Insomnia, reflux esophagitis, stomach cramps, erosive gastritis, gastric ulcers, dry eyes, eye strain, inflammation, post-meal drowsiness, spinal inflammation, tinnitus, autonomic dysfunction, and more.
Things have improved a lot recently, but for several months I had been recovering from burnout.
One weekend evening, while talking on the phone with a former company director, I came across an opportunity to add a little new common sense, or perhaps wisdom. I am leaving behind a few notes from that conversation, with a small amount of additional research added in.
Health, it seems, is not simply about having a strong body.
Only when one can maintain a tidy state of mind and close social relationships
can one truly sustain a healthy life.
Body, mind, and social relationships...
The World Health Organization defines health as follows.
Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, but a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
This definition was adopted in the WHO Constitution in 1948 and describes health as a comprehensive and multidimensional concept. It goes beyond the absence of disease and emphasizes a broad idea that includes quality of life and overall happiness. In other words, health includes not only physical health but also mental, emotional, and social well-being.
To describe it a little more concretely...
- Health is not simply the absence of disease or weakness, but a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
- One of the fundamental rights of every human being, without distinction of race, religion, political belief, or economic and social condition, is the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health.
- The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security, and depends on the fullest cooperation of individuals and states.
- The achievement of any state in promoting and protecting health is of value to all.
- Unequal development in the promotion of health and the control of disease, especially communicable disease, is a common danger.
- The healthy development of the child is of basic importance, and the ability to live harmoniously in a changing environment is essential to such development.
- Extending the benefits of medical, psychological, and related knowledge to all people is essential to the fullest attainment of health.
- Informed public opinion and active cooperation are of the utmost importance in improving the health of the people.
- Governments can fulfill their responsibility for the health of their peoples only through adequate health and social measures.
https://www.who.int/about/accountability/governance/constitution
Constitution of the World Health Organization
The Constitution was adopted by the International Health Conference held in New York 1946 and entered into force on 7 April 1948.
www.who.int
For some reason, the phrase 'World Health Organization' can make us vaguely assume that something more scientific or more strictly quantitative must be hiding there. That bias becomes visible in moments like this.
Instead, while reading through what felt almost like Eastern philosophy or ethics, I was left with a simpler impression: what I hope for, and what they are really trying to talk about, is not 'health' itself but 'a healthy life.'
So then,
how well am I right now?
And regarding that well-being-
right here, right now,
how aware am I of it myself?
- think normal
