Health Jim Rohn s Third Pillar of Success: Part One 2010 Jim Rohn International One-Year Success Plan 215
Week Ten Welcome to Week 10 of The Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan. We hope you are having a great week! As we begin Week 10 and a new month, we introduce Pillar Three Health. It seems each Pillar could, in and of itself, be the most important Pillar we cover, which is good. The great part of the 12 Pillars is that we take time to space out over a period of time so many important and significant topics and skills. But, arguably, Pillar Three is at the top of the list. Our health (spiritual, physical and emotional) plays a critical role in all accomplishments first at the basic level of survival, then in having the ability to function reasonably well, and finally in the ultimate goal of having such vitality and energy that we are more effective in every other area of our lives. So stay tuned as Jim introduces this important topic and Chris walks you through our weekly questions and action lessons. Make it a great and powerful week! Kyle Nine requisites for contented living: Health enough to make work a pleasure. Wealth enough to support your needs. Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them. Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them. Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished. Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor. Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others. Faith enough to make real the things of God. Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 216 One-Year Success Plan 2010 Jim Rohn International
Health Jim Rohn s Third Pillar of Success: Health, Part One Spiritual Health Hello, Jim Rohn here. As we look at the topic of health this month, the first order of business is to make sure our view of health is broad enough. You see, if I were to ask you, Are you healthy? you might think simply of your physical health. You d do a brief overview of how your body is and answer me based on that. If you feel well, then you probably view yourself as healthy. But this is only one aspect of health or of being a healthy person. I would like to challenge you to consider deeper than that. Let me explain. As human beings, we possess one of the most complex designs the world has ever seen. We are not merely a body; there is so much more to our make-up. In fact, I believe there are three major aspects to each person, and they are all intricately connected to one another. The three areas consist of our body, the physical nature; our soul, the mind, will, emotions and intellectual nature; and our spirit, the part of us that transcends this world and communes with God. Let s view this is as a sphere with three layers. The first or innermost layer, the core, is our spiritual life. This is our most important aspect and gives us the foundation for living and provides the strength we need for everything else. The middle, or second layer, is the soul. This is the intangible part of us. You can t touch it, but it is there, and not only is it there, but it also drives most of what we are! The last, the outermost layer, is our body. This is simply the physical shell that houses our soul and spirit. So, how are these connected? How do they affect one another? Obviously, a person s beliefs affect their emotions. If a person is in a negative situation, they may experience anxiety or fear. That, in turn, could potentially cause physical ailments such as stomach problems, headaches or fatigue, for example. This is just one simple example of how the three areas of our make-up affect one another. This means that rather than simply viewing ourselves as physical bodies that need to be maintained and physically healthy, it would serve us well to develop a more holistic and well-rounded view of what it means to be healthy. We need to look at the topic from a much more in-depth perspective. And as we develop these areas, we will be able to achieve the health we desire in every area of our lives. Material success may result in the accumulation of possessions; but only spiritual success will enable you to enjoy them. Nido Qubein 2010 Jim Rohn International One-Year Success Plan 217
Week Ten I believe there are four main areas of emphasis we need to cover this month in order to do the topic of health the justice it deserves and to help you attain total health as a reality in your life: 1. spiritual Health Today, we will look at the benefits and importance of developing a vibrant spiritual life and some easy methods to apply that can help take your spiritual life to a deeper level. 2. Emotional Health The mind, will and emotions. In Week 11, we will cover the importance of a healthy soul, specifically the mind, the will and the emotional aspects of life. We will look at how our inner person is vital to making sure we live the kind of life we desire. We will learn how our emotional life can become healthy, strong and lively. 