SOUND HEALTH
In many ways Napoleon Hill’s philosophy was ahead of its time. This is particularly true in the area of health. Long before it was fashionable to do so, Dr. Hill was speaking of the body-mind link and of these two parts of ourselves as inseparable. He pointed out how anything that affected one must affect the other. At first, many looked at this concept somewhat skeptically. Now we know beyond a doubt that we are body-mind creatures. To function at our best, we must follow the mandate of the fifteenth principle of Your Right to Be Rich, the maintenance of Sound Health.
Let us emphasize that this lecture is presented as Dr. Hill always presented it, with this caution: always check with your physician before beginning a program of exercise, diet, or medication. The thrust of this lecture is not to advocate any specific form of medical treatment, but to help you stay healthy through basic proven attitudes and behaviors.
Moderation in all things is recommended: not drinking too much or overeating, and balancing diet, work, and play. There are many more aspects involved, but all of them involve the exercise of another principle: self-discipline. Dr. Hill’s premise was that sound health can largely be maintained by simply taking control of ourselves—thinking and living in a positive manner. Only recently have we learned how correct he was. We are discovering some of the ways illness is caused: our own destructive behaviors, poisons we ingest in our diet and from our industries and environment. Certainly, influences beyond our control can make us ill, but there is much we can do to prevent illness from striking us down.
It’s wonderful to have a system whereby you can get this old physical frame in fine condition, to do anything you want to do and how you want to do it. If I hadn’t had a system for keeping myself healthy and full of energy, I couldn’t have done the amount of work that I have all these years, and I couldn’t do the amount of work I’m doing now.
As a matter of fact, with the healthy condition of my physical body, I can run rings around people half my age who don’t have the system that I have. I have to keep myself in that condition for several reasons. In the first place, I enjoy living better and if I want my body to respond if I make demands on it for enthusiasm, the physical basis has to be there for that enthusiasm. I don’t want to get up in the morning ailing. I don’t want to look in the glass and see my tongue all coated. I don’t want my breath to smell bad. That’s not good, is it? There are ways and means of avoiding all of that, and I hope that you get suggestions out of this lesson that’ll help you keep your physical body in fine condition.
Let us place mental attitude—or health consciousness—at the head of the list, because without thinking and acting and being in terms of health, chances are you’re not going to be healthy. I never think of ailments, as a matter of fact; I can’t afford ailments. I just can’t afford them. They take up too much of my time. They hurt my mental attitude too much. And, you might ask, “How can you help having ailments?” I have them, and you may have them now, too, but when you get through with this lesson, you’re not going to have them as often as you did before, because here is a way of controlling ailments. Notice that every one of these things in connection with conditioning your mental attitude is something that you can control if you want to.
Griping or complaining about your family relationships or occupational relationships hurts your digestion. You might insist that certain circumstances in your family make it necessary to complain. If that’s the case, it’s better for you to change the circumstances so you won’t have any circumstances to complain about.
The reason I mention family relationships and occupational relationships is because that’s where you spend most of your life. If you’re going to allow those relationships to be based upon friction, misunderstandings, and arguments, you’re not going to have good health, you’re not going to be happy, and you’re not going to have peace of mind. If there’s any hatred in your life, you must get rid of it. No matter how much a person deserves to be hated, you can’t afford to do the hating. The reason you can’t afford it is because it’s bad for your health. It hurts digestion and produces stomach ulcers. Worse than that, it produces a negative mental attitude that repels people instead of attracting them to you. You certainly can’t afford that. It attracts reprisals in kind, because if you hate people they’ll hate you. They may not say so but they will.
Eliminate gossip or slander from your life. That’s a hard one to comply with because there’s so much wonderful material to gossip about in the world. It seems a pity to cut yourself off from all that pleasure, doesn’t it? Gossip or slander attracts reprisals and also hurts the digestion. Instead, let’s transmute that desire into something that’s more profitable to you.
There must be no fear because it indicates friction in human relationships and also hurts the digestion. Any fear in your makeup most definitely indicates something in your life that needs to be changed or altered. I can truthfully say that there isn’t anything on the face of this earth, nor in the universe, that I fear. Nothing at all. I used to fear just about everything the average person fears, but I had a system for overcoming those fears. If I had a fear now, do you know what I would do about it? I’d have it out with myself. I’d eliminate the cause of that fear. No matter what it would take, or how long it would take, I would eliminate the cause of fear. I simply will not tolerate fear in my makeup.
