This isn’t another piece about taking care of yourself and practicing self-compassion. Those are certainly cornerstones, with nuances, how we resist them and the winding journey of this aspect of our relationship with ourselves.
Health is definitely influenced by how we treat ourselves, it’s part and parcel of personal wellness.
There’s one way in which we don’t consider health. As adults living in the modern world we’re expected to pay bills, keep driver’s license current, show up to meetings on time, be a good neighbor, and generally follow courteous and responsible norms.
These are all personal responsibilities. So is one’s health!
We don’t seem to view health through this lens somehow. “It’s going around,” we say, “everyone’s sick…”
Healing is a personal responsibility. If we don’t heal our stuff, we abuse others with it, project it onto the people and world around us… Unhealed stuff poisons relationships, families and communities. Each individual has the responsibility to recognize what they need to heal…
— Pamir Kiciman, The Way of Healing
Healing is another level altogether. Here physical health is being addressed. Of course it’s never just one aspect of our being; it’s always all aspects, but that’s for another time.
Back to physical health. Think about the person in your social or work environment who gets serious bronchitis once or twice a year. Or is hospitalized briefly with pneumonia a little too frequently. Or it’s laryngitis, or the cold/flu lingers too long.
Again and again.
There certainly are measures such a person can take, simple ones. The only requirement is a little personal growth (!) and commitment to personal wellness.
Commitment is huge. If there’s no commitment, there can be no lasting wellness graph.
On the other hand, if there isn’t a shift in awareness and enough personal growth to recognize one’s nonoptimal habits and patterns, then commitment isn’t even in reach.
It’s important to realize that healing involves the recipient, that it’s participatory and flowers from within. The recipient must be present and engaged for healing to take place.
— Pamir Kiciman, The Nature of the Healing Process
Similarly, seriously look at your life, your daily routines (and it’s the daily stuff that matters here), familiar pitfalls, repeating patterns and see where simple wellness habits and solutions can be instituted.
We’re not talking about wine at the end of the day! That’s fine of course, but it becomes a coping habit if there are no other wellness habits in place.
Most cases of a pattern of immune system compromise has roots in work-life balance or lack thereof.
Work-life balance is a bit of a myth. It’s not like there’s a standard golden ratio and examples of people applying it perfectly. There are some basics. It’s also fairly unique to the individual.
We have to feel and find our own balance between the major areas of our life.
All of us falter in this regard. We go through periods where balance is out of the window. Then there’s a reset, a correction and new space opens up.
One thing is certain: Whenever there are chronic conditions or acute symptoms that show up regularly, it’s a sure sign that feedback from certain parts of you, aren’t being received by the part of you that implements change.
This can also present as general dissatisfaction, irritation, exhaustion, depression, suffering (mental/emotional), and physical pain.
Regrettably, for some the reset doesn’t seem to happen. When imbalance itself becomes chronic is spells disaster and recovery becomes more and more distant.
Everyone has loved ones they’re in service to, job commitments, personal hobbies and/or aims, desires, perhaps some community participation and of course friends. In other words, a bunch of relationships.
In each of these situations one’s full-bodied presence and energy are needed. It can become too much at times, no doubt. On the other hand, managing the distribution of inner resources and committing to simple balance steps is crucial.
Complaining about overwhelm while having next to no wellness plan is fraught with denial, disempowerment, blame, compounded upset and fewer chances of an alternative; a fresh frame, a window to a new vision for oneself.
Compromised health is disruptive. We’re not talking about major illness here. It’s the seasonal or periodic steep decline in health each year that’s the issue. It disrupts all that you want to do for your loved ones. It disrupts your best intentions.
Many times we keep working or making the sacrifice whatever it may be, instead of drawing a line for personal wellness. It’s for the sake of this or that we reason, it’s for the sake of this person or that. And that may very well be true.
What’s also true, is that compromised health is a major reason, why you can’t fulfill what you want to lovingly fulfill for him, her or them, for this, that and the next thing.
There your loved ones who you want to care for and love. There are also others you’re in relationship to who are counting on you.
You also have your own ideals and aspirations, ongoing projects and accomplishments that are important to you.
When health disrupts, the repercussions fan out. Everything halts.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
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Authentic Japanese Reiki Master Teacher / Healer at my Oasis Reiki Dojo – Available globally. Meditation, Healing, and Spirituality training and services. Meditation Guide. Intuitive Coach. Spirituality Writer. Photographer. Poet. Artist. Dad. Plant-based.