Introduction: A Great number of Laws
Most educated individuals have heard of God's laws (contentious, confusing, conflicting and confounding), what the law states of Gravity, what the law states of Thermodynamics, what the law states of the Land, Parkinson's law, Murphy's law, and so on. Most are named after Mcdougal of a succinct observation described by the law. Laws range between 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 utilized often but the majority are used rarely).
Whilst the wellness field grows and evolves, Arrest perhaps it's time for a REAL wellness law-or many such laws. If so, you will want to associate as much as possible with one's own name?
Grandiose, perhaps, but if I don't take action, somebody else surely will and that person just might make a mess of it. Wellness in corporate America and elsewhere on the planet is described and presented in wildly inappropriate and dysfunctional ways; you will want to eradicate the babble with a few transformative REAL wellness laws? Such laws, if they sound right and lead humanity to sounder thinking, might well contribute modestly to improved health and life outcomes.
In addition, one does not have to formulate a law that's named in his/her honor or even be aware of a law to be afflicted with and to reside relating with it. We've all complied with Galileo and Newton's laws about gravity, well before we became aware of them.
Anyone who desires a law to bear their name should present some credentials. Mine are modest, simple but adequate for the honor. Around this writing, I have written 15 books, posted above one thousand essays at Seekwellness.com/wellness, 74 eight to twelve-page hard copy wellness reports commencing in 1984, 657 weekly electronic REAL wellness newsletters, at the least one thousand lecture presentations in a dozen countries while spending 43 years (since 1970) dreaming about the ways to and odds of vastly improved environments and cultures for greater health and happiness.
All of which 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 built 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 way of thinking is essentially illusory. There are three much more consequential realities not under your influence in virtually any way. Furthermore, these three factors render the standard and duration of one's existence unpredictable and unknowable. They're: 1) random chance or fortune; 2) natural selection; and 3) contingencies.
Ardell's 2nd Law of REAL Wellness: In accordance with Ardell's 1st Law of REAL wellness, other REAL wellness laws don't add up to much.
Taking into consideration 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 truth is that all the eponymous laws on the books are useless to the majority of people but are yet of interest and even ideal for a few. I'm within my eighth decade; I'm not aware of any special occasion when I could have benefited from an awareness of Aitken's law or Zipf's law. I heard of neither until I started the study for this essay. Ditto a lot of other laws.
In accordance with the 1st law above, this law and those that follow don't add up to much. Nevertheless, Personal injury I hereby offer a few more, just the same. They can't hurt.
Ardell's 3rd Law of REAL Wellness: Finding your passion is okay but keep going-become great at it.
Since few people enjoy royal lineage or handsome trusts that assure first-class travel in life with minimum significance of labor, we ought to choose trades of sorts to pay for our way through life. Thus, we're a good idea to adopt a long-term goal of studying and laboring at a trade that will prove enjoyable and satisfying, along with properly remunerative.
When this challenge is met, your way of earning an income won't look like work.
Thus another law - master a passion. Begin by following varied interests and, after years and years if not decades of trial and error, settle into one, immersing yourself in it.
Be somewhat realistic but guard against premature realism-while not anyone can get elected, take the movies or play in the NBA or NFL, a select few can. lawyer Focus about what excites talents and gifts. Put in enough time needed 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 some good or strange reason, will probably pay you to do 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 idea of this law in his poem "Two Tramps in Mud Time:"
My goal in life is to unite my vocation
with my avocation.
As my two eyes make one in sight.
For only where love and need are one
And work is play for mortal stakes
Could be the deed ever really done
For heaven's and future's sake.
Ardell's 4th Law of REAL Wellness: Better to chase after fun than to flee from pain.
Forget an ounce of prevention. That'll indeed be worth a pound of cure, but a good grain of REAL wellness may be worth a lot of prevention. Prevention is so old school-it's vintage medical thinking focused upon avoiding negative outcomes. Furthermore, there's no fun in working in order not to have a poor outcome.
Rather than preventing something, pursue good results via proactive initiatives that amuse and satisfy. REAL wellness initiatives guided by reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty are far more apt to be exciting and enjoyable. Such efforts will reinforce good intentions far significantly more than waiting around for negative states not to occur as a result of preventive strategies!
Naturally, SOME prevention is good. Contraception prevention is good, disease prevention is good-you obtain the idea.
Ardell's 5th Law of REAL Wellness: Scrutinize the role you played in virtually any scene, good or bad, and make adjustments.
Make personal responsibility your default setting. Yes, initially it is easier, cheaper and more convenient the culprit, excuse, deny and/or ignore responsibility than to embrace it. Such are the existing default settings in most cultures, including our own. In the long if not medium range, however, it's healthier, more satisfying and far better to assume at the least some degree of responsibility. This process lets you make adjustments independent of actions by others. Your own personal 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 aspects of REAL wellness aren't apt to be equally very important to everyone. We're all quite different in so many ways, though we're alike in lots of ways, as well. But, our circumstances, resources, capacities and the like vary significantly. Among the main elements for enjoying life ought to be the connection with plentiful DBRU equivalents, an energetic interest in and life-long openness to new meanings and a commitment to and maintenance of an incredibly fit body.
