The Turtle Hermit Way
Dragon Ball's most important lesson
Move well
Study well
Play well
Eat well
Rest well
This is the philosophy of Master Roshi’s Turtle School, and the way he instructs Goku and Krillin to live every day.
Here’s how to use it in every day life:
Move Well
This one has to be first. If you move well, everything else in the Turtle School philosophy falls into place. You don’t even have to know the rest of the list–as long as you move well, your body will intuitively know what to do next.
We’ve all had it drilled into us that exercise is beneficial for a bunch of reasons, including that it’s your body’s natural antidepressant. That never really affected me much until I learned that exercise and movement is linked to the size of our brains.
Early man had to run and jump and hide to survive, and it makes us sharper. Animals that don’t do those things literally have smaller brains. Once a sea cucumber has settled, it eats its own brain for energy.
When you are sitting in your room and feeling depressed for no reason, think of the sea cucumber, and remember:
Movement (exercise) -> better brain
If you exercise every day–whether it’s just walking several thousand steps or a full gym routine–you’ll start feeling a lot better.
When people say exercise makes them feel worse, it’s typically an issue of conditioning. They haven’t worked out in a while, so it’s only natural they feel:
Pain in muscles and joints
Heightened fatigue from loss of stamina
Unable to focus/concentrate on the exercise
This is I think the biggest turn off for people to get back into exercise, but they just have to come to terms with it. Start slow and build up according to what feels right instead of jumping into a routine designed for an intermediate.
On that note, find a form of exercise that works for you. Fitness freaks will try to convince you that their way of exercise is the only way worth trying. Don’t give into that–experiment and find out what works for you. You have to care enough to find what works for you or you won’t last.
If you don’t care enough, start with walking every day. Sports and other similar outdoor activities are essentially just ways to exercise without the structure of a routine, so if a sport appeals to you, then try that.
Once you get moving consistently, you’ll start to hate the feeling of being too sedentary. And if you pay attention, you’ll also begin to observe your limitations and what’s holding you back from moving better in your chosen form of exercise.
Study Well
A well-conditioned body leads to a body that moves better, and a body that consistently moves well leads to improved mental health.
A healthy mind is less distracted and less stressed. The newly found mental clarity makes it easier to persue new hobbies and skill sets.
What are some things that interest you?
Cooking and culinary skills
Books and writing
New ways to exercise and improve your body
Arts and crafts
School work
Niche hobby
The list goes on. Anything you can do and get better at is valid–it doesn’t have to be something that makes money. If you want to be a great underwater basket weaver, then do that, but do it with the goal of being better than you were the day before.
Are there things you’ve wanted to try but didn’t have the courage or mental clarity to attempt? Moving well will give you confidence. Throw away your limiting beliefs and try them now.
Play Well
Many of us have no problem finding time to play. It’s also been reiterated to death that “play” and “fun” should be incorporated into all activities.
I’ll add this:
Be fully involved in your acts of play. Try not to split your attention too much, even during activities where you’d normally “shut off” your brain:
If you choose to play by watching TV, give focus to the show and the people you are watching it with
If your form of play is to read books or comics, read only that which you can become fully engrossed in
If you want to spend your play-time browsing your phone and scrolling, do only that–don’t let it become an unconscious activity that arises from boredom
Eat Well
Much can be said about “eat this, don’t eat that” and how much to eat and when. Everyone seems to know what’s best, but hardly anyone can agree.
Let “eat well” be your mission to figure that out for yourself.
Start by taking some professional advice on nutrition from whatever source you trust, experiment with it, see how it makes you feel, and adjust from there. At the very least, start learning to cook.
If you have sufficiently moved well, your body will crave high-quality nutrients. The body will ask for what it needs, but the trick is to respond with the proper answer–that’s where you would need to bolster your knowledge with info on nutrition and diet.
Rest Well
Much like nutrition, the science of “rest” is hard to pin down. There’s a lot of agreed upon truths (“You need to sleep to recover!”) but completely different perspectives on it (“Is 8 hours of sleep really necessary?”)
At the very least, use what Master Roshi has taught us to attain the most fulfilling rest:
Move well enough, study well enough, and play well enough that your body craves rest
Eat well enough that you can rest without inflammation, indigestion, hunger, or other discomforts. Insufficient nutrients and things like alcohol can inhibit your ability to sleep deeply.
And remember that rest forms the beginning of the cycle, too. Without enough rest:
Your body will not sufficiently recover, so you will not be able to move as well
It will be more difficult to focus on your studies and you may lack motivation to pursue them altogether. You will also deprive your brain its ability to process all the new information
It will be easier to give into excessive play-time since you will have less energy to move and study
You will crave calories and can give into excessive eating and consumption of substances like caffeine, sugar, etc
It’s cyclical:
Rest well so you can do everything else well, so that you can rest well.
Putting It All Together
All these things will come together naturally if you’re willing to take some time to exercise and to learn some hobbies or skills.
Again, I think the one that ties it altogether is “Move well.” If you can get yourself to do just that every day, you’ll find the motivation to do a lot more.
