I believe that medicine’s potential is much more than the version we see in the world today. A doctor should be an educator with the goal of bringing patients to a place of deeper understanding of who they are in the world. To me, medicine is ultimately about self-empowerment through self-knowledge and growth.
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In this week’s edition we have:
I’m doing well, thanks. Connecting with my roots to help prepare for the future.
I am excited with the work we are doing and the new offerings we are preparing. I remain optimistic and am confident that this is the Pandemic’s final act. I also know we are destined to face other crises whether it be shortage in raw materials and even food, or climate disasters. I’m not holding my breath for anything. I’m building a home in the chaos.
Show me an obstacle, and I’ll show you a stepping stone. It may just be the optimist in me, but hear me out.The key to changing an obstacle into a stepping stone is to embrace growth as a central part of your philosophy.
Integrating the adversity (remaining whole) as opposed to eliminating or avoiding your problems does not always come naturally. But it’s a powerful tool. To do it we have to seek out the tools or skillsthat weren’t there before that will make the system more sophisticated and resilient.
It’s not about removing obstacles but transforming them for the good. Nothing is inherently negative. Nothing. Everything has at least a silver lining. Many great people make the realization that without their most dire challenges they would never have awoken to their potential.
Often an illness makes us listen to ourselves more. It helps us find where we are out of balance and create good habits with sleep, diet, rest. It invites a cleanse.
There are two Archetypal steps:
Remember these helpful pointers:
Take an actual example from a biodynamic farm which illustrates this perfectly.
The cover crop in the orchard was good grazing for the animals on the farm. The manure aided the cover cop in restoring the soil. It became quite rich and the gophers moved in uninvited. They thrived. There were so many gophers that they injured the tree roots in the orchard and many of the trees died.
What’s your move? A standard practice might be to knock back the gopher population with poison. This is an option that strives for maintaining the status quo, but the cost to maintain the old way is toxifying. Nothing good, nothing new is attained. There is no growth. Its the same farm as before just with residual poison.
Now freeze right there because this is a metaphor for your health. My friends, you are the farm.
So taking our steps: Face the problem, acknowledge it as a noble challenge that needs your creative attention. Figure out how to grow the whole system. We have to realize that the gophers do bring some benefits to the farm and to the soil. All their digging aerates the soil which is important for it.
We could poison the gophers and aerate with machines…
Or we can grow the farm and get it back into balance. The biodynamic farmer sees the whole farm as an organism and does not use poison. The farmer in this example puts up several barn owl houses on the property. Barn owls eat gophers. Pretty soon the barn owl population grows and the farm is brought into balance with the addition of a new natural element. The aerated soil thrives. Poisons are rejected. Trees are replanted and do well in the new balance.
The gopher problem is not a problem of the gophers. Gopher infestation is a sign of a missing element in the ecosystem. It is a signal something is out of balance. It is an invitation to find what is needed, to learn how to expand the system.
We all have our individual challenges, and if we could see the whole system at work, as if from a mountain top, we would never settle for status quo.
Here’s to your growing, diverse ecosystem!
