This way, The Seven Pillars of Health collects several sound habits focused on achieving a longer and healthier life. Esentially, the key points are:

1.- Drink plenty of water (ionized alkaline filtered.) Considering that the human body is composed by about 65% of water, we have to renew it continually, drinking between 2 and 3 liters a day. I’d take this recommendation with a bit of salt, because not everyone reacts positively to an increase in fluid intaking… some people have reported swelling, edema and increases in blood pressure after starting to drink more water than necessary.

2.- Rest about 9 hours a day. Sleep your 9 hours, or sleep 8 hours and complete the remaining one with a nap. During sleep, our body regulates the production of several hormones, the aging process is refrained a bit, the immune system is fortified, cerebral functions improve, and cortisol levels (a stress agent) are decreased.

3.- A good dietary regimen, which prefers “alive” food over “dead” one. That is to say, prefer rice, green vegetables, tomatoes, avocado, pulses, chickpeas, nuts, potatoes, vegetables, peas, and whole grain bread and pasta. Eventually, eat fish, eggs, cheese and chicken. You may eat red meat sporadically, but preferably, lamb.

4.- Exercise regularly. In the worts case, walk actively and daily for at least 35 minutes, to remove water and body’s fat.

5.- Detox by means of eventual fasting, and living in a zone with a clean environment.

6.- Take some vitamin and mineral supplements, phytonutrients and antioxidants.

7.- The last pillar we have to consider comprises controlling stress, keeping a young mind, learning to forgive, living a calmed life and learning to live with the power of smile, optimism and joy.

Overall, this is a good book. And we have previously presented topics related to Dr. Colbert’s “pillars” in this blog. Additionally, Dr. Colbert accompanies the pages of his book with passages from the Bible and exercises to bring you closer to God and your faith. Therefore, some people of nonchristian religions may find this book totally unappealling. But it’s definitely an interesting reading.

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Therefore, she has forfeited happiness, fearing “what might happen.” Albeit she knows that her disease is successfully controlled, “she does not feel the required confidence”… Confidence in who or what? Confidence in her doctors? No. I told her that she did not have confidence in herself. It had nothing to do with diabetes, specifically. She was just doubting her ability to respond to unexpected situations, related or not to her diabetes. Needless to say, very improbable situations. Fear is always the finished product of a lack of self-confidence. Besides, fear is never innocent.

I think that we should not worry about what might happen. It’s fine to review the possibilities, the things that may happen… logically, some results will be better than others. But we must not surrender to fear or worries. Rather than worrying about future possibilities, we should focus on living the present. 90% of those things that worry us do never occur. Concerning about the future is falling prey to anxiety… During such anxiety episodes, we want the future to arrive now, as soon as possible, to live it now… Sometimes living the future now is the only cure we find to our head spinning for the ocean of possibilities and those “things that might happen.” But that is totally wrong.

Time is wise, and shares its wisdom with those who are patient. Things occur, good or bad… things just happen. That should be obvious. And when they happen, we act accordingly. More often than not, we cannot anticipate how such “accordingly acting” should be. An that’s normal. However, problems raise when our minds tend to fall into the trap of believing that by “anticipating” we have a better chance of success once things have occurred. Yes, that’s true, “to anticipate” aids a lot. But… how many variables must we handle in order to our anticipation to be meaningful? Therein lies the problem: the amount of variables involved in our anticipated reasoning. To solve a concrete problem in some specific area (e.g., Physics, Economics, etc.), “to anticipate” can be crucial. In real life, anticipating would also be good… but life has an almost infinite number of variables beyond our reach, and therefore perfectly anticipating a situation makes no sense, and in fact, is unattainable beyond luck’s grounds. We have no control over the future. We must plan, in order to improve our chance of success, but we must also recognize our limits (be humble!): a perfect plan does not amount to a perfect future. Our true option is to live the present… by acting we enforce the bit of control we have over the present.

Finally, I like to think that life is multicolored. And it’s up to us which colors we do choose. Behind every joy there is always a bitterness, and each misfortune encloses some advantage. We select our colors. Again, don’t concern about the future… Let’s act right now! Future will always arrive, no matter our plans… we cannot change that fact. But once future has arrived, let’s act with self-confidence. By acting now, we show and enjoy the colors of our life.

