The Only Key to Health

Is to know yourself.

To know how much sleep you need,
and how much sleep is too much sleep.

To know which foods don't sit well with you,
and to realize that maybe you should avoid them even if they are delicious.

To know when you're actually hungry,
and to know right when you're full.

To know how you fool yourself,
and the tricks your mind plays.

To know when you're stressed,
and to know how to alleviate that stress.

To know the things you want to say yes to,
and how to say no to the ones you don't.

To know when someone isn't good for you,
even if you love them.

To know what you're like when you're alone,
and how to still be you when you aren't.

To know your limits,
and how to push them.

To know when you should speak up,
and when to listen instead.

To know how to forgive,
yourself and others.

To know how to forget,
when those memories don't serve you anymore.

To know how to cook,
but only the food your body wants.

To know how to deprive yourself,
and the reasons you would.

To know when you're hurt,
or when you're just tired and sore.

To know when you need help,
and when you just need more effort.

To know when somethings wrong,
even when it's not obvious.

And to know you might not know,
even when you think you do.

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In my opinion, the best kind of knowledge is self knowledge, we might even find out that self knowledge is more than just us, that by knowing ourselves we can better understand others and the world. The best way to know ourselves is to listen to ourselves.

That sounds easy enough, but more often than not we are telling ourselves how we feel and what is what. We feel something and define it before we actually know what it is. We make up excuses in our heads for why we should or shouldn't do something. We make justifications for our actions before we even give them a second look.

Rarely are we listening to see if we are ok, if we truly feel healthy and right. It's a simple thing to check ourselves, simple but difficult. These busy lives we lead with all the worries and anxieties and regrets tend to pull us into our heads where we can work on solving problems instead of simply listening to see what's wrong. We try to fix things before we even diagnose them, and we ignore the problems because it's convenient instead of addressing them.

Some of the best advice ever given was "Know Thyself." It's a simple, but difficult. Sometimes we don't want to dig into ourselves and find out what makes us tick or what actions are potentially hurting us. Try harder to get to know you, in every way possible, and love, even if you don't like what you find.

@jakeybrown