The Parallels Between Freedom and Health

How our attitudes towards both freedom and health may be holding us back.

Our attitudes towards health and freedom may be holding us back.

This July 4 marked the 235th birthday of the United States!

Happy (belated now) Birthday, America! You know how passionate I am about wellness, so to celebrate Independence Day, let's explore the parallels between freedom and

holistic health!

Before you gather with family and friends, que up the barbecue and the fireworks, and prepare to spend the holiday doing as you please, take a moment to ask: what does this day mean to you?

Our feelings about may be strong and varied based on personal experiences.

For some of us, this day brings deep feelings of patriotism and pride. Perhaps we have family who gave their youth to defending our freedom. Perhaps we ourselves have. Or maybe someone we loved gave everything.

For others, this day may serve as a reminder at the immense distance we still need to go before perfect freedom is achieved- in our country and in our world. We chafe at the imperfections riddling the system we find ourselves a part of.

Injustice should bother good-hearted humans.

Both views are right, of course, in their own ways. The injustices of any system, no matter how small, should bother good-hearted humans. At the same time, gratitude for any justice carried out, victory won, and freedom given should be celebrated.

Both views, however, also carry an inherent danger. Those always finding fault with the system won't enjoy being a part of it at all after a time. Conversely, those who are too proud of the system to examine its flaws won't be able to help bring in positive changes.

I can't help but see the parallels between our varying views of patriotism and the approaches to health I see in my practice. You can't see them? Well please, allow me to explain.

On one hand, many people focus on yesteryear. They used to play soccer but tore their knee and stopped playing. In fact, they don't exercise at all anymore. They're "just getting old", and since they once were healthy and spry, can't imagine why they aren't any more. They can't see the changes that are so obviously presenting themselves by way of chronic stress, pain, and dysfunction. They've accepted that things are as good as they can ever get, and no amount of effort on their part would be worth trying to make a change.

I encourage these friends to take a second look at their health. Most physical ailments or dysfunctions (and yes, even the process of aging!) can be reduced or managed, if not fully healed. This is a deep, patient process that takes time and bravery to undertake. We don't like digging into the painful parts of ourselves, either physically or mentally...and spoiler alert- they're connected.

Don't become resigned or resentful over poor health...instead, learn to work with your body!

On the other hand, some people are so focused on achieving physical perfection, or even lifestyle perfection, that they can't appreciate what health they already DO have. They succumb to shame about their body- how it looks, how it performs. They hate their body for betraying them by getting sick. They pour condemnation on themselves for not trying harder, not doing better, and not being more.

I urge these friends to see their body in a different light: precious, capable of being hurt or getting tired, and more intuitive and wise than they're aware of. Illness and pain is the body's way of telling us that something is amiss. An ignored body will make its message clear one way or another. Becoming angry at your body will not intimidate it, or deter it from communicating its message that something is wrong. You cannot out-yell your body. Listening to it might save you a lot of time. And pain.

Healthy habits can help us reintegrate our minds and bodies.

In reality, then, both of these groups of friends represent two sides of the same coin: Both out of touch with their bodies, but desperately in need of reconnection. Massage therapy, and other forms of healthy touch, as well as healthy mental habits like journalling, counselling, or mentorship can help us reintegrate our minds and bodies.

We occupy a strange middle ground of incompleteness. We can never reach perfect wholeness, but we can work each day to become more authentic and grounded, and a little more whole each day. And that goes for ourselves physically, and us as a nation.

~Alanna