Be happy

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“The job is yours, but don’t dare touch a single leaf of this quaint tree with your axe… this is a lovely tree, whose shade gives shelter to my kids and peace to my family. You’ve passed the test.”

And so the years passed by, and the landowner never regretted of hiring the woodcutter. During all those years of strenuous work the woodcutter had not returned to his village, and had not seen his family. That’s why the landowner decided it was time for the woodcutter to rest and to return to his village. As a token of gratitude, a big farewell party was held for the woodcutter. It was a prize to the woodcutter’s fidelity and good performance. On that day, the woodcutter recalled many joyful things he had lived in the estate. His boss’ family presented him with a lot of objects and gold as gifts. He received plenty of gifts. Collected so many that he required one horse and two mules to carry his gifts. When he departed, he was accompanied to the outskirts of the estate by two pawns. They were talking about the best path that our woodcutter should take to reach his destination faster. The two pawns were of the view that the trail was the shortest path.

“But I don’t know the trail” the woodcutter said, “On the contrary, I know the road well, and won’t get lost.”

Talking about that, they almost reached the last gate of the ranch. However, suddenly, they heard the sound of a horse’s hooves behind them. Other pawn on horseback came galloping up. He said to the woodcutter that the boss wanted him back in the house. The woodcutter worried a bit. “Why is he calling me? I already said goodbye to him… If he changed his mind, and wants me to continue working, he should know that I’m exhausted… I can’t work anymore. Or it’s that they want the gifts back?” He came up with many conjectures and questions. At last, he was in the house again, and the boss was waiting for him. The boss smiled up at him and said “Don’t be frightened. It’s just that I forgot to present you with something that is worth more than all the gold you are carrying with you. Please, accept these three gifts:

1) Never take the trail instead of the main road.

2) Don’t ask about things that don’t pertain to you.

3) Never succumb to hasty judgment.

Now you can go. May God bless you exceedingly.”

Our woodchopper left, thinking of the things his boss had just said. Again, he arrived to the last gate of the estate. He had two options: to follow the trail that the pawns had recommended, or to take the main road. He thought over his decision, and recalled the first gift of his boss: “Never take the trail instead of the main road.” And so he followed the road. Fate was graceful to him, as the pawns were awaiting for him on the trail in order to kill him and rob his gold.

He resumed his journey, but when the sun began to hide his face, fatigue lambasted him, and he had to look for shelter in an inn. The inn was attended by an elderly gentleman who offered him a room to stay overnight. Our woodcutter realized that the only people in the inn were the innkeeper, a parrot, and a woman dressed in rags, locked up in a quite small room. From time to time the woman was broking the silence of the inn with her loud and desperate cries, asking for clemency. Our friend was exhausted, and for the next few hours, he fell sleep. The next day, he woke up early, and went looking for the innkeeper to pay for his stay. He was kind of surprised when he noticed that the innkeeper was already waiting for him, with the breakfast served. After eating, and seeing and hearing the woman’s woes, he told the innkeeper: “Let me ask you something…” The man quickly replied: “I know what you are going to ask!” Suddenly, the woodcutter remembered the second gift the landowner presented him: “Don’t ask about things that don’t pertain to you,” and changed the question in his mind. “Yes? Do you know what I’m about to ask? Well, better yet… I just want to know how much do I owe you for the stay and the meal.” A bit perplexed, the innkeeper answered “Well, my good Lord, you owe me nothing… And I will be always glad to serve you, because you have been the first person that did not ask about that woman and the reason behind her enclosure.” He then added “She is my wife, and she will be locked up there, forever, as atonement for betraying me… for she is an unfaithful woman… I’m waiting for her lover to come to her rescue to complete my vengeance… Meanwhile, I kill every man that ask about her!” Again, our woodcutter was alive thanks to the 3 gifts. He left with a sense of wisdom in his head, which he could afterwards explain as the gifts’ blessing. He immediately departed towards his home, where his wife and sons should be waiting for him… his boys should have grown up very healthy, he thought.

