What makes paradise?
It's 3:30am and I can't sleep. It sucks but I guess its part of getting older. Either that or my mattress is uncomfortable and my wife is a bed hog. In that light I figured I would take a peek on Hive and see what is up. I came across this article
@nkemakonam89/where-did-our-humanity-go-a-teargas-attack-in-broad-daylight-4ja where @nkemakonam89 tells of an incident where she was sitting on a bus, there is a confrontation with another vehicle, and in road rage someone throws tear gas into the bus causing chaos and discomfort or worse to the people inside.
I'm reading that as I'm sitting in a quiet place with my dog and wife resting peacefully. There isn't a noise to be heard other than my fridge quietly keeping our food cold. I know my neighbors are good people. We have friends in the community. Food in the pantry. Money in the bank. Fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, and absolutely no thought of some random person throwing tear gas anywhere near us.
image source: Dall-e
Now its not perfect. It's a long drive (38km) to the nearest town so food isn't exactly close. There are moose, bear, cougar and other threats nearby. Overall though ... It's hard to imagine a more peaceful environment.
Keeping Healthy
In general the people in this area live healthy lifestyles and it isn't at all uncommon to see very active and healthy elderly people. At a town meeting last week I met a spy woman in her 80's greeting everyone and showing them to their seats. I had to smile because as a Pharmacist I often see much younger people in much worse health. It also made me think of my trip to Japan where even the very aged kept on going and seemed very healthy despite their age.
What's the trick to staying healthy?
Hard to say exactly because there are so many components to ensuring someone stays healthy and active. They are things I've looked into as I am getting older and want to stay strong as I age. Now, if you ask my mom she is going to say its about having lots of vitamins and supplements and that diet is key. I think it is a lot more than that though. I don't disagree with her, proper nutrition is very important. She also doesn't care to listen to opinions other than what she believes. However, if she were to ask this is what I would tell her.
Personal opinion on how to stay healthy
Nutrition
Some people think its eating only whole foods. Only vegan foods. Only GMO free, pesticide free, whole organic foods. My personal take? Proper nutrition. Get your daily vitamins and minerals from unprocessed foods and eat only what you need. Excess is a killer.
Activity
No sitting on your butt all day. Gotta get up and do things. Inactivity kills, or at least that is my take. Unfortunately when you are in oppressive heat (here's looking at you Manila) or you live in a very crowded place (yup, still looking at you Manila), it can be very hard to be motivated to leave your house.
Purpose
Having a reason to get up every morning. A reason to go out and do things. Even just a cat to get up and feed all make a huge difference.
Friends/Family
Being alone and lonely is a huge detractor. Of course it isn't fun but it also isn't healthy. Social interaction makes life far more interesting but more than that having someone to lean on in bad times helps both mentally and physically.
Faith
If life is nothing more than taking a certain number of breaths and enjoying what you can before they cease seems like it detracts from purpose. Having something to believe in. Something to give you strength in difficult times. Something to look forward to once you take your last breath. Very valuable at least in my eyes.
Outlook
A positive viewpoint goes a long way. Always look at the negative in life and I'm almost certain you will feel negative. If you always look at the positive, well, its a lot easier to feel positive.
Clean, secure environment
Hard to stay healthy if you are surrounded by poison or disease. I'm so glad to be where I am with fresh air, fresh water, and a total lack of stress.
Access to daily necessities
Hard to stay healthy without food, water, and shelter.
Access to healthcare and preventative maintenance
Everything breaks down at sometime. Preventative maintenance and a good mechanic help your car stay running for the long time. A good doctor to give you checkups or help out when things go wrong helps people run properly for their lifespan also.
Luck of the draw / Good genetics
Of course some people just have more issues than others. I had a boss who was fighting Lupus. She will never be as healthy as someone who wasn't born with it. A blogger I know here on HIVE has sickle cell anemia and through no fault of her own she is never going to live as healthy a life as someone who had different genetics. Some things you can't change but you just have to do your best with--of course medical intervention helps a lot also.
But how do we set a healthy environment?
It is great to strive for an environment that keeps ME healthy. However, where does a healthy environment start? As a Christian I think the "Golden Rule" actually makes a lot of sense. If you don't know the rule it is simple : Do to others what you would want them to do to you. It can also be stated as "Love your neighbor as yourself".
Think about this in practice:
If you valued another's health as much as your own would you ever throw a tear gas grenade in a bus?
If you valued another person's business as much as your own would you ever steal from their business or vandalize their property?
If you valued the lives of animals would you allow them to be mistreated or live in unhygenic conditions contributing to disease?
If you cared for the plants and forests as much as yourself would you allow them to be destroyed without a thought of the long term consequences?
Even if you aren't Christian respecting others goes a long way towards a safe, civil, and healthy environment. I could easily look at Japan as an example. It is the custom of the Japanese to value others and society. They are rarely Christian but that respect leads to a safe country, orderly public transit, and even good food portion sizes of excellent food.
Call it what you will but respecting yourself, respecting others, respecting society, respecting the environment and its plants and animals would go a very very long way towards making a place paradise. If you add in social planning, healthcare, and getting the daily necessities you are going a long way towards making things healthy for mind, body and soul....isn't that the definition of Paradise?
Just my opinions
I like to think that my profession gives me a little insight into how to stay healthy. If not my profession then my faith. However, I am also acutely aware that I don't have all the answers. Who knows, maybe I'm totally off track. However, as I get older I'm looking to stay healthy as long as possible. What are my goals: Make sure that I check every one of those boxes and see what the end result is. If I live a long healthy life, well, that's proof enough for me that I was on the right track. If not, well, I won't be around to change my plan. Unfortunately not everyone is able to access everything on that list which is really quite sad. However, if you can't hit perfect, well, better to aim for the best but live with what you can get.
Of course if you have other opinions feel free to leave me a comment. I'm always open to suggestions and love comments. Also, thank you for reading this far, always appreciate it.
One final thought. It is now 4:30am and I don't do my best writing sleep deprived. Probably not my best work but... I need to get back to bed and try to get some sleep.