Can we be 'bad' and healthy at the same time?

Sustainable Healthy Living, by Sheila Mullen – March 17, 2012

Good health goes beyond putting the right food in your mouth. It is about wholeness: whole person, whole body, whole mind and whole spirit. In our quest to have successful lives, we juggle many balls and pretend to have it all under control and perfectly executed. Our pretending to be perfect leads to stress and illness.

So why do we pretend to be perfect, when our true selves want to have fun and be mischievous? I am here to say you can have the body and health you dream about if you are willing to “get a little bad.” Rest assured I am not talking about robbing a bank or hurting yourself or others. I am talking about doing the kind of things that will make you giggle and give your perfection monster a rest. Here are a few ideas: delete two days' worth of incoming emails, ignore phone calls, eat a piece of chocolate, or dance and sing down the street. I saw a woman doing this yesterday; it was fun to witness her pure joy. The sad part is she stopped when she realized I was watching her. I really wanted to cheer her on.

The purpose of being a “little bad” is to embrace you, being 100% in charge of your life, instead of being driven by your belief system or being a perfect do-gooder. It’s not about pleasing other people. It’s about pleasing yourself. Good health is about being whole and complete with everything about you.

So, punch all the buttons as you exit an elevator, with an apple in hand, giggling your way to good health. 

About Sheila Mullen - The founder of Continuous Motion Consulting, Sheila is passionate about engaging friends, family and community in improving their lives and the lives of those around them. Sheila spent more than 20 years in technology sales, marketing and development. She also has a background in organizational development, innovation and executive wellness coaching.