Some techniques to adopt for your well-being

One of the weirdest traits that Damian had, you know the child from the Omen movies, was that he never got ill a day in his life. His parents thought it wasn’t normal for a child to never even have a runny nose, and he never did.

In some countries, however, many people go through life never even having had a cold. They’re not Damian; they’re just blessed with good health. But I was surprised when a friend told me she’d never had a headache in her life!

Never getting ill is a rarity. I suppose you can say that it’s the exception and not the rule because getting sick is a part of being a living, breathing human being.

As human beings we get colds, sore throats, chickenpox, eye infections, etc. all the time and that contributes to building up a strong immune system. In fact, if a child never got sick, people would definitely think there’s something abnormal about him. You see, most of us are not like Damian, who was not human anyway.

Sometimes we get sick for no apparent reason, but sometimes we make ourselves sick.

Dwelling on the past, or living in the past, or needlessly worrying about what may or may not happen in the future are recipes for disaster where our well-being is concerned. Being inactive, losing motivation to get out of bed and not being inspired by anything also do not do our health and well-being any good.

Psychologists say that our overall well-being improves if we have a reason to get up in the mornings. This is not always the case, though, even if you’re married and have children or live with someone you have to take care of, like a sick parent or a sibling. Even when a parent is caring for a child or a child is caring for his parents or siblings, often they still feel aimless in life. Others might think this should be enough of a purpose. Of course it’s a noble thing to do and those doing it would have it no other way. But you see, a purpose in life means different things to different people. And why can’t you have more than one purpose? One to help your family and the other to help you?

So, should you look for your purpose in life? Or your second purpose? My fear would be not being able to find it and feeling worse about yourself. Or worse, the purpose of your life might actually be exactly what you’re doing right now but you need more.

Instead of looking for one’s purpose in life, perhaps one should actively be setting goals for oneself. The two are very different in that, whereas your purpose in life is often like predestination and, therefore, out of your control, a goal is something you can set and work towards accomplishing it. Often the very act of just trying to achieve a goal is enough to motivate you and to feel good about yourself. If you don’t achieve your goal immediately, at the very least it’s helping you to remain active, both physically and mentally.

I don’t know about you, but from personal experience, even the simplest goals, that might ordinarily be achievable, are often not. However, the act of consistently trying makes me feel better about myself because I know in my heart that I’m trying.

Another important factor to your well-being is how you deal with life’s ups and downs. Those who frequently get worked up are, firstly, not very pleasant to be around, but their immune system is so severely compromised that they have high incidences of health issues such as hypertension, headaches, colds, flues and a myriad of stomach related ailments. On the other hand, those who have a Zen-like attitude to all their problems are not only mentally at peace, they are happier and suffer fewer health issues. Some people are born to consider everything as ‘water off a duck’s back’ whereas others try to learn various techniques to calm themselves. I suppose that’s why yoga is so trendy and yoga teachers are so in demand.

The bottom line is that keeping your mind distracted keeps you from ruminating over your past or worrying about things that could happen in the future and over which you have little or no control. Keeping busy gives you little or no time to think, or overthink, which can lead to depression. Depression, in turn, leads to a whole host of illnesses such as hypertension and a compromised immune system, and that can affect your overall well-being.