Wouldn’t it be great if we could just get up in the morning feeling great after a perfectly sound night’s sleep, and have that last all day long until we went to bed, each and everyday, throughout our entire lives?
Having perfect health from the day you’re born until the day you die is not likely. However, you can greatly improve the way you feel by doing something that not many of us are taught to do: truly get to know yourself.
Depending on the country, the culture, the religion, and the time period you were raised in, most of us were taught a self-care protocol that most likely programmed us to consciously or unconsciously understand that we are not in charge of much. The people in charge of looking after us have/had very good intentions when making decisions for us and generally take/took their jobs very seriously regarding our best interest. Yet, this care for us, pretty much across the board, is based on learned knowledge either from an educational institution or passed down from generation to generation. Intuition or personal observation is generally disregarded and seen as arrogant, ignorant, and/or immature. So we’re taught that until we have the proper credentials, the doctor knows best, your parents know best, the food, exercise, and psychological authorities of the day know best, the hairdresser knows best, celebrities know best, the clergy knows best because God knows best. Basically, any unique thoughts or personal studies of your own about your health and well-being are based on nothing, because you are no authority. You are not in control, Missy.
Unfortunately, over time, the resulting tragedy of this thinking is that most of us become out-of-control and out-of-touch with our own bodies and our own ways of perceiving the world. Because we have been taught that we are not responsible for what happens to us, we have not been taught how to take charge when needed and take stake in our own futures. When we don’t know how, or it doesn’t come naturally, we dread having to adjust our food, exercise or attitudes. It becomes a major chore and often, we just skip the chore, rationalizing that it won’t do any good anyway, and look for a little pill to cure us. We look for somebody else to fix us. We learn to blame our poor health or personalities on our aging, genetics, job, families, weather, or destiny.
Not that these factors don’t contribute to your poor health.
They are challenges that you must find a solution to, not chalk up to being out of your control. There is not much that is out of your control. You must learn to identify and adjust or problem-solve. It’s time to reclaim your power over yourself. Most religions believe that even God helps those who help themselves. I personally believe that destiny can only be blamed after you’ve considered and done everything you possibly can to treat your body and mind and spirit really well.
Only when you decide to take charge over your body and your life, to constantly observe your actions and behaviors, can transformation for the better actually occur. Only then can the above-mentioned authorities (the doctor, exercise gurus, the clergy) be of any real help to you, and only then can you be of any real help to them. Your consultations with them will produce greater results because your questions will actually have meaning and your conversations will be deeper.
If the personal and professional mentors in your life find this new-found self-interest offensive, it’s time to find some new ones. There are definitely people or programs out there that will support you in your quest for health and happiness. Keep your mind open to new thoughts and studies that could be of benefit to you. Learn what you can; read and listen, but remember, you are the final decision maker regarding you . You are the only one putting food in your mouth, exercising your body, getting to bed at a certain time, and monitoring the thoughts in your head. No one is babysitting you and no one else who is going to do this for you. You’re a big girl now and it’s up to you.
