The Forgotten Factor to Health
Recent medical studies have certainly revealed that one of the majorcontributing factor to what are known as diseases of affluence, is lifestyle,and from this the best solution to health issues is a lifestyle change. Ingeneral, the remedy is to prescribe a regime of diet and exercise added to someform of ongoing pharmaceutical treatment. Even if the person turns to naturalor alternative treatment such as homeopathy, flower essences, naturopathy orany number of other alternative treatments the answer is generally the same,somebody or something is doing something to the patient. The missing factor isself-responsibility, and that is an attitudinal change.
It is not a new idea that a person is a complex interactive packageand treatment should be holistic, treating the whole person. Bearing in mindthat not everybody acknowledges having a spiritual body, and even those that docan’t agree about what that is, everyone does agree that we have thought,emotion and physical processes. We probably all agree that when we getemotionally upset it affects our physical state, i.e. Gives us pains, tensionsor aggravates a pre-existing condition. We may also recognise the habitualthought patterns we engage in and connect to how that affects our emotionalstates.
Thus what we believe about ourselves, the state of the world andother things affects our whole system. I am not suggesting that our physicalstates don’t affect other areas, however there is an amazing difference. Thedifference is that we can do very little about the environmental conditionsthat we are exposed to. Everybody who lives near us are exposed to the sameconditions. Everybody we work with are exposed to the same conditions. Noteverybody has the same health challenges. Some people abuse their bodies foryears and never get sick, or overweight. Others only have to breathe over acream bun to add kilograms of excess. Sure we can blame it on our geneticmakeup, and very soon science will have modified that out of the genetic pool.
What I am saying is that we have relied heavily on the medicalindustry to take control over our health and remove the responsibility from us.The plan is that when we get sick we go to the doctor, the pharmacy or otherpractitioner and get something to fix it. Then we continue on, eitherrestricting our diet or working out. The physical symptoms have gone but theunderlying attitudes remain the same in many, perhaps most cases.
Once we start to recognise the causal structures in health we canstart making changes to the patterns that control our well-being. One of themajor researchers in Neuro-Linguistics (NLP) was Robert Dilts who set aboutdefining a hierarchy of change. He recognised that there was a structure tochange whereby changes made at a higher logical level changed everythingbeneath it.
The basic level is Environment - thus the first level ofchange is to leave where you are, where you are located. It is a knownphenomena that even physical illnesses disappear in spontaneous remissions in anew environment.
The next higher level is Behaviour - if you can’t or don’twant to move then change what you are doing. The best advice is stop doing whatdoesn’t work! Doing anything at all is better than continuing with aself-destructive behaviour.
Capability comes next - if you can’tchange your behaviour you need to learn some new skills. You can’t have abetter diet without someone with that knowledge showing you the way. That’s whywe seek out professional help.
Overshadowing that are your Beliefs and Values - as anexample, even if you acquire a new skill to make the changes you know you needwon’t have any affect if your underlying belief is that you don’t deserve to bewell, or you know that is a family genetic illness, or the physical experienceis suffering.
Over that is Identity, or should I say Identities -always starting with the words “I am.....” Which define the characteristics inthrough which we see, hear and experience the world. These identities are oftenrevealed by the words we commonly preface our statements. For example, inresponse to another person’s viewpoint I might start by saying, “The problem is.........” or “Its safer to.....” or “Its something I’m battling with.....”Your Identity shows the viewpoint through which you perceive life, andwhile you may change identities for the different roles you perform theviewpoint rarely shifts that much.
The final mark in the hierarchy is taken by the concept of spirit- for some people this element doesn’t register at all, or does so in somereligious form. What I mean here is that quality of purpose. This purposeoverrides any individual needs and thus operates out of high intentions such asCourage, Selflessness, Compassion, Connection and so on.
An interesting assertion is that a person can only change somethingfrom the next higher level. That is, one can change one’s location by applyinga behaviour; change a behaviour by using a capability; change a capabilityusing the belief “I can”; change a belief or value through adopting a differentidentity hat; and change the essential identity by accessing one’s AuthenticSelf. If you change an identity then everything about the life you used toexperience will change automatically. The mental, emotional and physical planeswill realign in a different pattern.
Accessing the truly Authentic Self is a lot more difficult than somepeople think. It may not be accessed by the application of an externalinfluence, a practitioner cannot push or propel another into Authenticity, youhave to be ready, willing and absolutely courageous because before that canoccur you have to see yourself. However, it is far more available to usea shift in identity to change the rest of your life. Access at the level ofidentity can be made using Hypnotic techniques, whether that is formerlyinduced or from a power level. By that I mean some people can be inducedto shift through compliance to another’s will.
If you would like more information,clarification or a chat, ring Francis on (09) 372 9082.
