Gary Tse

• To achieve a happy life, the most important thing is your health — oh so clichéd, I know — but it is the natural way to maintain your youth and vitality. You can chase after money, fame, power, or whatever else you want — but without health, you have nothing.
  
  
• Before health, everyone is equal. The rich cannot buy health, the powerful cannot command health, the famous cannot demand health, the religious cannot pray to obtain health. In reality, those who break the principle of health are prone to suffer from illnesses, and it has long been inevitable.
  
  

Prevention is always better than cure.

• Therefore, it is necessary to not only acquire health knowledge, but to also apply the knowledge, persistently. Including wellness knowledge, hygiene knowledge, medical knowledge, dietetic knowledge, health preservation knowledge, and so on. Those who lack the proper knowledge, simply won’t know how to prevent diseases properly. As a consequence, many sufferers die of ignorance, rather than diseases.

Physiological Health

• Aging is defined as, the ticking of your physiological clock, at the rate your physical functionalities declines. As the physiological clock ticks, the mechanism of your immunity and regeneration is gradually restrained, which leads to sicknesses, aging, and frailty. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt healthcare habits that can slow down the rate of the clock.
  
  

Always maintain 30% of hunger and coldness.

• A simple principle of health preservation in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Meaning, to stay well and sound, don’t eat to feel glutted, just until you no longer feel hungry; don’t dress to feel warm, just until you no longer feel cold. This allows your physical functionalities to constantly sustain its fighting spirit, which aids prolonging the mechanism of your immunity and regeneration. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
  
  
• Healthy people look sharp and charming, consistent exercise is one of the most effective ways to achieve it. Your exercise should be well-varied, including aerobic, weightlifting, balance, flexibility, and internal organs. Exercise can pump oxygen into your bloodstream, enhance your cardiopulmonary function, sharpen your nerves, proliferate your cells, and slow down brain deterioration. Go pick up an exercise routine, stick with it constantly and persistently. It’s worth it.
  
  
• Supplements of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants may be taken moderately. Seniors especially, for offsetting their deficiencies in natural nutrients absorption, as well as youth rejuvenation and life prolonging.
  
  
• Sufficient sleep, nap, and rest can help repairing your body, mending your mind, cleansing the brain, and prevent aging.

Emotional Health

• It is is necessary to understand and admit that, in most people’s lives, the moments of glory and achievement only take up the minority of your lifetime — the majority of your lifetime is ordinary, boring, repetitious, and tedious. Hour after hour we spend time commuting, working, labouring, running errands, doing chores, and so on. Don’t let your vision be fazed and narrowed by all of those posts and stories on social media, where everybody only shares the glorious moments in their lives — all just a tiny part out of the whole big picture.
  
  
• Experiencing failure is inevitable — we often have to face failure, setbacks, bad luck, and frustrations. When dealing with them, maintain psychological balance, stay as calm and rational as possible, and avoid extreme and excessive reactions. No matter what happens, life must go on. At the end, you will look back at these so-called “problems” and would just smile consciously, like when you said goodbye to your puppy lover.
  
  
• Not only spend your time maintaining exercise routines, but also cultivating a stable state of mind. A simple method is try to contact and communicate with your loved ones more often. Mental purity lies in the maintenance of a stable nervous system. Live a meaningful life with adequate sleep and moderate desires. Stay relaxed, work on being as independent as possible, and avoid unnecessary worries and conflicts.
  
  
• Keep working on self-sufficiency. The less you have to ask and rely on others, the more likely you can reach emotional wellness. Be likeable and approachable, always be ready to give help to others (within your budget). You have to be able to take care of yourself first, before you can take care of others. The reason why you find happiness in helping others is simple — as knowing that you have a surplus in yourself, which has the ability to better someone else’s life, is a blessing.
  
  
• Mentally healthy people are broad-minded, easy-going, and kind-hearted. They wish others well, and try to guide others to be better. Those who are mentally unstable cannot govern their emotions, and are prone to act with extreme reactions. In fact, emotional stability, to some extent, can be controlled by yourself.
  
