Inner turmoil can cause debilitating effects on someone’s well-being and relationship with life.We cannot universally define what makes life worth living or what makes people healthy because humans are complex, dynamic, intricate creatures. What is true for one person may not be true for another.

A search for how to live a healthy life

<ul><li>Research in positive psychology tells us work, love, play, and service to others make life worth living.</li><li>A Canadian psychologist writes that the answer is either nothing, religion, happiness, or a combination of work, love, and play.</li><li>According to the Reno Gazette, faith is the answer.</li></ul> The common theme in these answers is inconsistency. Each person who wants to provide an answer will come up with their own unique explanation.

Considering what makes life worth living

Researching what makes people healthy breaks down to social factors, environmental factors, and genetic factors.  Answers to what key pieces need to be in place to live a life free of inner turmoil run in every direction with no singular answer. Perhaps wellness exists more in what we don’t do than what we are striving to find.

Key pieces that need to be in place to live a life free of the inner turmoil

<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">A search for how to live a healthy life</h2><figure><img alt="The silhouette of a woman with her arms stretched out. The sun is setting. The woman is standing on a railing overlooking the ocean." src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*yqwD-1FFcWoq6U7IxZMX4Q" width="692" height="461"><figcaption class="lk bm go gm gn ll lm bn b bo bp co" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Image by <a class="au ln" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-photo-of-woman-against-during-golden-hour-39853/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">Jill Wellington</a>, downloaded via Pexels.com</figcaption></figure>I’ve been working as a professional mental health counselor for only a few years, but before that, I spent years in and out of treatment facilities and therapist’s offices. Through my experience, I have met and worked with hundreds of people crippled by mental illness.Whether that be an eating disorder, anxiety, depression, bipolar, addiction, PTSD, OCD, or a combination of things, I have seen the debilitating effects that inner turmoil can cause on someone’s wellbeing and relationship to life. In fact, I haven’t just seen it, I, too, have lived it. I spent years at war with myself, unable to find a way to remedy my internal experience in relation to the external world around me.Lately, I have been reflecting on the people I have met. The ones I met when I was a patient, those I roomed with in treatment facilities or listened to in group therapy. The ones who have now arrived at my office and sit on my couch hoping I can offer them some reprieve. I’ve been reflecting on these individuals because I want to understand.I want to understand the disconnect between illness and wellness and the pieces of life that must be in place to remain well. Essentially, I want to better understand what it takes to live a healthy life, free from constant inner turmoil.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">What Makes Life Worth Living?</h1>To understand what it takes to live, I first looked at what makes life worth living because if life doesn’t feel worth fighting for then why would we strive for wellness, to begin with?I Googled “What Makes Life Worth Living” and clicked through dozens of articles and research studies. Research in positive psychology tells us work, love, play, and service to others make life worth living. A Canadian psychologist writes that the answer is either nothing, religion, happiness, or a combination of work, love, and play. According to the Reno Gazette, faith is the answer. Dustin Wax on Life Hack states that the answer lies in verbs, not nouns, and actions such as creating, relating, helping, realizing, playing, and growing, make life worth it. I could go on and on.The one common theme in all these answers is inconsistency. Each person who wants to give their answer comes up with their own unique explanation. They answer as if there is an answer, that life could somehow become worthy of our engagement if we were to embody, manifest, or embrace a few aspects.I stopped reading. I sat back and closed my eyes. I thought about it. All the answers I read felt… busy. Doing was tied up in everything. Work to make life worth it. Love to make life worth it. Play to make life worth it. Serve to make life worth it. Believe to make life worth it. Create, help, realize, grow… my head was spinning. From my own experience, preaching “doing” lends itself to feelings of inadequacy, failure, stress, and burnout. How could these answers possibly become essential in building sustainable wellness among those struggling?<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">What Makes Being Healthy?</h1>I decided to try another search. Perhaps the answer didn’t lie in the aspects that made life worth it. Perhaps I needed to find the attributes that determine health in the first place. Pin down the key pieces that need to be in place to live a life free of the inner turmoil I witness each day.I moved on to my next search — “what makes people healthy?” Articles popped up on diet, exercise, sleep, drugs, and alcohol. Research broke down the determinants of health into several categories — social factors, environmental factors, and genetic factors. The question got pulled apart and ran with in every direction. Once again, there was no clear answer.I sat back again. Closed my eyes again. Thought again. I have learned the power of simply resting. I have learned that these moments offered me the most clarity. In my pause for rest, I realized I wasn’t upset with the inconclusiveness in my search for the foundational elements to promote wellness. In fact, I was satisfied to find an abundance of attempts to answer these complicated questions because it told me there was no singular answer. It told me we were all just as curious and confused.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">Bottom Line</h1>We couldn’t universally define what makes life worth living or what makes people healthy because humans are complex, complicated, dynamic, intricate creatures. What is true for one person may not be true for another.However, we are naturally pulled toward a search for answers. But, what if the answer lies in the answers themselves? What if the abundance of answers and the lack of agreement among people demonstrate a necessary acceptance of what we cannot know? What if wellness looks more like letting go, sitting back, tuning into our own selves, and listening to what we need? What if wellness exists more in what we don’t do than what we are striving to find?What aspects of life contribute to a sense of contentment? What makes people truly feel at peace? What, if anything, cuts through the noise of the world and leaves us feeling okay?

