The Secret of Feeling Better

Every once in a while, you forget things you know.

I'm not talking about the brief lapses of memory that come with age or stress. Or age AND stress, as the case may be.

I'm talking about those universal truths we know in our guts that, if we're not actively keeping them top of mind, fall by the wayside in our very busy brains.

Things like:
Don't get caught up in the drama of fighting with your kids ... these days are going to go by so fast and if you focus on the unimportant stuff, you'll miss the good stuff.

Don't forget to make time for your parents. They're not going to be here forever and you will kick yourself in that forever if you let this time pass because you're too busy or too booked or too bothered.

Take time every day to be grateful for all that is good in your life. It's easy to focus on what's going wrong, but your life is full and rich and if you're warm and fed and loved, that's more than enough.

Those are all sort of big, heavy examples. But I was reminded of another one today.

The best way to feel better is to do things that make you feel better.

Eating junk, not moving enough, getting caught in a self-slamming loop tape in your head, making excuses, and worse yet, believing those excuses ... they put you in a place that is not healthy.

There is nothing in your life that is not helped by treating your body better. 

Here's an example. I was listening to NPR Thursday night and Joy Cardin was interviewing an author who wrote a book about chronic pain. (Listen to "A Nation in Pain" here.) She talked about how chronic pain is really one of the nation's biggest health crises and probably the least understood/researched/properly treated. She talked about how pain isn't necessarily a symptom of something else, but a "thing" in its own right. It was fascinating. But perhaps the most interesting thing she said was that the best and most effective cure for any and all pain is ...

Exercise.

That got me thinking of my week off last week. I didn't work out, I didn't eat very well. And I kept feeling worse and worse. The less I did, the more tired I got. The more chocolate I ate, the worse I felt.

It's all so freaking connected. And when you pay attention, you notice it.

It's not complicated. Seems so logical, right?

This is the only life you get.

Celebrate it. Be good to you.