Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. Shakyamuni Siddhārtha Gautama
Health has been something taken for granted for me. As a younger man, it seemed that health was a given. It has been obvious the past few years that it isn't. After my recent fall, things have come a little harder. With all the running, morning started a little stiffer and sorer. I've had times lately when rather than ramp up my training, I've had to give in to wear and tear, fatigue, colds, stomach problems and the like. So if one thinks of health is a gift, it can only be given to one's self by a rational lifestyle and chance. I would agree that contentment is like wealth. But discontent comes so easily. Fault finding is a human habit. I've gone back to places where I found contentment in the past, looking to find it again and again. This has worked to a degree. But sometimes getting to that places requires quite an expenditure of work and time. And faithfulness does produce the best relationship. I've learned that it is my best and perhaps only quality. Loyalty. So if the Buddha is right, and he probably was at least to an acceptable degree which could be put into effective practice, then whatever I can do to promote my health, in an activity that puts me in the environment where I am content, accompanied by my life partner, should produce in me the best I can have.