You can’t have good health, prosperity, happiness, or peace of mind if you’re going to fear anything—even death most of all. Personally, I’m looking forward to death with a great anticipation. It’s going to be one of the most unusual interludes of my whole life. As a matter of fact, it’ll be the last thing I’ll experience. Of course, I’m putting it off for a long time. I’ve got a job to do and all that, but when the time comes, believe me I’m going to be ready. It’s going to be the last thing I’ll do and the most wonderful thing of all, because I’m not afraid of it.
The way you use your mind has more to do with your health than all of the other things combined. You can talk all you want about germs getting into the blood, but nature has set up a marvelous system of doctoring inside of you, and if that system is working properly, the resistance within your physical body will take care of all those germs. Nature has a way of keeping your body healthy through resistance; it keeps the germs down so they cannot multiply. The minute you become worried, or annoyed, or fearful, it breaks down that body resistance and those germs multiply by the billions and trillions and quadrillions. The next thing you know, you really are sick.
Don’t allow worries, arguments, or unpleasantness at mealtime. Did you know that the average family selects mealtime as the time to discipline the husband, wife, children, or whatever the case may be? That’s the one time you can get them all together, when they’re not inclined to run away while you’re giving them a tongue lashing. They will stand, or sit, and eat while you’re saying your piece, but if you could see what happens to the digestion or the bloodstream of someone who eats while they’re undergoing punishment, you’d know that’s the wrong time to do it. The thoughts you have while you’re eating go into the food you eat and become part of the energy that goes into your bloodstream.
Overeating creates too much work for the heart, the lungs, the liver, the kidneys, and “the sewer system.” Most people eat twice as much as they really need. Think about how much money you’d save on grocery bills, especially with prices the way they are. It’s astounding how many people overeat. If you’re doing manual labor outside, you might need heavy, substantial food. A man who’s digging ditches has to have a certain amount of meat and potatoes, or something equal to it, but a man or woman doing office work, or spending all day in a store or a house, for instance, doesn’t have to have the same amount of food.
A balanced diet includes fruits, vegetables, and plenty of water (or the equivalent of water in some form of juices). In California, I follow a system of making sure at least one meal a day is nothing but “live” food—vegetables, berries, nuts, melons, and things of that sort. It includes food that is considered alive, and nothing that’s been canned or processed in any way, shape, form, or fashion. When I follow my established diet at home, I notice all the difference in the world in my energy. I can’t do that here in Chicago. They’d think I was nuts if I went into a restaurant and ordered that kind of a meal. As a matter of fact, I doubt if I could get that kind of a meal in Chicago.
Eating too rapidly prevents proper mastication. I can get away with it, because I have a good, strong, vital body, but I don’t suggest you try it. I’m sure you know a lot of people who do it, but eating too rapidly shows that you’ve got too much on your mind, you’re not relaxing, and you’re not enjoying yourself.
A meal should be a form of worship. Your thoughts should be on all of the beautiful things that you want to do, your major purpose, or the things that please you most. If you’re engaged in conversation with someone else while you’re eating, it should be a pleasant conversation, not a fault-finding fishing job. If a man’s sitting across the table from a beautiful woman, I don’t see why he doesn’t talk about her beautiful eyes, her hairdo, her lipstick, or any of the things that women like to have you talk about. Even if you’re sitting across the table from your wife, it would do you both a world of good.
Don’t eat candy bars, peanuts, or snacks between meals; don’t drink too many soft drinks. If you want to take a drink, you might as well get a hard one, because it’ll do you some good. I mean something like water, for instance. (I shook you up on that one, didn’t I?)
I’ve seen office girls make a whole lunch out of candy bars, snacks that they get out of the newsstand, and a bottle or two of Coca-Cola. A young person’s stomach can stand that for a while, but if your body is not being treated properly, sooner or later, nature makes you pay up for that kind of mistreatment of your stomach. It would be far better if an office worker got a head of lettuce, put salad dressing on it, and ate that. It would also be good to have some fruit or grapes, because anything you can get at the fruit stand would be far better than eating candy bars.
