Andrew Taylor Still was an American physician and the founder of Osteopathic Medicine. He developed a unique approach that focuses on the body’s ability to heal itself. His approach, coined osteopathy, seeks out the root causes of disease and promotes overall wellness. Still believed that the body’s structure has to be considered when seeking health. He also acknowledged the impact that mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being can have on our physical health and the healing process in general.
Manual therapists and nutritionists understand that to create health, all dimensions of the human, the body, mind and spirit, have to be considered. But what does this mean exactly?
We create health for our physical being with nutrition, exercise, sleep, and staying hydrated. These components influence how our bodies function.
The mental and emotional aspect of our mind is our thoughts and feelings. Mental stimulation, stress management, positive thinking and making space for some downtime is what we need to do to nurture our minds.
Spiritually, we need to feel a sense of purpose, connection and inner peace. We nurture our spirit through prayer and meditation, spending time in nature, volunteering and striving for personal growth.
When making changes to create more health in our lives I suggest starting with the simple changes that can be implemented effortlessly. Add a two minute meditation session before bed of just listening to your breath. Start a gratitude journal and begin your day looking for the positive when you write down three things you are grateful for. Go for a ten minute walk close to a river or through a park to get your nature fix. Once these small changes have been incorporated daily and they become a habit, you can start to incorporate other small changes to create health like eating an apple a day.
Slowly we start to replace some of the “bad stuff” (processed food, too much screen time, stress, and isolation) with some of the “good stuff” (homemade meals, exercise, acceptance and interaction) which guides us towards health. Take a minute to think about some changes you want to make. Write them down but then pick just one that you can start to work toward. Make it a goal. Once you have a goal in mind you can now take the tiny steps forward toward this thing that you have set for your future self. These MVA’s (minimal viable actions) compound over the weeks and months and move you in the direction you want to go. Apply this technique to any pursuit whether it be athletic, intellectual or creative based. I was feeling quite stuck. I wanted to make some changes but I didn’t know what to do so I didn’t do anything. Joining Toastmasters was a start. It forced me to set some goals (one speech a month) so I can work at writing just a little bit every day. This challenges me intellectually and keeps me from reading the news (the bad stuff). And that’s a good thing.
This is your roadmap. Pick a pursuit, set a goal and start researching your next move ie: what you need to do to make this happen. Change has to come from within. Nobody can make us change. Setting goals will empower you. If you need some ideas on how to create health, I can help.
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