The physical involves your environment. It is how the body relates to the physical universe and the choices that are made about that relation. In order to build a strong foundation physically one must exercise discipline. This is done through exercising regularly, eating a balanced diet in order to maintain ideal body weight, maintaining a healthy schedule, breathing non-polluted air, maintaining a balance of light and darkness, getting adequate sleep and rest, having a healthy work environment, avoiding addictions, and avoiding financial debt.

Below is the case of Alex:

One such case of how discipline can change an individual is the case of Alex. Things never seemed to go well for Alex, making him a very difficult person to work with regarding using the pillar of discipline to improve his life. Finally after some convincing, Alex decided to go along with the lifestyle changes he needed to add some balance to his life. Alex then began exercising more, eating better food, maintaining a schedule, getting enough sleep at night, and managing his finances better. It took approximately a month for Alex to really notice the difference he had made in his life and has continued to maintain that lifestyle ever since.

The one issue that Alex had the most difficulty with was eating better food. He turned his nose up at the idea of eating raw foods such as fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, but found that he enjoyed these foods once he gave it a try.

The Mind involves having an inner life that is rich. It is that realm in which the soul or the psyche exists. It is where will and emotions resides. Being that the brain operates our bodily functions through the network of hormones and nerves that run through our bodies, mental health and our physical health are linked together. In order to build a strong foundation for mental health, we need to have a sense of self-worth, commit to learning lifelong lessons, learn how to appropriately respond emotionally, be proactive beings, and express our creative sides.

Below is how this pillar helped Jillian:

Jillian had an incredible anger problem, making her the perfect subject to test this pillar of health on. She was very out of touch with herself, so her self-worth was not in a good place. She was frustrated with everyday life. In other words, her state of mind was not stable. This made her another very difficult subject in convincing her to make a change. However, after just a couple of weeks of meditation, writing down goals for herself and completing them, harnessing her anger, facing things head-on, and expressing herself through a journal, she realized what it was she needed to maintain a better sense of balance. By incorporating the first pillar – Discipline – she felt like she was finding pieces of herself lost long ago. She also stopped stress eating and learned that eating more raw foods helped her to get a grip on her diet.

In addition to eating better foods such as raw foods to receive nutritional benefits as a part of the first pillar and gaining a vision for life, there is the Social aspect that humans need. Humans are very relational, which is why strained relationships can take a toll on a life. The Social factor involves loving unconditionally and being loved, parental bonding, forgiveness, maintaining boundaries that are healthy, and sexual purity.

Below is how this pillar changed David:

David held anger toward his father for years and after exercising the first two Pillars of Health, he found it was time to step into this one. He also found a love for raw foods, started exercising, and got anger under control. Now it was time to forgive and love unconditionally. He went into this with ease because he was ready to rid himself of the guilt. That is exactly what occurred and David has never been happier in his life.

So far, the case studies mentioned have revealed how taking a proactive approach can make a difference in a life. Godliness involves the Spirit, which means people need to worship, be gracious, make time for self, have values, have a calling and live it, and listen to the conscience. Now godliness or the spirit does not mean that you must believe in God or in a religion it can also be something like peace and freedom or simply following your calling.

This is how the pillar of Godliness helped Gina:

Gina was what many would call a “lost soul” because of her lack of religious beliefs. Her case is different because she was not asked to participate in a study involving the convincing of a person to make life changes to see the results. She is someone who made changes on her own and talked about it. She said that applying all of the Pillars of Health to her life made a considerable difference and believing in something greater than herself gave her life that meaning she needed. She felt she had a calling to help others and so she did. What resulted was a complete balance that makes her feel that her life is extraordinary.

By TTS Cofounder Omid Jaffari