“Every day, in every way, feed the
spirit, feed the body, feed the mind!” Kurt F. Matthew, Jr.
I
gear this issue in response to a
reader’s requests for a preview into
the daily habits of successful people.
History is rife with references to the
correlation between physical health,
mental health, spiritual well-being and
success. For thousands of years, experts
have explored just these connections,
from Plato and Aristotle in 400 BC,
through the 21st century via Dr. Deepak
Chopra MD, Dr. Mehmet Oz MD and Dr.
Candace Pert PhD whose work led to
new fields of study such as the science
of psychoneuroimmunolgy.
“What’s clear is that the world’s richest
have amassed their wealth by thinking
differently and acting differently, than
the average person. Most importantly,
they’ve seen trends before they’ve
happened. And they’ve acted.” (Forbes
magazine). Several operative phrases
stand-out in the above quote, “think
differently,” “act differently,” “see trends,
before” and “act”. What connects all
these, is that successful people maintain
healthy bodies, active minds and sober
spirits.
Feed the Body
Rule: most of us will agree in principle,
though not in practice, that exercise is
important. I am not a dietician or nutritionist, so I cannot render advice. But,
I can share personal experiences and
conclusions from decades of research
and quizzing experts. All agree that regular exercise is vital for a well-functioning
physique, sharp intellect, joyful soul,
Maybe, most of us, never connected
the dots and organized our lives, like the
successful people we so admire.
productive work and play life and esprit
de corps.
Relevance: so, what does this have
to do with growing wealth, retiring
comfortably and passing on assets to
our heirs? A large majority of us, spend
decades studying, working, preparing
for and finally arriving at retirement only
to spend our golden years dealing with
one ailment after another, until we die. If
this sounds cynical or fatalistic, consider
these statistics:
1* (a) 7 in 10 American take at least one
prescription drug daily; 1 in 2 take two
drugs daily and 1 in 5 Americans take
as much as five medications daily. The
point is, that each drug comes with
side-effects and
adverse impacts on our bodies, which
may in turn affect our quality of life
especially during our retirement years.
Then, there is the fact that paying for
these medicines or high health insurance premiums deplete savings which
could otherwise go towards a retirement
nest-egg.
2* (b) we Americans rank as low as 31st
in life expectancy at 79.3 years, versus
Japan and Switzerland that rank 1st and
2nd respectively, living 83.7 years and
83.4 years. Who wants to spend a
lifetime working, even delaying