“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
~Aristotle
This isn’t a political post. It’s a post directed at you and me, the individual, who makes up our place and culture. We have a lot of power in our hands and we should use it.
It’s always been clear to me that a holistic approach to all things in life is a good idea. After all, holistic simply refers to an emphasis on the whole and the interconnectedness of all the parts. It has nothing to do with shunning modern medicine or being a vegan.
When it comes to health, holistic just means that there should be an awareness on the whole. So in the case of a person in terms of being a patient, it means that their emotional and mental state matters as much as their physical state. It’s all connected and everything has the potential to affect everything else in the body, mind, and spirit.
Is a cheap and effective treatment somehow less than an expensive and equally effective treatment?
Our modern healthcare system seems to think so. There are hundreds of equally effective, safe, inexpensive treatments for ailments out there but our system almost always defaults on the high tech, risky, and extremely expensive ones instead. In the end, we’re bankrupt and unable to sustain any health.
So I think now, more than ever, do we need to recognize that grandma new a few things about preventative health and natural remedies and combine that knowledge with the fantastic information we have today. It’s about integrating allopathic and alternative medicine for the best possible outcome for the patient. It’s Integrative Medicine and we should have never been so cocky as to rely only on expensive drugs while forgetting all the simple tools for prevention.
I know it’s hard to learn about something that isn’t interesting. I’m lucky in a sense because I love reading about this stuff but I know it’s not that way for everyone and I respect that. But, I would say that it’s imperative that we all not only research on the presidential candidates as part of our good citizen job requirements but that we also learn more about health and wellness.
I don’t mean anything fancy or intricate, I mean, watch a few documentaries, learn about our food and health system. The first step to better health is an increased awareness about how we live. And think of how important good health is for a country. Part of our duty as citizens is to do what each of us can to ensure good health for ourselves and our children.
This is all important to you because if you don’t feel well, good luck on reaching your hopes and dreams. Feeling less than great or feeling ill really puts a damper on one’s plans. And since life is generally challenging enough, we don’t need to add health-related obstacles into the mix.
I think much of our problems in this area stem from our culture and the way we tend to follow what is mainstream, feel a bit nervous about straying from the norm, and fail to question authority and common knowledge. Common knowledge isn’t necessarily accurate knowledge. And questioning isn’t harmful, it’s just investigating, double checking, being sure that something is the right way to go.
So I guess what I’m saying here is that I hope our state of affairs will inspire us all to take some time to educate ourselves about how people have stayed healthy over the years. How did people manage before modern medicine? Why do some cultures have much better health than ours? What can we adjust in order to save ourselves and our kids? Health-wise, our ship is sinking. But rather than despair, we just need to be the spirited, proactive people we are, before it’s too late.
I grew up wanting to be a doctor, totally impressed by what they do. I didn’t know how much power I had as one simple person. Once I educated myself a little and safely adjusted my lifestyle, I was blown away by how cheaply and simply I could heal my body and stay healthy. If most of us could manage something like this, we’d all have a lot more health, happiness, and money in our pockets and then a lot more resources and attention to give those with more serious health issues.
And isn’t that what we all want?
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