Remember the old question, Which came first, the chicken or the egg?  Here's another question:  When it comes to living a healthy life, which comes first, the information or the inspiration?  You're probably going to answer, Both; and I believe you're right.

For nearly twenty years I coordinated programs that promote healthy living.  But after all those years, I have begun to wonder if some of us might suffer from information overload.  It seems that the more we learn what we ought to be doing, the harder it is to put it into practice.  To make matters worse, when we don't practice the things we know we ought to, it puts us on a guilt trip.  Sometimes the guilt trip gets so bad that we medicate our guilt with a quart of ice cream, and instead of feeling better we feel all the more guilty!

I have a suggestion to make that may be helpful.  To begin with, let's repackage the whole subject.  For the purpose of our experiment, we're not going to be motivated by "health" but by "feelin' good."  So even though what I'm about to suggest will definitely contribute to better health, we're going to do or not do certain things because we want to feel good.

Remember the information overload I mentioned earlier?  I'll wager you already know a dozen things you ought to do and another dozen things you ought not to do when it comes to healthful living.  Hang on now.  From your long list of ought to's/ought not to's, choose just one item.  That's right, choose just one; and for the next three months follow it.  Remember, you've decided that you want to feel good, and whatever you chose from your list will be one way to make that happen.

Follow this plan for just three months.  I suggest three months because most people don't like making opened-ended commitments.  At the end of three months, evaluate what you have done and then decide whether or not you want to continue.  It's my guess that you will be feelin' so good that you will decide to permanently add this healthy component to your life.

It's elementary psychology that when we begin to feel as though everyone is telling us what we ought to do or not do regarding our health, we feel we are being dragged kicking and screaming into lifestyle changes we don't want to make.  Then when no one is looking we tend to go back to doing things the way we always did.

There can't be any lasting changes in our lives until we, as they say, hit bottom.  By that I mean until we decide for ourselves that there is something better for us and we're going to go for it.

If you are perhaps thinking that this is all well and good but you’ve tried this kind of thing before and nothing came of it because you didn’t have the power to pull it off, here's good news for you.  When we decide we want to do the right thing but don't seem to have the power, God is there for us in His Word, the Bible.  The apostle Paul must have known how hard it is to integrate good habits into the lifestyle and how easy it is to fail, because he wrote in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  Don't be overwhelmed by the "all things."  In this case we're talking about just the one thing that we choose to help us be feelin' good, or at least better.

It's time to get off the guilt trip or doing something just because someone else told us to do it.  It's time to choose for ourselves to do something that we know we need to do, and then stay with it for the next three months.

Here's an important suggestion. Once you've decided what improvement to make, tell the world about it.  This will motivate you to keep on keeping on with the project, and it will be an encouragement to others who are probably thinking they would like to do something like that for themselves.

I believe you're going to like this plan.  If someone asks you why you're doing whatever it is you chose to do, don’t tell them about the benefits of getting your heart rate up to a certain speed or how important it is not to eat saturated fats (both of which are, of course, important). Instead, tell them that you're doing this because you want to feel good.

Grandma use to say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  A product is successful because of its satisfied customers.  If healthy living is going to go anywhere, it must be driven by satisfied people who live it, enjoy it, and tell others how good it makes them fee!

The next time I see you, I'm sure that you'll tell me that you tried this idea and it worked.  And I’ll see for myself how much you enjoy "feelin' good!"