Some weeks ago I started a thread regarding the book "A General Theory of Love." The question came up, what does healthy look like? (while I understand some may take offense to this term "healthy", I hope you understand our meaning. Many agreed that "healthy" did not necessarily mean free from emoitonal damage, mental illness, relapse or the like).
Based on the replies recieved on the aforementioned thread,
Healthy is
Forgiving yourself
Loving yourself
Respecting yourself
Protecting yourself
Recognizing and learning from pain
Recognizing you are human, imperfect and prone to setbacks
Picking yourself back up after setback and continuing
Reaching out
Feeling secure about yourself
Being content in your thoughts, feelings and body
Valuing yourself apart from what others think
Coming to grips with the toxic parts of yourself
Disengaging from toxic people
Setting and maintaining boundaries
Never forgetting
Quelling the natural urge to identify and isolate the flaws of others
Not blaming others
Being safe for others
Showing compassion for others
Empathizing without being consumed by the problems of others
Listening and hearing others, especially what is not said
Loving and performing service to others
Exuding a quiet confidence apparent in the eyes
Having a clear gaze, void of rage or fear
Having a relaxed tone of voice and body language
Having a sense of humor void of cynicism and sarcasm
Being lively without over- the-top extreme extroversion
Maintaining well-proportioned balance in life with healthy scenarios like
recreation, exercise, healthy eating, reading, writing, philosophizing
Knowing that bad things in life will not consume or destroy you
Learning the salient, universal themes of life in a way that is not destructive
Highlighting lifes positives, even without a fair share of experience with it
Feeling you are connected and belong in the world
Thanks to all who contributed to these wonderful responses. I'm scoring myself right now. I am feeling much more confident about my level of health based on this definition you've helped formulate, and I'm identifying more clearly those areas that need my attention. I hope this will be of help to others also.
CeeMee
