Healthy Spirit
DON’T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE! I spoke with Father Joe from St Matthews this am and he gave very good insight to my dilemma! How do I get my patients, friends and community to manifest health and longevity (and avoid early disability/death?). Wearing a collar gives him wisdom and obviously he is biased toward what he believes the most. BUT….he also is thriving in his golden years and inspires our community share, love, support and pray. He specifically advised me to not “pressure sell” my patients/clients on one religion but inspire them with living healthy….BEING THE CHANGE!…and when those that are ready for change start to ask questions….that would be the time to share my journey and beliefs as inspiration to lead a balanced life.
When working for large hospital corporations, the facade is they are anchored in some form of faith BUT the practice of medicine inside the halls of healing is SO ENTRENCHED IN PROFIT. Making money for the system, promoting the elements of healthcare that get the highest reimbursement, manipulating reviews and social presence to attract unsuspecting patients to their team of “better” specialists. I don’t have a problem with a business turning a profit but when newly graduated neophyte docs get massive paychecks while salty/experienced guys like me go month to month to just pay for malpractice….something is wrong.
Everyone remembers “Let Food Be Thy Medicine” from the great philosopher Hippocrates. Do people know that the first line in the oath is “Do No Harm”. Yet with the speed of an average healers visit, you are give a specific prescription for a common complaint without using old school medicine of figuring out what the patient in the room is actually suffering from…my computer IT folks and engineers know this as ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS. Don’t just weld a cracked bridge frame where it is weak, fix the reason for the weakness! Unfortunately learning how a person thinks and reverse engineering their journey to the present moment takes time.
Since the advent of the microwave, everyone is leaning on “time saving” devices, techniques, and fixes. Ancient wisdom (like Father Joe provided me with today) says you cannot fool mother nature.
-If you starve yourself to lose weight, the body just adapts to the decreased calories and makes you fat.
-If you take steroids to get big, your liver will kick back at you and throw a cancer at you
-If you take anxiety medicine but refuse counseling to change your way of thought, the anxiety builds and relationships fall
-If you have no spiritual practice, your durability with maintaining lifestyle change will be short.
If you look at Dan Beuttners The Blue Zones, all 5 of the earths societies that live the longest while maintaining independence are entrenched in whole foods, constant activity, a sense of belonging and some FORM OF SPIRITUAL PRACTICE!!! The food type and activity engagement will vary from continent to continent and from decade to decade of age BUT one thing that is pervasive for any Blue Zoner no matter what language, age or education level is having a belief system. Most religions are organized methods of practicing spirituality. It used to be that old towns would have a chapel or temple as the highest point in the town so wanderer would have line of sight to seek worship/healing. in the 60’s, the priest would be the person to go to if you had no money, food or shelter. Now the tallest building it usually the biggest industry, the church doors are locked for fear of vandalism and religion is not allowed in our national anthem. “One Nation Under God" doesn’t exist and disease is rampant.
This is not a causal relationship but only an anecdote from a quiet old fashion doctor that believes in letting patients speak the truth. I find that myself and my oldest long lived patients have a common practice that that is deploying some form of spirituality. For me knowing that Jesus went through hours of torture and death to pay for the sins of others….makes me think my little hunger or pain or difficulty with “making it” is tiny ripple in the ocean of suffering.
For what I see and feel with all patients going through struggle, the strongest warrior I have are ALWAYS anchored in some form of spiritual practice. You dont have to join a religion to manifest spirituality but without any practice at all, your chances for maintaining the arduous process of living healthy while being oversaturated with hyper-palatable foods, cool gadets to improve power, injections to get you skinny while eating shit food….are going to be futile and short lived.
God save us all!
