WHAT MAKES “THE GOOD LIFE” POSSIBLE?

Photo by Federico Giampieri on Unsplash

“Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about.” —Albert Camus

PURSUING THE GOOD LIFE

How many times have we asked ourselves: Where does all my time go? It seems like just yesterday … (fill in the blank)? Responses to a 2009 time-use survey given to US adults explain some of the mystery. The most frequent activities reported in the survey were: sleeping, working, household chores, eating and drinking, caring for others, leisure activities, volunteering, phone and email communications, and other miscellaneous activities. Although not glamorous, these findings of how we spend our time seem realistic. They also help us understand why we may pay little attention to pursuing the good life until we take stock as life’s end approaches.

What makes a good life is perhaps not as mysterious; in fact, social science researchers have identified key characteristics of a good life beyond our day-to-day activities. They found that people want to live the life they desire rather than the life others expect them to live. Most of us want to balance spending time working with spending time on things that bring us love, support, and deep pleasures. We want to establish and enjoy close, positive relationships with others, and we want to have a steady supply of good feelings, happiness, and fulfillment.

Unfortunately, research on how to realize these aspirations is sparse and vague. Missing entirely is a recognition of the fact that high levels of health and well-being are likely prerequisites for enjoying the good life we desire.

THE KEY TO A GOOD LIFE

Attaining the good life has been challenging for a long period of time. In the second century, Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius wrote, “The art of living is more like that of wrestling than of dancing. The main thing is to stand firm and be ready for an unforeseen attack.” Still, we haven’t been deterred from pursuing the good life—nor should we be.

Psychologist Carl Rogers noted, “The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.” This process relies on high health for success. It’s fueled by physical energy, guided by clear thinking and purpose, and sustained by optimism and composure. It’s in this context that the importance of being well—beyond the absence of disease—becomes more clear.

As far as we’ve come in the modern world, finding successful ways to attain high health and well-being remains elusive. We too often depend on an external medical system to manage our health. Although external medical systems can make us less sick, they can’t make us more well. Consequently, our inherent abilities to build our own health are not well developed.

HIGH WELL-BEING MAKES THE GOOD LIFE POSSIBLE

High well-being stems from our ability to function well in the physical and non-physical dimensions of life. Fitness, balance and agility, and nutrient-rich eating characterize health’s physical dimension. Restoring mental attention, managing positive and negative emotions, and connecting with meaning and purpose characterize health’s non-physical dimension. Most health-building approaches—consisting primarily of diet and fitness activities—exclude methods for building non-physical health. Because they fall short in this way, a more complete approach is needed.

It is not the difficulty of the methods that challenge our adoption of such approaches but the lack of availability of comprehensive programs. Fortunately, recent information technology advances have reduced constraints, and comprehensive programs are now more readily available. The integrated approach of the High Health Network is one of them. The Network’s mission is to help as many people as possible attain the sufficient levels of health needed to realize the good life.

Being well has never been more important. If you want to increase the odds of success for living a more fulfilling life, contact us and find out more.

Joyce M. Young, MD, MPH
Managing Director, Advanced Wellness Systems
Lead Expert for the High Health Network

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Pexels

“Life is the greatest art of all, and the master-artist is the man who is living the beautiful life.” —John Edgar Par

Sincerely,

Your colleagues at Advanced Wellness Systems