Saturday, August 27, 2005

Wellness Is Savoring Every Moment

I've said it before in this blog and if you follow this blog (and i hope you do), you'll hear me say it many more times. I'm going to say it over and over till everyone hears me.

Wellness isn't just about not being sick.

Wellness is about taking responsibility for having a take-your-breath-away-kind-of-life. Yes it's also about taking care of yourself physically and nutritionally. But it's more than that! It's about treasuring those moments in life that you have a choice of appreciating and savoring or taking for granted and losing. Do you need to slow down so you don't miss those moments?

It's about fostering the inner child in you. When was the last time you laughed with the abandon of a child? Flew a kite? My favorite vacation is spent on a beach flying a kite. When I did so last february with a friend, she remarked she hadn't flown a kite since she was five. We had a great time that day flying a kite and remembering the joy we had felt as children. Your inner child is important!

Do you need to relearn to take note of the take-your-breath-away moments in your life? You know those moments when something happens, you realize something you hadn't before or you appreciate something you hadn't previously....and for just a second you suck in your breath....usually followed by a smile! For example, when you look at a flower and see a beauty about it you never noticed. It takes your breath away and you smile. And doesn't it make you feel good to hear the laughter of a child or share the joy of a friend? It's all a part of your wellness.

Thinking about joy brings to mind what Abraham Lincoln said......"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Really he was just saying the same thing as Hellen Keller, wasn't he? Happiness IS inside us. Happiness is a choice.

"Your success and happiness lie within you. External conditions are the accidents of life, its outer trappings." - Helen Keller

I think happiness and abundance are our birthright. If you make choices for the higher good.... or live with "gregarious graciousness" (love that term!) you're not going to miss happiness and abundance. One of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes, "Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into."

So then true wellness is claiming your happiness, your voice, unleashing your creativity, igniting your passion and expressing yourself in the world. Wellness expands the meaning of your life. You simply need to choose it.

I think we all at some time or another struggle with "meaninglessness". I know as I struggled with Lupus I questioned the meaning of it all many times. As the singer Harry Chapin once said, "I am a greedy, selfish bastard. I want the fact that I existed to mean something." Life can mean a little or it can mean a lot. What life means depends on what you choose for it to mean. Stanley Kubrick is quoted to have said, "The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning." Quite the contrary, life is not meaningless. Ever. Struggle with a life-endangering disorder (as I have) and you will find life is so full to the brim with meaning it is almost to huge to fully comprehend. Life can be as meaningful as you decide to let it be.

What can you do to increase the wellness of your life? To answer that I would have to ask you, what parts of your life do not add to your existence? What makes you happy? And why aren't you doing more of that?
Wishing you wellness and joy always!
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT (Ms. HN in progress)

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