You might be asking yourself, “How can I better integrate this way of thinking into my life so that my own healing is working optimally?
First, it requires a real shift in your way of thinking. That shift is this:
Being healthy doesn’t mean I will never get sick.
The body flexes its healing muscles by overcoming illness. If you never exercise, you can never get stronger, and our body’s immunity works the same way. It needs to encounter bacteria and viruses in order to learn how to adapt to them and keep us healthy. Getting a cold, and letting the cold develop, without trying to cut it off with supplements or Sudafed is one of the best ways to improve your innate healing power.
Fever is another example of a curative symptom we often suppress because we are afraid it is a sign of severe illness. A high fever can be a sign of a dangerous situation, but, mostly, that is not the case. Letting a fever run can shorten the time you are sick by several days (knowing when to treat a fever is the key, see my blog Fever Phobia for more on that topic.)
+ Symptoms Are Curative
Now, we understand that the body is always trying to heal itself. “Symptoms” of disease are often just cries for help from your own biology. Cold symptoms are usually a sign for the need to rest, or as a sign that the body has an imbalance it is trying to deal with. The way it deals with this is by producing a runny nose, a slight cough, maybe a headache or flu-like symptoms.
The healthiest people are those who get a strong set of symptoms, get over it in a day or two, and don’t suffer any long lingering symptoms. This is when the innate healing capability exhibits its best work.
+ The Symptoms Are Not The Disease
The symptoms are the body’s way of restoring order. Treatments that try to control or eliminate symptoms are actually suppressing the body’s ability to heal itself, and to build and strengthen its defensive systems. As a result, new, and often, more serious symptoms can develop because the underlying disorder has not been addressed.
Using hydrocortisone cream to treat skin eruptions is a perfect example of the suppression of symptoms resulting in a worse state. I have seen so many children and adults with an increased severity of eczema after years and years of cortisone cream. The body is desperately trying to express itself, and will continue to do so by finding another part of the body to exhibit it’s disturbance if the skin is continually suppressed.
In my own practice, I continually see my patient’s health greatly increase when they let their bodies do the healing–not drugs. The human organism has a marvelously efficient way to fight disease—if we only let it!
Here are my suggestions to improve your self-healing ability:
- Let yourself be sick every now and then.
- Don’t take suppressive medications as a first line of defense; save them for when you REALLY need them.
- Recognize that being sick is part of life and enjoy it! Read, lie in bed, and give yourself that time for YOU to refuel.
- Recognize that when you are ill enough, your body is not going to recover on its own and seek treatment. Alternative holistic treatments have their place, as does traditional western medicine; know when to use each one to the best advantage of your health.
As a final word about health and homeopathy, the best way to ensure your self-healing mechanism is working optimally is to keep your constitutional remedy up to date. Don’t let more than 6-8 months go by without checking in with me, your body will be so grateful.