Our lives are largely determined by the 5 senses:

• Touching
• Tasting
• Hearing
• Seeing
• Smelling

Of course there is much more to life than our immediate senses, but the 5 senses are how we experience the world around us.  The renowned English poet William Blake once said:

“Man has no body distinct from his Soul; for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the 5 senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.”

We make our way through our days often neglecting the details of what we’re touching, tasting, hearing, seeing, or smelling.  Because so much of our life is determined by our senses, why not pursue health and enjoyment directly through them. 

Touching

Touch is healthy for us.  We need to touch other people and be touched.  Whether it be erotic or plutonic, touching stimulates hormones which make us feel good.  Shaking hands is a common greeting in the US, but in other countries like Italy or Greece a hug may be common, or a kiss on the cheek.  Colder climates tend to touch less and warmer ones more.  Obviously some types of touch can be inappropriate and can cross cultural or religious lines.  We are never touched more than when we’re children, but we still need affection as adults.  Some suggestions:

• Snuggle up and cuddle with a loved one.
  
• Hug or embrace family members when you see them, particularly if you don’t see them often.
  
• Make time for erotic touch and sexual bonding.
  
• Shake hands and hold it for a second or two, letting the person know you are present and care.
  
• Patting or slapping someone on the upper back, particularly among men, is common in the south where I live and is a way of cultural bonding; various cultures may have other types of male to male bonding.
  
• Massages are a great way to relieve pain and can fill the need for touch.
  
• Some religions conduct services where “hands are laid”.  I’m not familiar with this personally, but it sounds meaningful.
  
• Kissing someone in a plutonic way on the cheek can be an appropriate way to show affection.
  
• Hold hands with your spouse, date, or significant other.
  

Tasting

With all of the hoopla surrounding fad diets, we lose sight of the fact that taste in and of itself is an amazing thing.  Taste can bring back memories, it affects hormones, and it can also change our appetites.  Taste is a wonderful thing so slow down and enjoy.  Grab a cantaloupe and eat it by itself.  Enjoy a fresh piece of bread with olive oil.  Recipes are great but why not a fresh tomato from the garden, a handful of cashews, or a fresh cup of coffee?  When it comes to recipes, find a friend or family member and spend a whole day preparing a special meal together, or do this as an act of love or service for another.  This can be a joyous occasion.  I enjoy preparing a special meal for my parents around the holidays…we’ve had borscht, beef bourguignon and Justin Wilson’s Cajun gumbo…wow that was good!

Hearing

We live in noisy times- machinery everywhere, traffic, music piped in, crowds of people, technology, air conditioners, fans, dehumidifiers, and TVs.  We turn on music to drown out the engine noise, but the traffic is so loud we have to turn up the music more.  Eventually our hearing ability is affected so we need it up even louder.  What did you say? I couldn’t hear you!  We turn on the TV or radio and leave it on in the background and we’re subjected to nonstop displays of largely unintelligent and meaningless talking and diatribes.  Why not be conscious about who and what we listen to? Let’s listen to things that make our lives better:

• Enjoyable or inspirational music at a moderate volume.
• Talk with people we enjoy talking to.  Have deep and meaningful conversations.  Here’s a hint: if you feel drained after talking to someone they are sucking the life out of you.
• Watch Quality TV and entertainment at set times.
• Seek complete silence at times.
• Podcasts are one of my favorite things to listen to- history, exercise, Christianity, politics, business, health, entertainment.
• Nature sounds are soothing.

 
Seeing

Underlying the exploration of the senses is the idea that we can become more aware, more conscious, and more alive through them.  Take the time to enjoy your senses.  Too often we walk around like zombies and take our lives for granted.  We forget that every second and every moment is a miracle and that life is a very beautiful thing, not to be taken for granted.  I have an affinity for Japanese culture, with the emphasis on beauty, order, and harmony.  I also enjoy the beautiful stained glass in church windows. 

Look around you.  What do you see? Is your life cluttered up by junk?  Are you seeing things you want to see? Do you treat others well? Do you make eye contact and smile? Do you appreciate the beauty of nature?  Do you allow people into your life who are in conflict with your values?
What do you see that you don’t want to see anymore?

Sight is a wonderful thing, a gift from God.  I’m from Alabama and one of our most famous native daughters is Helen Keller who once said: “Never bend your head.  Hold it high.  Look the world straight in the eye.”

Smelling

The first recorded use of incense for religious purposes occurred in Egypt around 2500 BC.  We in the Christian tradition know well of the 3 wise men who came to the baby Jesus with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  (Frankincense and myrrh are types of tree resin which can be used to make incense or perfume)

One of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had was walking into a country Orthodox Church service in rural Russia and being overwhelmed at the aromatic incense used.  Coming from a Baptist background, this was a very unusual thing for me.  Eastern Christianity, and eastern culture as a whole, is more mystical and less rational than western.  Though incense is used in Catholic services to various degrees, it is an integral part of eastern worship.  What struck me the most about this experience was the way it made me think for the first time about divine beauty and its close relationship to smell. 

