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Creative Wellness Newsletter
Newsletter - Fall 2008
In This Issue
- Make an Appointment with Your Inner Physician
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Make an Appointment with Your Inner Physician
By Christine Reay and Irene Savoyat
When pain or illness presents itself in our lives, we often look to people or things outside of us to tell us what is wrong. Yet, if something within us is not in harmony, then glancing inward and examining the possible physical and emotional causes of our imbalance may give us the correct indication of why we are experiencing that which we are. By understanding why something is occurring, we can work to change our habits and lifestyle so that they support our goals of health and wellness. Each of us has the power to tap into our Inner Physician and to take an active role in the realization of our health, but advocating for ourselves isn't always easy. Guiding ourselves in health, spirituality and wellness requires that we first learn to listen to ourselves, and more importantly that we begin to trust ourselves.
Learning to listen to ourselves is the first step to becoming one's own Inner Physician. When our body communicates with us, paying attention to what it is telling us is important. When something is not quite right, our energy, our body, and our intuition convey to us that somewhere there is an imbalance. By ignoring this communication we are treating our bodies as something not worthy of our attention. Sometimes, we try to compensate for not feeling right by embracing something or someone that fills us in another capacity. We may overeat, overdrink or indulge in an unsatisfactory personal relationship. In this way we are seeking to replace our physiological disharmony with something which provides a false feeling of wholeness or euphoria. If we bully our body, forcing it to ingest things which are against it; or bully our mind, forcing ourselves to overwork or participate in an unfulfilling lifestyle, we are being abusive to ourselves.
Listening to other people is important too; however, doing so is not the same as letting someone else make decisions for you. Sometimes we are misled in our efforts to heal ourselves, either through denial or misunderstanding. When a person feels pain, they are aware where the discomfort is felt. When we communicate this information to our physician, we can work in partnership with them. A competent medical physician may know that the pain is resulting instead from stress or imbalance in a seemingly unrelated area of the body or psyche. We don't have to ostracize our body from our mind or spirit, nor alternative medicine from traditional western. These modalities can serve as complementary forms of healing.
According to renowned integrative medicine advocate and forerunner Andrew Weil, M.D., "The best diagnosticians are all highly trained observers who also have learned to rely on their intuition. They may use laboratory data to supplement their observations and may think they are proceeding scientifically, but, really, they are masters of the ancient art of intuitive diagnosis."
Trusting ourselves is empowering. Being brave in our conviction is not always easy, but learning to recognize our Inner Physician and accepting its guidance will in time become natural. The more it is done, the more experienced we become.
A quality life is important to our health and well-being. Often, it begins with what we put into ourselves, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Educating ourselves and actively participating in the concern and care for our health is essential. While we may not be able to do it all alone, there are things we each can absolutely do. With our Inner Physician as a guide, we can trust ourselves to seek out a path of healing compatible to our needs. Only when we pay attention to our health needs, can we then bless our community and in turn the world with the radiance of our energy.