
There is nothing more cliche than telling you I know eight life-changing health tips. While I don’t want to be one more health expert promoting blanket statements, I do think these eight tips that you personalize could answer a lot of the questions you’ve been looking for. Shifting the narrative from looking outside your body for answers and seeing your body is the answer.
Not to give you a spoiler alert, that statement could change the entire scope of your health.
Your body is the answer.
It’s always been the answer. We’ve just missed it in the process of hating our bodies. We’ve missed it because it feels so contradictory to find the answer in the thing you desperately want to change.
But you have to trust me on this one. Your body is the answer. It is the only way. It happens to also be why so few people have found it. Health will never be found in external solutions. It’s always and forever how your body responds to what you do – making your body the answer.
Inside this podcast, we kick off this series by redefining health. Twisting your original beliefs into true beliefs creates a solid foundation to produce the change you’ve been longing for. Listen to the podcast to see a new beginning in the first of eight foundational health tips you need.
Why you need to redefine health.
The first part of this series casts the vision, creating the path to living out health.
Not in the traditional sense of chasing after a destination but living it out in the day-to-day action. Which only comes through a change in definition.
You may be questioning what this has to do with your health, but let me assure you, how you define health changes the outcome you experience. Which has left me wondering if so many people “failed” in the health space, not because they didn’t have the ability but because they were chasing after a false idea of what health is.
Let me ask you, how do you define health?
Write it out on a sheet of paper because this definition, perhaps more than any other information you can obtain online, is important.
Maybe you wrote down how Merriam-Websters dictionary defines health: The condition of being well or free from disease.
We’ve heard this definition before. Many people even use it as a foundation to build their own ideas about health.
I surveyed a few hundred people years ago and asked this same question. The responses I received may be similar to your definition.
- Weighing xx amount.
- Running 3 miles without my legs hurting.
- Curring my autoimmune disease.
- Getting rid of the inflammation in my body.
- Having energy and feeling good.
- Wearing size 8 pants.
- Healthifying my bloodwork, so it’s in the normal range.
- Reducing my cholesterol and body fat.
None of these are wrong things. They all happen to be things that can produce a level of health. But I fear that if we stop with this as the definition, we’re left feels so far away that it’s easily missed in the frustration of taking action.
We miss how we’re living health in the act of chasing it, leaving you to question if you’ll ever be healthy. That’s because health can not be defined as a destination.
Health is not a noun. It’s a verb.
How to make health achievable.
Health is not a destination. It could be part of your health journey, setting goals, and losing weight, but those in themselves are not the definition of health. Health is a verb. It’s the action that you take. It’s what you do to produce the outcome, not the outcome itself.
Health does not magically happen when you achieve a certain weight – that could help your health, but it is not health. Health is the action you took along the way.
It’s the action that creates health, like these:
- Eating the vegetables.
- Drinking water.
- Moving your body.
- Releasing negative emotions.
- Sleeping deeply.
- Prioritizing laughter.
- Taking your supplements.
- Nourishing your soul.
It’s the daily action, the little things, the moment-by-moment choices that you make that define health.
The more you focus on the action and less on the destination, the more you’ll realize the reward is not in the goal. It’s in the living.
Health is experiencing the benefit of one glass of water right after you drink it. Health is experiencing the energy of that hearty meal. And health is the thrill of laughter and the passion of living.
Health is right now.
Stop waiting for health and start living it.
Take a moment to envision what a healthy version of you looks like? What are you doing? What are you
eating? How are you moving your body?
Create a vision of health and write those things in your definition. Start to pick up on the action. Because it’s the action that creates health. Make a list of the action and do the thing to experience the benefit.
Maybe the best example I can give you is the most common health definition: To Lose Weight.
Do you want to lose weight?
If you want to lose weight, fixate on how you want to feel instead of fixating on the scale. Creating action that will help you feel that way. Shifting your focus from weight loss to the feeling associated with weight loss like energy, confidence, and lightness. Then do things that will make you feel this way.
If you want to feel energized:
- Move your body in a way that gives you energy.
- Eat foods that fuel your body and make you feel good, not heavy and stuffed.
- Go to bed earlier.
- Stop hitting snooze and wake up with your alarm.
- Find a passion and invest yourself into it.
If you want to feel confident:
- Drink the glass of water and remind yourself you can show up for yourself.
- Wear the clothes that make you feel good.
- Get yourself ready in the morning.
- Make your bed.
If you want to feel light:
- Eat lighter foods.
- Drink more warming teas.
- Stretch or try foam rolling.
- Practice yoga posses and lengthen your body.
- Go to therapy and release the baggage you’re carrying.
- Work on soul care, letting God carry what isn’t yours to carry.
Take action. Daily, repeatedly and use that to define your health. Understanding that health is not a destination you chase but the action you choose. And the more you choose that action and live in health, the destination will arrive.
Remember, one small action is better than a thousand good intentions.
8 Life-Changing Health Tips
Follow along in this podcast series to get all 8 life-changing health tips. New podcasts are released every Wednesday.
For more information on today’s podcast and using the observing mind check out this post.
