Taking our Health into Our Own Hands

Recently, I have been thinking back about those many years of my life when I believed my health was at the mercy of luck.  I would hear that someone had gotten ill and had gone to the hospital to get a treatment that was even worse than their illness, and I would just hope the same wouldn’t happen to me.

I felt we were totally powerless if illness struck, and that there wasn’t a lot we could do. Sure, not smoke, not drink too much, not become obese will help a little bit I thought, but an illness is an illness and it hits lots of slim and fit looking people of all ages. I had even lost a schoolmate to leukemia when we were 14.

I talked about that with many people over the years, and many feel the same way I used to feel. In our Western countries, we think it’s normal to get ill… that illness is like bad weather and that there’s nothing you can do about it.

And we think it’s normal to then go to the doctor and get repaired, cut open, bad part taken out, maybe replaced, oil levels checked, cooling liquid topped up, another dozen chemicals thrown in for good measure and back on the road – or home, more likely…

An absolutely terrible experience. One that just isn’t right for human beings. We are not machines, this simply cannot be our fate. We are often so disconnected from our true nature that we don’t hear any of the messages our body and our soul are sending us. We overlook a lot of small signals and gentle warnings at first, then we overhear a few more pleas and calls until at some point they become a scream, so loud we will hear it over all the noise in, and around us.

We are energetic beings. Eastern medicine has always known that, and modern Western science is starting to back it up at last. Some of our energy manifests as matter, and that’s our bodies, and some don’t, and that’s our souls, and our energy fields. These two parts of us are as one, they influence each other very deeply. If we look after our bodies properly, our souls will be freer and better able to unfold their life purpose; and if we look after our souls and energy fields properly, they will strengthen and heal our bodies.

We all know intuitively how deeply the body and mind are related. If we think of something stressful or scary, we will feel it in our guts as well. And if we are feeling sick and we get some good news, or anything joyful enters the scene, we will immediately feel relief, even heavy symptoms can disappear instantly. Why do we, and why does Western medicine simply forget that? It’s beyond me.

This is a very common scenario that unfolds millions of times a day, every day: someone doesn’t feel great and goes to the doctor, because they don’t know what’s making them feel bad, and what they can do to feel good again. The doctor frowns and says something like hmmm, that’s not looking very good, and they feel instantly worse. The doctor then sends them to the hospital for further tests,  and they obey because that’s obviously the right thing to do. In the hospital, they put on their pajamas, go to bed, eat the ridiculous “food” they’re given, and go through all the tests. After a few days, they have become a patient, a person with no say, at the mercy of the demigods in white who will now decide over their life and death. The outcome of the story can vary greatly, they might come out walking, or sitting, or lying, but the whole procedure is unworthy of a human being, not matter if they make it out of there alive or not.

I’m talking about all those illnesses here, that could be avoided if we understood a bit better what and who we are.

I’m of course not talking about emergency medicine and all those cases of external attacks to our bodies, where our Western medicine is capable of incredible achievements.
Also, and very important, I’m not saying that all Western doctors are robots or sadists. Some of them are the most remarkable human beings,  so incredibly devoted, generous, and kind. What’s flawed, is the health care system, a huge business governed by huge industrial lobbies that want humanity sick, and addicted to the chemicals they sell. Healthy people don’t bring money. Sick people do, as long as you keep them more or less alive…

Did you know that in China up to a few centuries ago people would pay their doctor as long as they stayed healthy? If they got ill, they would stop paying, and the doctor would then have to cure them for free. Only when their health was restored, would they resume paying. Doesn’t that make a lot of sense? It does to me. The function of the doctor wasn’t to fix things when they were broken, because that’s often too late. It was to help people keep their health intact all their lives, and this was considered normal. I wish we could all go back to considering good health normal!

So, how do we maintain or restore our health?

First of all, we need to understand that the things that bother our minds are as bad as the things that bother our bodies. We can get poisoned by negative emotions and thoughts as much as by pesticides, radiation, and chemicals. Bad relationships in love, family, friendship, working environment, can cause huge amounts of stress that debilitates our bodies. Bad emotions and bad thoughts weaken our immune system. Think about it, we call that “bad vibes”. Everything in the universe is energy, so everything is vibration, everything is vibes!

Negative emotions and thoughts can also be about ourselves. Lack of self-esteem, lack of confidence, lack of self-love, lack of purpose, lack of passion… all of this can show up as anxiety, or depression, or addiction.

Fear… fear is the biggest one if you ask me. We are scared of so many things… of death primarily. Then we’re scared of illness, of loss, of failure, of hate, of loneliness, of poverty, of aggression, of shame, of confrontation… We’re scared of other people, of catastrophes, of war, of theft, of violence, of judgement… There are more fears than human beings on this planet.

All of these things will make us feel bad emotionally, and they will also cripple our immune system.

So how do we get rid of them? First of all, we need to recognise them, to acknowledge their presence. Then we have to understand where they come from, and then, deal with the issue. We might have to get something or someone toxic out of our lives, reclaim the time and mental space they were taking up. We have to slowly let go of old patterns of thought or action that might have become second nature to us, but are not doing us any good. We have to let our mental and emotional well-being become our biggest priority. We need to look for better-feeling thoughts and words, for things and people we like, for some fun, some rest, some joy, for things that interest us, that fire us up.

Second, we need to look after our bodies. We need to breathe well, to fill the bottom of our lungs properly, to breathe slowly and deeply because that tells our bodies that we’re safe and everything is alright. If our breathing is shallow and fast, it tells our bodies that we’re in danger… Many people breathe like that all the time, that’s why they’re always stressed and restless.

We need sunlight, all energy that’s found on this planet comes from the sun.

We need to drink enough water. Clear, pure water with nothing added to it, no bubbles nor sugar nor flavours, just spring water or filtered tap water at least.

We need to sleep well, with no grudge in our hearts and no electronic devices pressed against our cheeks.

We need to eat real foods, things that grow and live in nature and don’t come out of factories. We need foods that are naturally coloured, not full of artificial colourings. Foods that are naturally tasteful, not full of artificial sweeteners and flavour enhancers. Foods that are alive.

We need time to think, to just contemplate, to daydream. Time to create or just rest, time to enjoy. We need time to forgive ourselves and others. And a few minutes a day to remind ourselves that we are energy beings, that we are here for a reason, that we are good enough, and that we are where we are meant to be.

If we were able to do better we would do better… So where we are right now is perfect right now. And we will be somewhere else some other time. We’re on our way, let’s make the most of it. And let’s be grateful for it. There’s so much to be grateful for. The more grateful we are for the things we have, the more we’ll have things to be grateful for. Does that make sense to you? Some will say that’s new-age crap, some others will say it’s quantum physics… call it what you want and give it a try, it can’t do you any harm!

Health is all about balance. Balance in the body is called homeostasis, balance in the mind is called a pipe dream.

No seriously: nature has provided us with everything we need, inside and outside of ourselves. We have all the potential and all the resources, and we’re missing out greatly every time we forget that. Let’s take responsibility for our own health, let’s not put our lives into someone else’s hands, let’s ask ourselves, and not others, what we need. The answers are there, deep inside, or maybe very close to the surface. We might not want to hear them, fair enough… But I swear, they are there and they are true.