Last night I got to meet Jerry Stiller, who definitely resides on my list of all-time favorites.

We only met for a few minutes -- enough time to talk about the show we just saw, where we’re living now and how things are going.  What struck me about meeting him was how many times he kept saying, "Just stay healthy."  It was all I could think about as I walked away -- and into this morning as I woke up.

"Just stay healthy."  As if to say that no matter how much fame and fortune you amass, no matter how much your life is a dream come true, when you lose your health ... everything slips between your fingers.  And coming from Frank Costanza, that resonated with me.

When you have arthritis, you can appreciate the subtle upward and downward ticks that life takes, whether it’s on a morning when you wake up in worse pain than when you went to sleep, or after chaperoning a 6 year-old Gymboree birthday party.

"Just stay healthy" is officially the best -- albeit hardest -- advice I’ve ever gotten.

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I'm not sure where all of the motivation has come from, but I have worked out (at the gym no less) the past four days in a row. That's like unprecedented. Especially since I didn't work out during the entire month of November.

Hey, life happens.

November came and went, there was a lot of mass consumption of food, some family thrown in there and unfortunately, no time for the gym.

Until this week that is.

Perhaps it's the looming holidays, or the stress or the reality that my belt just earned an additional hole (the least scientific way to measure, but the most depressing way to determine weight), but I have a bee-in-my-bonnet (as they say) to work out, sweat my tush off and get back into shape. This body looks like it's ready to be donated to science fiction.

There's a fine line between superstitious and ludicrous. I like to think I fall squarely in the latter category, especially when it comes to my health. When I feel good I don't like to talk about it. When I feel crummy, I don't like to think about it. I know a lot of people who are very superstitious about their health -- especially when it comes to seeing doctors and taking medicine. It's as though they cut everything off, cold turkey, when things are going their way. Probably a pretty stupid idea, but I don't fault the psychological positioning of it.

It all became clear after a friend told me about a book she just finished, "The Secret," which is all about imagining something with the right concentration -- which ultimately makes it (whatever "it" may be) materialize.

I took away from this the fact that I've been doing just that for a long time, as it relates to my health. I imagine myself healthier than I really am all the time. Whether it's choosing to take the stairs (which I ultimately regret by the third flight) or attempting to open a screw-top beer bottle, I channel my health and try like heck to make it happen. So far -- knock-on-wood -- it's working.

It's like the old saying:  "mind over matter ... but if you don't mind, it doesn't matter."