Are You Healthy?Joanna asks you

In Kinyarwanda people say ‘Amakuru?’ to inquire about somebody’s well-being. The English equivalent is ‘How are you?’ The response is ‘Meze neza’ or ‘Fine’.

It’s a type of automatic response. But what if we really stopped to answer that question after taking a brief moment to consider ‘How am I really?’

Some days you might feel full of energy and enthusiasm and other days just want to stay in bed. You might have a bit of a cough or body aches or headache.

Not everyone you meet and greet is going to want to know the details of how you and your body are feeling. However, it’s important for you to ask yourself that question on a daily basis when you are getting ready for your day whether it’s a job or other activities.

So, how do you know if you are healthy? What are the signs of good health? Let’s make a list. Top on my list is

-‘Enthusiasm for life.’ For me that looks like feeling happy, motivated, and energetic.

I think you get the picture. If there is something going on in my body like pain, cough, headache etc., it takes my attention away from being enthusiastic.

I can still be enthusiastic but there’s that slight little distraction in the background that I have to ignore or overcome. In a future article I will address the importance of paying attention to those little distractions and how to minimize or even eliminate them naturally.

For now, I encourage you to begin to be your own best friend and check in with yourself about the state of your health and well being on a daily basis by asking ‘How am I today?’

You might want to do this while looking in the mirror to make it even more personal. Let your answer be based on one of the definitions of health discussed in the previous article. (If you missed it, you can find it in the archives) Be honest with yourself when you answer.

The next 5 articles will address the Four Necessary Components for Optimum Health.

Remember you can submit your questions to info@umuseke.com.

Wishing you a positively energized and healthy day.

Joanna

UM– USEKE.RW Volunteer