Whats your motivation for good health?

I had a good conversation with a friend of mine yesterday that was thought provoking. It was around what makes people motivated and unmotivated to live a healthy lifestyle. Is there a balance between having the belief "I'm here for a good time, not a long time" and having the belief "My body is my temple". What is the real motivator for our physical health?

Living a healthy lifestyle is not always an easy choice. This is especially true for those who don't find enjoyment in exercise, have addictive personalities, and for those of us who are real foodies and enjoy having no restrictions with the foods they love to create. Its not often that people will seek treatment for their bodies until their body is broken, wont seek counselling until they have hit rock bottom, won't start looking at their diet until they have autoimmune conditions and won't give up their addictions until they get cancer.

So to me, the most important place to start when looking at making changes to your health is to ask yourself why?

My answer is this... I believe the only things we do take with us are our memories and our soul/spirit. So the most important thing to me is to make your memories amazing and your soul/spirit good.

We go through so many major phases of life and look back to think "how could I have done that better". When we are adults we think "I should have tried harder at school", when we have kids we think "I should have traveled first" When we get old we thing "I should have done a better job with the kids" When we are dying, we think "I should have done better at life" regret is such a useless emotion, but lets be realistic... it happens.

When we get to the end, all we are really looking at is how good did we do at living life within our personal values and consequently, how much happiness did we achieve as a result. So is the real answer then to achieve the maximum level of happiness with minimum impact on our values? Sounds about right to me.

So how does the physical body fit into this? We are here to enjoy the sensations of the physical body, but we are here for a short time and we cant take the physical body with us. So why look after it? While we are here, we cannot look after the soul/spirit without looking after the body. The body affects the mind, the mind affects the soul, the soul affects the mind, the mind affects the body. Its a cycle and a connection we cannot escape.

Can we really reach our full potential of the life experience with illness? Can we be fantastic mothers with adrenal fatigue and hormonal imbalances? Can we reach our full potential in our relationships when we are suffering the ups and downs of addictions? Can we enjoy leisurely activities to our full potential, like travelling the world or bushwalking or going to the beach with painful conditions like fibromyalgia, severe arthritis, severe sciatic pain or emphysema? Can we achieve our career goals to the best of our ability while suffering from depression, anxiety and panic attacks?

Our body is affecting our mind which affects our actions which affects our ability to reach our full potential at living according to our personal values which affects our happiness.

I've been hearing the term a lot lately "Youth is wasted on the young". This is true if we don't look after our body. Your body can withstand the way we punish it for a time, but only for so long. It catches up with everyone eventually.

Nutritious and clean foods, meditation and exercise? or chronic disease? What do you choose?