Smell is a complicated topic as it stimulates the unconscious mind, perhaps more deeply than any other sense.   One walk into my mother’s kitchen around Christmas time brings back a wave of unconscious joyous feelings.  Aromatherapy is a type of alternative medicine I believe does have some benefit, though more research is needed.  Explore the formidable depth of the sense of smell and engage with it for health, consciousness, enjoyment, and if so inclined, for worship. 

• Burn soy-based candles or other non-toxic incenses.
  
• Cook or bake, savoring the smell of fresh cooked foods.
  
• Savor a tea or coffee.
  
• Open the windows.
  
• Sip on a glass of wine or a bourbon and enjoy the scent.
  

What we see, taste, touch, hear, and smell make up how we experience life.  Take a minute to slow down and be more aware of the 5 senses and open up to them deliberately.  Bring them all into harmony with your values, and your life will change for the better.

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I am in, therin to be content.” - Helen Keller
 
 Read next: The 12 Commandments of Fitness
 

Looking back, I can remember a few stories that stick out as pivotal moments in my life.   One of these moments occurred when I threw a candy wrapper out the window as a young boy.

My Dad, who I love tremendously, was as angry as I’ve seen him and I was afraid.  Why was he upset, after all it was just a candy wrapper? My behavior of littering conflicted entirely with what he stood for and he was rightfully mad as hell.  We pulled over on the side of the road immediately and picked up several pieces of litter to make up for my mistake.

I’ve had many years to think about this incident. 

What was it that was so bad about littering?  We live in the age of non-judgement, and it was a public road, so what was the big deal?  Most litter after all, doesn’t really hurt anyone, and value judgements are subjective, right?  

After thinking about this for a long time, I realized that there is a higher standard of good that exists outside of the realm of popularity, fads, or the particular age we live in and it applies to many things, including litter.  Litter is ugly.  Littering conflicted with my Dad’s value system and thankfully for me, he wouldn’t tolerate it. 

When we see people litter or see litter itself, we’re disgusted by it.  Even if it’s sanitary paper, aluminum, or plastic that isn’t technically going to hurt anyone, we still feel disgusted by it. 

If we are naturally repulsed by litter and other things like this, what are we to do?  To obsessively pursue beauty at every turn is pretentious at best, and snobby at worst.   But at the very least, we can set standards for ourselves and look at a pursuit of goodness as way of life, or a philosophy of being.   

There’s a beauty in nature- a blazing fire, a sunset over the ocean, or a herd of buffalo out west somewhere in the summer hills of Montana.  We seek out and are awed by the spontaneous order of nature and the constant birth and destruction it brings.  With the canyon, the ice-capped mountain, or the litter of lab puppies we don’t need anyone to explain beauty and say “look it’s beautiful”.  It just is. And we know it is. 

We can instill a sense of order and higher thinking into our lives.  We aren’t animals bound by our instincts because what is instinctual is not always what’s right.  An animal wouldn’t think twice to pick up and dispose of litter.  Even though we have a connection to all other living things around us we are different from them.  We are capable of more, of higher thinking, and following standards we set for ourselves. 

I was riding out through the bucolic hills and countryside to set up for an afternoon dove hunt recently, and all along the side of the road was…… litter.  I couldn’t help but feel a sense of repulsion.  Even if the majority of the people who live in this area aren’t repulsed by it, it’s still objectively ugly to look at. 

One of my favorite writers is the late Englishman Christopher Hitchens, the famous Oxford-educated socialist, atheist, and provocateur.  Even though “Hitch” as he was called, and I were on the opposite end of the belief spectrum, I have a great amount of respect for his intellect, sense of humor, and wit, and I especially admire his support of free speech.  Deep down I believe he secretly held different beliefs than what he espoused publicly, but that he wanted to force his more faithful intellectual opponents to sharpen their arguments for belief.

Hitchens, despite all of his anti-religion rantings and writings, tellingly chose a revealing biblical passage at his own unreligious father’s funeral which relates to my litter story.  Even he believed there were eternal standards worth pursuing.  The passage was Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

If you’re open to it, life has a way of teaching you things and if you pay attention you start to notice the connections.  A meaningful experience relates to another one.  A painful mistake makes you think about what went wrong and what you should do or not do again.  A book you read or a friend’s life shows you a deep truth, if you listen.  These epiphanies, experiences, and intellectual realizations, call them wisdom if you like, can teach you things over time about the way things really are and can show you the way. 

I’m thankful for these experiences. When we hold ourselves to a standard, not of perfection, but of pursuing things worth pursuing, then we can live and move with motivation and meaning. 

Read Next: The 12 Commandments of Fitness

What does it mean to be healthy?

What does it mean to live a healthy life?

I started to ask myself these questions once I got to be around 30 years old.  My undergraduate degree from Auburn is called Health Promotion and my master’s degree is called Exercise Science and Health Promotion.  It’s my job to promote health, and teach people how to be healthy.  This is what I get paid for and what I love to do.  I feel an ethical, financial, and moral responsibility to do this, to promote health. 

