Love this topic because people always tend to overthink solutions to healthcare problems. Having struggled with six different chronic or life-threatening conditions in the last 35-years, all successfully, I might add, I have some expertise on this subject.
In the beginning, when I first developed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 1981, I was a dutiful patient following every one of my doctor’s orders. I listened and believed him when he told me this was a chronic condition and although there was no cure, conventional medicine would address all of my symptoms with pharmaceuticals; he was right . What I didn’t realize is that with a chronic condition, a person stays on those medicines until the day they die. The drugs given for most chronic issues are also very toxic evident by the list of side effects that are rattled off at the end of every one of their television commercials. Anyway, in my case, my RA really didn’t improve, over the first 18-months, my meds just got stronger.
To shorten a long story, by the time my rheumatologist was ready to write the prescription for Methotrexate, a drug much too toxic for my taste, my body froze. I couldn’t say anything or do anything, so I didn’t’ and ended up walking away from conventional medicine. It just didn’t feel like I was on the right path. Did I know what I was going to do? Heck no, but I knew it wasn’t that. That was also the first time I realized my body had an opinion and could give me a signal.
As I wandered out into the completely foreign world of natural and alternative medicine, I was lost and I recognized it. So, I just took it a day at a time, not searching or frantic for answers but simply trying to get my bearings. Then, answers began to appear. I tried them all. Those that worked, I kept and those that my body rejected, I stopped. Nothing was a total cure, but one maybe helped 10%, another 20% and so on. Within a couple years I was 100% free of symptoms. I realized total healing was cumulative and progressive. My body was the judge and jury in this entire process, and I listened to what it had to say. If things worked, it was obvious – if they didn’t that was obvious, too. None of this was an intellectual process.
That became my approach to my healing challenges over the next three decades and it worked every time since I recovered from the rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia (twice), hyperthyroidism, psoriasis, chronic allergies and even neutropenia – a condition that weakens the immune system until it has no capability to fight off anything (a very serious condition) – all without pharmaceuticals or conventional medical intervention.
When people asked what I had done to recover, I'd give an explanation - depending upon the condition. Their reactions varied. Some tried to emulate me but went about it the wrong way. They’d dive into research and the world of alternative options is simply overwhelming – still they tried to control the process and figure everything out. They used their brain instead of their gut.
Others judged my path and second guessed everything I tried - especially those that were foreign to them. I’d hear comments like:
“Are you sure? That person isn’t even an MD?” or “Oh, I don’t know, Sandy, I heard a friend say that didn’t work for her.” Or, “Are you serious?”
Granted some of my methods might have seemed way out there, but these people had no room to judge. While my body was responding like crazy and getting better – they were still popping pills and staying the same or declining. I trusted how I was led, what my body had to say and found that I was being directed to many other options, not just scientific medicine – which has only been around 250 years. Granted, conventional medicine is great for some things, but not everything. And besides, we have a tendency to overuse it. Using my gut made more sense.
So, let’s take a look at the gut. Have you ever wondered where the phrase “gut reaction” came from? Fact is, the gut has millions of nerve cells, giving it almost a mind of its own. Although all the body’s signals come from the brain, the nerve cells in the gut do play a part in not only your emotion but your intuition. Many in Eastern medicine honor the signals from and function from it. It's physical form says a lot, too. Notice how the configuration of the intestines and the configuration of brain matter, look pretty similar? Some believe the knowledge that second brain might be more powerful.
Here are a couple examples: when you get a knot in your stomach, feel anxious in the center of your body, get a gnawing feeling or even a queasy one – it’s your gut telling you something important. Sometimes those signals stop us cold, sometimes they drain us of energy – and then there is one that is sort of a “knowing” Is that our body talking to us or our intuition? Are they even separate?
Intuition is under-rated and intellectual gifts are overrated – when it comes to healing issues anyway. I’m living proof of that. Without a single guru leading me, I had only my intuition and my body and I was led to a host of smart practitioners of all sorts who came and went in my life, bringing valuable information and insight. I let my intuition guide me.
I’ll bet when you think of some of the most important decisions in your life, they were always intuitively made – on some level they involved emotions, feelings, senses and gut – not always logical but always perfect! The house or car you picked, the mate you selected, the way you responded to your new baby or the care with which you nurtured someone who was near passing. Rarely intellectual and almost always intuitively led.
So, if you want to improve your health and the likelihood of total healing – trust your intuition more and your intellect less. Let others figure all the time-comsuming research and analysis,the intellectual stuff - then you can simply sit back, listen, pause for a moment and then nod yes or no. An empowering and much more effective way to stay healthy.
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