Liquor in excess is taboo at all times—except after six o’clock. I admit that was meant to be funny. I don’t mean exactly what was said here. In excess, liquor is taboo at all times, but liquor in a reasonable amount is . . . reasonable. I can take a cocktail or two, but more than that and I might commence to say things maybe I shouldn’t say or do things I ought not do. Neither would do me any good.
I like to be in control of my mind all the time. What’s the sense of pickling your stomach and your brain so that you’re not yourself? People find out too much about you that you don’t want them to know. In addition, you look silly, don’t you? Don’t you think that a person whose tongue has been loosened up with liquor makes a spectacle of himself? That doesn’t do him very much credit, no matter who he is.
If I go into a home (as I often do) where they’re taking cocktails, I don’t say, “Oh no, thank you, I don’t touch the stuff.” I take the cocktail and, if I’m not in the mood to drink, I wait until nobody’s looking and I sit it down somewhere. Sometimes I just carry it around. I once carried a cocktail around one whole evening before I got a chance to sit it down. As soon as I got a chance, I dumped it into the sink. They thought I drank it, but I didn’t because I was to make a speech that night. It would have been silly to get all caught up with liquor before making a speech. Whether it’s liquor, or smoking, or anything else, keep it in moderation. If you take it instead of it taking you, that wouldn’t be too bad, but the better plan is to get over using it at all.
Balance all work with an equivalent amount of play, because you need play to ensure sound health. That doesn’t mean you should play an equivalent number of hours, because it just doesn’t work out that way. Believe me, I can work one hour and yet only five minutes of playing can offset my work time. When I write, I’m up on another plane entirely. It’s so intensely hard on the physical constitution that forty minutes is all I can stand of it. But after I go sit down at my piano and play for five or ten minutes, I’ve completely balanced off all that intense activity I’ve been engaged in.
Sleep eight hours out of every twenty-four, if you can find time to do it. Getting good sleep is a mighty fine habit to get into. I mean get in there and lie down. Don’t turn and twist and groan and snore and all that sort of thing. Lie down and sleep peacefully. Get in such good rapport with your own consciousness and your neighbor’s that you don’t have anything to worry about. When you hit that old pillow, you can go right smack to sleep.
Train yourself not to worry over things you can’t remedy. It’s bad enough to worry over the things you can remedy; I wouldn’t worry over them any longer than it took me to remedy them. Some time ago, one of my students asked if I spent time worrying over people who came to me with their problems. I said, “Other people’s problems? I don’t worry over my own problems, why should I worry over somebody else’s problems?” It’s not because I am indifferent—I’m far from indifferent. In fact, I am very sensitive to the problems of my friends and my students, but not sensitive enough to let them become my problems. They’re still your problems. I’ll do all I can to help you solve them, but I don’t absorb them and take them over myself. That’s not my way of doing it and don’t you get into that habit either. There are a lot of people who not only make room for all of their own problems, but they also take on the problems of all their in-laws, relatives, friends, the neighborhood, and sometimes the problems of the whole nation. Worry was made for somebody else, not for me.
You don’t have to go looking for trouble; it will find you in its own way. The circumstances of life have a queer way of revealing to you the thing you’re searching for. If you’re looking for faults in other people, or looking for trouble, or looking for things to worry about, you’ll always find them. If you’re looking for things to worry about, you don’t have to go very far; in fact, you don’t have to go out of your house.
A person without hope is lost. However, sound health inspires hope and hope inspires sound health. Now, what do I mean by hope? I mean hope of some yet-to-be-obtained objective in life, something that you’re working toward, something that you’re trying to do and you know you’re going to do it.
Don’t worry because you’re not doing it fast enough. A lot of people who want to make a lot of money and get rich are so impatient that they become nervous; they work themselves into a fury because they don’t get the money fast enough. Sometimes this desire to get money quickly influences people to get it the wrong way, and that’s not good.
Develop hope by daily prayer, not for more blessings but for those you already have (such as freedom as an American citizen). What a marvelous thing it is to express prayer every day in one form or other. In your own words—or in your thoughts without any words at all—express prayer of appreciation for the freedom that you enjoy as an American citizen. Be thankful for the freedom to be ourselves, freedom to live our own lives, freedom to have our own objectives, freedom to make our own friends, freedom to vote as we please, to worship as we please, and to do pretty much anything else we please. We’re free to abuse ourselves by wrong living, if we want to. We have the privilege of acting on our initiative in a job that is secure from war hazards at the present time. (At least we think there’s not any danger of war at this time. There might be some time later on, but right now there isn’t.) We are free with the opportunity to secure economic freedom according to our talents, free to worship in our own way. Free to practice sound physical and mental health. We are free to use the time that lies ahead of us—free to control our future—in any way. Think of how marvelous it is that you are master of the time that still lies ahead of you.
