Healthtember – a Focus on Health and Happiness
If someone suggested to you that you could live a happier, healthier life in 30 days, would you at least consider doing something about it?
Let me make that suggestion to you right now because I believe it. If your life is good and you don’t feel a need to be any healthier or happier, there’s no need to read any more. I’m serious. If you are living your own definition of a happy and healthy life, then the last thing you need is a suggestion that you can lead a happier and healthier life.
If you’re still reading, let me start with a few questions to highlight my thinking. Do a lot of people seem to be in a state of stress and unhappiness? Are we constantly focusing on needing more? Does it seem like every time you turn around, there’s another awareness campaign about a dis-ease that is rampant in society? Or a news report saying that something is bad for you and it’s going to make you sick? Or a TV ad marketing a cure for something? It seems that way to me. We have many campaigns for all types of dis-eases and illnesses and conditions. There are campaigns for cancer, diabetes, MS, arthritis, ADD/ADHD, depression, autism, anorexia, the list goes on and on. Awareness is at an all time high. Of course, that is no surprise given that dis-ease and illness are at an all time high as well.
I started thinking about this a lot in the last month or so. It seems that we have done an amazing job at making people aware of things that we don’t want to have ourselves, and we would never wish upon anyone. And then I had what seemed like the craziest thought ever. Is it possible that we are spending our time thinking about what we don’t want, when we could be focusing on what we already have? Hhhmmm, I had to think about that one a bit.
So many quotes and phrases started coming to mind:
- “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right”
- I’ve heard a lot of people talking about the Law of Attraction (According to Wikipedia, the law of attraction is essentially a belief or theory, that “like attracts like,” and that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts, one can bring about positive or negative results)
- “What we resist persists”
- “It’s not what you’re eating, it’s what’s eating you”
- “Happiness comes from the inside”
Is it possible that we have raised awareness of unhappiness, illness and dis-ease to the point where we’re actually attracting it to ourselves? This may seem like a very crazy thought to many, and yet I know that there is an ever growing population of scientists, doctors, (e.g. Bruce Lipton, Gregg Braden, Gabor Mate, Lissa Rankin), etc. that are able to prove beyond a scientific shadow of doubt that our thoughts and beliefs have an impact on our physical bodies.
Are you still with me? I can’t stop thinking that this is a possibility. Can we live happier, healthier lives by changing our focus, and modifying our beliefs, even if ever so slightly? Is it just a crazy thought, or does it have some merit? If we start to pause and be thankful for the things that we have in our lives as opposed to stressing out over what we don’t have, could it have an impact on our happiness and our health? If we took our minds off the possibility of getting sick, and instead took the time to be grateful for our current good health or our improving state of health, would we become healthier?
Another couple of quotes come to mind as well.
- “Be the change”
- “If the world is all screwed up, rearrange it” – lyrics from Raise A Little Hell, by Trooper
So in the vein of the quotes above, I have an idea and I’m going to do something about it. I was lying in bed about a month ago and a word popped into my mind. “Healthtember”. And then I started thinking about what Healthtember could be. Many people have heard of Mo-vember, a campaign that runs for the month of November where men grow moustaches to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer. Healthtember is similar and also very different. It is a campaign that runs for the month of September, and it raises awareness of the things in our lives that are contributing to happiness and good health. Where Mo-vember brings focus to something we don’t want (cancer and dis-ease), Healthtember brings focus to something we do want (happiness and good health).
Healthtember is:
- A campaign to focus on the “solutions” in our lives, what we are grateful for – we won’t even raise attention to the “problems” in our lives (stress, dis-ease, chronic conditions, etc.)
- An awareness campaign bringing attention to the fact that our bodies can heal themselves, and how our thoughts (good vs bad, happiness vs stress, etc.) affect our state of health
- A campaign to highlight the realization that happiness and health is an inside job
- 30 days to a happier, healthier life for all
During Healthtember, we encourage people to set a goal for one month based around the areas of happiness and good health. We will send a message every morning as a reminder that someone is thinking of their happiness and good health (very short messages, almost twitter like, just a reminder that they’re working to a plan and a goal) – this may sound simple but this will be all it takes for many people. I know a colleague that was starting into a recovery program, and credits receiving short messages from friends and family every morning for a month as a strong inspiration to continue. He has now been clean for several years and continues to live life to the fullest every day.
We will also share success stories and send out other ideas to see if people want to get involved, and we will share information about other projects where people are stepping up to help others lead happier, healthier lives. At the end of the month we share more success stories, and we trust that there will be lots of them.
Help!
We need your help, you can help determine what Healthtember ultimately becomes.
Right now, Healthtember is simply an idea, just like at one point Mo-vember was simply an idea. It will be interesting to see what it becomes. If people like the idea, then it could really grow into something. Can you imagine if people all over the world started wearing “hearts on their sleeves” or something similar as a reminder that they supported a campaign to bring health and happiness to all? Maybe it becomes a fundraiser at some point. The possibilities are endless.
How can you help?:
- Send ideas of what you think this can become – let’s make this a community where the community members help define what it ultimately becomes
- Spread the word to your social networks – FaceBook, twitter, e-mail, etc.
- Do you have ideas for a symbol? Heart, painted finger nails? What do you think?
- Follow @Healthtember on twitter
- Like Healthtember on FaceBook
- Join Healthtember mailing list to receive messages to your InBox
Please just respond with whatever comes to mind. And respond often. If you have ideas or you’d like to get involved with Healthtember, Like us on FaceBook, follow us on twitter or contact us at the e-mail below.
If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss a blog post, sign up for our newsletter.
Namaste, Ken
Written by Ken
Ken Jaques describes himself as a Health Care Evolutionary, Community Builder, and Speaker. True healing begins when we treat root causes instead of just masking symptoms. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2008, Ken has experienced many facets of the health care system. As “the only patient who ever lost their hair on this low of a dosage of chemotherapy” – as spoken by his rheumatologist – Ken has been on an amazing journal of self-discovery, a journey of true healing. In his blog, Ken shares stories of how his beliefs have changed over the past few years, and how they are still changing. Is it possible that our bodies can heal themselves? Do we really have to live without hope after we receive a chronic illness diagnosis? These are the types of questions that Ken encourages people to ask themselves as they embark on their own physical or emotional healing journey.
Ken is creating a platform to connect People, Patients, Practitioners, Partners and Promoters, enabling a collaborative effort to help shift the focus on health from I-llness to We-llness. Check out the pilot at www.myHealthyCommunity.ca.
“When ‘I’ is replaced with ‘we’, even I-llness becomes WE-llness” ~ Malcolm X
I’m not sure about the whole “law of attraction” idea, but I think it’s an idea worth exploring. If making things better is a simple as keeping a more positive attitude, that would be great. And if it turns out there’s more to it than that, well, we certainly haven’t done any harm by focusing on the good instead of the bad. So I think Healthtember is a good idea. Liked your fb page and shared the post.