Health

SAT., JUNE 5, 1982, 5:41 AM
FARM, STUDY

It has been some time (in earth terms) since I talked to you directly about health, o son… the focus of your professional life. Since one of My principles of teaching is reinforcement (a better term than repetition) it is appropriate that I review some of My criteria for health, as you finish the review on which you are working.

Health is “how well you are doing with life’s opportunities”. The most important dimension, from My perspective, is, of course, the spiritual. Healthy people are those who genuinely and commonly think of others and their welfare before they think of self. Thus, some of the current emphasis upon risk reduction and “what you can do for yourself” is not truly encouraging the best of health. You said it long ago in another context: a child may feel more positively toward the town drunk who gives him time and attention than toward an abstaining parent who is always too busy with matters of the world. From the child’s perspective the healthier person is the one more willing to share self. Simplistic? Yes, but also a facet of truth.

Now you also see the complication. Suppose the parent’s busyness is in giving time to students, or to community projects, or to other people who need attention. This is just one of life’s little conflicts, because you are not able to be as I am… available, in full, to uncounted numbers of souls. If you are serving in one way, you can’t be doing many other worthwhile things. Hence, My law of health, that you discovered even before we began these teaching/learning sessions, is that if you are doing something worthwhile, do it with zeal and dedication and worry not about (the) those matters not being attended to. From time to time it is important to reassess and check priorities, but spend as little time and effort as possible in stewing over what is the most worthy use of your time.

A healthy person has a natural humility. This develops best from an active relationship with Me. I humble Myself in coming to you, an undeserving human. Yet you recognize My power and majesty… and that it is still My nature to seek individual souls. From this relationship comes the tendency to give of self, even to those who do not seem deserving. Yes, it may be healthier to spend time telling stories to your grand-daughters than in writing a paper that shall bring you acclaim and national recognition.

Having said that let Me complicate it further by assuring that it also can be healthy to write a paper… if it is done with a desire to share ideas and findings with others rather than for self aggrandizement. In one sense I complicate your life by the demands I put upon you, in addition to those you already have. Yet I also simplify it by letting you know that I can use your professional stature, so that many of the accomplishments, professional, that you seek may be done for Me rather than just for yourself.

Health is a quality of being that must be continuously invested. The value of eating properly, exercising, not smoking, wearing a seat belt… is the increased capacities these practices give you to serve others who need what you can give. Meditation is healthful if it enables you to then use your mind in the service of others.