Oh, those marvelous little tweets!  I learn a lot from following them.

Why just the other day while looking over the most recent of the 512 tweets that awaited me, I saw an interesting article by Melinda Beck of The Wall Street Journal.

In “City vs. Country: Who Is Healthier?” Ms.  Beck writes of a recent study which has to some degree turned around the old notion that folks that live in rural areas are generally healthier than those that inhabit urban environments. 

According to the latest research, urban dwellers are living healthier and longer lives than their rural counterparts. 

But before we all pick up our stakes and head off to buy a condo in Boston in pursuit of better health, “Whoa, Nellie!” – as my grandmother was fond of saying.

As often is the case, the results are not quite “black and white.”  Many factors such as age, gender, race, education, and income enter into the picture. 

And to complicate matters further, Beck states that:

In many measures, residents of suburban areas are the best off. They generally rate their own health the highest and have the fewest premature deaths than either their urban or rural counterparts.

It would appear that we Arlingtonians are sitting pretty!

But the question is still raised: Rural, urban, or suburban – which is better?  Where to move?

My grandmother would be happy at this point to interject another equestrian turn of phrase:  “Hold your horses!”  (She must have had a lot of horse-related experiences that I wasn’t aware of!)

But why yank on those reins again? 

Because there’s one component that appears to be glaringly omitted from all of this.  And it’s the one piece of the puzzle that some researchers and many individuals are increasingly finding has a significant role to play in health and well-being. 

Spirituality.

I’ve found, as many have, that it’s our mental landscape – our spiritual geography, if you will – that has the greatest and most profound impact on health.

Think about it.  While you’re reading this blog – right at this moment – where are you? 

In the one dwelling place you always inhabit – your thought. 

And if our thinking affects our health outcomes one way or the other – and it does – doesn’t it make sense to inhabit a spiritually healthy atmosphere, one which promotes health and well-being? 

Urban, suburban, or rural!