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Whether your aim is to find happiness, to find your purpose, or to simply walk your Path… the body must be tended to. Any ambitious goal will remain outside your reach if you aren’t taking care of yourself. This will look slightly different for everyone, but some common themes persist across humanity. Each person is unique in different ways, but we are more alike that society would have us believe. Check in with yourself, and in with your body, to find what works and what doesn’t. Try to be truthful: lots of fun things harm the body, and that doesn’t mean that the fun must end. Moderation is always key, and balance is the soul of happiness.

The basic truth of health is simple: you are what you eat, literally. Your body is built from the things you consume. This principle arises in other aspects of health as well, but it’s more obvious with physical health. In the Modern Era, we still act like we need drugs or schemes to get healthy without eating healthy… unfortunately, this is what happens when capitalism motivates media and therefore advertising to prioritize profit over simple truth. You know better, but there is a basic framework that you can follow to apply principles of the Path to your physical health.

Regardless of your aim, commit to improving your physical health. Regardless of where you are on your journey of personal development, better physical health is a non-negotiable requirement. You’ll need the energy, you’ll need the improved mood, and you’ll need your health. As with other aspects of walking the Path, strive to make small changes every day that move you closer to your ideal. Start with what you’re eating: regardless of dietary needs or preferences, you must eat clean. Every time you put something unclean in your body, there is a cost that you will pay for hours, days, and eventually with years. Sugar and processed foods are literally taking your future AND your present from you. These foods are addictive, so don’t try to eliminate them all in a day.

The goal with healthy eating is not perfection, but to move closer to your ideal every day. Perhaps you’re hopelessly lost here, and if so there is some basic advice: eat whole foods – produce, food that doesn’t come from a factory. Limiting processed carbohydrates and instead aiming for more fruits, vegetables, and protein. Checking in with yourself is essential: if you’re eating clean, you will feel better… so if you’re not feeling better, best to try different things until you do. Restricting yourself to a very basic healthy diet for a while is a good way to find your baseline so that you can add healthy foods one at a time. Some people can eat rice, but for others it may not move them closer to feeling great. Try to identify what your ideal diet is, and then to move closer to it every day. Don’t let yourself worry about how this will make others feel… if you’re not at your best, then you cannot serve anyone.

One of the core truths lost on many is thay humans did not evolve for anything resembling modern life. People think that they should be able to function at their best sitting or laying down most of the day… no matter what drugs you take, or tricks you try, you cannot change your nature. Somewhere deep inside you know this to be true.

Should you seek to do and feel better every day, you must align with your nature: move. Strive to increase how much you move, and to decrease periods of sitting or laying down. Start with walking and yoga if you have to, but strive to add something every day to your physical routine. There are no half measures here: you are either active or you are not. If you sit a lot, try to stand for more of your day. If you walk every day, try walking faster or uphill, or running. Add strength training, or find new opportunities to take a break and go for a walk. Make sure to not neglect yoga and stretching! Never underestimate the benefits of walking. If you can, choose to stand at work vs sit – it’s possible to stand during the majority of the day, and you will feel great!

If you feel like you’re active but still feel exhausted, consider taking strength training more seriously. Lifting heavy weights once or twice a week can dramatically affect your overall state of being. This means more energy, more mental clarity, and therefore more patience for the small problems present in everyday life. You don’t need weights: push-ups, squats, planks, crunches, and other body weight exercises will make a big difference. Start small, and push yourself to do more and more as you progress! Make sure that you are eating plenty of protein- standard protein needs require roughly 1g per kg of body weight, but with strength training aim for 1.5g per kg. If you don’t feel great regardless of exercise, up the protein (the cleaner the better).

Sleep is another aspect, making up the full triad of physical health. This is another aspect of our lives where we intuitively know the right thing, but we let ourselves make up excuses to justify doing what is good in the short term, bad for the long term. You need sleep to function at your best… maybe you function off less than 7 hours, but there is a high probability that you are at a functional disadvantage doing this. Make this a priority: you’re on the Path to be your best self, and better sleep is a great way to provide you more energy and to feel better. Pick a bedtime, and a wake time, and stick to them as much as possible, every day. Try to limit or eliminate drugs and alcohol for a period of time to get used to this. Avoid stressful stuff before bed, and leave the electronics out of the bedroom. Get an alarm clock, leave the phone outside. No scrolling in bed; bed is for rest, commit to that 100% and get your sleep straightened out.

The last principle for physical health is related to how you handle stress. Many people tell themselves that their problems are too hard, so they need drugs, alcohol, or a myriad of other vices to function. Addiction generally results from living outside one’s nature… its very difficult to fix without outside help, so do find support if this is a barrier for you. The Path here will look like making sure that your plan for dealing with stressful situations is as aligned to your ideals as possible. Don’t try to stop everything, but do try to think of alternatives that are incrementally better. Perhaps you replace cigarettes with food for instance… and then slowly adjust those calming foods to be cleaner and healthier. Nobody regrets binging on carrots – but this is an area where you must be patient with yourself. Also, consider rigorous exercise when combating stress. Long distance runs can help you process just about anything.

In following the Path, you commit to aiming a little higher every single day. If you prioritize physical health early, it will aide you along your journey in other aspects. Being a good person is much more obtainable when you take care of yourself! Really dial in with that mindset: this might be about reaching your purpose and achieving your goals, but ultimately it’s about feeling good about who you are, for real. You should aim to love yourself, because you deserve to! When you fall short in terms of self care, try not to judge yourself or be hard on yourself. Remember that is this hard, and that we are not expecting perfection of ourselves. We merely aim towards perfection, but when we inevitably fall short, we choose love and understanding. Life is a journey, and all we can do is strive to be better every day of our lives.