3. Physical Health Nutrition. In Week 12, we will begin a two-part look at the body and physical health. Week 12 will concentrate on the area of nutrition. It is very important to make sure we fuel our body properly, because our body gets its energy from the foods we eat, just as a vehicle runs off of the fuel we put in it. If we put the wrong kind of fuel into our body, it will not run properly. If we put the right kinds of foods in, it will run like the strong engine in an expensive sports car! 4. Physical Health Exercise. In Week 13, we will look at the very important area of exercise. This is the area that most people initially think of. I need to exercise is the first thought that occurs to most people when they think of health. And this is true: We do need exercise, and three weeks from now, we will take an even more in-depth look at this important topic. Our focus this week will be on the first aspect, spiritual health. As I think through this idea of spiritual health, there are four major keys: A healthy spiritual life is one of the most rewarding things we can pursue. There are some very important things in this life, I know. And we ought to spend time and resources on them to experience their richness in every way. But, ultimately, everything in this life passes away. The only thing that does not pass away is our spiritual life. Our physical lives here are temporal they don t last. But our spiritual lives are eternal they last forever. This tells me that our spiritual health is the most important pursuit we must have. The God questions are the most important questions we can ask: one, because they impact the rest of our life in so many significant ways, and two, because the answers make an impact on us for eternity. A healthy spiritual life will benefit us in many ways. When we develop a healthy spiritual life and give it the importance that it truly deserves, when we allow our spiritual life to impact the rest of our life, we receive tremendous benefits: peace, joy, perspective, wholeness, better relationships, purpose, significance, excitement and passion for life, hope for a better future, emotional stability, intellectual curiosity, and a better understanding of the importance of all that is around us. A healthy spiritual life reaches into every area of our lives and creates a strong foundation upon which we build the life we desire. When we build on the rock of a strong spiritual life, we increase exponentially our opportunity to live the benefits and blessings of a centered life. A healthy spiritual life is developed through discipline, just as all things that are important to us. The great theologian G.K. Chesterton said of Christianity, It isn t that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but found difficult and left untried. This is true in so many areas of our lives, but especially true in our spiritual life. Just as we need to get into the gym to exercise on a regular basis, we need to get into a spiritual discipline on a regular basis. 218 One-Year Success Plan 2010 Jim Rohn International
A healthy spiritual life will bring a unique strength to the rest of your life. As I have said before, the spiritual life is the core of our existence. It is the foundation, the part of us from which everything else emanates and finds its strength and purpose. It centers us and gives us the kind of perspective we all need to live and lead successful lives. With these things in mind, here are some simple ways you can begin to develop a deeper, richer and healthier spiritual life: 1. make it a pursuit, as you would make any other area of your life a pursuit. Just as you have dreams and goals for your relationships, your career, your physical wellness or any area of life you are hoping to experience growth. Set your sights on a strong spiritual life and pursue it with vigor! 2. Set aside time to be alone and to work on your spiritual life. Anything worth pursuing must have time devoted to it. In your pursuit of spiritual health, be sure to give yourself the necessary time to cultivate that inner life. Just as you set aside time for other important areas of your life, be sure to do the same for your spiritual pursuits. Put it in your datebook. Make sure you give it the time that it deserves. 3. Read good materials about the spiritual life. As you know, I am a reader and encourage everyone to be such. I am passionate about it! There are so many great books that will enable you to grow spiritually. My personal recommendation on where to begin is the Bible. If you listen to me for even a short time, you will see that I regularly quote from the wisdom I have learned from the Bible over my lifetime. There are many bookstores that deal in books specifically written to help you grow in this area. Take advantage of them and read good spiritual books during your time alone pursuing spiritual health. 4. Some people enjoy listening to music designed to deepen their spiritual life. Music has the power to move the spirit in ways that most things do not. I strongly encourage you to spend some time regularly listening to music that will strengthen your spirit. Many of the classics fit this, and there are many good artists today who help us focus on our inner spiritual life through excellent music. 