Does being healthy mean eating a vegan diet? Being able to lift 200 pounds? 300 pounds? Does it mean being able to do an hour of yoga or mean being able to hike a frozen mountain?  Does this make someone healthy?  How about doing the Bike Ride Across Georgia, 420 miles from Atlanta to St Simons Island?  I did this, did this indicate I’m healthy?

What if the doctor checks off a list and someone passes all 17 tests, does this mean the person is healthy?  If I’m STD - free does that make me healthy?  How about if my family gets along well, and we like each other.  Does this mean we’re healthy?

If someone gives up Coke, and starts bad-mouthing sodas, does this indicate a healthy person?  How about Crossfit, is this an indicator of health?  Fit-bits? Barre class?  Mixed Martial Arts? Marathons?  Churchgoer?  Marathoners? How about Zumba?  I tried Zumba. It was fun.

Does someone who wins an athletic competition, a fitness competition, or who measures their caloric intake take the mantle for healthiness?

I’ve seen the paleo-dieters, the vegetarians, the anti-GMO crowd, the kosher, the meditators, Pilates practitioners, and heavy-hands walkers.  I’ve seen the survivalists too.  They all seem pretty healthy.

Does being free from disease make someone healthy?  Can someone with a disease be healthy? 

I have simple definition about what it means to be healthy.  I came to this conclusion after my Grandpa passed away in 2007, and I percolated for a long time about what his life meant. 

To be healthy means to define what is good in life and to try to live up to it.  

Grandpa married young and stayed married.  He served his country bravely.  He helped out and contributed.  He wasn’t a moocher.  He loved.  He hurt.  He had integrity.  He was committed.  He was strong, morally and physically.  He had honor- he tried to hold up the highest ideals of manhood and he cared about what other men thought of him.  He had a sense of humor.  He was simple and made mistakes.  He was loyal to those closest to him. He had self-mastery- rarely getting overly emotional, or out of hand.  He had a temper (or so I hear) but that was when he was younger.  He was kind to everyone.  He wasn’t big but no one messed with Grandpa.  He had manners.  He was humble, generous, and ascetic.  He was a good man, but he was more than that, much more. 

What’s this about?  This is about values, about valuing what is good.  Grandpa never studied “how to be healthy” but he understood what came first, before everything else.  To say more than this would be an insult to my grandpa, Fred McCarty.  I don’t care what the textbooks say, this is my definition of what it means to be healthy.

Winston Churchill drank and smoke cigars every day, but was one of the greatest and healthiest men to ever live.   I know many more healthy men and women just like him. 

Yes, someone with a disease can still be healthy, because being healthy is about values and nothing else.   Someone who knows what’s right and values those things is healthy.  And their life means something.  It means more than they will probably ever know.    

Have you ever heard a song on the radio that changed your mood, brought back memories, or made you feel a certain way, like you were transported to another place and time?  Stand By Me?  In The Name of Love?  Back in Black? It’s an incredible feeling.  I still remember growing up and hearing for the first time some of those classic Southern Rock songs from Lynyrd Skynyrd like Freebird, The Ballad of Curtis Lowe, or Sweet Home Alabama.  Anytime I hear those songs it takes me back to really good times and laughter with friends from my hometown.

There was an ancient saying in Greece…. “Exercise for the body and music for the soul.” Even though we all love music and listen to it frequently, we may have underestimated its powerful health-boosting effects.  The nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and connected nerves) is constantly processing information and communicating with the rest of the body about what this music means.  Some music genres like techno, rap, heavy metal, and hard rock can be quite enjoyable, can motivate us when we need an extra push, or help us to cut loose when we’re out to have fun.  These high-intensity types of music stimulate the nervous system into action and can also be a powerful force for performing better and tapping into our energy reserves.   Listening to this type of music is like drinking a cup of coffee, literally.

There are two Autonomic (automatic) parts of the nervous system which operate independently and in opposition to one another.  One part, the sympathetic nervous system, boosts heart rate and slows digestion while the other, the parasympathetic nervous system, boosts digestion and slows heart rate.  Both are crucial to good health.  There is a time and a place for everything under the sun and that includes the two types of automatic nervous system activity, sympathetic and parasympathetic.

If we do things to boost the parasympathetic nervous system, our immunity could improve in several ways.  We could obtain more digestive nutrients from our food, we could stimulate higher brain activity through deeper, more relaxed breathing, and we could process thoughts and emotions better.  There are several ways to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system: massage, walking, prayer, nature, stretching, breathing, aromatherapy, meditation, and finally, music.

Relaxing music can boost our parasympathetic nervous system and help us relax and recover.  Everyone is different, but my favorite types of music to relax to are delta blues, classical music, jazz, or movie scores. You may not even notice it happening while you’re listening to it but your subconscious mind and parasympathetic nervous system are paying attention.  Your muscles are relaxing, you aren’t obsessing as much, your heart rate and blood pressure are decreasing, and your digestion, circulation, and memory are improving. 

It sounds like common sense and it is, but it’s also backed up by research. Plus as we all know, common sense is really not that common, is it?

FYI, these are some of my favorite relaxing stations on Pandora: U2, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Film Scores Radio, Brazilian Jazz, Tango Argentina, Mozart Radio, Norah Jones, and Delta Blues. 

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