The most common complaint I hear from patients regarding their medical doctor is that no matter how many complaints they may have, if their lab tests are normal, the doctor does nothing. We know that something is wrong when we feel bad. That is the whole point to bad feelings – to tell us that something is wrong. Usually it is not that the doctor is unsympathetic. It is simply that he either does not know what to do or that what is wrong is not bad enough to warrant using something as dangerous as the drugs or invasive procedures to try to fix the problem. Medicine is a big problem – big solution system. It is there to save your life if you are in a life-threatening situation. Medicine was never designed to provide health, only to avert death and disability. Personally I am glad that they are there to do that. But if I am looking for health I look in different directions. I don’t wait until death or disabilities are at my door. I take health-promoting actions.
Our body is extremely sensitive to tiny imbalances and acts to correct or compensate immediately. If you are extremely aware, you can feel your body making many of these tiny adjustments. Unfortunately we are trained from birth in this culture to ignore our body signals. They are not convenient. It begins with being told not to cry and continues with liberal doses of the powerful dissociative drug, sugar. If that does not work then a whole army of psychoactive drugs and pain killers is offered to us to get us to shut up until the lab tests get bad enough to initiate action. Is it any wonder that we accept the doctor telling us nothing is wrong when we feel bad? It is just one more parent telling us not to be a crybaby. By the time we are adults we have to be on the verge of death before we notice our body telling us something is wrong. This does not promote health.
Staying healthy is inconvenient. Staying healthy requires both work and sacrifice. Most people ignore the gradual decline in their health until the ill health becomes more inconvenient than doing something about it. Even then they will simply seek out more powerful ways to block the body signals of ill health rather than do the work and make the sacrifices necessary to rebuild their health. Even in my own life it is a constant battle between my head agendas and my health needs. Do I go to the gym or write this article for the newsletter this morning? Oops, the article won. Or yesterday at the State Fair – do I eat the free ice cream that is being given away knowing there are healthier choices (I ate the ice cream)? What about my son’s birthday party later this afternoon – barbecue ribs and potato salad? Choices.
Life happens. We have to live life fully to become complete as people. Social needs and work needs will get in the way of our health needs. That is just the way it is. How do we compensate for this reality to keep ourselves as healthy as possible for as long as possible? We do things that specifically support our health. We have a health action plan.
If our lifestyle produces unbalanced muscle tension, we get our spine and joints adjusted and our muscles massaged regularly. If our diet is atrocious we take digestive enzymes and probiotics to support our gut, and vitamins and other nutrients to compensate for what we are missing in our diet. If we eat too much we go on diets and cleanses to bring our physiology back into line. We are too stressed at home and work so we get regular emotional support and guidance. We sit around too much so we do special exercises to maintain our muscle tone and coordination. Our brain is on overload with too much stuff so we use energetic medicine and spiritual disciplines to rebalance and re-center us. The fuller our life is with our head agendas, the more compensatory and supportive activities we have to include in our life to be able to keep going strong.
For myself that means getting adjusted every week, a massage every couple weeks, daily vitamins, digestive aids, and specialty nutrients, regular spiritual exercises as well as physical exercise, monthly cleanses, and regular attention on my emotional learning processes. Since I don’t make the best decisions all the time for my perfect health, I do a lot of health building actions to compensate. Aging only increases the need for regular health supporting activities.
How often do you need health action? One measure is how many medications and feeling dissociative drugs are you on? This includes painkillers, sugar, alcohol, tobacco, anything that changes how you feel. The more you have to use things to feel ok, the greater your need for supportive action. In my view, everyone needs a good body tune-up/adjustment every month or two. Everyone needs some fundamental nutritional support based on his or her specific needs. Most people need digestive support and cleansing, and everyone needs regular exercise. Are you taking care of yourself?