  
• Fear of cancer is common in industrialized countries, and the fear ended up being one of the main causes of actual diagnosis of cancer.
  
  
• Fear of poverty is typical in utilitarian societies, and the fear was overtaken by greed which lead to actual bankruptcy.
  
  
• Therefore, it is necessary to learn how to strengthen the capacity of your living endurance, tolerance, and resilience; in order to overcome your encounter with emotional stress.
  
  
• Extreme emotional stress can suddenly terminate someone’s life. Wrath, fear, hatred, sadness, mourning, exhilaration, etc — could cause disordered heartbeat, excessive endocrine, severe damage to the cardiovascular circulation, brain damage, and heart failure.
  
  
• Try getting used to soothe your nerves and anger, with more self-review, and less ego. Social matters and human relations, can often make you feel unfortunate — coerces, abuses, unfair treatments, unmet expectations, inability to fight back, disappointments — all of which enrages you, because most people are too eager to put their abilities on display, over-estimate themselves, have too much self-esteem, and rarely self-evaluate objectively. Calm down, be rational, and introspect. Once in a while, it is necessary to put yourself back in your own place.
  
  

If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.

• Unload depression, self-abandonment, and autistic symptoms. Take care of yourself first, before you’re qualified to take care anybody else. Don’t judge your own success based on the world’s standardized and materialistic qualities, focus on upgrading the qualities that would really fulfill your life. Treat yourself like how you would treat a loved one.
  
  
• Subjective and personal feelings often is not the truth. You can always find something to keep yourself up, get over the disappointments, and avoid all kinds of chronic physical disease caused by depression.
  
  
• Get used to letting your mind relax and relieve tension. Unwinding your body and mind helps shutting off all kinds of negative stimuli that cause stress and anxiety, so that your body and mind could have a turn to rest and recover. Meditation, soothing music and dancing, Tai Chi, Yoga, are some physical and social activities that can help you relax.

Spiritual Health

• What harms your life the most, is not physical diseases, but spiritual distress, commonly known as “mental illness”.
  
  
• It is necessary to equip the positive concepts of life. Treating others with sincerity, integrity, and honesty will help keeping the mind spiritually sound. Otherwise, you’re prone to mental illness.
  
  
• Your inner nature and character is the most important source of spirituality. You must understand and acknowledge that, life comes with suffering and disappointment, as a package. Be brave, face your responsibilities, always be prepared to accept challenges, don’t run away. Your ability to endure distress and hardship, is measured by the strictness of your self-discipline and self-control spirit.
  
  
• Most people nowadays regard self-interest and egotism as their goal of life — creating enemies, confrontations, trouble, and resentments — all of which leads to an inferior ability to endure distress and hardship, as there is not a single real friend to fight alongside during adversity — resulting various mental illnesses.
  
  
• Therefore, strong distress and hardship endurance should be built on public-interest and altruism. Take good care of yourself, and make others feel the need of your ability to look after them. The saints who are commonly known in the past and present, are simply people who constantly do good deeds and guide others to be good. When your ability is recognized and proven to be helpful and beneficial to others, your heart is fulfilled, and will stay away from mentally illnesses.
  
  

When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade.

• Happiness is a feeling, a reaction, and an emotional state, so it is more natural to be built on an emotional and spiritual level, rather than on material possessions and sensual pleasures. This is why those who are emotionally stable and content are much likelier to achieve happiness, and those who are emotional fluctuant and angry often find themselves struggling.
  
  
• In older times, life was relatively simpler. The reasons for old days’ happiness are as follows:
  
  
  1. Contentment is the root of constant happiness. You’re satisfied with what you have — you have less desires — you spend your money properly and sparingly — you often find yourself a surplus — you feel secured and at ease both financially and mentally.
     
     
  2. You can afford to give. With little desire, you spend less and are able to save up a surplus — you can afford to help those who are in urgent need — you feel sufficient psychologically — and are often rewarded and blessed by the gratitude from the people you’ve helped — you become more motivated to give — a joyful cycle.
     