After crossing rivers, plains, mountains and an inclement sun, the woodchopper finally arrived to his village, and took the road leading to his house. He decided not to enter through the front door of the house, though, as he wanted to surprise his wife. However, after approaching to his home, the one in shock was him: he realized that his wife was hugging and kissing a young priest. At that time, his blood boiled… He thought that vision to be an hallucination resulting from his long trip… But no, it was real: his wife was hugging other guy. He thought of the innkeeper and the argument he wielded to punish his wife… He could not stand that sight. But the third gift of the landowner emerged in his mind: “Never succumb to hasty judgment.” He recovered his calmness, and walked towards them. His wife, surprised, took her hand to her forehead, and then shouted for joy to God, and burst into happiness: God, thank you! This is such a great day! And she ran to meet with her husband… he did not understand what was going on. She hugged him and said: “Dear, you have returned… at last!… and today, coincidentally, our eldest son has just returned from the monastery, where he was ordained as a priest.” Finally, the woodcutter realized. He hugged and kissed both his wife and his son, and full of joy, thanked sincerely in his heart to his boss for the wisdom of the three gifts.

This story is purely fictional, and was based on an american folktale.

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Wait up. We have known a lot of people who used appearances deliberately, in order to deceive others. Again, that ’s just our sense of appearance struggling against ourselves Those people who like to use appearance to hurt others, are really being devoured by a great void and a huge loneliness. Appearances are their bastion to run away from such pain. They think they will “conquer the world” by acting in that fashion, but they only are losing the fight. And the price to pay is solitude. What a high price. But that’s beside the point. We know that life’s treasures belong to true warriors. And no true warrior hides her shinning armor. Being a warrior means to receive injuries. No success is accomplished without receiving injuries. It’s our scars, our last and first places, our defeats, our victories, the beings we have loved, the places we have visited… the only heritage of eternal time.

Appearance is a term linked to lies. It says how we want other people to see us, covering our true colors. Do we let how other people see us have too much influence on how we see ourselves? Do we live by keeping up appearances? More important, do we think that everyone is betraying us? Remember, balance is crucial.

Manny was the general manager of Lois’ company, and as such, he enjoyed wide decision authority. He was coming along well with his work, he was a model worker… apparently. However, one day the main secretary of the company resigned. She had worked for Lois’ father, who started the company several years ago. Before leaving, she told Lois: “Appearances are often deceiving. Beware.” After that caveat, Lois started to carefully look over the company books and stats. She was shocked. She discovered that Manny was involved in dirty and treacherous agreements with rival companies. Even some books reflected mismatches between the sets of figures. That’s why although we must avoid misjudging others, we have to be equally vigilant to protect ourselves of being framed by others.

Appearance, when established in a human being, tends to grow. Appearance sprouts more appearances in order to subsist. The cost of that growth, of course, is self-confidence. And when masks fall, we discover that behind the mask only a dark void was left. We, as imperfect humans, are also leaned toward misjudging others. First, all the things we perceive about others are heavily affected by our beliefs, fears, prejudices, feelings and experiences. Thereby, we don’t analyze information in its pure form… it’s impossible. We always process information influenced by our mindset, which may easily be a door to deception. And our body’s chemicals also alter our mood and attitude. We don’t see reality as it truly is, but as we want to see it. And appearance is the perfect disguise for everyone attending the party of farce. The summarized moral of the post is this: “beating appearances is a matter of living a balanced life.” When balance crumbles, appearances breathe.

Finally, let’s remember Socrates’ wisdom: The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be.

Live happily.

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But intelligence has to be applied well. To win or to lose is the result of myriad events, most of which escape our control. And no matter how much importance we concede to time, we cannot control it. Time continues its eternal walk, indifferent to us little humans. However, when we develop and fortify our self-confidence, we understand that time only rules over the external aspect of life. And we get to know the imperishable truth that lies inside us. Our mind awakens. Our interior life does not know about yesterday or tomorrow… about old or young things… Inside us, we only know about the Now. Now that was, is and will be.

Of course we have to know how to manage our external activities well. Time is gold, and we are a duality: external and internal. But the external side cannot conquer the internal one. The wealth of human experience is eternal, free of time effects. Everything good lives inside us… it has not died, it has not vanished, it has not been wasted away. Love is eternal. Live your Time.

