When Do You Stop Controlling Yourself?

We seem to have become a society that tries to get everyone to believe they have control over many aspects of their lives or the converse which is that they don’t have any control over anything in their lives. What we fail to realize is that more than a sense of control is the idea of balance, of allowing things to fall as they will, permitting the motion of the universe to move us along, of waiting to see how the cards are played. We do not always have to offer a pushy helping hand to everything and everyone around us, fearful that if we don’t, our voice will not be heard. Truthfully we would experience some real understanding if we had laryngitis for a while. We would be forced to listen more and talk not at all. But many people will read this and think how fearful this idea is.

The problem here is that we tend to listen to others’ assessment of us and react accordingly. In doing that we control ourselves, by changing how we look, doing a cleanse a friend said is amazing, fanatically following a website or Tik Tok influencer, grasping for anything that might make our symptoms go away and us to feel better. Because we don’t truly understand our symptoms or what our body is trying to do, we think we need to suppress anything that is uncomfortable because we should not have to experience that. We fail to understand that symptoms have meaning and that our body is either utilizing its’ God-given ability to heal or it is expressing the fact that it can’t heal. Either way we need to understand before we act. And this frequently means simply to listen.

Is a symptom happening frequently? Then it is an issue that the body is unable to resolve or it is something that is recurring due to our action or activity. Is a symptom steadily worsening? Then it is something that should be looked at, evaluated and addressed because this is an acute problem. Is a symptom happening only in a certain place, a specific time of day or after eating a specific food? Then we need to evaluate why our body reacts that way to whatever is the issue. Just because we don’t feel well after eating cucumbers doesn’t mean we should eliminate cucumbers and think the issue is fixed. We’ve just removed the initiating trigger, not resolved the problem. Is this a symptom that started after a new prescription? These type of symptoms can be very acute when they happen which can create worry. If it is a symptom you can tolerate than consider this: If the prescription is short-term, then this may be an attempt by the body to clear the prescription. If the prescription is meant to be long-term, you need to look at the symptom and what system it is in because this is illustrating what body system is being forced into an imbalance because of the prescription. Often natural medicine can help with this or you may be able to try a different prescription.

We especially should not be looking at Dr. Google for advice because most of the advice you will find is algorithmically created and suggested to you based on money, subscribers, views or placement, none of which is akin to accuracy or appropriateness. I spend lots of time advising patients not to automatically take or do something when they have a symptom. Let it play out, let the body work through it. This is what creates balance and learning as well as lasting health.

This is especially true if you quit a toxic habit, begin a new diet or a medicinal protocol. Symptoms of change are normal and expected. Fevers, skin breakouts, digestive symptoms, headaches, emotional outbursts and even joint stiffness are all typical signs of change. Change cannot happen without some discomfort and frequently will happen cyclically because the body goes through stages of change. Understanding that will help a lot with calming your fears and creating more trust. The body has to have some time to adapt to changes that have occurred, so don’t just keep trying to DO something. Remember the body is already doing just that without you and probably doing it much better!