mindfulness

Mindfulness

health

Health

I’ve been working as a professional mental health counselor for only a few years, but before that, I spent years in and out of treatment facilities and therapist’s offices. Through my experience, I have met and worked with hundreds of people crippled by mental illness.

Whether that be an eating disorder, anxiety, depression, bipolar, addiction, PTSD, OCD, or a combination of things, I have seen the debilitating effects that inner turmoil can cause on someone’s wellbeing and relationship to life. In fact, I haven’t just seen it, I, too, have lived it. I spent years at war with myself, unable to find a way to remedy my internal experience in relation to the external world around me.

Lately, I have been reflecting on the people I have met. The ones I met when I was a patient, those I roomed with in treatment facilities or listened to in group therapy. The ones who have now arrived at my office and sit on my couch hoping I can offer them some reprieve. I’ve been reflecting on these individuals because I want to understand.

I want to understand the disconnect between illness and wellness and the pieces of life that must be in place to remain well. Essentially, I want to better understand what it takes to live a healthy life, free from constant inner turmoil.

To understand what it takes to live, I first looked at what makes life worth living because if life doesn’t feel worth fighting for then why would we strive for wellness, to begin with?

I Googled “What Makes Life Worth Living” and clicked through dozens of articles and research studies. Research in positive psychology tells us work, love, play, and service to others make life worth living. A Canadian psychologist writes that the answer is either nothing, religion, happiness, or a combination of work, love, and play. According to the Reno Gazette, faith is the answer. Dustin Wax on Life Hack states that the answer lies in verbs, not nouns, and actions such as creating, relating, helping, realizing, playing, and growing, make life worth it. I could go on and on.

The one common theme in all these answers is inconsistency. Each person who wants to give their answer comes up with their own unique explanation. They answer as if there is an answer, that life could somehow become worthy of our engagement if we were to embody, manifest, or embrace a few aspects.

I stopped reading. I sat back and closed my eyes. I thought about it. All the answers I read felt… busy. Doing was tied up in everything. Work to make life worth it. Love to make life worth it. Play to make life worth it. Serve to make life worth it. Believe to make life worth it. Create, help, realize, grow… my head was spinning. From my own experience, preaching “doing” lends itself to feelings of inadequacy, failure, stress, and burnout. How could these answers possibly become essential in building sustainable wellness among those struggling?

I decided to try another search. Perhaps the answer didn’t lie in the aspects that made life worth it. Perhaps I needed to find the attributes that determine health in the first place. Pin down the key pieces that need to be in place to live a life free of the inner turmoil I witness each day.

I moved on to my next search — “what makes people healthy?” Articles popped up on diet, exercise, sleep, drugs, and alcohol. Research broke down the determinants of health into several categories — social factors, environmental factors, and genetic factors. The question got pulled apart and ran with in every direction. Once again, there was no clear answer.

I sat back again. Closed my eyes again. Thought again. I have learned the power of simply resting. I have learned that these moments offered me the most clarity. In my pause for rest, I realized I wasn’t upset with the inconclusiveness in my search for the foundational elements to promote wellness. In fact, I was satisfied to find an abundance of attempts to answer these complicated questions because it told me there was no singular answer. It told me we were all just as curious and confused.

We couldn’t universally define what makes life worth living or what makes people healthy because humans are complex, complicated, dynamic, intricate creatures. What is true for one person may not be true for another.

However, we are naturally pulled toward a search for answers. But, what if the answer lies in the answers themselves? What if the abundance of answers and the lack of agreement among people demonstrate a necessary acceptance of what we cannot know?What if wellness looks more like letting go, sitting back, tuning into our own selves, and listening to what we need? What if wellness exists more in what we don’t do than what we are striving to find?

What aspects of life contribute to a sense of contentment? What makes people truly feel at peace? What, if anything, cuts through the noise of the world and leaves us feeling okay?

What Determines Our Well-Being?

A search for how to live a healthy life

Considering what makes life worth living

Key pieces that need to be in place to live a life free of the inner turmoil

Jay Barr's ideas are part of this journey:

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