Healthy Mind; Healthy Body...

... Healthy Life!

In recent years, the most common trend sweeping the nation seems to be healthy living. If one hasn't said the following, chances are they know someone who has: "For my new year's resolution, I want to lose weight." However, wanting and doing are two different things.

Time after time, I see people fall short and lose site of their goal. Thus, I want to share my Tips on healthy living. I also want to add that this is my opinion and not medical or evidenced basic practice. It's simply from my heart and brain, which works for me.

My morning nursing assessment:

When I walk into a patient's room, I first observe the surrounding area. I look for clues to one's lifestyle, one's culture, one's health, and potential hazards to one's health. The lifestyle I live is that of my own, but the cultures I share are that of many. Though I'm Italian, I strive to be culturally competent. My health might be described as controlled chaos with potential hazards that could ultimately destroy my soul. However, the thing about health care is that we are always weighing our options--the risks versus the benefits. Sometimes it's beneficial to take a risk. Some call it careless, but I call it living.

Tip # 1: Focus on you; your soul. Care about yourself while caring for other. It's worth taking risk for the people you care for. This is good for your psyche.

Once I introduce myself, I then ask the patient the following four questions:

Can you tell me who you are?

Do you know where you are? 

Tell me what today is.

Are you in any pain?

I find these questions deceiving because I don't even know who I am nowadays. I don't know where I am or where I'm going. Life is unpredictable. However, today is a new day. Find something worthy living for. Everyday is an adventure--a new paragraph in the story call Life. It's an opportunity to do something epic. Pain... It comes and goes, but pain is what makes us feel. It makes us strong. It helps us understand pleasure better. "If you're going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchhill

Tip # 2: Find something worth living for. Even if it hurts, don't give up. It's healthy to stay strong.

I then look at the eyes for the pupils to be equal, round, reactive to light, and accommodation. I see a world lacking equality and more narrow-mind than well-rounded. The world is dark and cold. War is all around us. It's up to present to change the perception of the future. It only takes one person to lead an army--to change the perception of many. Why not raise the youth to love, to care, and to treat everyone equally?

Tip # 3: Be a good role model. Someone looks up to you. Create a healthy future.

As I place my stethoscope on the apex of the lungs, I tell the patient to take a deep breath in and out, listening to the air fill the lungs and escape again. My lungs fill with air. I breathe, but my breath is easily taken away by the right person. Everyday I wake up breathing, I am thankful because I have another chance at life. 

Tip # 4: Relax and breathe. Take time each day to focus on your breathing, but don't be afraid to let someone take your breath away every now and then. Unneeded stress in your life is draining and unhealthy. 

My stethoscope is then place anteriorly on the chest to auscultate the heart. My heart tells the truth. It knows my feelings before my brain can even comprehend what's going on. It becomes tachy [beats fast]. It loves strong. A picture is worth a thousand words [my friend posted the picture to the right on Facebook today]. "I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart: I am, I am, I am." - Sylvia Plath

Tip # 5: Love. Listen to your heart, express your feelings, and don't hold back. Everyday is full of missed opportunities, so don't miss out on something that's right in front of you. It's important to have intimacy and solidarity rather than isolation [Erik Erikson].

As I place my stethoscope on the abdomen, I auscultate the bowel sounds and ask, "when was your last bowel moment?" Life is full of crap, but I either take some toilet paper and clean it up... Or I plug my nose and ignore. Besides one glance from that special someone can cause your belly to tingle and make you forget all about the smelly crap. Haha!

Tip # 6: Laugh and ignored the "bull shit." Laughter, in my opinion, is a natural cure and main ingredient in health promotion. 

Finally, the skins is palpated. One touch can cause my arrector pili muscle to contract, sending chill bump down my spine. 

Tip # 7: Touch. It's a necessity to living.

When two heart beat as one, breathing synchronizes, and the warmth from the closeness of two bodies is felt, nothing else in the world matter. It's the feeling of being safe. The two bodies work perfectly together. It's perfect. It's healthy to focus on you, be strong, create a healthy future, relax, love, laugh, and touch.