Health is physical, mental and social well-being and not only the absence of disease. It is truly your most precious possession.
At the time of writing this essay, this author has been in numerous days of physical pain. In my infinite wisdom, I went off-roading on a densely wooded property my family has and got severe poison oak below the waist, arms, torso, and even some on my face. I somehow managed to get it on my eyelids as well which have succumb to swelling and thank goodness have been in the process of de-swelling for the last few days.
It takes moments like this in life to really remind you that every day you feel good is a good day and to appreciate those days. When alive and healthy and feeling physically well, it is truly a good time for your astrology. It allows you to see why those who are in prolonged constant pain, perhaps into their golden years, just want to go to the state of Oregon which has assisted suicide and wrap it up on their own terms.
When health is absent wealth is essentially useless. Those who are monetarily wealthy may not always be healthy but the healthy people always have aspects of wealth. Mental and physical well being are worth more than gold and silver. Living in poverty in the first world can mean subsistence and struggle. Which is rough and is never to be downplayed. But if your poor and healthy, you have the option to still live life ok. Young kids in poorer parts of South America for example, may live in a cinder block hut and kick the football around the dirt lot half the day, but still be having fun growing up with the minimal amounts of comforts in their small village. And by football I mean European football, soccer as it’s called in the US of A, which is the real football as American football should really be called handegg, because it’s an egg shaped ball the players hold with their hands and the European version is a ball they kick with their feet. But anyway, I digress.
If one does have all the money in the world and has not done all they can to be the best version of themselves which they can be, the money doesn't matter because they are in mental sickness which will be followed by physical sickness. There are physical reflections on what is actually mental misalignment in which case they end up in a Steve Jobs type situation where all the money in the world can’t save them.
My mother had primary biliary cirrhosis of the liver in the early 2000’s and got about as far as humanly possible before the universe gave her a liver transplant, but she was so physically miserable up until that point that she started to occasionally confess things to the family such as “I’m not sure if I want to go on living anymore”. She was very lucky and was successfully transplanted and is subsequently still alive at this time, but with an endless litany of various physical health issues. Which are constant and never ending and ongoing, which get’s very old for her her old bones. So it really takes being sick, or not feeling 100% to appreciate all the days we are healthy. Especially when you’re young, we don't fully respect our health or even take advantage of how good we feel via teenage / young adult shenanigans. Such as eating fecal filled fast food barf in a bag, binge drinking out of red plastic college party cups, sleeping around to get HPV or herpes - the physical gifts which keep on giving , etc…
A consistent lifestyle starting in your youth of healthy living (via the two main reasons you’ve always heard - diet and exercise) not forgetting a healthy environment, strong relationships, economic well being, proper personal hygiene and good old laughter. So you never have to have a traditional medicine doctor (quack or not) give you a diagnosis of a dark and stormy rain cloud one day. So you then only start really changing your bad habits when the grim reaper is knocking at your door.
Food industries need to be incentivized to provide healthy natural foods and not high fructose corn syrup, factory farmed, chemical sprayed, process crap to maximize their output and profits. Same story as every private industry, bla bla bla, while healthcare systems need focus on induced health over just corrective healthcare. Imagine a country where you get paid every time you do anything to increase mental or physical health such as meditate, get cardiovascular exercise, do yoga, or go to the gym, for example. So everything is focused on prevention rather than back-end treatment. Which would cost less than the current black hole money pit, works fabulous if your wealthy but bankrupts you if your not, dumpster fire that is the American healthcare system. And since our esoteric development comes to show us many things are mirrored back to front, we know much if not all of the healthcare system is actually an American sick care system. Not to mention the potential to decentralize industry innovation and creativity in providing many alternate healthy living solutions.
So although it sounds a bit corny and slightly syrupy, its really true that health is wealth. Life of a healthy woman man is they long-lasting wealth. It makes him able to enjoy life to the fullest. This is an immersive and simple phrase which has very deep truth to it. Just like many other phrases which have occult meanings and will surely be future essays such as, “Mind over matter,” “Where there's a will, there's a way, and “merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream”.
Ultimately, this really boils down to quality of life vs standard of living. Where standard of living is do do with income, class, stress, affordability, infrastructure, crime, and a bunch of other economic and cultural aspects which factor into your ability to have time to carry into your conscious health choices. But at the same time may sever you from nature and your natural environment. While quality of life is to do with freedoms. From physical or mental slavery, privacy, spiritual practice, thought, vote, education, etc. Much of which we’re way more advanced in ancient times. The main difference between standard of living and quality of life is that the former is more objective, while the latter is more subjective.
Regardless of your subjective angle you approach this from due to culture or cultural programming, the real measure of both health and wealth is your time. Your time for yourself to pursue your interests and passions. Time to be in service to what instills that natural drive within yourself and will allow you to have the time to then be in service to others. Which, when in alignment for, allow you to live a lower stress life of your own schedule and your own terms which has rewards that money can not buy.