Several years ago, when these Energy Bites were produced and distributed as a multi-page PDF newsletter, I often did reviews of books related to Health, Fitness and Personal Energy. One of those books I reviewed was titled: The Life We are Given, by George Leonard and Michael Murphy. Murphy was the founder, and George Leonard was a principle, of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Esalen was one of the hot beds of personal development in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The book was published in the mid-nineties.
In the book, the authors listed Twelve Attributes they felt contributed to transformation, health and vitality.
Here is the list of attributes from the book:
- Perception of external events.
- Somatic/Kinesthetic awareness
- Communication abilities
- Vitality
- Movement abilities
- Capacities to manipulate the environment directly.
- Feelings of pain and pleasure
- Cognition
- Volition
- Sense of self
- Love
- Bodily Structure
Many of these attributes are the same as, or similar to, those attributes prescribed by personal development and Health, Fitness and Personal Energy proponents since the mid to late 1800s, and in come cases, far back into Greek and Roman history. They are also similar to some of the “secrets of longevity” we often see in much of today’s literature about aging.
They are also in keeping with the Personal Energy Formula I use in my own talks and workshops.
So for the next several weeks, I’ll go through the list of the Leonard/Murphy “attributes” and relate each to the Health, Fitness and Personal Energy of active older adults today.
I think you will find this series of articles useful and interesting.
Thank you for reading.