Sid Garza-Hillman - Six Truths: Live by These Truths and Be Happy. Dont, and You Wont.

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Copyright 2021 by Sid Garza-Hillman

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epub isbn : 9781644282120

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To Lisa, Luna, Rnn, and Rinah.

Also by Sid Garza-Hillman

Approaching the Natural: A Health Manifesto

Raising Healthy Parents:
Small Steps, Less Stress, and a Thriving Family

Contents.

Introduction

A note on pronouns.

Spoiler alert. As youll read, I switch between he and she, him and her, and they. Randomly. No rhyme or reason, so dont go reading into it. Also, Im switching between you, your, our, we, and so forth. Were all human and have way more in common than not. Lets not get mired in the minutiae, dig?

And now, we begin.

Everyone wants to be happy. Everyone. We certainly have opinions about choices a person might make to get there, but we absolutely want happiness, and as much of it as we can get.

So, with that understanding, lets go

My story.

The trajectory of my life that led to my career as a nutritionist/health coach/running coach and this book is an odd and curvy one.

I graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy and a clear plan to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter. I took the first day job I could find, working at UCLAs audio-visual department with a bunch of other artists, writers, actors, and musicians who, like me, needed a semi-easy paycheck. Already by that time I had read several books on nutrition and healthy living after curing myself of asthma a few years prior by making a slight dietary change. As my music career progressed (much more on passion, struggle, and hard work later in this book), I found myself making a living as an actor and within about a year quit the AV job and continued working as a musician and actor for the next ten years.

Until

Los Angeles began to wear on me and my wife, and we began to explore other places to live. Our first choice, Scotland, wasnt feasible, but my wife found the Mendocino coast and very soon we were on our way with a well figure it out once we get there mindset. In retrospect, not the most intelligent move, but then again

Once settled in our new town and awake to the reality that wed need to make a living, I got a job managing the restaurant at the Stanford Inn & Resort in Mendocino. The resort is anchored in sustainability and healthy living, and with my interest in nutrition I immediately felt at home. Over the next couple years I found myself in near constant conversations about diet, nutrition, and healthy living, but with no formal training, I felt I lacked cred.

And so

I made the decision to go back to school and become certified as a nutritionist. Joan and Jeff Stanford (owners of the resort) backed my decision and offered me the opportunity to teach classes, once certified (and, you know, insured). A year and a half later I finished the program and began teaching. Later I became the resorts wellness programs director, and still work in that capacity today. I have had two other books published, created an online habit change program (Small Steppers), direct an ultramarathon, and speak all around the US about my singular approach to and philosophy of health and happiness.

That about brings you up to speed. The bio at the end of this book fills in the particulars.

What Ive found in the healthy/happy
living arena.

As soon as I began working in the world of healthy/happy living, I stumbled upon a lot of nonsense. Over-complication, more information than most of us need to know, with a lot of fear tactics thrown in for good measure. Ive taught many people over the years, given talks to many more, and have seen many a head on the verge of exploding from conflicting information, unsolicited advice, and an intense desire to have someone just tell it to them straight, in simple terms.

None of these people are stupid. The opposite, in fact. Theyre smart, but busy and dont want or need bullshit. They want truth and have a really good sense that happiness is simple in spite of the fact that theyre being led to believe otherwise.

They are correct.

Everyones endgame is a happy life. Happiness is the main highway, and we are just trying to stay on it as much as possible without getting detoured to side streets. Unfortunately, in the how to be happy and healthy arena, I see a reality time and time again: practitioners keeping people confused and/or afraid, and by doing so, they got em hooked.

Recipe for financial success as a health/happiness guru? Make it seem like youre trying to help your clients and followers stay on the happiness highway, but in reality, overload and overwhelm them so that theyll not only be stuck on side streets, they wont have a map. And just guess to whom those clients and followers will keep coming for directions. Yep. Every time.

Perhaps this explains why many a guru flies first class.

On the other hand, keep it simple and point people in the right directionthe direction of being able to create and maintain their own happinessand they wont need you.

I much prefer this scenario.

Why I wrote the book.

I wrote this book because, from the depth of my soul, I believe the following two things:

1. If youre not happy and healthy, it may not beand probably isntbecause you dont know enough. You probably dont need to read twenty more books or sit through ten more lectures. It just may be that it is about how you are or are not using what you already know.
2. Being happy is pretty darn simple. Hard and constant work to be sure, but not that complicated. Really.

A side note about health.

Because of my background as a health/nutrition/running coach, one might see this book as being about happiness AND health. But really, it is about happiness.

However, as I see it, health is a big ol part of the happiness picture. As Ive maintained from the beginning, a healthy body and mind are integral and essential to happiness. In fact, Ill arrogantly quote myself from my first book: Caring for the mind is as important and crucial as caring for the body. In fact, one cannot be healthy without the other.

So

You will notice health sneak in here and there on these pages. Best not to think about it too much, and instead just remember this: happiness above all.

The thing is, we simply dont need another flashy diet book or slick exercise DVD. Physical health is well played-out in the world (search for six-pack abs and/or keto diet on YouTube and youll see). Instead, whats missing is a clear roadmap of how to be happy, how to live a happy life. Eating healthy food, while kickass, is only one part of that picture. Of course, diet books will keep coming because they sell better than philosophy books. However, that only makes them lucrative, not necessary or effective. I very quickly realized that every single client I had who came to me to talk about healthy eating really just wanted to be happier but was distracted by the shiny promise of a scale weight or six-pack abs. Truth is, those physical improvements and a healthy body? Mere side effects of happiness.