FINDING THE PATH TO MORE HEALTH

“So often when the obstacles in your path can’t be overcome, it’s not your path.”  –Robert Brault

Photo by James Wheeler from Pexels

COOL PATH TO A HOT DESTINATION

It was hot and humid, and my friend Gail and I were hiking in our community’s five-thousand-acre forest. A creek we found mesmerized us with its soft babbling sounds and clear flowing water; we felt cooler when we hiked beside it. Unfortunately, we failed to recognize that following the creek, rather than the path markers, would cause us to hike an extra hour on a hot summer afternoon to the wrong destination. 

In hindsight, we shouldn’t have been surprised when the path ended at a wide section of the creek that was too deep to wade through. We immediately realized why there were no colored path markers on the trees—we had unknowingly followed a scenic path to an impasse.

Shortly after we’d turned around to begin an hour of backtracking, we ran into a park ranger who directed us to a little-known shortcut to the trail head. She sketched a back-of-the-envelope diagram of this path with tips for navigating its difficult sections and handed it to us. Thanks to her direction and special instructions, we were able to reach our desired destination in less than thirty minutes. 

MODERN LIVING'S PATH TO MORE ILLNESS

A path like a hiking trail, is an established physical course for traveling from one place to another. Another kind of path offers an established set of actions that lead from one state-of-being to another. In both instances, the steps to take or actions to implement are geared to a desired—or, in some cases, an unintentionally undesired—result.

Though not as obvious as when we hike on a trail, we also follow paths that lead to more health or more illness. Finding and following a path to more health is not as easy as it may seem. Health-depleting forces of modern living—such as distraction, constant change, and widely available convenience foods—encourage inattentiveness, veering from commitments, and consumption of low-quality foods. All these actions drain our health and vitality. Unchecked, they form a path that leads to more illness, and we may unknowingly follow it. 

When we mitigate these forces and implement actions that build our energy and capacity, we begin following a path that leads to more health. Like the little-known shortcut the ranger revealed to us, there may be quicker ways to reach our desired state of greater health. There may be pitfalls along the way and we need guidance to navigate that trickier terrain. We also have to find and intentionally follow this lesser-known path to gain health, confidence, and control. 

A GUIDE SAVES THE DAY

Just as following the path along the creek led to the wrong destination, routine actions of daily living may entice us toward a path that leads to more illness. Paying attention and taking time to assess whether we are going in the desired direction is valuable for hiking and for health. 

Our experience with the park ranger taught us about the value of a guide—someone who has traveled the paths, knows which ones are best, and shows us how to avoid pitfalls. When it comes to defeating health-depleting forces and following paths to more health, a guide will be needed most of the time to achieve success. 

Modern living’s path leads to more illness. For more health, we need to find another path and a guide who can help us follow it. The best guides can be found in the High Health Network. The Network’s path is easy to follow, energizing, and effective. It is the best path to follow if we want our health to be better in five years than it is today. You can stop your searching and join us now. 

Joyce M. Young, MD, MPH
Managing Director, Advanced Wellness Systems

Photo by Anton Atanasov from Pexels

“The rewards come to those who travel the second, undemanded mile.” –Bruce Barton

Sincerely,
Your colleagues at Advanced Wellness Systems