Originally written in 2011, substantial edits in 2023

The best six doctors anywhere

And no one can deny it

Are sunshine, water, rest, and air

Exercise and diet.

These six will gladly you attend

If only you are willing

Your mind they’ll ease

Your will they’ll mend

And charge you not a shilling.

– Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

 If there is one gift for which I can sacrifice everything I have, it is sound health. Having sound health is the greatest blessing you can ever receive. If you have got good health, you can dream anything and get it. It gives you a lot of confidence. Having sound health is the only true delight! Health should here mean not only physical health but also mental health, because the number of people who apparently have good physical health and still lose lives to suicide and depression is not small. If you are unable to appreciate the privilege of having a sound mind and a sound body, just visit any hospital’s Emergency Room or a few in-patient wards and you will understand how life can change in a moment and how profoundly lucky we are that we are not patients any single day.

 Unfortunately, we understand the value of anything only when we lose it or are about to lose it. This is virtually true in all facets of life. We understand the value of friends and our loved ones only after they are gone. I have seen many children who completely ignored their parents while alive but repented and cried a lot after the parents died. They even went on to build charities and buildings in the memory of their parents. But I think treating them well while they were alive would have pleased their souls much more than doing such stuffs after their death. There are many awards in Nepal that are distributed “maradoparanta”( posthumous award). Posthumous awards are jokes! Praise people when they can feel it, when they can be happy, when the award will have a personal meaning to the recipient. Ignoring people while they are alive, and awarding them after they die is paradox! The same is true with health. We ignore our body, stretch it, roughen it, kick it, force it, mistreat it all our life without loving it, caring it, tending to its demands, and one fine day our system cracks! You feel ok all your life and one fine day get rushed to the hospital emergency with a heart attack or stroke, if we are lucky and have access to health care. Remember that our body is our tool, an instrument for the uplift of our system, or our soul. It’s a vehicle of life. Unfortunately, we love our bikes and cars, but we don’t love our body much. We need to take care of it and to do its servicing time and again.