Succeed and Improve Your Health - Live, Laugh, Love and Stay Healthy

Tony Robbins defined success as, "Conducting your life in such a way that it gives you tons of pleasure and very little pain." By that definition, success would be, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the best possible way to restore, promote, protect and enjoy the highest possible level of physical and mental health.

Stress has been the subject of more than 20,000 scientific studies and according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stress accounts for two-thirds of family doctor visits and half the deaths to Americans under the age of 65.

So, if stress is such a health hazard, how can it best be avoided? Over three decades of clinical work have shown me that the best possible way of avoiding the effects of stress is to be passionately involved in something that we love to do.

A mind actively involved in pleasant and creative work has no place or time for stress. That is the reason that so many highly successful individuals are still hard at work when it's way past retirement age. These people have understood that life is about growing and evolving.

So long as a man is happily involved in a self-growth process, there are very few chances that disease will strike. Pleasant work is never health threatening. The mind and the body require exercise. The adage that says, "What you don't use, you loose" is true. It could be said that the body is more likely to rust-out than wear-out.

Our physiology (body chemistry) is directly affected, either advantageously or adversely, by the mood that we are in. This fact has been confirmed by studying people affected with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder.) Patients with that condition may be diabetic under one personality and normal while under another one. Eye color changes along with extreme variations in blood pressure have also been know to occur as the personality changes from one to another.

Another classic that shows the powerful influence of a person's mood on the healing process is Norman Cousin's story. Mr. Cousin, a prominent political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate, was diagnosed with a form of arthritis then called Marie-Strumpell's disease (ankylosing spondylitis.) and was told that he had little chance of surviving the condition.

Faced with that very gloomy prognostic, Mr. Cousin decided to leave the hospital and move to a beautiful hotel suite where some of his comedian friends could come and entertain him. To his amazement, he discovered that spending quality time with upbeat people had a very powerful therapeutic effect.

In a matter of months, he completely recovered from the illness and spent the remaining of his life-giving lecture advocating the healing power of laughter. His story was published in a book called, The Anatomy of an Illness and a movie based on the book was made.

Every expert agrees that our moods and feelings have a profound effect of our health and wellbeing. Many forms of arthritis, some cancer and other debilitating diseases are also known to be highly influenced by stress and other emotional disorders. The states of our mind and body are most intimately related. What affects one, affects the other.

The prescription for health is simple. Live your life in a fashion that it provides tons of pleasure and very little pain. It's the secret for wellbeing and it's also the description and definition of success.

Dr. Raymond Comeau aka Shamou is the Author of ShamouBlog and Owner Administrator of Personal Development for Personal Success Forums

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