Introduction: A Great number of Laws
Most educated people have heard of God's laws (contentious, confusing, conflicting and confounding), the law of Gravity, the law of Thermodynamics, the law of the Land, Parkinson's law, Murphy's law and so on. The majority are named after mcdougal of a succinct observation described by the law. Laws range from A (i.e., Aitken's law - describes how vowel length is conditioned by environment) to Z (Zipf's law - a linguistic observation that the few words are employed often but the majority are used rarely).
Since the wellness field grows and evolves, perhaps it's time for a REAL wellness law-or many such laws. If so, why don't you associate as much as possible with one's own name?
Grandiose, perhaps, but when I don't take action, another person surely will and see your face might just produce a mess of it. Wellness in corporate America and elsewhere on the planet is described and presented in wildly inappropriate and dysfunctional ways; why don't you eradicate the babble with several transformative REAL wellness laws? Such laws, should they seem sensible and lead humanity to sounder thinking, might well contribute modestly to improved health and life outcomes.
Incidentally, one does not need to formulate a law that is named in his/her honor as well as know about a law to be suffering from and to call home in respect with it. We've all complied with Galileo and Newton's laws about gravity, well before we became alert to them.
Anyone who would like a law to bear their name should present some credentials. Mine are modest, simple but adequate for the honor. As of this writing, I have written 15 books, posted above a lot of essays at Seekwellness.com/wellness, 74 eight to twelve-page hard copy wellness reports commencing in 1984, 657 weekly electronic REAL wellness newsletters, at least a lot of lecture presentations in a dozen countries while spending 43 years (since 1970) dreaming in regards to the ways to and likelihood of vastly improved environments and cultures for greater health and happiness.
That has led to this moment-the time when I provide the universe Ardell's two laws of REAL wellness.
Ardell's 1st Law of REAL Wellness: Random Chance, Natural Selection and Contingencies Trump All Else
Life's largest events often follow random, seemingly inconsequential small actions that we remain unaware.
Secular rational freethinkers place stock in knowledge, commitment, reason and persistence in shaping and fine-tuning lifestyle habits. We embrace perspectives and behaviors on matters existential and otherwise made to render positive states of enjoyment and well-being. We consciously seek happiness, freedom, physical fitness, love, mutually satisfying relationships and multiple skills. What matters most, what affects our successes and outcomes, appears more or less to be under our field of control. Alas, this functional and preferred means of thinking is largely illusory. You will find three much more consequential realities not under your influence in just about any way. Furthermore, these three factors render the standard and duration of one's existence unpredictable and unknowable. They are: 1) random chance or fortune; 2) natural selection; and 3) contingencies.
Ardell's 2nd Law of REAL Wellness: Relative to Ardell's 1st Law of REAL wellness, other REAL wellness laws don't add up to much.
Thinking about the immense black hole power of the first law, additional such laws play a modest role in efforts to shape life quality and longevity.
But, that will not obviate the case for added laws of REAL wellness. The fact is that all of the eponymous laws on the books are useless to many people but are yet of interest and even great for a few. I'm in my eighth decade; I'm not alert to most occasions when I might have benefited from an awareness of Aitken's law or Zipf's law. I heard of neither until I began the research for this essay. Ditto tons of other laws.
Relative to the very first law above, this law and those who follow do not add up to much. Nevertheless, I hereby offer a few more, just the same. They can't hurt.
Ardell's 3rd Law of REAL Wellness: Finding your passion is fine but keep going-become great at it.
Since few folks enjoy royal lineage or handsome trusts that assure first-class travel in life with little if any dependence on labor, we should choose trades of sorts to pay our way through life. Thus, we're wise to adopt a long-term goal of studying and laboring at a trade that'll prove enjoyable and satisfying, as well as properly remunerative.
When this challenge is met, your means of earning a full time income won't look like work.
Thus the next law - master a passion. Begin by following varied interests and, after years and years or even decades of trial and error, settle into one, immersing yourself in it.
Be somewhat realistic but guard against premature realism-while not everybody can get elected, maintain the films or play in the NBA or NFL, a select few can. Focus on which excites talents and gifts. Place in enough time required to qualify for Carnegie Hall (i.e., practice, practice, practice-take account of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule).
The goal here is that at some point in your career somebody, somewhere, for good quality or strange reason, will probably pay you to accomplish everything you enjoy doing-because you're so spectacular at whatever it's you've honed to an amount of artful mastery.
Robert Frost expressed the thought of this law in his poem "Two Tramps in Mud Time:"
My goal in life is always to unite my vocation
with my avocation.
As my two eyes make one in sight.
For just where love and need are one
And work is play for mortal stakes
Is the deed ever really done
For heaven's and future's sake.
Ardell's 4th Law of REAL Wellness: Easier to chase after fun than to flee from pain.
Forget a whiff of prevention. Which could indeed be worth a pound of cure, but a good grain of REAL wellness is worth a huge amount of prevention. Prevention is indeed old school-it's vintage medical thinking focused upon avoiding negative outcomes. Furthermore, there is no fun in working whilst not to see a negative outcome.
In place of preventing something, pursue very good results via proactive initiatives that amuse and satisfy. REAL wellness initiatives guided by reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty tend to be more probably be exciting and enjoyable. Such efforts will reinforce good intentions far more than waiting around for negative states not to occur as a result of preventive strategies!
Naturally, SOME prevention is good. Birth control prevention is good, disease prevention is good-you have the idea.
Ardell's 5th Law of REAL Wellness: Scrutinize the role you played in just about any scene, good or bad, and make adjustments.
Make personal responsibility your default setting. Estate Yes, initially it now is easier, cheaper and easier to blame, excuse, deny and/or ignore responsibility than to embrace it. Such are the current default settings generally in most cultures, including our own. In the long or even medium range, however, it's healthier, more satisfying and more efficient to assume at least some degree of responsibility. This method allows you to make adjustments independent of actions by others. Your own actions are the surest steps to supporting your interests.
Ardell's 6th Law of REAL Wellness: Dead, bloated rhino equivalents are the staff of life.
All areas of REAL wellness aren't probably be equally very important to everyone. We're all quite different in so many ways, though we're alike in many ways, as well. But, our circumstances, resources, capacities and the like vary significantly. Among the most crucial elements for enjoying life should be the connection with plentiful, an energetic fascination with and life-long openness to new meanings and a commitment to and maintenance of an incredibly fit body.
Therefore, in addition to mastering a knowledge and acceptance of the fact of Ardell's 1st Law of REAL Wellness, produce a point of always trying to appear on the bright side of life. If the latter seems difficult, take comfort from what expressed by the mother of Woody Allen's character in Annie Hall. Having just read that the universe is expanding, Allen's character laments that he's too worried to accomplish his homework. "Someday it'll break apart and that could be the end of everything."
"But," his Mother snaps, "you're here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn isn't expanding."
