Most diseases are totally preventable

Imagine you have a three year old child. Now imagine that you are very busy and concentrating on work which must be done. In the background your child says in a whining voice, “I’m hungry.” You snap, “Not now, I’m busy - go and play.” The child repeats and you turn and glare, “Shut up and go away.” The child stomps his feet and pounds on your desk. You grab him by the arm and drag him into the hallway and close the door. You go back to your work and the child sits whimpering outside the door. Exasperated, you storm into the kitchen, grab a coke and a handful of cookies, and slam them down in front of the child, “Now eat this and go to bed.”

The next morning the child won’t get out of bed and complains he is too tired. “If you are not out here by the time I count 3 you won’t get any breakfast, one, two…”

“I don’t want eggs, I just want toast.”

“A smack is what you will get if you don’t stop complaining. Now hurry up or we’ll be late.”

“I don’t want to go, I don’t feel well.”

“Alright, that’s it, go to your room. You have been naughty all week, you never listen and you never do as you are told!”

The child sobs and cries out and you wonder what’s wrong with the kid. He is so hyper, so annoying, so rebellious and just constantly demanding. You wonder if there is something seriously wrong, “Maybe he has ADHD or something. Perhaps I should talk to a psychologist about those new drugs.”

You fly into a rage and scream down on the child, “Will you shut up, just shut up and give me some peace. Can’t you see how busy I am? If you don’t shut up right now, I will put tape across your mouth!”

I am using this story as an analogy for how we treat our bodies. The child is the voice of the body. Many people don’t realize we have a dialogue with the body and that the body has its own language. Aches, pain, fatigue, headaches, muscular tension, constipation, PMS, high blood pressure, indigestion, mood swings, depression, eye strain and skin problems are just a few of the messages that the body uses to gain our attention and alert us to the fact that the body is at the point of being unable to cope. We think of these as minor conditions and like the busy mother in the analogy we usually try to shut it up, ignore it or force it to go away.

The body is saying “This is the problem and if you don’t address the cause it will become a greater problem.” We either ignore it or drug it. Pain is inconvenient. Arrogantly, we act as if we control the body. We tell the body what it needs and what we want from it. We do not take orders from the body – the body is here to serve our needs! Stop for just a moment and think about that. How often do we scream at our body-wisdom with the words, ‘Shut up.’ or ‘Not now, I’m busy.’

Our bodies really, really love us. Our body will do whatever it takes to protect us. Even with years of abuse, it just keeps modifying its priorities, and continues to cope with lack of essentials. Sometimes it has to forfeit some of its functions. Sometimes it needs to work from a reserve tank of fuel.

Minor complaints are the result of essential, but not life threatening, functions being closed down. Minor complaints are a lot more serious than a whinging child. Headaches, for example, are often a message that the body is dehydrated or blood sugar might be low. Headaches might be saying, “I’m hungry and thirsty.” We respond by ignoring the message, feeling inconvenienced or impatient and swallow a pill to stop the message. [We put tape across the mouth!]

Aches, pain and tension might be caused by lack of oxygen, lack of movement, over-acidity or poor posture. We shut it up with anti-inflammatory.

Skin complaints, constipation, flatulence or indigestion might be elimination problems. We use chemicals, antacids, laxatives etc.

Fatigue, depression and mood swings might be due to lack of sunlight or exercise. We use caffeine or anti-depressants.

With just a quick scan of our body we can see messages so clearly:

A coated tongue
Dry hair
Thin fingernails
Fat stomach
Tooth decay
Bad breath or body odour
Acne
Dry itchy skin
Bad posture
Dry or red eyes
Tinea
Haemorrhoids
Candida (Thrush)
Brain fog
Irritability
Cold sores
Allergies
Infections
Varicose veins
Dandruff

We think of these things as annoyances more than indications that the body is out of balance and in need of attention. Most of these things, we ignore or treat with medication. We rarely track down the cause and fix the real problem.

Even when we end up with:

Gall stones
Hysterectomies
Fatty liver
Arthritis
Diabetes
Cataracts
Asthma
Fibromyalgia
Urinary infections
Herpes
Diverticulitis
Ulcers
Hepatitis
STDs
Clogged arteries
Cystitis
Chronic Fatigue

Still, we won’t listen. We have it removed, treated or modified with drugs and then continue on as before. The body is screaming out to us for help and we reply with “Shut up, I’m busy, and you are so annoying.”

You might have thought that the mother in my story was cruel or abusive to her child, but what about your child – your body?

We tend to think of disease as a genetic misfortune, a bug or just an unlucky fate. A healthy body with a strong immune system will overcome just about anything. Even the very best of treatments will only assist the body – ultimately it will still be the body itself that does the healing. Too often, we look at disease as The Problem. Disease might show up at the point of, “The weakest link,” but unless the entire organism is healed, then we are only biding time before the next problem occurs. Bear in mind, that sometimes it is the treatment which actually causes the next problem. Many drugs will fix one lot of symptoms, but will be the cause of others. The same can be said of many procedures.

Most of our diseases give us many warnings and most diseases are totally preventable. If you are currently taking any medication, then stop right now and ask yourself why. You might very well be in a position to turn it all around and un-create a possible future disease. Are you really so self-absorbed, abusive, cruel or ignorant that you can’t provide:

Good nutrition
Fresh air
Clean water
Exercise
Sleep

Are you too busy to:

Love
Laugh
Play
Create
Relax

Have you forgotten the importance of:

Relationships
Affection
Silence
Pleasure
Entertainment
Community

Copyright Sonya Green 2008 www.reinventingmyself.com
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