The First Wealth is Health

This quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson helped me see the importance of what I am doing at the Center. I have been particular about my health for two main reasons. One, is that growing up in a funeral home, I saw many people die at early ages. Second, my own family members were overweight.

Reading from Words to Live by Eknath Easwaran, he said, "When you regard your life as a trust, you realize that the first resource you have to take care of is your own body. This can be startling. Even your body is not really your own. It belongs to life, and it is your responsibility to take care of it. You cannot afford to do anything that injures your body, because the body is the instrument you need for selfless action. That is the fine print of the trust agreement: when we smoke, when we overeat, when we don't get enough exercise, we are violating the terms of the trust.

If you want to live life at its fullest, you will want to do everything possible to keep your body in vibrant health in order to give back to life a little of what it has given you."