5. involve yourself in a community of faith. I believe that our spiritual lives are best lived with people (and not just our spiritual lives). We need other people to challenge us and to encourage us. We need others to teach us and to learn from us. We are in this together. Yes, I know that when you get groups of people together, things can go awry, but I am convinced that more good than ill comes when we pursue our spiritual life with others. Do these things on a regular basis. The key here is to be consistent in your pursuit of spiritual health. Take time in a disciplined manner. And, as you invest in your spiritual life, over time, you will see your inner core and foundations strengthening in ways you could never imagine, and that, in turn, will give you the basis for the kind of whole-life situation you are looking for! Until next week, let s do something remarkable! Jim Rohn Some people don t do well simply because they don t feel well. Jim Rohn 2010 Jim Rohn International One-Year Success Plan 219
Week Ten Hi, this is Chris Widener, and in this section, we will take a look at some questions that will help us think deeper about spiritual health, and then we will put some action steps together that will help the process of developing our spiritual health! But, first, here are some personal thoughts on the importance and power of a strong and healthy spiritual life. Until the age of 17, I was raised in a home that had absolutely no emphasis on the spiritual life. None. Because of some circumstances that happened while I was growing up, I didn t have the best head start in life. My father died when I was 4, and I became rebellious and was quite a handful for my mother. In the fourth grade, I was sent away to live with relatives. My mother was hoping that I could get some help turning things around. I didn t. By age 12, I was drinking. By 13, I was involved with drugs every day. For the next few years, my life drifted and went nowhere. Then, when I was 16, I met someone who began to help me pursue my spiritual life. At 17, I made a major commitment to allow God into my life and pursue spiritual health for the rest of my life. What happened next surprised me. Just as Jim says, it became the foundation for every other area of my life. I immediately quit drinking and doing drugs. My relationships became significantly better. My grades, which had dropped as low as a 1.4 grade-point average during the depths of my use of drugs, began to soar. In fact, for the next 10 semesters (through college), my grades went higher with every semester, culminating in a 3.87 the last semester of my senior year. I have been successful in my career, and it grows more with every passing week. All of this, I believe, is due to the fact that on one hot July day in 1983 I got my priorities straight and began a journey to spiritual health. Spiritual health doesn t have to be theory. It actually works. While I am certainly far from perfect, my life is living proof of how a centered and healthy spiritual life will produce benefits in every area of life. So I encourage you, just as Jim did, to take this issue seriously as the major piece to your overall health as a person. It works and will become the foundation for a fantastic life! See you next week, Chris Widener Improve your business, your life, your relationships, your finances and your health. When you do, the whole world improves. Mark Victor Hansen 220 One-Year Success Plan 2010 Jim Rohn International
Questions for Reflection Q. Where would you consider yourself to be spiritually? Would you say you are in a healthy place spiritually or not? Why or why not? Q. How important do you believe a spiritual life is? In what ways would you say your life reflects your answer? Q. What are the main benefits you have seen from having a healthy spiritual life? Q. In what ways do you see your spiritual life being the basis for the rest of your life? Q. What are the three greatest spiritual lessons you have learned and how have they impacted you? 1. 2. 3. 2010 Jim Rohn International One-Year Success Plan 221
Action Steps This Week 1. Set aside some time this week to pursue your spiritual health. Put it in your datebook and keep the appointment! 2. Read a book that will make a good guideline for you as you pursue your spiritual life. It may be something you can get through in one sitting or one that you can use over the course of a set period of time. 3. Pick up a music CD that will let your spirit soar. Play it this week as you drive around or while you are at home. Let it act as a spiritual pick-me-up. 4. Team up with others who may have similar spiritual values or interests and consider developing your spiritual life together, acting as encouragers to one another. A Look Forward This week we will be listening to CD Seven of the New Millennium series. Here are just a few of the incredible things you will learn on this CD: How to Be Powerfully Persuasive The Teenager Session (Hint: Lots of great stuff here for adults, too!) Charlie Tremendous Jones The Ant Philosophy Three Key Areas of Personal Development And More! Notes for CD Seven from the Jim Rohn New Millennium series: 222 One-Year Success Plan 2010 Jim Rohn International
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