3 ways of bringing the cave woman in you for a healthier, happier and more fulfilled life.

The answer to living a healthier, happier and more fulfilled life is in our genetics. When you think about it, we (as modern humans) have only been around for 250 000 years. For the longest time we had the chance to evolve with no real big societal or technology pressures. We evolved slowly. We did it at the same pace of the rest of the species. We became fitter, stronger and smarter.

But with getting smarter came greater technology, which for the last 100 years put a sprint on our need to get even smarter. Technology changed the world we lived in and I believe it even changed who we are as humans today. It also slowed traditional evolution as the most fit now days is not necessarily the one that survives. It has, however, imposed a new form of evolution on us. One that our human brain, our health, our emotions were not made for. We have not had the time to adapt or ‘catch up’ .As a specie have simply been asked to do the impossible.  As a result, we are getting sadder, fatter, unhealthier, unhappier. We are stressed.Women in particular, have ‘suffered’ the biggest impact. We went from stay home women / voiceless beings in the early 1900s to complete equals to men in the 2000s. A 100 years after we have demands that developed 100fold, but our brains or bodies did not. We pretty much lost the cave-woman in us but are not yet genetically fit as modern humans to work with whats going on in our worlds. And that’s driving us to the ground. But since speeding up evolution is not an option, I believe the answer is staying true to our past. It’s about going back to the basis, and remembering who we really are. Truth is, we are still genetically closer to the cave-man than we are to the super-human designed to operate at the speed of our demands and at the level of those gadgets. The answer is to go back to our long forgotten cave-ways to live a happy life.I by no means I am proposing to give up ‘modern’. No! I am actually proud to have been born in this era where both women and men wear the pants. And certainly, I would not want to trade-in my big pay or my i pod for the cave style. I am actually proposing to keep all that, but bring back some of what our cave-woman versions had that made them live a more humanly real life. So here 3 ways of bringing the cave-woman in you for a healthier, happier and more fulfilled life:

1- Re learn how to Nurture: While our caveman was out there hunting our food, we were left in the cave with our babies. We developed an amazing power to read our babies faces and noises as a means for their survival. The survival of those babies was key to the survival of our species. That why we so swiftly learned to understand the language of people without hearing a word. We knew what to do based on what our guts told us was going on. With time that power eroded. Now days we seem to want to trust somebody’s word rather than our own senses. We want to hear he loves us. But we won’t trust our guts that’s telling he doesn’t. We won’t act unless we hear the words. We go an extra mile to beat the dead horse over long conversations about things we knew before we even started talking. That sixth sense was what made us such a nurturer. For us to operate the in the way we were designed, we need to reclaim that sixth sense. Start by ‘feeling’ those around you. Those who love you and you love. Try to make your own mind about what they are feeling and why before you ask them what’s happening. You can do that even at work. More often than not you’ll be right about your version of things. When this becomes a habit you will bring back the nurturer in you. You will be more in tune with those around you. You will be more real about your problems and have a better ability to find solutions. You will be better in tune with those who love you and you love. You will be more confident because very often, the answer will be inside you. You will be better equipped to love everyone and everything around you.

2- Get closer to Nature: We all agree that when-back-when we had nothing but nature to rely on. We had to eat from the land, we had to bathe in the rivers, our medicines were made of herbs. We were one with nature. Years passed and ‘we evolved’ to not be that anymore. Our health has paid the price. Scientists keeps throwing at us -proof after proof- that eating clean is the way to go. Avoid anything processed will save you from a ton of diseases, even if you eat pork fat! Everything in moderation. Cave-men killed to eat and (lacking refrigeration) had to kill enough for what the family (or the tribe) needed to eat. Let’s try that for a change. Small portions of healthy clean food. Our waste line and our hearts will be eternally grateful for that. And while important, re-thinking our eating habits is not the only way we are going back to the basics when it comes to nature. I’d say, we need to think nature in everything we do from the moment we wake up. From the water we use for the morning shower, to what medicine we take. The closer to nature we get the healthier we live, and that’s a proven fact.

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3- Hope, hope and hope: The cave woman left loads to fate and hoped for a lot. She saw her caveman leave every morning to fight the darn beast and had to hope for him to come home. She tried reading her babies language and had to hope she had guessed well. She worked the fields the best she could and she had to hope harvest will pan out as planned. Science has proved that satisfaction comes from small achievements, like the plenty small achievements the cave woman had. Hope was the bridge between what she had and what made her happy. Today, technology brings a lot of certainty. That level of certainty removes a lot of our satisfaction from things. In order to get back to that level of satisfied fulfilled life we need to bring about hope in everything we do. We need to make a conscious effort to hope for things even if they are a given. Send an email to your brother, and make a point to hope for an answer. Cook dinner tonight, and hope all in the house will love what you made. Those little pockets of personal satisfaction is what makes us the happiest in life.

So next time you are due for new year resolutions, don’t jump too quick at the traditional lists for achieving a better life. Don’t rely on gym sessions or finding new love as the only means to a happier, healthier and fulfilled you. Because reality is, true happiness lives in your genetics, and that you can only find within yourself.