Optimum Wellness?
I ask you!

How are you feeling lately? How are you really feeling? Fighting fit? Fabulous? OK? Not too bad? Fair to middling? Toxic? Tired? Foul? Forget it, don’t even ask.

For the truly health conscious, apparently, ‘Optimum Wellness’ (the ‘correct’ term for the current craze) is the expected standard.

In the 50’s & 60’s we were satisfied to not be ‘sick’. In the 70’s & 80’s we worked out to be ‘fit’……but now, post 90’s & into the new millennium we want (or are expected) to be positively ‘bionic’. It is no longer enough to merely feel O.K. We are supposed to be practicably immortal, invincible and impervious to everything; every misuse, abuse, environmental invasion, pain, discomfort, degeneration, disease & even invulnerable to the inevitable, relentlessness of unruly ageing. In this aspiration for an ultimate state of hyper-health we are importuned to seek immunity to anything which might foil our plans & spoil the party. It is not enough to simply not feel ‘lousy’, we want to feel incredible all of the time, forever. Fine. But how are we doing? Honestly? Are we even feeling passable or good, let alone ‘brilliant’? We can know so much, we have so much available to us, but where does it get us?.

The art of ‘optimum wellbeing’ is that of treating & fine-tuning the whole of our being and the science of nutrition for (an essential part of this equation) is ever more complex & astounding. So many hormones, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins & sugars all designed to do squillions of phenomenal things with miraculous precision. That is, of course, if we are fully fit & well. And, if we are not, then the aberrant behaviour of all these myriad substances & structures that we call our body is still just as fascinating & amazing. But heck, how does ‘knowing’ all, or any, of this help us?.

Indeed, the science of health & nutrition is inconceivably intricate but in reality the principles & practices of feeling fine are simple & few. True, a good practitioner (with high-tech diagnostic tools & traditional systems of assessment) can pinpoint specific deficiencies, toxicities, weaknesses, intolerances, dangers & dysfunctions and can prescribe or recommend an approach appropriate for the individual. Yet, even so, each & every one of us (with a little bit of good sense & a basic understanding of the fundamentals of health & nutrition) is capable of high-quality & effective health care (including the prevention or reversal of critical conditions). By & large, by now, we know what we need to do to be well, to get well & to stay, at least moderately & modestly if not ‘optimally’, well.

The issue is that we have heard it all before. We’ve read it. We’ve seen it. We’ve been told it. We may have even briefly tried it. Health & Wellbeing is, after all, a thoroughly modern obsession routinely featured in the popular press in healthy competition with the insistent promotions & propaganda of the food & pharmaceutical industries..

But are we actually benefiting from any of this readily available information? ie: Does ‘knowing’ I need Omega 3 fatty acids make me brainy? I doubt it. But taking them might! Does downing any old brand of glucosamine sulphate alleviate arthritis? Unlikely. But taking a good formulation can work wonders.

Is a multi vitamin-mineral complex better than individual nutrients? Philosophy of disease/health & formulation count here. Will eating 5+ colourful foods a day protect me from cancer? Well, are they nutrient rich & organic to start with? Is a low glycemic diet really the answer to obesity, diabetes & heart disease. Well that depends on what you do along with it. What is so critical about fibre? And just how much was that again? And, er how do I ensure I get it? Is it Noni juice, aloe vera juice, wheat grass or green juice I need? And,ah why was that? Is Reiki for real? Can crystals heal? Or is Aromatherapy the answer? Well again, what are you drawn to? Does yoga make a difference? Is Pilates the best option? Assess your personality, your body to know. Will holographic repatterning or kinesiology or hypnosis unravel my inner knots & free me of habitual neurosis? Do I deal with my health issues & objectives spiritually, emotionally psychologically or physically? And the enquiry, the list, the data, the sifting, the looking, the trying, the search goes on. Sometimes successfully, sometimes in vain.

But here is the real crux of this little expose: NO MORE FACTS for NOW.!!!!.

You’ve read it: I’ve written it: water, fibre, oils, whole foods, greens, low GI, missing micro-nutrients, herbs for hormones, antioxidants for everything antipathetic to life, life balance, therapy, sleep, R&R, self expression etc & so on, blah, blah, blah..

The Question is “How well are we doing?? How well do we feel???”.
If we are not feeling 80-90-100% then what are the questions we need to be asking ourselves?.

• What am I doing that is working?
• What am I not doing?
• What am I over-doing?
• What don’t I know?
• What do I know that I am ignoring, resisting, avoiding?
• What else would help?
• Where do I get what I need?
• Who can help me with my specific issue or upset?
• How much better could I feel?
• Do I even want to feel better? Why? Why not?
• What are the pay-offs or costs of not knowing, not acting, not caring?

Perhaps 1 or 2 of the remaining Fabbodz health Investment Seminars for this year* could help you sift the confusion & lift the answers for your physical life out of the flood of information swirling about us.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you need to access any one, or more than one, of the myriad alternative practitioners available for guidance, healing & support.

Remember, your body is an inconceivably complex creation capable of great capacity and just as easily prey to an unfavourable, demeaning or agonising decline.

Ask yourself what it wants. Ask it what it needs.. & find ways to answer its signals & alerts. (If you don’t think that you need to worry about your body, try doing without it for a day!)

Deal with disability, dis-ease & decline whilst you still have the energy & whilst you still have an incentive. Whilst you still have the will to live well.

Network now with people who know, hands that heal & souls who can help.

Maybe ‘optimum wellness’ is a extreme ideal unattainable for many of us but we can, all of us be more intouch with what would lift & enlighten our bodies & beings.

I wish you all the best in your quest to be your best.

May your mind & spirit reside in a vibrant, balanced, buoyant body for many, many more years to come.

Blessings

Yvete McCann.
Health Educator
Fabbodz
01344 750 810

This article was originally witten for the Inspirational Friends Booklet.