*i don’t give a damn about my reputation
i’ve never been afraid of any deviation
and i don’t really care if you think i’m strange
I ain’t gonna change
and I’m never gonna care about my bad reputation

funny how the most important words are also the most abstract: love, success, freedom, wellness. maybe that’s a good thing. each is so subjective, if it had to adhere to a strict definition, no one could ever achieve the feeling of it. i always think about this as i look over the pages we put together for our annual health and wellness issue and i’m reminded there are endless shimmers of wellness. and however physical these things may be, they are rooted in a state of mind. this very distinction is the difference between someone who is a smoking, drinking, three-egg-breakfast-eating, no-salad-having couch junkie who has no ailments, and his brother, the organic-only, juicing, vitamin-obsessed gym rat who misses about two days of work a month for headaches and hangnails and sneezes and so forth.

in the spirit of finding your own definition of wellness, we’ve put together an assortment of stories that are all about feeling good. there are savvy business people who spend weekends finding freedom on motorcycles. there are sweet and innocent types who are part of the crossfit cult (what is a wod?). artists who are…artists. fashion and art, continuing to imitate one another and perpetuate our inner dramas. honey and bees and beekeepers nurturing liquid gold. and, for actual physical health, our special section on long island’s top doctors returns with a look at our region’s leaders in medicine. in true mad libs style (mad libs, you remember those. yes you do. google it.)…in true mad libs style, i’ve collected what this issue has reminded me about feeling good. we’ve put the blank form online for you, too. go ahead and play. fill in the blanks for yourself, share it with a friend and send me your answers: nada@nulllipulse.com.

When I feel good I ________________ . When things are crazy, ________________ soothes me. When I’m stressed out, I ________________. When I’m really stressed out, I ________________. When I look in the mirror, I see ________________ . When I’m pissed off I ________________ . Worst feeling: ________________. Biggest motivator: ________________ . When I feel fat I ________________ . Not sleeping ________________. This makes me ________________ so then I ________________ . For me, the picture of health is ________________ . I wish I could ________________ . As a kid, my image of myself was
________________ . I believe in ________________ . The sign of mental health is ________________ . The best medicine is ________________ . ________________ is a health icon. When I want to cheer up I ________________ . Beauty is ________________ . Your ________________ is the best indicator of your health.