If you have been reading my column for a while or if you happen to have read my blog at www.drjeb.wordpress.com, you will have heard me use the phrase, “The present is always perfect, and your physical universe never lies.” My good buddy, Dr. Tony Palermo has used this phrase for years and it always resonated with me.

Very often, at the peak of a “challenging time” , I have said this phrase, over and over and OVER again…used it as a mantra to get keep me in the moment and to remain calm…like one of my yoga instructors says during a particularly difficult, thigh burning, mind numbing posture, “This is what yoga is all about, it’s about remaining calm in an uncomfortable situation.” Sounds an awful lot like coherence to me…calmness in an uncomfortable situation, is a state of Coherence.

The fact that the present is perfect, doesn’t mean that you feel no pain or are not uncomfortable…It may be as simple as reminding you just how difficult things can get, so that you appreciate your hot and cold running water, your
beautiful life and family, the fact that someone is picking up your stinky, smelly, rotten garbage and hauling it away.

Listen, there have been plenty of times in my life when I was having a hard time dealing with a particularly difficult situation and I complained very loudly…I know that complaining doesn’t help fix the problem, BUT  sometimes, it makes you feel better in the moment, which allows you to move UP the emotional scale from hopelessness and despair!  In my book anger is better than despair, any day.  the trick is to continue working your way up the scale, all the way to GRATITUDE.What does this have to do with Community Health and The Colonial Theater?

Okay, so I am “taking the long way home” here, bear with me.

First things first…Community Health. I wasn’t really sure what this meant, as it was a term that came to me one day as I was talking to my good friend, about The Colonial Theater. So I went to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia and this is what I found:

Community health, a field within public health, is a discipline that concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of communities. While the term community can be broadly defined, community health tends to focus on geographic areas rather than people with shared characteristics.

This is exactly what I was thinking…What makes a community healthy? What makes it “Coherent”? Happy people right? Healthy, happy people with extraordinary quality of life. That’s how I’d define it anyway.

When I was talking to my friend about The Colonial, I thought about how fortunate we are to live in a community with such a beautiful place to see a play, watch a movie, hear and watch world-class, live music and see a whole host of incredible performances. In addition, The Colonial hosts educational workshops that give back to the community in a variety of ways. I started thinking about how great I feel every time I go to The Colonial and how that feeling contributes to my overall sense of well-being or coherence. That’s when it hit me…The Colonial Theater plays a role in the health of our community!

I am not suggesting that The Colonial Theater, in the absence of good health care, schools and a thriving local economy would make for a healthy community. What I am suggesting, is that something as special as The Colonial Theater, and all that it brings to the community, is the PRODUCT of a healthy community…I am suggesting that the health of The Colonial and other non-essential, community-based, organizations, like the Swampbats and the Moving Company, are a few examples of indicators of the health of our community.

The bottom line is this…health and happiness begins with the individual. The more coherent we are, the more health, happiness and, this is the biggie, quality of life we have. By accepting that the present is always perfect, we accept full responsibility for our lives and the results of our actions. Healthy, happy individuals tend to make decisions that result in communities that allow places, like The Colonial Theater to not only exist, but to thrive.

When we have beautiful places to gather, to laugh, to cry, to sing and to celebrate, then it follows that we must have a community that is in pretty good health…be grateful.

Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?
With love and Gratitude.
Dr. Jeb