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Health! Whose responsibility,
Yours or Theirs?
What
turns a person into a patient?
Have
a think about it.
Is
it a choice that turns a person into a patient? The choice
to hand over power for one's own health to someone else. The
handing over of power seems mutually beneficial. It maintains
the doctor's status, it means the doctor's customer can abdicate
responsibility for healing.
I'd
like you to play with this thought for a moment. When you
visit a doctor you are a customer rather than a patient.
How
does that feel? What do customers do? They go into a shop,
have a look round, if they need some advice they ask for it
and an expert, or someone who thinks they're an expert, happily
gives it. If the salesman is experienced the customer will
probably make a purchase. If the salesman is ethical then
the customer will be pleased with the purchase and feel they
have received value for money. But if they are ignored, or
made to wait an unreasonable amount of time, or treated rudely,
the customer simply takes their business elsewhere.
What
do patents do? They arrive five minutes before the agreed
appointment time. They go into the reception. They give their
name. They are told to sit in the waiting room. Anything from
20 minutes to two hours later they hear their name called.
They try as best they can to describe the problem they want
taken away. They are given a piece of paper, which they then
have to take to a pharmacy to exchange for drugs, and that's
the end of it. The whole process generally lasts less than
5 minutes. If/when the drugs don't produce the desired effect
the whole process is gone through again. This is all endured
stoically, or stressfully, by the patient who feels powerless
to bring about the outcome they desire.
And
what exactly is this outcome?
The
desired outcome is healing. The desired outcome is freedom
from the pain, freedom from the discomfort, freedom from the
stress, unhappiness or anxiety; freedom from concern that
this is something life threatening.
Although
the last time I visited a doctor was around 5 years ago, in
my life I've spent many, many hours in doctor's and hospital
waiting rooms. In all that time I have never once heard a
doctor mention the word 'healing'. I've heard about symptoms
and diagnoses; I've taken the latest wonder drug on several
occasions filled with hope that this was the miracle I've
been waiting for only to have that hope dashed as the miracle
made me feel worse than I already did.
The
miracle that I'd been waiting for was the realisation that
I was responsible for my own health and well-being. Only when
this happened did I start to heal.
Now I need to make myself clear. Being responsible for your
own health does not mean doing your own surgery. It does not
mean, selecting the drugs you think you need and buying them
from an internet pharmacy. Doctors have valuable knowledge.
When I broke my wrist I was very grateful for the knowledge
and skills they used to assist my healing. I used their x-ray
machines to find out what the damage was. I used their plaster
to support my wrist. I used their skills and knowledge and
listened to their advice on exercise. But I didn't use their
drugs for the pain. I used my own mind to deal with that.
And having made that choice the pain was never intolerable
and was a useful feedback mechanism to let me know if I was
pushing my wrist too fast.
Being
responsible for your own health means:
1. Acknowledging there is a physical or psychological
problem that you'd like to change.
2. Getting advice from several expert sources, such
as… Doctors,Other health practitioners like… Herbalists,
Nutritionists, Psychotherapists, Hypnotherapists, Counsellors,Healers,
Chiropractors, Past-life regressionists... or Books and
of course the internet.
3. Making a choice
Making
a choice means going with what feels best to you, and trusting
your decision despite pressure from vested interests to follow
their particular healing system. I know people who when they
have a problem are quite happy to have surgery as soon as
possible to get it sorted. I know others who are happy to
live with the problem while they explore mind-oriented techniques
to see if they can find the emotional cause and release it,
thereby healing the problem.
You
can even make a different choice every time. There are no
rules here, other than to go with what feels right or comfortable
to you. Doctors and hospitals are brilliant in emergency situations,
but if it isn't an emergency then you probably have some time
to consider options. The moment you open your mind up to a
different approach to healing you will find that the information
you need comes to you in an almost magical way. Coincidences
are an indication that you are making the right choices for
you.
A
selection of self-help books about healing are available on
this web site. I particularly recommend The Journey by Brandon
Bays.
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