Is my chi flowing? Are my meridians open? Are my chakras balanced? Are my joints fluid? Is my weight normal? Is my hair lustrous? Are my gums pink? Do I feel well?

From the big picture of how our bodies function to the most minute emotional and physical details of our lives, it seems to me from my perch as Beliefnet’s Health & Healing editor that no matter how we ask it, we’re all sidled up to the same central question:

Am I healthy?

As if there is such a thing as pure health. I eat chocolate every single day. Is that healthy? What if it’s 60% cacao dark chocolate? I take water aerobics twice a week with a group of kind, funny friends. Is that healthy? Even if the pool, at my town’s Boys & Girls Club, is seriously over-treated with chlorine? I’m pretty connected to and aware of my body. Is that healthy? Even if I have to squelch the urge to run online to investigate every little symptom I might observe?

The answer to “Am I healthy?” is never a simple “yes” or “no.” But we need the idea of the ideal, don’t we? We need the promise of something called “pure health” to measure our lives against as we shepherd our myriad daily choices onto what we hope is the best possible path for our bodies, minds, and spirits. I know I do.

And I know that this blog is a place where we can shepherd together. What we eat, how we eat, why we eat. How we move, when we move, and with whom. How we prevent illness and pain, and how we cope when those things find their way in. Where we find peace, release, comfort, goodness. This blog is an invitation to dive into all of those topics and more (organic gardening, acupuncture, massage, herbs, tea, the relationship between conventional and alternative medicine, etc. etc.).

Beliefnet is a big place, and, together with my colleague and friend Valerie Reiss, I’ll highlight all the wonderful healing, holistic features that we produce on a daily basis. I’ll bring you tidbits from the holistic healing world that you might not have seen. I’ll share my own attempts to live a life of joy and health.

So, am I healthy? Are you? Let’s find out together.