a state of physical, mental and social well being, and not merely the absence of sickness and disease.
Webster's states:
the state of being hale (meaning sound; entire; healthy; robust; not impaired), sound, or whole, in body, mind, or soul; especially, the state of being free from physical disease or pain.
What would you describe health as? Take a moment to answer that question for yourself.
Well, let me share some thoughts about health and these definitions. I would definitely totally agree with the statement that health is, or should be, the wholeness of mind, body and spirit. That would mean that we are literally connected to our being, and have congruent thoughts and actions. Let me explain what I mean...
When we have wholeness of mind, body and spirit we allow the actual expression of health to occur as we have allowed ourselves to be fully "connected" once again. Connected meaning to allow our bodies to express themselves, rather than suppressing their expression. When we choose to suppress thoughts, feelings and sensations, we quite literally disconnect from that portion of ourselves, whether it be physically, mentally or spiritually. Take for instance physical pain, no doubt not the most comfortable or enjoyable experiences, yet very powerful and meaningful. Our body utilizes pain as a means of communication. Pain says, "stop, take note and make some change." This form of communication is quite apparent in the work of Dr. Paul Brand, a world renowned orthopedic surgeon who studied leprosy and lived amongst lepers in southwest India. In his book, "The Gift of Pain," Dr. Brand began to study the deformations in the hands and feet of lepers that inevitably ended up with amputation. He noted on many occasions while living amongst the lepers their what seemed to be total lack of disregard for their hands and feet. He reaccounts seeing a young man digging with a shovel, with extreme effort, and upon closer inspection he saw that this young man had blood profusely pouring from his hands. Amazed, Dr. Brand stopped the man and pointed out the blood only to have the young man state the he had no idea, or sensation, of the pain and the bloodied mess. It turned out that there was an old rusted up nail protruding from the shovel right at the level of the young mans hands. The nail had penetrated the mans hands, over and over again until he was left with a bloodied and ground up hand. On another occasion Brand watched as a young boy ran after a vehicle, only to twist his ankle in a horrible manner and continue running on the twisted ankle. The twist had left the boys ankle in such a position that he actually was left running on the outside of his foot, with no flinching or idea of it. The last experience Brand noted was of a leper who reached into a scalding charcoal fire to pick up a potato which someone else had dropped into the fire!
What Dr. Brand came to realize from these surreal experiences was that leprosy had affected the nervous system leaving the individual with the inability to sense pain, and on a side note the loss of limbs was due to the infections that thrived, and not to leprosy eating away the flesh as had been previously believed. At this realization, Dr. Brand began to have a new understanding for pain, and realized that it was an absolute gift to be able to experience pain as it kept us from further harm.
So what does all this mean?
Well, if we go back to the beginning and look at the definitions provided, both state that health is the absence of sickness, disease (deviation from normal function with resultant signs and symptoms) and pain. How much farther from the truth could those definitions be?
To say that pain is a sign of a loss of health is preposterous, knowing what we do now about pain and the powerful form of communication that it is. Now we can see that pain really is the body saying "STOP doing that, remember this , and make some changes so we won't have to go through this again!"
With this new understanding of one of the body's major signals, hopefully next time you hear your body's cry, you won't reach to the medicine cabinet to silence that voice, but rather STOP, take inventory of your actions (or inaction's) that have you got you to that point, and take action to make changes so you won't have to "relearn" that lesson.
So again, what is health? If pain is really a "positive" response from the body, then how can we say that to be painless is to be healthy. Some serious consideration needs to be taken with our current accepted notions and definitions of health, if we are serious about understanding what exactly it is that we all crave, and what it is that the markets attempt to sell us...
To Be Continued....