“That time is short and it doesn’t return again. It is slipping away while I write this and while you read it, and the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, loss, loss unless you devote your heart to its opposition.” – The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams).

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Good sense is the primary and the conditio sine qua non of a better and longer life. Thanks to it we are able to avoid wars, conflicts, hunger, and getting into troubles in general. It is only a matter of just applying it. The converse, i.e. a bad sense of life balance, turns us into fragile souls, easy preys for evil, envy, and lies. A lack of good sense provides a fake sensation of power… power which indeed is only a cheap mask for selfishness. A lack of good sense separates us from our family, our friends and from the entire world. Moreover, that fake power may lead to an hyperactivity which ultimately will burn us.

Good sense helps us to be true humans, as it improves our self-confidence. Those of us who act prudently, weighing up risks and outcomes, tend to turn into better parents, better sons, and real forgers of avant-garde societies. As aforesaid, good sense involves a keen sense of management and prudence. But it also requires sensibility: we have to be open and responsive toward others and toward our environment. Insensible beings are not only ignorant about others’ emotions, but they are also blind to their own wounds.

It’s my view that good sense is related to permanent consciousness. We should NOT live a routinary life, doing things the Nike-style: Just do it We have to find pleasure in our activities. We have to be always focused, always concentrated in the task at hand. Every problem and every task must receive its quota of time and attention. Don’t work thinking of anything else, as that leads to poor performance, and a progressive decrease in our quality of life.

Good sense follows the bounds of reason, reigning over natural appetites for the pleasure of senses. No real success can be accomplished and sustained in the face of inability to control oneself. Finally, we have to understand that good sense is the only way toward justice. And only fair people will prevail in happiness. Remember, though, that justice starts with ourselves. Our names may be linked to problems, to difficulties, but never should be associated with unfairness, bad sense or sadness.

Next time we have to cut a flower, let’s remember that good sense means acting with wisdom. Is there anything superior to the wisdom that nature shows in a flower?

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At the outset, such reaction is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a natural mechanism which prepares us for defense. Thus, anxiety is a relatively common emotion, naturally linked to survival. However, it may become a threat to our health if:

• The reaction gets out of control, forcing us to adopt a defensive behavior continually. This consumes body and mind’s energy, unproductively.
• Anxiety attacks are experienced, including severe physical and emotional disturbances, such as headaches, arrhythmias, irascibility, nausea and general pain. No matter the graveness of those symptoms, the result is the same: zero productivity and zero advance with regards to the feared issue. Plenty of weakening, though.

I always like to recommend an evaluation by a qualified specialist if we are facing health problems, including anxiety. Additionally, I think the following neat tips may prove useful in controlling the anxiety stemming from our daily chores and jobs:

1. Try to relax, silently, during at least 10 minutes every day. Modern living can make us very unaccustomed to silence, but both mind and soul speak in the silent moments.
2. Meditate, practice a correct and relaxed breathing, specially in those times in which stress is tougher.
3. If you ever feel trapped into a stressful situation, take a break and think: what I’m doing right now? Learn to identify anger, fear, sadness, happiness, anguish and envy.
4. Every morning, after waking up, say: “Thanks God, for the things I have. And with such things I do my best.“
5. Watch your diet. Include fresh fruit and vegetables as much as possible (without breaking the nutritional balance of your diet, of course.)
6. Follow some type of exercise program, outdoors. Exercise for at least 3 hours weekly.
7. Try not to use your watch for a week. You’ll discover the nice time management abilities of the mind.
8. Expand your social circle, looking for people with a personality similar to yours. I do insist, a good circle of friends is vital for keeping a good mental health.
9. Fears are defeated by talking about them, by accepting them. We should talk about the things that haunt us with a lovely person who knows how to heal… a wise mother… a dear friend. Such lovely people, whose words heal our soul, are a treasure.
10. Finally, find your spaces and a take your time for enjoying life… dedicate that time only to yourself. Allow yourself to be happy. Nature is open to us… why don’t we take some time to enjoy it?

Thanks for reading. Be happy.

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