There are a wealth of books, articles, and online sites filled with advice for attaining better health and living a better life. All too many lead to a “money trail”—something that someone wants to sell you that you should buy, a seminar you should go to for a big fee, a drug you need, or an expensive service only they can provide. However, for most of us, we’re just looking for some common-sense ways to sort out all this advice to find a few ways we can live healthier and better every day.

This blog offers six practical tips—freely given, no strings attached—-that you can easily apply to your life to live better and live healthier.

• WORK ON YOUR ATTITUDE AND DAILY SPEECH

A massive collection of research shows that living with a positive versus a negative outlook on life, expecting the best not the worst, and focusing on the good in life more than the bad and problematic enhances your well-being. Most of our daily outlook is an acquired habit we’ve fallen into and habits can be changed. Study the research. Get books on positive thinking and positive living to read. Make a quality decision to re-focus your thinking daily.

Second, guard your tongue. Don’t speak negatively about your life or your health. Another vast body of research has proved that your words and your speech have powerful impacts over your life and health. Train yourself to speak positively. Don’t curse yourself with negative words and unhealthy, fatalistic projections unless you want to see them to become true. Human beings are the only “speaking beings” in the universe, and they are meant to speak life and light, not ill and harm. Retrain your tongue. Imagine that you’ve been granted a wish that whatever you say every day about yourself, your family, your friends, and your country will come true. Then start listening to your words. It may seem foolish to you to change your daily attitude and speaking, but as you begin to see the positive results of it in your life, you’ll change your viewpoint.

• EAT HEALTHY AND MODERATELY

Not only are you “what you think” and “what you speak”, you are “what you eat.” A huge body of research shows the American diet has become unhealthy. A large percent of Americans eat in unhealthy patterns, consuming too many processed foods, heating up too many pre-prepared meals and foods full of additives, not cooking healthy foods at home and eating out too much.  Three simple meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with about a 12-hour break between dinner and breakfast again, is still a healthy habit to cultivate.

The healthy choices chosen for these three meals is important, too, lean proteins, fresh vegetables and fruits, eggs, and healthy dairy, limited carbohydrates and sweets. People today are always coming up with different ways to eat and discovering eating fads to try, but often these create habits hard to maintain and they can undermine health and well-being. You are also “how much you eat.” If you continually overeat, you will gain weight. If you continually undereat, you will lose weight. Both can be unhealthy for you. Moderation and healthy eating habits are the keys to good health. Somewhere along the line, we have simply failed to learn these basics or have chosen to ignore them. All around us, too, we see the results.

• DRINK YOUR WATER

The human body is 55-60% water. Over half of all Americans, according to countless studies, are chronically dehydrated and don’t consume enough water to maintain good health. This forces the body to circulate the same dirty water around through the system, impacting health and elimination negatively. Think of it like leaving your garbage around the house and not taking it out. Water in your body is the garbage eliminator.  So drink your 6-8 glasses of water daily. It’s a good habit to cultivate. It will keep all your bodily functions generating at their peak, aid digestion and elimination, strengthen attention and cognitive ability, support organ function and promote overall well-being. Do some reading on the importance of water to your body and up your water intake.

• FIND WAYS TO EXERCISE DAILY

It is a simple fact that if you don’t move and exercise your body, it will grow weaker. If you have ever been snowbound or forced to stay indoors and inactive for a couple of weeks, you probably noticed you were physically weaker after such inactivity. “Move it or lose it” applies to our physical well-being far more than we know. If you don’t find ways to actively keep moving your body, it will grow weaker. The more sedentary lives most Americans engage in today are hurting the health and well-being of Americans dramatically.

Today, you’ll find a gym or exercise facility on every corner, but research studies show the membership attendance of most who join quickly declines. If you have the time, discipline, and money to keep up that effort, it can be a good way to stay fit. If not, you can walk every day, a cheap, free, easy exercise anyone can do around their neighborhood, at a park nearby, or even around an indoor mall in inclement weather. Daily walking is one of the easiest exercises most any person can do and extensive research shows it to promote physical and mental well-being, even boosting mood and cognitive function. Despite all the excuses we make, we all can find a way to exercise 20-30 minutes daily that works for us.

• NEVER STOP ACTIVELY LEARNING

“Use it or lose it” applies to the mind as well as the body.  Using your mind and continuing to actively learn new skills and gain new knowledge strengthens neural pathways in your brain associated with memory formation and retrieval. It keeps the brain working optimally and studies show that lifelong learning is positively associated with reducing the risk of developing dementia and other cognitive disorders. An unused mind begins to atrophy.  We are meant to be lifelong learners, not ceasing to read, study, and learn daily after we graduate from school. Cultivate engaging your mind through learning and mental activities. Be a hungry learner. Read daily. Study topics and books of interest. Increase your education all of your life, via classes or on your own. Even Seneca wrote long ago: “You should keep learning to the end of your life.”  And the Bible in Proverbs affirms: “Seek wisdom; it is the principle thing.”

Be aware, too, that television does not contribute to active learning as it puts the brain into a more passive “rest” state similar to the brain waves emitted during sleep. Excessive television viewing can hinder attention spans and cognitive engagement and contribute to physical and mental health problems. Reading, alternatively, promotes learning and cognitive abilities, strengthens neural connections, improves memory, enhances verbal and written communication skills, stimulates creativity, and enhances intelligence through constantly engaging the brain. Reading is an important health habit for the brain that has slipped in importance in our society to our great detriment. Remember: “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” [Richard Steele]

• PURSUE GOALS AND LIVE PURPOSEFULLY

We were never meant to sit around idly, whiling away our days uselessly, goofing off, watching television, doing little of value or purpose. The old proverb “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop” is still true, and an idle life leads to depression, poor health, too much self-focus, and declining mental acuity. We were meant to serve in this world, to be useful, to set goals and work to achieve them, to live purposefully.  Follow your dreams. Find your purpose in life. Set goals for your days and your future. Pursue the goals and dreams your heart calls you to. Don’t settle for mediocrity and a low level of life. Always be eager to reach higher, to do more and be more. Be brave in every day. Step out. Do things you’re scared to do and persist even if no one encourages you.. Richard Evans wrote: “Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.”

Even if you are of an age to formally retire from full-time work, you should find useful work, interests, and activities to do every day that matter and make a difference in the world. If retired, get re-fired. There are so many places and ways where your skills, talents, and expertise are needed, even if only part-time. Sadly, less than 20% of retirees work either full or part-time and less than 30% of people volunteer to work and serve in organizations that benefit and help others. Yet, all research shows that adults who stay purposefully involved in goals and work are happier, healthier, and more satisfied with their lives.

Additionally, develop your faith. Multiple studies reveal people with a strong faith in the Lord live longer and stronger. So growing in your faith should be one of your daily purposes and goals. It will aid you in every aspect of healthy living, helping to give you the victory over daily struggles you encounter, encouraging you with your goals and dreams. In every day try to be a blessing to yourself and to others, too. Like the old song lyric: “You can’t be a beacon if your light don’t shine” … Keep your faith and your light shining bright. Live with goals and purpose in all that you do for all of your days.

In closing, keep in mind that life is not nearly as complex as we make it, and the battle for a good life is more from within than from without. Many times we cripple ourselves from being our best through our daily actions and choices. Make the changes needed in your life to make it better.  “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” [Grandma Moses]… See your life daily as a privilege and an opportunity, because it is.

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Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.