In the age of Google Search, advertisements, and keywords, complex matters have been reduced to single, well-sounding, but essentially meaningless words. Simple matters have been “sexed up” by phrases, often a jumble of unconnected words that form memorable sounds which are easy to remember and so search.
Information, misinformation, social media influencers, mainstream media, what once was the sole domain of the “Ad Men” has now become splintered, with the fragments falling everywhere. Anyone with a smartphone in hand can suddenly have an audience of millions.
This audience (with a few exceptions, mainly in the Scandinavian countries) has been honed, in some cases for centuries, to be compliant to elites and to follow their wishes blindly. There is a quid pro quo, the expansion of leisure opportunities, the removal of risk from living by expanding the welfare state, and for a time things seemed fine, with thinking encouraged only among elites.
Such thinking as there is is dominated by “Critical Thinking,” which focuses on finding the flaws in everything. It is very difficult to find evidence of “Clear Thinking” in the world today, coming at issues while recognising inbuilt bias, developing perspectives, testing theories, and forming alternate understandings, before (if necessary) choosing.
Of course, if we had a critical mass of people thinking clearly, most democracies would become ungovernable; autocratic states, more autocratic.
Wellness and Mindfulness? These buzzwords describe states that have been known for thousands of years. Wellness, so far as I can see, is Health. Mindfulness? Being present in the moment.
Health is not a complex issue (though it can be made so). It is also not related to the modern medical complex. An example of propaganda in action is the naming of organisations: National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, World Health Service (WHO), an arm of the United Nations. The “Health” in these names should more correctly be replaced with “Sickness” to more accurately reflect what these organisations do. More accurate is the American and Canadian approach, “Medicare,” clearly indicating that prescription medicines will be used to care for you.
The problem we face is the growing cost of these approaches. Medicines are becoming more expensive and complex, and demand for the most expensive treatments (for all, in the name of equity) is growing. Added to this we have, in western democracies, an ageing population where degenerative conditions are normalised, and pressure on government budgets to meet increased military spending and address social issues is growing. There is not enough money to go around; this scarcity will lead to rationing. People will suffer and die. It is up to you, as much as possible, to insulate yourself from these realities so that you do not become dependent on a system in collapse.
There are simple, effective, and sustainable things that you can do now, regardless of your age, to improve your health, reverse disease, and increase the quality and maybe even the length of your life.
As a start, there are three basic areas that can improve your health, eating, sleeping and sh*ting. Eating and sh*ting depends on the state of the 100 trillion organisms that inhabit our gut and digest our food, among other things. You are going to have those organisms. Whether you have the right ones is dependent on what is going into your gut on a regular basis. If you have been shopping in a regular supermarket for decades buying brand-name products, then the organisms in your gut won’t be the ones you want. You need to change this; it is not possible to eat for your health on a sustainable basis with the wrong kinds of organisms in your gut. That craving you feel for chocolate cake is not you, it is the billions of organisms in your gut that feed off sugar. You have to get them out and replaced by the organisms that are meant to be there.
Fortunately, if you introduce the proper organisms to your gut, they will out compete the bad guys, so long as you also try to eat things that create the right environment. This is easiest done by taking Acidophilus tablets, the more the merrier. You will feel the impact in more regular, larger, and softer sh*t. Be warned: there will be a period as you move from good to bad bacteria where there will be a war waging in your gut. This may be uncomfortable, and you can try to control it by putting in less of the good combatants at a time.
After fixing your gut, it will be possible to stay away from processed foods and sugar in all its forms, reduce the quantity you eat, and reduce the frequency with which you eat. This will allow for better digestion, which will show up in regular, large bowel movements.
Sleep is as necessary as food. Rather than focusing on the length of sleep, I like to think of the quality of sleep. Sleep quality is now well understood in science and most smart watches can actually measure this, you can find more about this here. The simple way to approach sleep is to accept its importance. As much as you can, set a time to sleep, including a daily nap if possible. Be tired when you go to bed. This begins with waking up properly, getting as much natural sunlight as you can while you wake, being active throughout the day, and stopping the use of coffee and other stimulants by early afternoon. A glass of red wine before bed as well as not watching screens an hour before bed helps.
A word on Mental Health: you have probably guessed by now that the word “health” in this term should be replaced by “sickness.” Here is a fundamental misunderstanding that even the brightest of us seem subject to: Physical Health and Mental Health are not separate things. The brain is an organ in the body. An important one, but still only an organ in the body. While we have not yet found a way to live without a liver or a heart, great numbers of people exist at very high levels without a brain.
The brain is an organ in the body. Science has now confirmed a concept known as the gut-brain axis, where the gut and the brain are not only in constant contact, but many of the neurotransmitters and hormones needed for proper brain functioning are made in the gut on-demand and transported to the brain. These include serotonin and dopamine, which are vital to how we feel.
If your gut is not right, it cannot properly support your brain, which often leads to dire consequences.
By separating the brain from the body and creating “Mental Health”, we have been able to create targeted medical interventions, which include powerful drugs, to simulate health in the brain. I think it would be better to fix your gut and get the brain naturally in balance before we start with other interventions.
Mindfulness, for me, is basically being focused ON the present. The necessity for this has been known for at least as long as men stood up. Hunting for food to avoid starvation and eluding predators so one does not become food were the primary concerns that occupied man for most of evolution. These things demanded people who were in the present, constantly aware of themselves and their surroundings. Civilisation has, in the last few thousand years, undermined this state, with people spending increasing amounts of time in the past and the future, and when in the present, in someone else's present, via television, smart phones, Social Media, etc.
Small wonder, that between the poor health of people and the rapid changes in the living environment, symptoms of our declining health show up in brain malfunction.
The simple way to approach this problem is through Mental Relaxation and Rehearsal. This technique was popular in the first two thirds of the 20th century. By the time I came to it in 1987, it was on the fringes. Lacking the resources to pursue the more expensive approaches that dominated the day, I had to learn to enter a state of deep relaxation of mind and body, and then see the activity, through the mind's eye if you will, as vividly as possible. I look at three things:
Execution, such as driving a bobsled down a specific track, at a specific time of day, with a specific ice condition, air temperature;
Mood setting, recalling in vivid detail successes and experiencing those feelings deliberately;
Seeing the result, painting a picture of my life at a specific point in the future.
I also rehearse specific meetings or situations I am expecting, as well as rehearse bad moments, failure, and crucially, reaction. Throughout your day, whenever you are changing roles, it is good to practice Mental Relaxation and become focused ON the present.
Wellness and Mindfulness, Health, and Focused ON the present. Mental Health cannot be separated from Physical Health. Get and keep the body in order, see how that affects your health, and reduce your need to deal with sickness.
Dudley ‘Tal’ Stokes is an athlete and entrepreneur representing Jamaica in 4 Winter Olympic Games between 1988 and 1998. His 14th place finish in the Lillehammer Olympics remains the best ever achieved by a black man. Through speaking, coaching and writing he continues to influence and inspire others. He can be found @ dudleystokes.com.
Btw take care of the basics around your health and you will not need to worry about the monkeypox.
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