In this post, I talk about what I define to be freedom in this case and to bridge the gap between knowing and doing by attaching your goals to a symbol.
If you have a health related goal (or any goal for that matter) and want some ideas on how to achieve it, read on.
Key:
- It must be done by YOU
this is your life, your happiness and eventually, your actions
Realise that no one can criticize you the way that you can criticize yourself. And that works for both extremes. ie: you can tell yourself how bad you suck, or you can tell yourself how much you’ve achieved
In the case of health:
THE FREEDOM FROM COMPULSION. The freedom from the irresistable urge to do something despite knowing that it will do you harm.
It is the ability to resist that cigarette.
It is the ability to say no to those chips.
It is the freedom to enjoy life as you want it
It is a gift you give yourself.
My job:
Firstly, to give the information that is necessary, that is achieved with the various articles on the site. But you could possibly get that information elsewhere, so is that all I can give?
No, What I do is to get you to DECIDE to commit to the decision to live a healthier life.
Once that decision is made, you will actively seek out information, you will tell friends about it, you will derive joy from it.
And that’s what symbols are for.
What symbolises this freedom?
Frankly, I don’t know. That’s only something you can answer. Because the symbol (it can be anything from an image, a sound or even an action) incites emotions within you, and I obviously cannot feel your emotions.
I love the drawing above. Not for the artistic flair (though it’s already pretty good), but because the person who drew it did it so effortlessly. That is a symbol, a representation of emotion which can only truly make sense to the person.
So, my challenge to you, is firstly, be more aware of yourself. Ask yourself, ‘How am I feeling right now?’
How do you feel when you buy bottled water? Or when you bite into that cake? Or when you engage in playing tennis? Or when you watch TV? Or when you basically do anything.
Remember this, when you’re buying the bottle of water, is it any better than tap water? Is the Starbucks coffee any better than any other coffee?
Heck No! But these products succeed because we do not buy them because of their quality, we buy them because we are buying an experience. We buy the water because it makes us feel clean about drinking ‘distilled water’. We buy the coffee because we enjoy the cafe lifestyle, the coffee is merely a small entrance fee into this wholly engaging and rewarding emotional experience.
Knowing this, we then become much more aware. Now, we can tell ourselves what we truly want, and then we can make the decisions to pursue what we want with much less emotional friction.
Now, is this easy? Certainly not. You cannot quantify such efforts. I mean, wouldn’t it be ridiculous to say that “If I spend 10 hours a day trying to quit smoking, I will succeed.”
It is not a matter of HARD work. It is not a matter of putting in the time.
What it is, is a matter of admitting to yourself, that fundamentally, your life/habit is BROKEN and that you need to change. That is DIFFICULT, but that can take anywhere from 3 seconds, to 3 years. The important thing is to decide.
Now, my second and final challenge. Is to create a new symbol for yourself.
It could be a sign which you paste about your fridge reminding you each time before you reach for the soda.
It could be a commitment to your spouse to stop the drinking.
It could be a hand sign to symbolise a movement.
Image Credit: vanhookc
The only thing that any one of these have in common, is that each one induces emotions within the person, that makes it possible to do what he/she sets out to do.
Now…it’s all on you…
DECIDE! BECOME AWARE! CREATE A SYMBOL! SET YOURSELF FREE!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Health is not for ourself. Bad health doesn't affect ourself more than others:
- Think about how much people have to care about an ill old parent.
- Think about how much society has to spend in healthcare.
- Think how much job productivity is lost in sick leaves.
When media are trying to persuade us that stopping cigarette smoking, or slimming down is good for us, they are actually carrying propaganda to try to cut overall disease and unfitness costs.
Therefore I think that when people refuse to stick to healthy habits they are (sometimes) consciously or (most of the time) subconsciously acknowledging that they are not individually responsible for all the social problems. And they refuse to individually make efforts to benefit a society which is in every way trying to put them down.
By the way thanks for replying, and for your blog, it's very nice!
Thanks for giving a chance to clarify.
No doubt, there are lots of stuff to worry about in the world. All I'm stipulating is that health is part of the equation, and yes it is something we can do, since it for ourselves by ourselves. Good day.
What is the most efficient to escape from jail? total health, terminal illness or suicide
- total health is the condition to be able to fight your guards, and run away to some people waiting for you with an airplane…but you seriously risk to get killed, and wherever you go you won't really be free, cause you'll allways risk to get back to the jail anyway, and will have to seriously hide.
- terminal illness is rather efficient way to escape, first of all cause your mind may be altered enough not to feel imprisonement anymore, secondly because you might be granting freedom for your latest weeks before death, as a compassion act.
- suicide is obviously the ultmiate escape, though it has no power to set you free, only to supress you.
Therefore I don't believe health equates freedom for all of us which are trapped by social problems (pollution, joblessness, homelessness, domestic violence, slave jobs, overcrowded cities, mafia, gangs, etc…)
In society freedom is to have money/power enough to make choices: the air to breathe, the water to drink, the food to eat, the shelter to shun from rain and snow.
But most people do not have that level of wealth, therefore there is a far bigger culprit to obesity than Big Mac, it's poverty!
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