Disrupting sickness & pro/curing Health (Part 1)
“You have suffered sorrow and humiliation. You have lost your wits and have gone astray; and, like an unskilled doctor, fallen ill, you lose heart and cannot discover by which remedies to cure your own disease.”
~ Prometheus bound, a play by Aeschylus
Clarity, certainty & confidence
From one point of view, a healthy human life and positive emotional outlook might be said to subsist in three psychological qualities: clarity, certainty and confidence.
Having clarity about our life and our goals gives us a sense of certainty - a feeling that we know what we’re doing and why.
And from those two, there naturally arises a powerful sense of confidence - an embodied understanding and energy allowing us to actively pursue and successively realize the definite aims of our life.
It’s natural for all of us to seek clarity and certainty in our lives, precisely so that we can proceed with confidence in this way.
But despite that natural inclination, many of us are in the habit of doggedly clinging onto ideas that no longer serve us.
Many of us remain entrenched in outdated outlooks and narratives that keep us stuck, stressed out and shut down.
This is very important to recognize, because for as long as those conceptual frameworks remain in place, our perception of who we are and where our experiences come from will remain distorted.
Our ability to show up and serve others will also be adversely impacted, and significant tension will be created - both psychological, physiological and neurological - which we can unwittingly hold on to for years, or even decades.
The net effect will therefore be a serious hampering of our ‘entelechy’ - which is a technical term for the realisation of our full human potential.
Dissonance by design?
From a psychological point of view, those outdated frameworks create ‘cognitive dissonance’ - the mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes.
This can fire off the limbic system in the brain and central nervous system, creating symptoms of stress and tension - or ‘dis-ease’ - in both body and mind.
When that stress becomes acute it activates the amygdala, narrowing perception into a fight, flight or freeze response. And the ‘HPA’ or ‘hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenalcortical’ axis also kicks into gear, which regulates the stress hormone cortisol.
From an evolutionary point of view, that stress response served a vital life-supporting function. By speeding up the heart rate and increasing blood flow to our fast-twitch muscles, it allowed us to respond decisively to threats in the wild.
Once that specific instance of danger had passed, the stress response was then down-regulated by the body, returning hormone levels to normal.
Now crucially, our nervous system was never designed to remain in a heightened state for long periods of time. To function optimally, the stress response was intended to deliver a 30 minute burst of energy once every 72 hours.
In our busy modern lives, none of us are fleeing saber-toothed tigers, and rarely do we find ourselves in life-threatening situations.
But because the nervous system cannot distinguish between real and imagined threats, many of us are in a constant state of arousal through stressful, dissonant thinking alone.
This continual heightened state can lead to all sorts of stress related disease and sickness, including chronic inflammatory and autoimmune illness.
We may have tried all manner of ways to overcome stress related issues such as these. But until the underlying mental framework giving rise to them is recognised and relinquished, we run the risk of becoming sicker and more ‘stuck’ with every passing year.
Sadly, in this age of distraction, dissatisfaction and uncontrolled desire, more and more of us are caught up in cycles of unhappiness and ill-health. But luckily it doesn’t have to be this way.
To prove this, let me share a story about my own recent personal breakthrough in Part 2 - Read On.
UPCOMING EVENT
Sovereign Tea Time Live
On Sunday 11th September, join me in creating a new narrative of health and healing in the resplendent setting of Mariage Freres Tea Emporium in London's iconic Covent. This in-person half day workshop includes powerful talks, insightful tips and tools, and Q&A - over fine tea and patisserie. For further information and to book your place, click on the link below: