Today we ask that you make health and sanity your first priority.
While it should be obvious that without health and sanity, it is impossible to truly enjoy life, most people do not place an appropriate level of value on health and sanity.
While most people would probably say that yes, they do value their health and sanity, at the same time most people value other things more.
Many people make wealth and status their number one priority.
Others make their physical appearance their number one priority.
Others value achievement and public recognition of success as their number one priority.
Others value moral superiority and virtue as their number one priority. This is often the case with religious people.
In each of these situations, the person is engaged in competition with others. Wealth, status, physical appearance, achievements and recognition, moral superiority — all of these involve a hierarchy, a system by which some people are judged to be more worthy than others.
Of course, these systems are completely arbitrary, varying widely according to one’s culture, nationality, the time period one happens to live in, etc.
Valuing your health and sanity is not competitive.
Yes, there are people who turn physical health into a competition — who can do the most difficult yoga poses, who can eat the purest diet, etc. But, you see, that is not sane.
That is why you must value your health AND sanity.
When you value your health and sanity as your main priority, above all things, there is no sense of competition. Your individual health and sanity has nothing to do with anyone else.
Your desire is simply to feel good, balanced, harmonious and stable in your body and mind.
When you contemplate an action, you evaluate it according to whether or not it is conducive to your health and sanity. If it is not conducive to your health and sanity, you do not do it — even if you are feeling a strong impulsive craving.
This is a very intelligent way of making choices.
Ask: Is what I’m about to do healthy for my body and mind? Do I feel sane?
Again, there is no sense of competition here. The ego is out of it. It is just about what you sense to be harmonious for you, or not.
If you find yourself feeling sick, unbalanced, or crazed, that is an indication that you need to get quiet with yourself, ground yourself, and reorient yourself toward health and sanity.
Can you see that if you make this your consistent, daily practice, your life experience will become much more enjoyable?
So, if you are struggling with life, ask yourself:
What do I value more than my health and sanity?
Is this thing really worth more to me than my health and sanity?
If you make health and sanity your number one priority, what you will find is that over time, everything else falls into place.
wordfromthewell 