No matter how many people you have in your life, when it comes to deciding on your lifestyle, it is you and you alone making the choices. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to be raised by parents who instill good habits in us. Maybe we marry someone who brings positive patterns into the relationship, or we find a group of friends who help us become better, happier people.
Or we live in a “blue zone,” where for generations the community has fostered the ideal conditions for living a long, healthy, and satisfying life—places like Sardinia, Okinawa, and Loma Linda, CA. What all these residents have in common is a moderate-calorie diet; regular physical activity; and a sense of well-being that comes from familial, community, and spiritual connection. They cultivate purposeful lives, take time for stress reduction and don’t drink to excess.
What if we’re not given any of these advantages by our families, partners, friends, or location? We can create our own. A blue zone can be wherever you are—no one is born predestined or unable to make lifestyle changes. It’s a big transition for some, so often we need to have people around who are role models, those we can mimic. In this way, we can make our own communities.
The Happy Body naturally incorporates blue zone practices through diet, exercise, and the stress release technique. Our “bible,” The Happy Body: The Simple Science of Nutrition, Exercise and Relaxation was written to be completely comprehensive and reach out to the ‘stranger in the world,’ anyone with a desire to become that better, healthier person.
In own home, we teach all these principles in real time. We strive to be transparent, authentic role models so clients can see how we, too, face challenges and frustrations but still live the lifestyle we teach. The Happy Body has no smoke and mirrors, just hard choices that make for an easier life.
Unfortunately, not everyone can come to our home, so we’ve created a subscription platform, The Happy Body for Life, to gather all the strangers in the world together in a place where we can pass along our knowledge and expertise to a like-minded community. Together we can use this forum to avoid the danger zones of undermining “friends;” overeating or undereating; over-exercising or not being active at all; overthinking; and wasting resources and not caring for the planet.
We’re experiencing an existential crisis today on many levels: climate change, pollution, overproduction, rampant consumerism and overconsumption to name just a few. To stay sane, we need some philosophical grounding. In the Happy Body, we’re all stoics; the difference is just a matter of degree in how much we practice stoic behaviors. By cultivating personal responsibility, self-control and striving to lead a more virtuous life, we become less anxious and depressed and more happy. It’s always easier to face difficult situations when a community has your back. In The Happy Body for Life, we’re aiming to create an intellectually-stimulating, supportive network where people don’t feel their differences as much as their commonalities. A place where no one has to be a stranger.
