Day 243 of 365 - Skillful Living
One of the advantages of spending several days with a friend this week is that she has a great library. I can just scan a shelf and see what book calls to me. Today it was one called 77 Questions for Skillful Living by Michael Finkelstein, M.D.
Don't worry. I'm not going to list his 77 questions. It's a book about finding your path to your best health. It covers four key categories: self, relationships, nature and beyond. He uses questions and examples to target these via examination of your purpose in life, the quality of your relationships, whether you are in tune with rhythms of nature and your connection to life before and after us.
The following quote summarizes the essence of his approach. 'Health is a natural state of wholeness, marked by the establishment of dynamic balance, encompassing and fully integrating the areas of our mental/emotional, physical, spiritual, social and environmental condition.'
Aside from reviewing the usual kinds of health complaints and how they are typically addressed, Dr. Finkelstein suggests that we can ask ourselves the right questions which not only make the best use of science and medicine but to look at them in a broader frame of reference.
For example, as I have referred to in other posts, inflammation is a common denominator in the most common presenting complaints about health. In addition to addressing inflammation with anti-inflammatory foods, good hydration, adequate sleep and detoxifying your environment, he has strong beliefs about the powerful influence of connecting with nature and avoiding inflammatory interactions with others. He also recommends balancing out our tendency to complain about our health with consciously identifying the many signs of well-being that we continue to experience despite our aches and pains.
By attentively tuning in to each of our senses we can awaken an appreciation of the capacity to experience sensory pleasures in healthy ways. We can find something of meaning and beauty in every day if we look for it. This, along with listening to our sense of intuition, can help us trust our own inner knowing and discrimination about next steps to better health.
The cycles and rhythms of the natural environment can also remind us of the way that our body operates as a unified system with its own cycles and rhythms. When our bodies are more in balance with natural cycles we move into a more healthy state. Feeling connected to nature, each other and natural resources leads to a more fulfilling, stable and healthy existence.
The man-made cycles and habits of the modern lifestyle are at odds with nature so often and definitely influence our health. We tend to resist trusting ourselves and rely too heavily on outside influences. It's a paradox for a culture that seems to promote self-reliance that we are so often looking to others to make us feel better. We can reclaim our control of a healthier way of living by overcoming our tendency to deny our issues, resist change and to fear not being able to do better.
Getting clear on what it is that we really want and need can help us move forward. If you were in your best health, how would you live your life?
It's also important to recognize that change and loss is natural. Reconnecting with nature and the energy of life beyond ourselves helps us to realize that. Instead of repeatedly looking for temporary 'fixes' of comfort we can re-frame our perspective to include a broader scope and let go of attachment to specific outcomes. Looking at the bigger picture provides us more opportunity to find that dynamic balance embodied in true health.
We can develop a more skillful way of living by being willing to ask ourselves more questions which address both the challenges and opportunities of our lives, ones which consider the interplay of both the light and dark, the doing and the being, the negative and the positive. It's all a part of our existence in these bodies of ours.
Don't worry. I'm not going to list his 77 questions. It's a book about finding your path to your best health. It covers four key categories: self, relationships, nature and beyond. He uses questions and examples to target these via examination of your purpose in life, the quality of your relationships, whether you are in tune with rhythms of nature and your connection to life before and after us.
The following quote summarizes the essence of his approach. 'Health is a natural state of wholeness, marked by the establishment of dynamic balance, encompassing and fully integrating the areas of our mental/emotional, physical, spiritual, social and environmental condition.'
Aside from reviewing the usual kinds of health complaints and how they are typically addressed, Dr. Finkelstein suggests that we can ask ourselves the right questions which not only make the best use of science and medicine but to look at them in a broader frame of reference.
For example, as I have referred to in other posts, inflammation is a common denominator in the most common presenting complaints about health. In addition to addressing inflammation with anti-inflammatory foods, good hydration, adequate sleep and detoxifying your environment, he has strong beliefs about the powerful influence of connecting with nature and avoiding inflammatory interactions with others. He also recommends balancing out our tendency to complain about our health with consciously identifying the many signs of well-being that we continue to experience despite our aches and pains.
By attentively tuning in to each of our senses we can awaken an appreciation of the capacity to experience sensory pleasures in healthy ways. We can find something of meaning and beauty in every day if we look for it. This, along with listening to our sense of intuition, can help us trust our own inner knowing and discrimination about next steps to better health.
The cycles and rhythms of the natural environment can also remind us of the way that our body operates as a unified system with its own cycles and rhythms. When our bodies are more in balance with natural cycles we move into a more healthy state. Feeling connected to nature, each other and natural resources leads to a more fulfilling, stable and healthy existence.
The man-made cycles and habits of the modern lifestyle are at odds with nature so often and definitely influence our health. We tend to resist trusting ourselves and rely too heavily on outside influences. It's a paradox for a culture that seems to promote self-reliance that we are so often looking to others to make us feel better. We can reclaim our control of a healthier way of living by overcoming our tendency to deny our issues, resist change and to fear not being able to do better.
Getting clear on what it is that we really want and need can help us move forward. If you were in your best health, how would you live your life?
It's also important to recognize that change and loss is natural. Reconnecting with nature and the energy of life beyond ourselves helps us to realize that. Instead of repeatedly looking for temporary 'fixes' of comfort we can re-frame our perspective to include a broader scope and let go of attachment to specific outcomes. Looking at the bigger picture provides us more opportunity to find that dynamic balance embodied in true health.
We can develop a more skillful way of living by being willing to ask ourselves more questions which address both the challenges and opportunities of our lives, ones which consider the interplay of both the light and dark, the doing and the being, the negative and the positive. It's all a part of our existence in these bodies of ours.
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