WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO WELLNESS?

Once upon a time there was only one way to stay well.

It was to live in accordance with the rhythmic systems of the mind-body-spirit system and the natural environment. 

Until our ancestors learned to make fire, they slept when it was dark and did activities when there was enough light. They had plenty of time to listen to their needs. Through observation and contemplation, they learned what made them feel better or worse.

The route to wellness was simple and universal. They were in control of and directly connected with the process of staying well. They achieved an energy in/energy out balance or failed to survive.

Fast forward a few hundred thousand years and now humans have managed to find ways to sustain themselves in lives that override the need to live in accordance with the environment and the natural rhythms of the mind-body-spirit system. We are those humans. We know how to make fire/light. We select foods on the basis of their taste rather than their nutritional content. We spend more time listening to what we want than what we need. Everything has become a commodity for us to use as we wish to fulfil every whim.

The route to wellness is still simple and universal but we have found ways to avoid taking the proven route so that we can engage in increasingly complex, out of balance lifestyles that are in service to social, political and economic demands, rather than the natural rhythms we have evolved with.  

Everything we have created with our genius… like engines, computers, medicines… we have done through observation and contemplation, but not necessarily of what we need to stay well. For example, we can travel at 550 miles per hour in a plane, we can live in a virtual world, and we can push the body beyond its tolerable limits with the support of painkillers and surgery. These innovations have allowed us to move farther away from the natural rhythms of the mind-body-spirit system.

But are we well?

Wellness has been introduced to us as the new route, the new pursuit, the new tool that could sustain us in super-performing and living our un-natural lifestyles.

But isn’t that a paradox?

We are seeking a solution. The problem is that we don't have enough energy to live such demanding, fast-paced, information-saturated lives. We experience this as mental, emotional or physical symptoms that get in the way of us doing what we 'have' to do. We use wellness practices to try to get more energy. But can we really use wellness practices to assist our digression from living in a way that supports our wellbeing? Can we really expect that doing something like a tai chi class every week, or having regular reflexology, will take away the strain of living life in the 21^st century?

The conundrum is that wellness requires awareness. Wellness practices encourage us to reconnect with the mind-body-spirit system and the natural rhythms on which our lives depend. We inevitably come up against the realisation that we are not living in a way that supports wellbeing. When we try and do something that is 'good' for us, we realise how bad we feel the rest of the time! It is not that wellness practices don't work… of course they do. It is just that the way we are living is so far away from tending to our energetic needs.

The real problem is that we are living in such an out of balance way. The energy in/energy out equation is so much more complex now. The appropriate response is to stop living in an out of balance way, but that is not as easy as it was thousands of years ago. The real solution is to be more aware of the problem and respond to it appropriately.

We need to become more consciously involved in managing the energetic cost of the way we are living, We need to understand how to balance the energy in/energy out flow in our lives so that we can be in control of, and directly connected with, the process of staying well.

Please, come and learn about how to manage your own energy in this increasingly complex and busy world. Please email me at fantasticalbeing@gmail.com or use the contact form at the bottom of the website www.fantasticalbeing.com

Thanks for being aware.