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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
- Buddha (563 BC-483 BC) Founder of Buddhism.

Photo Courtesy of lilszeto

Life is an amazing journey. A journey filled with passion, desire, failures and successes at different junctures. Despite its challenges, all of us have innate desire to shape up in every possible way. We want better health, we want better wealth.

Is there any nexus between health and wealth ? I think so. As I ponder more over these seemingly different aspects of our lives, I am compelled to believe that we can perhaps devise a new course to address these two goals that almost all of us have in common; better health and better wealth.

In this article, I’ve tried to focus more on the psychological aspect of health and wealth as it is the fundamental reason why most people fail to achieve wellness and wealth.

Tip # 1 Recognizing need for the change -

At the core is the resistance to change. Resistance is like a tango - interaction marked by a lack of straightforwardness. Change requires work and expects us to abandon familiar habits and venture into the unknown. It’s normally our mute behavior towards the plight of our health and wealth that plays major role in the resistance towards a drastic change. I genuinely think that coercion is sometimes the most practical tactics to force the change when change is inevitable either to shape up our health or to shape up our wealth. I tend to disagree, in this case, with the Law of Attraction which states that we attract what we think about. Contrary to that belief, thoughts of job loss may become the coercion to motivate our mind and to overcome resistance to the change. Similarly, loss of a job or health benefits may become the coercion to motivate our mind to change as well.

Tip # 2 Eat Less, spend less -

When we disregard our inner cues of hunger and wellness, we tend to focus on the external solution for our problems. This thought process leads us to plain old overeating. Similarly, when we disregard our inner cues of happiness and peace, we tend to lean towards external solution of spending to create life style only to accomplish our desire of people pleasing. Overeating is a tax on our health as spending is a tax on our wealth. Both overeating and over spending are the result of fixation on “because we want it, because we deserve it, or because it is there.” When we live in false high mood of “wants”, we tend to focus on excess - either eating or spending. I’ve found that meditation has played a major role in finding inner cues in my life. By daily meditation, I’ve become aware of my needs in terms of my health and finance. I take daily walk around the backyard in the morning. This simple act of closeness to nature brings tremendous awareness. It may be running, jogging or some other natural activity for you to bring awareness.

Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied.
-Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) British clergyman, sportsman and author.

Tip # 3 Nurturing is the key -

Nurturing is the paramount factor to shape up health and wealth. “What is it ?,” you may ask. Nurturing is the process of listening to our inner voice. Nurturing is akin to depositing money in the bank. It allows us to focus on our goals. It allows us to set-limits on what we consider excess, either food or spending. I consider limit-setting as withdrawal from my savings account. Limit-setting alerts our mind to abstain from food that we consider unhealthy or to abstain from spending, we consider “wants” and not “needs”. For example, one of my best friends has implemented a simple rule of sharing breakfast with his wife. They split a sandwich. Rule is that each must ask for a bite, and his spouse must feed it to him. This is a classic example of nurturing and limit-setting. I personally like to prepare a list of things to buy and ask my wife, whom I consider wiser than I, to review and approve. When we feel love, we tend to find inner strength to overcome impulse of “wants” and remain steadfast at what we intend to achieve. Nurturing also comes from internal sources like training, learning about eating habits, exercise plans for healthy life. Similarly, internal source of nurturing for wealth is to learn about money, budgeting, spending less than you earn. External source of nurturing comes from hiring a coach, or a mentor. It may be a fitness expert for your health or a financial planner for your wealth. This brings an interesting subject of what I call “checking-in”.

Tip # 4 “Checking-in” -

I am ceaselessly amazed at how much an athlete improves when he/she gets a coach who inspires a total transformation. I’ve seen a friend transforming from being an atheist to most spiritual person I’ve ever met in my life because a spiritual leader has lifted his soul to overcome all of his spiritual exasperation. I consider this process of external nurturing - “checking-in”. For health, it may be simply a friend with whom you check in each morning for five minutes to discuss your food and exercise from the day before. It may be a diary in which you write about what you eat including calories and how much time you spent exercising. My good friend, Tad, has excellent post on - The Master Cleanse: My 40 Day Journey With No Food.

Tad is using You-Tube, Link here, on a daily basis to checking in with his friends and family members who nurtures his goal of cleansing body for better health. To shape up your wealth, it’s equally important to check-in with a financial planner to set a wealth plan, to check with spouse or friend about the spending and budgeting habits and to keep diary of the progress made.

Tip # 5 Learn to set goals -

You’ve read volumes of articles on goal setting. I am, therefore, not venturing into the details of goal settings. However, I’d like to stress importance of goal setting as it applies to both health and wealth. By setting goals, we attain focus on what needs to be achieved. For example, last year I weighed 172 lbs. So, I decided to lose 12 lbs in 6 months. I actually achieved the goal in 4 months. Some of the goals that are worthwhile are,

• Spend less money than I earn - Develop budget and set an amount for the spending by each month.
• Have no other debts than the mortgage - Set goal to be debt free by set date.
• Connect with yourself , not with your possessions - set goal to meditate, to involve in selfless activities at church or a non-profit outfit which allows you to focus more on the goodness of yourself than to focus on your material possessions.

The first wealth is health.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet, essayist and lecturer.

Other Blogs -

Leo babauta has great article - The Rules of the Unbelievable Lightness of Being Club, and How I’m Gonna Get in Shape

Jennifer Abbott has great article - Ingredients for Inner Peace - How to Get Your Priorities in Order

To Your Success,