Health, Wellbeing, Mystery

A lot has been written about the politics of hope, but I find myself thinking about the social psychology of health and wellbeing. Maybe my interest is really more about a philosophy of health and wellbeing. I hunt for more specific words to describe a specific condition. Forget about generalizations such as cancer, sickness, ill health.

Every person has some condition of health. A person with cancer can be very healthy. A person without cancer can be very unhealthy.

What are the fundamental components of health? Three categories interest me:

Physical...nutrition, housing, medical
What is the strength, energy and vitality of the body?
Are there limitations, deformities, pain?
Is nutrition, housing and medical intervention available?

Social...friends, family, income
What connections nourish the soul?
What economic conditions support or limit?

Emotional...spirituality, meaning, education
What is the state of mind?
What are the beliefs that shape a person's thoughts and offer meaning?
Is there ongoing learning and growth?

There is also a fourth influence, not really a category...mystery.

I continue to wonder how I landed a condition (multiple myeloma) that was first reported among survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb explosions. Exposure to ionizing radiation or particular chemicals is often a factor. So what about me? That remains a mystery.

The atomic baby image (shown here) was a popular icon seen around NYC during the early 1980s. Haring died before age forty of HIV disease.