I want to emphasise that health care and healing are NOT about severe, restrictive, often brutal and harmful, draconian ‘one size fits all’ dictates. It is about compassion, flexibility and an in depth understanding of the complexities and nuances of the human condition and the myriad factors that impinge upon health and wellbeing. And, it is maybe particularly about respecting the individual as ultimately being THEIR OWN AUTHORITY.
Health is NOT a product of fear – quite the opposite. For those who think they can stay ‘safe’ by utilising extreme, fear-based measures indefinitely, are doing to their bodies, and their psyches, the absolute opposite of what they believe they are.
FEAR controls but it does not protect or keep us healthy, mind or body, in the long run. It can be a powerful motivator in the short term but it is just not consistent with health, and certainly not wellbeing, in the long term. It cannot be as the energies are disparate.
RESILIENT, robust health is equated to fully embracing life, and its inherent risks - not in a foolhardy way - but in a flexible, realistic way and moving towards what makes us healthy (mind, body and spirit) rather than fear-fuelled avoidance. Sadly, the later has been encouraged and largely adopted by the majority and people are being applauded for doing so.
Paradoxically, part of the risk of a full, healthy life is that we are going to get ill sometimes. Are we not allowed any illness or to take any risk in life anymore? Have we become that precious? Is it a crime to sneeze?
We also need to be reminded that illness is not always the enemy to be fought but very often the tough-love teacher. And, if illness is going to happen it will find a way - if not this virus, it will be another one, if not this variant, it will be next one. We just cannot eliminate them all.
'Better to wear shoes than cover the world in leather.'
External agents and procedures can certainly help but, ultimately, healing is an inside job. The real job is to work on our internal milieu - mind, body and spirit, not just block out or 'eradicate' the perceived enemy, which is actually based on a complete misconception.
True healing is working on the outside-in, but more so, on the inside-out.
Dr Catherine Fyans is a holistic medical practitioner/conscious health facilitator and the author of The Wounding of Health Care: From Fragmentation to Integration