As I’ve traveled around the South, staying with subscribers, I’ve become aware of the fragility of health, and its importance in a quality life. We can take good health for granted until it begins to fail, and the impact of poor health can be devastating. Going to the doctor is fine and good, but the solution, the path, to achieving or maintaining good health may lie largely within yourself and your inner wisdom.

Parallel with our life journey there is a health journey with major turning points and events along the way. Record in your journal the major periods and developments of your health journey. Record major illnesses, hospital stays, operations. What are the common elements, if any? What are the patterns, if any? Did those periods have similar characteristics and lifestyle causes? How about the periods in your life of optimal health? What do these have to tell you about how you are living now and what changes might be worth considering and implementing.

There is also value in imagining your health as a person, and asking it questions. Ask it how it feels you are treating it. The key issues are rest, diet and exercise. Issues such as alcohol consumption and smoking may also be relevant. Ask your health if it feels you are giving these habits in your life the attention they deserve. Ask your health if it has anything it wants to tell you.

Write down what it says back. Often the responses are obvious, but sometimes they can be surprising. And revealing. They can point to changes that need to be made to optimize health and thus the quality of your life.