What is Your Perception of Health?
Photo by Kaylee Garrett on Unsplash
So, when did health become about being sick, instead of being healthy? As a society, it is amazing how we have been conditioned about going to doctors, taking medicine, and how we see ourselves and others in terms of health. The definition of health in Webster’s dictionary is “The condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially freedom from physical disease or pain.” Wow, if that is the case, how many truly healthy people do you know? It seems that everyone has some sort of illness in their body and/or mind and that most are taking a variety of prescription and over the counter medications. How is that considered healthy?
This is a hard concept to break free from. We are so conditioned by our language, the media, and society that we must go to the doctor; we must “take something to get better”. Every time we take a pill, we are telling our bodies to Shut Up. This only works for so long; our bodies will rebel at some point. If you keep burying the messages, at some point you will have to stop and deal with it, typically with a horrid diagnosis.
We are so disconnected from our bodies that we are not really paying attention when they try to speak to us. Instead, many people cover it up with medication. One of my Naturopath friends mentioned that one of the MD’s she works with recommends people take at least one prescribed drug for every 10 years of age. OMG!!! That is truly sad. That is a lot of messages from the body being covered up.
Pharmaceutical companies spend billions on advertising drugs in this country (not every country is like this). Then we see reports of how much anti-biotics are being over-prescribed. Of course, oxycontin is another good example. People feel sick, so they go to the doctor (since their insurance pays for it) and they insist that the doctor prescribe something for them. On some level, they might be aware that this pill is to reverse all their previous “bad” actions (for example, bad food, not sleeping, being overworked). But popping a pill is so easy, taking time for yourself to uncover what really is going on is not something that is considered worth our time.
When did all this start? How did we go downhill so fast and let our power be taken away as individuals? Allopathic medicine has been around for less than 200 years. And since that time the negative programming of our population, is astounding. Sadly, there are not well-known avenues of health education and natural support, covered by insurance, to show people other options that work before turning to medication with side effects. All medications have side effects, that is why they are called drugs and you must have a prescription.
In addition to the pharmaceutical companies and the medical community — the media and television programs are good at making us feel powerless and programmed to fall into what is now considered the “norm”. Before mainstream medicine, people suffered and buried their pain, or died. Most people didn’t know back then about tools to help them get better from the inside out, healing not only their illness but the underlying emotions, generational programming, and negative energy patterns that held them back from optimum health. Today there are a plethora of tools available, but unfortunately, they are still not mainstream, not typically taught in schools or even offered as an option when someone is sick.
Getting deprogrammed from this concept is difficult even for me. I remember when I was sick many years ago, and I got over many illnesses with natural food, supplements, and emotional work. Then several years later I broke my foot and then got a bone spur. I fell right back into the helpless mode and had surgery on my foot to remove the bone spurs. I felt empowered in that I chose not to go under anesthesia, they gave me local anesthesia in my foot, (yes it hurt) and I didn’t take any painkillers afterward as it healed quickly with supplements I was taking. However, after I had it done, I called my herbalist and she said, “Why did you have surgery when you could have dissolved the bone spurs with supplements?” It shocked me back awake and I was appalled that I fell into this old pattern of being powerless to fix this. From my previous medical knowledge, I assumed that this was an issue that could only be fixed with surgery. I was wrong. For me, this is not something I want to happen again. Personally, I now do what I can to explore all options available to me before choosing what action would be best for each issue.
I am not knocking allopathic medicine. It has its place, time, and purpose. But I have found it is often overkill for many issues. One of my friends commented the other day when we were chatting, “I wish allopathic and naturopathic would just get over it and get married already.” Funny, but true. Doctors give drugs as that is what they are trained to do. Natural practitioners offer natural alternatives.
The solution is that people are best served when they can see all these options with the pros/cons of each before making the best choice for themselves.
We are not aspirin or drug deficient, so why then do we take all these drugs? And why do we give all our personal health power to the doctor and place them in a “God-like” position? Now don’t get me wrong — I think if a drug is actually helping someone solve a problem, then great. However, so many of my clients tell me they have the drugs from the doctors, but they are not taking them because they don’t work. And in addition, they are so over abused now; they become such a crutch in peoples’ lives preventing them from getting to the real core of their health issue and most likely preventing them from reaching optimum health. And there are a lot of great doctors out there, but it is not a standard practice to empower the client. The whole medical model isn’t set up in the interest of the client. Personal responsibility is at the core of most of this of course. People expect to be fit, without exercising and healthy without eating well.
You may not be aware that drugs you take affect your health and everyone around you also. In Stephen Harrod Buhner’s book The Lost Language of Plants, he talks about “how we are polluting our environment with the pharmaceuticals that Western medicine has developed to heal us. We are ingesting Prozac, Premarin, and antibiotics whether we want to or not.” His book looks at the deep ecological interactions of plant chemicals as one specific language of plant communication and how the drugs are now affecting this communication.
Often, I am asked, “should I Never use allopathic medicine?” And the answer of course is NO. For example, I had a friend that went sky diving and broke her back. Once she was at the hospital, she called me to see if she should take the pain killers. YES, take the pain killers! That is what they are for, later we can work on neutralizing them out of your system. She had an L1 burst fracture which the neurosurgeon said he had never seen anyone not paralyzed from that. The doctor and nurse both told her she would never walk again. However, she recovered in record time with energy healings, proper nutrition, exercise, focused mindset and appropriate supplements to help heal her body.
Supplements
Many clients I see take way too many supplements. Just like medicines, supplements can be abused and wasted. Use the medicine as a tool. Use supplements also as a tool. Do not take too much, or too little, find out what your body needs via blood work, hair analysis, muscle testing, or whatever other modality you prefer to find where your body is deficient. Take the proper amount for your body at that time, and then when the deficiency is met, you can take less and then eventually stop taking the items. Take what your body needs when it needs it.
If you have a house plant and it was sick, you might take it to a plant doctor and find out what is deficient in the soil to help it. Once you know what you need to put in the soil, the plant gets better, once the deficiency is met, your plant can now thrive. You do not want to give too much to the plant, or too little. Give just the right amount, and once the deficiency is met, you no longer need to give it to the plant. Think of taking supplements, foods, and medication in the same way. Taking too much or for too long does not fix anything, is wasting the product, and could be causing other issues. That is why a prescription has an amount you should take.
I encourage you to learn all the options available to you for your specific issues. Learn the pros/cons of each. Then you can feel good and know you made the right choices for your health. You are the one that must live with the results.
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About the Author
Kasara is educated as a Mental Health Therapist, Master Herbalist, Traditional Naturopath and Energy Worker with over 35 years of helping thousands of clients find alternative health options that work. She writes articles on Medium, and on her website http://truhealth.com/. You may subscribe to her Medium account or her newsletter to stay connected.