Is Self Love, the be all end all, panacea solution to Wellness?

Since we’ve begun this journey, several people have told me that the ONE book to read, is Love, Medicine and Miracles by Bernie Siegel, MD.   It usually takes me a while to come around, but I am now a Bernie Siegel Groupy.  This guy has spent a career in conventional medicine as a surgeon, cutting out cancerous tumors and this book is about lessons learned about healing from his “exceptional patients”. He documents the science behind love, faith and healing and psychosocial aspects that are prerequisites to healing.  He does what physicians used to do a century ago, which is to understand the whole patient, the psychological, social and emotional aspects of their lives.  He has learned to understand that dis-ease is often the bodies natural way to communicate with the ego self,  “Hey BUDDY, wake up!  This stress is too much for you!    or…..NOOOOO, please don’t pour that again down your throat again!  Or maybe, “Gee, does this occupation, this relationship, this place really serve you best?  Hey BUD, you may think you are surviving but are you THRIVING?“

Which is exactly why I think we have this all wrong.  Why are we calling those who have met the five year mark in Cancer treatment, Survivors?  We should be celebrating the wake up call and self healing that has occurred with a self proclaimed “I am a THRIVER!”

We have pain for a reason, chronic stomach aches means we are putting something there that shouldn’t be there.  My chronic back pain is a symptom, a message to me that I simply have not been able to let go. It is directly tied to the emotional and physical stress that I keep dumping into my physical body.  When I fail to have the self love and self discipline to meditate and to do my yoga, my mind, my body and my soul suffer. 

Then why is it that we do not give this to ourselves?  Why do women and men feel that we need to carry the world’s problems on our shoulders?  Many of us were brought up in families where “self sacrifice” is applauded. We need to understand that Self Love is not vain, it is imperative to our very own survival.

Here are some direct quotes from Dr. Siegel’s book:

“ One of the things I have learned is that I haven’t discovered anything new about survival behavior. The message is an age-old one and can be found in the words of the prophets of the past and those struggling to survive today’s difficulties, from exceptional patients to members of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Marines. Science and medicine certainly have confirmed through recent research the personality profile and psychology associated with survival behavior and how they affect the body’s chemistry and healing ability.”

“information about healing and surviving has been handed down to us for thousands of years by all the great prophets and spiritual leaders.  What I have learned is that their message is similar to my own. When one finds a common theme in the writing of those who are healers, one knows there is truth in them.”

“Healing is hard work, as is any change one must make in one’s life. …..Yes, cancer can kill and we tend to think of side effects as problems, but there are good side effects too.  An awareness of one’s mortality can lead you to wake up and live an authentic, meaningful life. I can read you an article entitled “Thank God I Have Cancer.” The “Thank God” is for the time the cancer gave the author to learn about the beauty, kindness and love that are here for us to share.  These side effects also produce a longer life as their byproduct.”

Additionally, Bernie writes:

“The issue is not about living forever and testing God, but utilizing all of the physical and emotional forces available for healing.  The mind and body are not separate units, but one integrated system.  How we act and what we think, eat, and feel are all related to our health.  Physicians should be capable of teaching this behavior to patients.  I spend more time teaching now than ever, and my most grateful patients are the ones who thank me for teaching them how to deal with all of life’s difficulties, not just the physical ones.”

…. “Physicians need to be good technicians and know how to prescribe, but for healing to occur they also need to incorporate philosophy and spirituality into their treatment.  We need to feel as well as think.  ….we need a mutual investment society–the patient and the doctors investing in each other.”

And as I wrote in my previous blog about mindfulness, the exceptional patient must take an active and mindful role in healing which I believe may be why alternative treatments work so well on patients whom conventional medicines have failed. This is why I titled this blog, Healing from Within, because I am convinced that there is no other way to go.  This is why Dana must be and is an Exceptional Patient. When we are active in our role of Self Care, we are Mindful of what we are thinking, eating, and feeling.  We are acting out of self love and able to produce a health and wellness that can also inspire a healthier healing society.  This has been the same message I’ve received this last year from the yoga sutras and transcendental meditation as well as having to go through my own work with my own amazing coach in my integrative nutrition program.  This is the power of movies such as Forks over Knives and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  We must first heal ourselves before we can heal our families, our community and our planet.  Self Love indeed must come first.