Who said wellbeing is where you can find it. It is true or false? How does one know where to find it? Is it there? Do you know where it is?
It seems that many people spend their lives looking for wellness in the wrong places. They look for it in too many faces. They search their eyes for signs of what Halbert Dann, Jack Travis, Bill Hettler, and other doctors, philosophers and wellness report publishers are always dreamin’ about.
Let me go back a moment and address the first question. Who said that wellness is what you find?
Thomas W. Flynn either said it or, more precisely, wrote it on an ingenious gift card that hilariously displays his disgust for Santa Claus. A friend donated money to a secular fund-raiser and the gift card was signed by me. She insists on anonymity so I won’t reveal the identity of my beneficiary. (Why do I not know? She may be a lottery winner being harassed by supplicants or hiding due to Ayatollah Khameni’s fatwa. Or perhaps her shadow-dwelling nature stems from traumas she suffered during her Catholic upbringing.
American journalist, author, and novelist Tom Flynn is Executive Director of Council for Secular Humanism. He also edits its magazine, Free Inquiry magazine. He is also the director of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum, and the Freethought Trail. Tom was thirty years old when I met him during the Christmas season in Orlando. He gave a very entertaining and convincing lecture about his one man war on Christmas and Santa Claus silliness. In 1993’s book, The Trouble with Christmas, he argues that children are more likely to believe in Santa myths than they are to be taught later in life.
Let’s pause for a moment and ask the second question: Is it true?, to the matter of the harm that early immersion in Santa myth might cause. Is this a tradition that encourages little people to become gullible and superstitious adults, or?
You can also consider the counter argument made by Dale McGowan, another friend and paragon of free thinking. Dale believes that the opposite is likely. He suggests that children will be more inclined to reject religious dogmas later in life, after discovering that Santa was a ridiculous myth.
Which one is it?
Is it true that wellness is where you find it?
Let’s examine this important question by looking at the example of our president, the steady genius.
The Fearless Leader appears to have found a low-risk lifestyle that leads to a well-being lifestyle. That’s what I get when I visit Trump’s annual physical at Walter Reed National Medical Center. Trump received a glowing report from the examining doctor, which indicated no concern for his mental or physical health. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank expressed concern about Trump’s doctor, Rear Adm. Ronny. How could a physician describe an exercise-averse, cheeseburger-addicted, borderline obese 71-year-old man with significant plaque in his coronary arteries and high cholesterol as the very picture of health? At a White House press conference, Jackson described the Dear Leader’s health as excellent. He repeated that phrase eight times – excelent,. At a White House press briefing, Dr. Jackson described Trump’s remarkable cardiac fitness, amazing genes as absolutely incredible, exceedingly stupendous, and extremely impressive.
There’s more! His genes are also great – is a gift of God.
You might be wondering how a miserable lifestyle of junk food, low exercise, significant arterial plaque, high cholesterol, and borderline obesity can lead to such glowing health reports. According to Dr. Jackson, no one is more healthy than the president. It is certain that Dr. Jackson and the president would be able to guarantee it.
Trump’s medical report shows that reality is all in the eyes of the beholder. Is this how we want to see wellness?
Trump has found wellness. Evidently, Trump is in low-level worsening or what medical science calls a horrible lifestyle. Who would have thought to look there? I hope you’ll look elsewhere.
Where can one find wellness?
One could also ask my subscribers for their suggestions – I’m certain they would be able to point me in the right direction. A dozen books could be suggested, starting with High-Level Wellness: An Alternative To Doctors, Drugs, and Disease, or, a new opus, Wellbeing Orgasms: The Fun Ways to Live Well and Stay Healthy. However, such a course is not something I would recommend.
Perhaps wellness does not have to be found in any one newsletter, book conference, location or creed, but in a way that promotes happiness, exuberance, and even better health than the average person, regardless of age.
Where wellness might be found
From a real wellness perspective, wellness can be best found in daily thought and action that is guided by four conditions.
- Being able to appreciate reason and be willing to use it.
- Recognizing the importance of exuberance: in the experience joy, meaning, common decencies and love, etc.
- Adopting athleticism is about eating well and exercising regularly.
- For oneself and others, reverence for liberty and freedom and insist upon it.
Auguste Comte’s Law of Positive Philosophy The idea that the most important theories, concepts or movements (such REAL wellness) go through successively three theoretical conditions was introduced.
- The fictional or theological.
- The abstract or metaphysical.
- Positive or scientific.
Real wellness advocates like to believe that movement should only be understood in scientific terms. Maybe that will one day be true. The current practice of traditional wellbeing, which is where most people find it, is rooted within the metaphysical and antediluvian remnants from theological and metaphysical persuasions.
The Flynn rule is applicable even here. For those who are so inclined, wellness, Trump’s version, of great health, can be found wherever they want it to be. Bottom line: Choose wisely and look for wellness in all places science and reason suggest are most likely.
Summary
The REAL type of wellness, or the kind that has real benefits, that is sought after for its positive returns, is not found in any one place. It is a continuous process that involves endless fine-tuning ideas and actions that enrich our lives. It’s not something we find, but rather a series of direction that allows us to make the most of every situation.
