Our attitude about pain and symptoms of a diseased body
Let’s talk about our attitude regarding pain. The moment my stomach aches, my first thought is how to get rid of it as soon as possible. I question God, “Why me?” and why did you have to give me such horrible pain right before my end semester exams as if the stress of the exams wasn’t enough for me. At that time, I hate my body for making life more difficult for me and for making me feel powerless about my own body.
Throughout the day, I try to control every action of mine which is the way I take responsibility for myself and it kills me that I can’t have control over my own body. How do I take more control over my body so that it functions in a way that assists my overall growth? Am I really free if I can’t be in a lift because I am claustrophobic? Am I really free if I can’t eat at most of the restaurants in town because I am allergic to wheat? Am I really free if I have to keep lying on my bed for the first two days of my period because of unbearable pain?
Our body is a miracle. Our heart pumps blood, intestines digest food and the thyroid gland manufactures thyroid hormone daily without us knowing the mechanisms behind all these complex processes. I am fascinated by how a woman can be unaware of a child being born in her own body for the initial one to two months and the body is taking care of it all by herself. We possess so much wisdom inside our bodies yet we question it when it gives us pain and suffering. We don’t realize that there must be a reason that our wise body which was taking care of itself so brilliantly has all of a sudden decided to give us pain. So, instead of trying our best to suppress pain, maybe we should try to understand it. Pain must be a signal for us to pay attention to our bodies which requires nutritious food, proper sleep, a stress-free environment, fresh air, and emotional well-being to function properly.
Not just pain every symptom is a way by which the body tries to cure us. For example, through vomiting, the body gets rid of toxins and most people don’t try to suppress vomiting just because it looks disgusting and smells horrible. They understand the mechanism behind vomiting and hence can tolerate the foul smell of vomit much easily. They are not ashamed of it since they have been told that it’s a natural process by which the body eliminates toxins and hence don’t suppress it by any medication.
On the other hand, take the example of acne. Acne doesn’t look good on the face much like the way vomit doesn’t smell good. But we have been told to treat it differently. We have been told to be ashamed of it and to try to hide it as much as possible. So, we use creams to suppress it which have harmful side-effects as they are going the opposite way the body wants to go and since we know that our body knows better, we must understand that such creams are very harmful to our bodies. In acne’s case, we feel that our body has gone insane that it’s causing such awful looking protrusions on our face. We don’t think that it must be a way the body is trying to cure us like the way vomit cures the body by helping it get rid of toxins.
But vomiting stops in a couple of days whereas acne if left untreated doesn’t cure on its own. It may make us feel like a victim but may be so that we focus on it. If a symptom like acne is chronic, doesn’t it mean that it is as much a part of us as our worldview is? We know that all of us live in a box created by our thoughts of how we perceive the world and maybe that disease is a result of living inside that box. For example, if I am extremely controlling then I must be exercising the same amount of control on my neck and shoulders as I do over my surroundings, so the shoulder and neck pain that I have is a consequence of my mind feeling the need to control everything. So, my neck and shoulder pain is a signal that my body is suffocating inside the box in which I currently am. It is an invitation for me to see the limitations and difficulties associated with the box and thus decide if I want to keep on suffering by remaining inside the box or ending the suffering by breaking that box. Disease points us to our weaknesses and invites us to overcome them so that we can live in a bigger and better box.
But the question remains, is there a way to speed up the transition? The answer is in the affirmative. Natural forms of cure like homeopathy, yoga, acupuncture, herbal and ayurvedic medicines complement the natural healing wisdom of our bodies and bring about a cure faster. But the reason most people fail in getting treated by natural medicines is that they don’t understand the way these medicines work and also because they don’t trust the wisdom of their bodies. They want results that are contrary to how the natural process of healing works. They are also impatient. Also, they take allopathic medications(which are the most popular form of medicine currently) which instead of curing a disease suppress it and go against the natural process of healing.
All of us realize that suppressing emotions is harmful to our health yet we don’t realize the harm allopathic medicines can do to us, whose mechanism is to suppress symptoms of a diseased body.
When a disease like acne on the face is suppressed, the disturbance which existed in the body and which was brought to the surface by our body in the form of acne instead of being cured is pushed back inside the body as a result of which, this disturbance acts on the internal organs like stomach, liver, and lungs and causes further disease. It was the body’s wisdom that it wanted the disturbance to be on the surface where the person is least affected by it rather than let this disturbance affect any internal organ whose proper functioning is required for a person to live normally. Another extremely important reason is that most people eat unhealthy food daily and never exercise. Natural medicines don’t work or aren’t very effective if a person continues consuming alcohol, smoking, and eating unhealthy food. Yoga, meditation, exercise, fewer environmental toxins, and stress will further help the body in reclaiming its lost reactivity and allow natural medicines to work.
Now, it’s up to you. You decide whether you want to get rid of that annoying pain or understand pain, see how it’s an invitation for you to get rid of that box and facilitate your body to bring about a cure faster through the use of natural medicines.
