Roger Harty: Back To Basics

.

PEOPLE who know me will know that I often talk about the basic pillars that are required for good health, be it mental health or otherwise.

On that subject I believe that our mental health and general health go hand in hand i.e. you can’t have one without the other.

That is why both aspects mental and general health are covered by the basic pillars that I suggest. In order to create a better picture in your mind I prefer to use the image of ‘Legs of a stool’.

The reason I use the image of a stool is as follows. You can sit on a four legged stool and you can sit on a three legged stool (the old milking stool) but if you sit on a two legged stool you are likely to fall off.

Each leg represents a certain discipline that is necessary for a healthy life and neglect any of them at your peril.  So take a four legged stool for instance.

Leg 1   Exercise  –   Absolutely necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Especially in the modern world that we live in where much time is spent watching TV or on the smart – phones. Our bodies need to be stimulated so ——— Use it or lose it.

Leg 2   Diet   –    Probably even more important than leg 1. It is very important that we pay close attention as to what we put into our bodies. You are what you digest.

Leg 3   Learning and Meditation –  Every day is a good day when we learn something – there are many sources of learning be it books, Youtube, courses, or indeed listening to others. Meditation allows us to learn from our own body and to connect with our emotional intelligence .It is perhaps our greatest source of wisdom if we only took the time to pay attention to it.

Leg 4    Medication –  Sometimes we need medication as a helping hand. Isn’t it great to live in the world that we live in where we have access to all sorts of help.

A three legged stool represents Leg 1 , Leg 2 and Leg 3 without the need for medication (leg 4).

The truth is that it doesn’t matter whether you are sitting on a four legged stool or a three legged stool as long as you are sitting. It is important to always pay attention to the basic disciplines.

Going back to leg 3 – Learning.

The best advice I have got recently was from watching The Late Late Show where Ryan Tubridy was interviewing a lady by the name of Jamie Lee Curtis as his guest.

Jamie Lee is an American actress, producer and director and is the daughter of the American actor Tony Curtis. She is now approaching her sixtieth year and was looking fantastic.

I was most impressed with the advice she gave for a healthy lifestyle which she made a point of summing up in 4 four words.

If you wish to be healthy  — Eat Less, Move More!!

Thank you Jamie.

Next week I am going to write about — That is better than How.