“Do not let Illness make you realize the value of Health.” – Unknown
A couple weeks ago, I had lunch with a mentor. Towards the end of our lunch, he blessed me with some wisdom I would like to share with all of you. This story is an analogy for our life and went something like this:
Imagine that the moment you are born, you are awarded a giant bowl filled with 1 million vibrant, healthy, energetic, brilliant, beaming blue marbles. Within this bowl also contains 1,000 dark, disease infested, repugnant, reprehensible, repulsive red marbles. Now imagine this bowl of marbles symbolizes your life. At the beginning of each day, you must remove 3 marbles from the bowl (let’s hope they’re blue!) and at the end of each day, you must place 3 marbles into the bowl. The color of marbles you place into the bowl at the end of each day depend on how you treated yourself and others that day. For example, if you exercised, ate healthy foods, and were kind to people, 3 blue marbles go into your bowl. Conversely, if you were mostly sedentary, ate like crap, and rude to everyone, 3 red marbles go into your bowl.
I love this visualization for two main reasons:
- You never know when your ticket will be punched so it is crucial that joy, health and fulfillment are sought out and experienced daily.
- We are the creators of our environment. By living a healthy, balanced and kind existence, our chances of thriving increase exponentially.
My mentor’s analogy serves as a fantastic opportunity for us to take inventory on the quality of our days spent on earth. Over the next 2 months, I intend to add blue marbles to my bowl by going off the grid and participating in a 10 day silent meditation retreat in Joshua Tree, visiting friends from around the Country, and teaching yoga in Tulum. Think of a couple practices or habit changes you can implement that will enable you to generate more blue marbles. Remember, self-care is not selfish. It is a key component in showing up courageously and consistently so that we can live more meaningful and vibrant lives.
Enjoy what comes of today, friends!
Thanks for the good article, I hope you continue to work as well.
Have you ever thought about publishing an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based on the same topics you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would appreciate your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail.