It sure seems crowded around here. Perhaps I feel this because I am quickly approaching my first full year as an urban dweller. But it is more than the close proximity I share with everyone in Boston, it is the overwhelming feeling of my own life crowding in on me. I imagine that others can relate to this feeling. We have work time crowding into our personal time. We have commercials crowding out our television viewing. Pop up adds crowd our web pages. I could go on and on. But what is significant as far as our health is concerned is the manner in which this crowding creates a chronic, maybe undetectable, claustrophobia that produces a formidable stress opposing our pursuits to grow and lead a healthy life.
Information rushes towards us daily, bulldozing through, minimizing our ability to absorb and process this wealth of stimulation. What is important? What is valid? Should I eat more protein? Should I eat more carbs? Organic or not organic? Vitamin E is good, or not so good? It all becomes overwhelming. Unfortunately, an all too often response to feeling overwhelmed, is to try and avoid the situation, to take no action at all. But this is no escape. Too many of us recognize that our health would benefit from a change, yet take no steps to make it happen. I think our fear from our past failures crowds the possibility of success. This is born of an all or nothing mentality. When the recognition comes that even the slightest change or shift in health can be beneficial, we can evaluate or efforts moment by moment instead of by an end result.
So first, take a step to the side and begin again. Create the space in your life to allow healing to happen. This is crucial. As a Naturopathic physician I worry that patients come to see me hoping that I can somehow heal their ills. This is a belief with roots in the conventional medical system, that somehow the "all knowing" doctor has the answer. This dynamic continues to erode at the conventional medical system right before our eyes. Fortunately, I can remind myself to step aside and create some space for the patient. Then their healing can begin.
Showing posts with label Growing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Growing. Show all posts
Monday, March 19, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
The Path...
We go hiking, not to reach the end of the trail, but to enjoy the views, the challenge, the fresh air. It is not about the destination. The path is the key. Life and hence health is the same.
Life is a journey. Relationships are journeys.
Health is a journey. Health is a relationship.
Health springs forth from the relationships we nurture within ourselves. We cultivate relationships with our families, our friends, our food, our physique, our emotions, our spiritual practice, our addictions, our dreams, our diagnosis, and so much more. The challenge we will face over and over again is the stagnation that permeates our being when any of these relationships begin to become uncomfortable.
The quick solution is to do nothing. We may deceive ourselves into believing it is an attempt to embrace the stagnation. But this is merely a false acceptance. It is false because true acceptance acknowledges the discomfort for what it is... a hurdle along life's journey. Health is about our relationships, but it must be a continuous journey. If we are stagnant, we are dying. But if we are moving, we are growing. The growth itself so often is uncomfortable and challenging. We must face it all the same. We substantiate ourselves, our lives, our health, our worth through the courage displayed as we embody this challenge. This is inevitable. These events replay in various ways throughout our lives.
We always have the ability to continue to grow, to heal, to remain on the path, even right up to the moment of our last breath on this earth. It is not and should not always be easy, but our ability is always enough. We must remember that we always possess this ability, especially in the moments when it is easiest to forget. Health corresponds not to our life lived symptom free, but to our life experienced as we heal through the moments of dis-ease.
There are boundless directions in which we may pursue health. No one modality monoplizes the ultimate path. Most important is that we choose and perservere on a path that is right for us.
Happy Hiking
Life is a journey. Relationships are journeys.
Health is a journey. Health is a relationship.
Health springs forth from the relationships we nurture within ourselves. We cultivate relationships with our families, our friends, our food, our physique, our emotions, our spiritual practice, our addictions, our dreams, our diagnosis, and so much more. The challenge we will face over and over again is the stagnation that permeates our being when any of these relationships begin to become uncomfortable.
The quick solution is to do nothing. We may deceive ourselves into believing it is an attempt to embrace the stagnation. But this is merely a false acceptance. It is false because true acceptance acknowledges the discomfort for what it is... a hurdle along life's journey. Health is about our relationships, but it must be a continuous journey. If we are stagnant, we are dying. But if we are moving, we are growing. The growth itself so often is uncomfortable and challenging. We must face it all the same. We substantiate ourselves, our lives, our health, our worth through the courage displayed as we embody this challenge. This is inevitable. These events replay in various ways throughout our lives.
We always have the ability to continue to grow, to heal, to remain on the path, even right up to the moment of our last breath on this earth. It is not and should not always be easy, but our ability is always enough. We must remember that we always possess this ability, especially in the moments when it is easiest to forget. Health corresponds not to our life lived symptom free, but to our life experienced as we heal through the moments of dis-ease.
There are boundless directions in which we may pursue health. No one modality monoplizes the ultimate path. Most important is that we choose and perservere on a path that is right for us.
Happy Hiking
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