The Paradigm of Self-Love
The Paradigm of Self-Love One of the hardest yet most rewarding tasks I find myself accepting every day is that of selling people on themselves. It may sound sort of strange, yet in my career it is a simple reality that I have come to humbly face: Most of us need encouragement and guidance to learn how to show up for ourselves. This paradigm of Self-Love—of actually doing the things that serve our mind-body-spirit while allowing the self-sabotaging patterns to fall away—is a foreign arena for many. It is a belief system that loving yourself is the same as healing yourself, and that there are real, practical steps that all of us can take to become more open-hearted. You see, none of the knowledge and tools really make a difference if you’re not going to show up for yourself. If we are not open to actually receiving these self-healing inputs, then I’m afraid the battle will be largely uphill. It can be so hard to break through the subconscious programming of conditional emotions (having to earn our way into feelings of worthiness, love, and grace). Culturally, the West has developed an overwhelming emphasis on productivity, competence, competition, and human achievement. We’re a little passionate and also a little nutty. Most of our ancestors had to be a little crazy to jump on a boat to cross the Atlantic (in which survival and success were not guaranteed) and in doing so take a leap of faith and start over from scratch in a “New World.”
A Strange New World
Meanwhile, the Native Americans were living, finding harmony via an advanced exploration of attunement with Mother Earth, until the Europeans came barging in on their great mission. Instead of understanding the Native American way of life—which would entail actually starting anew—the colonizers kept manipulating and controlling the new environment, for the sake of creating more of the same, albeit on a different continent. There’s a deep part of me that really wonders what we are missing. Though I am grateful for a roof over my head, air conditioning, and plumbing, I wonder if, along with technological advancements, we have lost something major along the way. Would we be happier and healthier living a simpler life that is in greater communion with Nature? Why is it so hard for us amid the benefits of technological stability and free time to actually enjoy ourselves? Despite having the basic requisites for survival and then some, we still seem to find all the reasons to become overwhelmed. We stretch ourselves too thin, putting our nervous system into a survival state of being, of surviving in our “advanced” though estranged new world. I don’t know if there is a clear answer to any of these questions. However, I can assure you that I am committed to the paradigm of Self-Love and think that you should be too! Because no clear answers can come when we are in conflict with ourselves. I know that despite these human advancements, we still actually have to work really hard to survive in a different way. What we put into our body—physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually—has now been shown to play a significant role in our overall health and wellness. Chronic inflammatory diseases and mental instability are at an all-time high these days, and show no signs of going away. Reflecting further, I am not so sure that I am physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healthier than our ancestors, or the Native Americans who lived in the 1400s, even though I can consider myself a “healthy” person by modern measures. These thoughts bring the book, “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley into mind. Huxley creates a disturbing vision of a technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order—all at the cost of their freedom, humanity, and perhaps also their souls. The protagonist, a native man from a simple tribe is swept away from his people and into this broken society. It’s a sad, disillusioned story that ultimately ends in death and chaos. It is a tale of woe that cautions all humans in their “superior” advancements.
Ignorance is Not Bliss
Could we live in a world in which we are both sovereign and yet attuned with Nature? Could we use our technological advancements to create simplicity in our lives while respecting the complexity of life? Could we commune with our Creator in a way that opens the heart up for Self-Love and thus healing? I think we can, and that it is up to all of us to do the work to open up, become empowered, and take better care of ourselves and each other. Now let me be clear, I am not suggesting that we tear down our skyscrapers, throw our iPhones in the river, and go make our own clothes from scratch. But what I am saying is that we must pull our heads out of the illusion. We must look and see and become aware of the world around us, and how it has been manipulated away from what it actually is. It is by looking through the world in this real and somewhat sombering way, that I know I have to go out of my way now not only to receive healing inputs, but to create an internal and external environment that is actually conducive to health on a daily basis. We have to love ourselves enough to wipe the mud out of our eyes and see a new vision of humanity’s potential, one that is in harmonic resonance with the rest of the planet. By doing so, we break through the cultural hypnosis and what we find is that ignorance is not bliss. In today’s world, ignorance is turning a blind eye to the things that are killing us. We have to answer the questions:
We have “clean” tap water and yet why do they add fluoride and other chemical compounds that alter our hormonal balance?
How do these compounds affect health long-term?
We have healthy, organic produce and yet why are some grocery lines laying mRNA on fruits and vegetables?
We have the convenience of a cell phone and yet what are the effects of long term EMF radiation on our neurology?
How are 5G towers and other forms of Wi-Fi affecting our bodies and minds?
What are the effects of long-term medications, vaccines, and other chemical compounds on our physical health?
What effect does increased screen time and technology addiction have on the brain in adults and in children?
Why is mental and chronic disease and obesity on the rise?
Why is our “New World” so incredibly sick?
Hermitude or Harmony?
These are the provoking musings of a vitalistic chiropractor, who holds a vision for a healthy and whole world where people honor their inner and outer environments. And so, because I refuse to retreat into the hermitude of a simpler life “off the grid,” I choose to continue to sell people on themselves through chiropractic and holistic philosophy. Admittedly, the trick is to prove to ourselves the truth of our empowered creative potential; knowing that doing the work to break through the ignorance and subconscious conditioning is the greatest, worthwhile task. It doesn’t have to be a race, for healing is a marathon. Each wellness-advancing decision after the next creates more harmony inside our life. We build one healthy habit and then another. We recognize our creative capacity just a little bit more each time we sit up from the meditation mat or come home from a walk. Eating becomes mindful, a moving prayer of gratitude. We start to question the information we are being fed and do the research to make empowered, conscious decisions. This is a vision of harmony, in which we can heal ourselves one day, action, moment at a time. Maybe we don’t need to live off the grid, but perhaps we could fall back in love with the true Self, and turn off our phones for a while. Perhaps growing all our own food isn’t necessary, but we could try growing some herbs and reach out to people who know about the best local produce options. Most of all, maybe it really is necessary to read the fine print, both literally and abstractly, on what companies are selling us, to become aware of what we are actually putting into our body (physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually). In this New World, it’s not enough to merely think positively. We need to create new ways of behaving in our subconscious mind so that when it comes to decision time we can effectively flip the script and choose a better life. We must have the tools and resources readily at our disposal to make empowered, smart decisions. When we become more conscious in this way, we become more self-aware, to generate a little more love for ourselves. Therefore Self-Love, and thus conscious healing, happen simultaneously, one step at a time.
Article text & photo credited to
issue 82 of Pathways to Family Wellness magazine