Nearly all of us have experienced death or disease in our lives. People we love fall ill unexplainably, it seems. We are left pondering, searching for meaning. Even though we often try and run from it, we know that all of life in its physicality has an expiration date. We all know that eventually our time will come, or we will be forced to bury someone that we love. So what is the point of health? You could walk outside tomorrow and be hit by a bus. Whether you treated your body with love has no effect on the fact that you are due for an untimely and unexpected death…
This attitude is one that carries weight for a lot of people. It gives an excuse for partaking in activities that can be detrimental to health and the soul. The reality is that our bodies are incredible things. They can take a beating, even if the beating is self-induced. They can adapt, they can heal. Something that may kill one person instantly could see another person well into their elderly years. There have even been stories of people surviving after falling out of a plane with a malfunctioning parachute! There are some who are born with weaknesses they never even knew of. There are children that suffer years of surgery and treatment for a condition that came down to bad luck. Our bodies are even able to come through sessions of radiation for goodness sake. Our only certainly is death, so why do we care so much about prolonging life?
I believe that the answer is different for every individual. Often we can spend decades discovering what life means to us. For me, it is a miraculous, wonderful event. The joys, sorrows, wonders and sufferings that we all endure are a part of the tapestry that we lovingly, or hatefully, weave. I also believe that a life spent nurturing love is much more peaceful than a life spent fuelling hate. By taking the step to caring for your body, you embark on the journey of improving the quality of your life – which makes all the difference.
Unfortunately, we have been born into a world where people actually profit from making us feel inadequate and unworthy. Advertising is designed to make us believe that our lives will be better if we live, buy and look a certain way. Our capitalist society is designed to hold money as god. The more we buy, the more we contribute to our economy. Hence, the media works hard to make us believe that if we work a little harder, we will have the money to buy that pair of shoes, which will make our lives better. Sifting truth out of a pile of lies is a difficult task. But we can begin by being honest with ourselves, by stripping our hearts and souls of their purchased disguises and looking at ourselves for who we are beneath it all. In this naked, vulnerable state, we can face the pains that we have been trying to repress.
Then, we can heal. And whether the time we have on this earth is one day, one decade or several, one day spent loving, caring and nurturing the body will mean more than a century of self-abuse.