Why Self-Reliance and Mind-Body Wellness Matter
By Rev. Michael Gadway
Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food – Hippocrates
The Growing Shift Away from Traditional Healthcare Solutions Towards Holistic Health
There is a reformation of thought rising from the discontent created by the current health-care model. We no longer believe there is a pill to cure us: a “magic bullet” waiting to solve all that ails us. This shift has led many to explore holistic health as a way to reclaim control over our well-being. Slowly, inevitably, the realization that we must take back our right to choose the kind of health-care we participate in is pervading our culture. If we wait for others to change the system, we will never experience the divine expression of God that is waiting to burst forth from within us.
Why Personal Responsibility Is the Foundation of True Health
Each of us must become Self-reliant. It is our duty to be our own care givers. No one can do for us what we must do for ourselves. To begin this transformation of awareness about our health, the first step is to discontinue the mistaken belief there is a God or a Doctor or anyone outside ourselves that will step into our lives and restore us to health. There is no external force, no power, no being, good or evil, that causes our problems or solves them. We and we alone are the creators of our current perceived states. If we choose to wait for an external authority to save us and we never take the steps required towards Self-reliance, we are fated to stagnation and all that is ours will be denied us.
How Self-Awareness Shapes Health, Happiness, and Inner Peace
If “the kingdom of heaven lies within us,” so too does the kingdom of hell. Heaven and hell, joy and despair, health and disease, are states of awareness. Our perceptions of experiences are solely dependent on choice. The more aware of this truth we are, the more unrestricted we become to express authentically. All we need is waiting silently in the deep stillness within us. To be Self-aware, Self-Reliant and therefore content, healthy, and prosperous should be the goal of us all. In achieving this, we achieve ideal health.
Why Chronic Illness Requires More Than Prescription Medication
The existing medical model is failing in most ways. However, contrary to popular belief, neither the insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical doctors, nor the AMA are to blame. They have succeeded in making our emergency care system and our surgery protocols some of the best in the world. The responsibility for the failure of healthcare rests squarely on our own shoulders. We have for too long expected others to take care of us. We have delegated the responsibility of our health care, and we are now paying the price. For many decades, we have gone to medical doctors with problems caused by chronic poor behaviors and expected them to cure us with a pill. Humanity is discovering that there are no sometime side-effects with synthetic medications; instead, there are always effects. All synthetic medications have negative consequences and it is a matter of weighing the need against those consequences. It is the individual’s responsibility to understand the actions of each consumed drug, and the negative effects it produces.
The Connection Between Mind, Body, Spirit, and Overall Wellness
The notion that an event happens in the body in isolation is obsolete. We know what influences one metabolic system also influences another or several others, and those medications, synthetic or natural, always affect the organism as a whole. We know our emotions play a dynamic role in our health. Stress, diet and lifestyle must all be taken into consideration when addressing health concerns. Our spiritual life should nurture and support us as the keystone of our existence. We are complex and integrated systems whose health must be approached from an undivided perspective. Our bodies are unable to reconcile duplicity. The level of integration between spirit, mind and body is always reflected in our clarity and health or lack thereof.
Why Holistic Healing Is Essential for Long-Term Health
It is not possible to cure a chronic health care disorder with a pill! There is no substitute for holistic care. Spirit, mind, body medicine is no longer the alternative; it is the imperative. We are fast learning that the current model of chronic health care will disappoint, frustrate, and often worsen the conditions we have created by long-term poor health choices.
Reclaiming Accountability for Your Physical and Mental Well-Being
The current era requires us to take back responsibility for how we think, feel, and act. To restore personal accountability is vital to our well-being. The individual, and only the individual, not the doctors or the government or our relatives, is the designer of his or her health care model. Health-brick by health-brick, we build the bodies and minds in which we live. In order for unrestricted expression of the Soul, the mental and physical temples we live in and express through must be clean and well cared for.
Self-Determination and Holistic Living: The Path to Lasting Health and Purpose
Chronic medical problems require a shift from an external locus of authority to an internal one. When we give up Self-determinism and allow an outside source to dictate the healthcare actions we take, we suffer.
Taking care of our minds and bodies allows God, expressing as the Soul, to create living art. Each life can be a work of art, a thing of beauty, a thing which lifts up all who see it: a perfect example of God’s eternal sculpture.