The richest part of my life and my achievements are still ahead of me. I’m still just a youngster in the school of my profession. In fact, I’m only going to kindergarten. But since I’m going to do some really good work before I pass on, I’m making better use now of my time than I used to. Time is a precious thing. In fact, I evaluate it in terms of minutes now.
A headache is nature’s way of warning you that something needs correction. If you think of it that way, the headache is a wonderful thing. We couldn’t get along without headaches, and we’d die too young if we did, because a headache is nothing but nature telling you that there’s trouble somewhere and you’d better get busy and do something about it. Did you know that physical pain is one of the most miraculous and marvelous things of all of nature’s creations? Physical pain is a language that every living creature on earth and people of every nationality understand. The language of pain is the only universal language. Every living creature begins to do something when physical pain begins to clamp down on it. Pain is a form of warning and takes no prerogatives of any sort, at any time. That’s a bad habit. Sound health does not come from bottles, but it may come from fresh air, wholesome food, wholesome thinking, and wholesome living habits—all of which is under your control.
Fat people may be good-natured, but they generally die too young, and I don’t like to see people die too young. Fasting is one of the secrets to my marvelous health. I have no ailments and lots of energy because twice a year I go on a ten-day fast. I spend ten days without any food of any nature whatsoever. For two days, I condition my physical body through preparation by fruits, fruit juices, nothing but live vital elements going into the body. Then, I go on my fast of water, taking in nothing but just plain water, as much water as I can drink. Sometimes I put a few drops of flavoring or lemon juice or something in it, just enough to take the flatness out of water. (Believe me, when you’re fasting, water will taste mighty flat.) For the first days after my fast, I eat very light and very little, maybe only a small bowl of soup (with no grease in it) and a slice of whole-wheat bread on that first day. You don’t have to start fasting just because I said so. In fact, you don’t have to fast at all, but if you do, you should learn how and why to do it under the direction of a doctor or somebody skilled in fasting. I once recommended a fast to one of my students who was about seventy-five pounds overweight. She said, “Fast for ten days? I’d starve to death the first day if you took food away from me.” Not only do I believe she meant it, I think she probably would. If a person got lost in the woods, not only would they be scared to death, but I also suspect they could starve to death in two or three days. There is tremendous therapeutic, spiritual, and economic value in learning the art of fasting.
Work must be a blessing because God provided that every living creature must engage in it in one way or another or perish. Isn’t that a marvelous way to think about work? The birds of the air and the beasts of the jungle neither spin, nor sow, nor reap. Nevertheless, they have to work before they can eat just the same.
Work should be performed in the spirit of worship, and as a ceremony. It’s wonderful to look at your work as the rendering of useful service, not in terms of what you’re getting out of it but in terms of the people that you’re helping as a result of what you are doing. When you’re engaged in a labor of love—doing something for somebody just because you love that person or he’s a friend of yours, and not doing it for money—you never feel tired doing that kind of work. It does something for you. You get your compensation as you go along. This business of going the extra mile is a wonderful part of this philosophy. It makes you feel better as you go along doing it. You feel better toward yourself, better toward your neighbor, and it gives you a better standing in the world of your health. When work is based on the hope of achieving some definite major purpose in life, it becomes voluntary service, a pleasure to be sought, and not a burden to be endured. Work with a spirit of gratitude for the blessings it provides. For the sound physical health, economic security, and the benefits it may provide one’s dependents, embellish your work with love.
Learn to commune with Infinite Intelligence from within and adapt yourself to the laws of nature all around you. The greatest system of therapeutics that I know of is an abiding and an enduring source of faith. If any ailments creep in, I know of no better medicine to take than faith.
All habits are made permanent and work automatically through the operation of the law of cosmic habit force, which demands that every living thing will take on and become a part of the environmental influences in which it exists. You may fix the pattern of your thought habits and your physical habits, but cosmic habit force takes these over and carries them out. Understand this law and you will know why the hypochondriac enjoys poor health.