I was watching a video of Eva Branson, the mother of Richard, who declares confidently that at the age of 92, she will go to space on one of her son’s spaceships! She is very humble, describing herself as ‘not very clever’. But that is nonsense- she is clever, beautiful and engaging. In the video, she talked about many things but one thing struck out for me. She said we all need good health to do anything in life. It is so true. If we have good health, we can work hard, have great relationships and enjoy life. It is true that many people who are ill also are able to do this but I am sure they don’t want to be ill anyway. I have suffered from a chronic and disabling illness most of my life. Within that I have done much but I can’t help feel that I would have done much more if I wasn’t ill so much of the time. So for all those of you who are healthy, please feel grateful that you are so. There has not been a single morning when I have woken from sleep and not felt tired. Those of you who feel refreshed after sleeping, consider it to be a huge gift.
After hearing Eva Branson, I resolved to take better care of my health. Buddhism talks about the three treasures- faith, health and wealth. Faith comes first because that is the key to achieving any goal. Wealth or ‘treasures of the storehouse’ come third. Without health, one cannot enjoy anything, even if one were to be a millionaire. Here is another video from BBC of a charming couple aged 101 and 102 talking about their 80 year old marriage. The thing that struck me was their health and how good they both look. Just think if one of them had been ill or crabby, they would have been going on at each other instead of laughing together!
A Value Creating Life 