Five years ago, PURIST took flight. I set out on a mission: to share what I was learning in the health and wellness space with a larger audience other than the one occupying my home. As wellness is defined as the act of practicing healthy habits daily to find balance physically and mentally, its primary pillars are social connectedness, mindfulness, nutrition, sleep and exercise. Forgive me, but don’t we all want to employ those principles with greater ease? The only way to do that is through gaining knowledge and, again, repetitive practice of good habits. This is the premise of PURIST.
As science would have it, all those pillars conspire to reduce accelerated aging. Yes, that’s a thing—aging faster than nature because of lack of attention to maintenance of the body, brain, gut, skin, teeth. It’s as simple as that.
I’ve discovered some valuable pillars along the way that have slowed down time (after all, don’t we all want more of it?). Moderation—simplifying life can be fulfilling and rewarding. One more is to pause. As my sixth grader, Carolina, learned at school in a pamphlet on how to meditate that quoted Sai Baba of Shirdi, an Indian spiritual master: “Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?”
My favorite tenet is freedom. Viktor Frankl, the father of logotherapy (which stresses the importance of meaning in one’s life) writes in Man’s Search for Meaning, life is a quest for meaning, through three possible sources: in work doing something significant, in love caring for another person, and in courage during difficult times. He writes that we have freedom to choose how we respond to a situation. One cannot control what happens in life, but one can always control what one will feel and do about what happens. Your liberation lies in your choices.
Gratitude is a tall pillar—gratitude for this opportunity to learn and share the wisdom of great journalists, doctors, scientists and wellness purveyors in these pages. PURIST is a community empowered by knowledge and healthy practices to create the ultimate meaningful lifestyle. We have proudly created communities in the Hamptons, New York City, Aspen, Los Angeles, Malibu, Miami, Palm Beach and beyond. Thank you to our cover subjects—like Oprah Winfrey, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow—who share what wellness means to them in our five-year look-back feature in this, our 30th issue of PURIST. I am grateful to them for expanding this booming industry and giving us thought-provoking content. And to my talented teammates who have been here from the start—Helen Cleland, Ray Rogers, Andrea Greeven Douzet, Ben Margherita, Jim Servin, Shawn Lowe, Caryn Whitman, Michèle Filon, Mikio Sakai, Dr. Frank Lipman, Tapp Francke Ingolia, Eden Williams, Cheryl Foerster, Fernanda Niven, Amely Greeven and my family, soul survivors and thrivers—thank you.
Also, in this issue, the great Hearst editor Pamela Fiori memorializes her late husband and love of her life, Colt, in a Joan Didion-style intimate portrait on becoming a widow—a reminder that empathy, dedication, grace, and finding love and joy in life are the things to value most.
One final tenet: humility. When we are witnessing something magnificent, something inspirational, we are connecting to the world around us in a meaningful way. In this issue, we offer up a humbling reminder of this in a piece on the late, awe-inspiring GOAT fighter Muhammad Ali, on the anniversary of his passing, penned by film director Michael Mailer. As it turns out, Dr. Samantha Boardman writes in her newsletter, awe-inspired people are less self-absorbed, more patient and most importantly, kinder.
To kindness,
