Health became my hobby about 15 years ago when I read Spontaneous Healing by Andrew Weil, which was my first exposure to alternative approaches to health and healing. I became very curious and interested in all things “health.” The hallmark of a good scientist is to be open-minded and skeptical, and since then I’ve explored many different ways to create health on all levels—mind, body, and spirit.
Yesterday things swung full circle, when I was referred to a chiropractor. I was curious about his methods and, well, the consultation was complimentary. I experienced a detoxifying footbath, ionically charged water, a nutriceutical with sea algae, and saw other patients on 3 different therapeutic machines. All this before I saw the chiropractor, who turned out to be very nice.
Afterward, like a good scientist, I searched Google for information about some of these therapies and approaches, looking for good, that is, conducted with the best scientific rigor possible, evidence that any of these interventions were shown to produce positive health outcomes.
I found the opposite. No evidence, poor evidence, or evidence indicating no therapeutic value.
The gold standard of evidence might not exist because it is time, energy, labor, and financially consuming to run good quality research. Some therapies might be beneficial but no one is funding the research so evidence is scanty, inconsistent, or nonexistent. Some “therapies” are not therapeutic and can be harmful on the body, the mind, and/or the wallet.
And in the meanwhile, we are trying to live our lives and feel good, happy, in balance, or at least have our suffering removed or alleviated.
So where science is lacking, I trust my intuition. And refer to my bank account. As long as the therapy or approach seems unlikely to cause harm, sometimes exploring therapies falls under the “fun and entertainment category” not the “health category.”
Under the “health” category and after so many years of searching, I’ve settled on an approach that works very well for me. I’ve built the foundation of my health on scientifically verified principles.
- Achieve my weight loss goals
- Eat high quality nourishing tasty foods
- Integrate exercise into my life in a way that feels good
- Evolve my outlook from a fearful pessimist to a joyous optimist as I grow my spiritual practice
- Sleep well and rest well
After 15 years of searching and experimentation, these healthy behaviors seem so simple, to the point of being trite. Don’t we all “know” this? If so, why is it so hard to achieve and live? Hint: answer coming in a future blog, but as a preview…
In my experience, mental anguish had a far more negative effect on my body, my psyche, and my soul than anything I did or didn’t do. Indeed, mental anguish is what disrupted me from being able to choose and live healthy behaviors in a consistent way.
My point is: my psychology affected my biology. Creating the healthy foundation of my life required me to clear out my head stuff more than anything.
Do you have head stuff holding you back?
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