     
  3. Avoid comparing yourself with others. The lack of the Internet means zero social media — you’re less likely to compare yourself with others — you accept who you are and work with what you have — just focus on enhancing your existing qualities and conditions. You might feel insufficient when you look up, but at the same time, you find yourself sufficient when you look down. In fact, most of us are positioned within the middle range. Everyone lacks something — you gain this and lose that — you acquire this and misplace that — continue to move forward with the acceptance of The Law of Trade-offs. There is no need to force yourself, just keep doing your own things within your capability (while gradually work on expanding your scope of capabilities), enjoy what you have, and reach mental satisfaction.
     

• In today’s more technology-advanced world, most people achieve happiness based on material possessions and sensual pleasures. Unlike how people in the past focus on internal emotional contentment, people today are very much concerned with external validation and approval from others. The reasons for today’s happiness are as follows:
  
  
  1. Reaching financial independence and self-sufficiency. Being able to afford and fulfill all of the basic necessities, and to even have a surplus for luxuries.
     
     
  2. Achieving success and accomplishment. Climbing the social ladder to reach a higher social status — you become less dependent to others, and less controlled by others.
     
     
  3. A smooth social life. Having a compacted group of interpersonal relationships. You’re welcomed and accepted by your family and friends.
     
     
  4. Public recognition and approval. Your words and actions are recognized and accepted by the society as public contributions. Your personality and integrity are affirmed by the society. Your mind is enriched and at ease.
     
     
  5. Constantly advancing and progressing in life. Noticing consistent improvements in your lifestyle. Day by day, you become more and more wise and knowledgeable. Your life goal is approaching. You are gratified that all of your hard work is paying off — the fruitful outcome is just right around the corner.
     
     
  6. Health and wellness are priceless. They are so precious that their value is unable to be determined. If you’re physically and mentally unwholesome — materials, power, love, desires, ambition — are all only hollow fantasies.
     
     
• In most ordinary lives, the 5 common roots of unhappiness:
  
  
  1. Lack of wisdom. Spiritual concepts are biased too much towards utilitarianism and egocentrism. It is common to see unhappiness revealed in the ones who have accomplished high academic degrees and asset possessions. It is because of their self-centred mindset, egotism, materialism, greed, and selfishness — ended up becoming a subservient puppet who gave up their own will, locked-up and controlled by the richer and the more in-power.
     
     
  2. Lack of consideration to others. Only know one’s own personal profit, disregard other’s benefits — just seek to take, neglect to give — solely concern self-interest, ignore public interest. These will trigger others’ negative feelings such as sadness, disappointment, indifference, and antipathy. These bitter feelings will lead to criticisms, contempt, exclusion, disrespect, and the cold shoulder towards you. Eventually, even close family members and friends will walk away.
     
     
  3. Lack of blessings. The blessings in life lie in working less and enjoying more. Stop focusing on seeking others’ validations and dedicating your life on working overtime nights after nights, over-worrying about not being good enough, or getting annoyed by others’ opinions. “If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.” — Just let go. Letting go is powerful, it allows you to really enjoy the blessings that you deserve. Your bank account balance might be high, but it only signifies your usage right to spend that money. You don’t actually get to truly enjoy and own the value of your money until it’s spent (wisely).
     
     
  4. Lack of self-awareness. Only know how to look at things subjectively but not objectively. With no self-reflection, self-discipline, self-review —there will be no self-improvement. Invest in yourself — cultivate on your self-value and learn how to look at things from a broader angle with a deeper depth.
     
     
  5. Lack of health and wellness. Develop a disciplined lifestyle. You live your life disorderly — abusing your appetite and neglecting consistent exercise — you’re vulnerable to illnesses — ended up just laying on the deathbed not being able to do anything. If you don’t even have an effective life expectancy to enjoy and own your blessings, how could you talk happiness?

The things you own end up owning you.

Fight Club