It is constantly replenishing its cells. Every second, several million red blood cells are removed and replaced from your circulatory system. Every five days, your stomach lining is renewed. Every thirty days, you have a brand new protective skin. Every ninety days (give or take), your body turns over all of the molecules that make up your bones. Take a moment to consider the fact that the vast majority of the molecules that constitute your body as you sit at your computer today did not exist a year ago.
While this raises some interesting philosophical ideas, the point is that your body is constantly working to repair and renew itself. Amazing.
“But if this is the case, why can’t shake this health problem?!”
This is an interesting question. “If my body is constantly creating new tissues, then why haven’t my dysfunctional ones been replaced with better ones,” you’d rightfully wonder.
In dealing with this health issue, what have you tried? Did you try some pills, or maybe a lotion?
If you cut yourself, you probably used a plaster. And that was probably a wise choice if the cut was at risk of becoming dirty. But the plaster – the equivalent of the pills or the cream – won’t heal the cut. The incredible cascade of events that your body triggered when you cut yourself to reduce the blood loss and re-establish the injured layers of skin is what heals the cut. The body knows how to heal itself. In this case, you’re lucky enough to know exactly what caused the malady and all you have to do is make a note to be more careful around sharp objects.
So if your body doesn’t appear to be doing its job of replacing dysfunctional cells the answer is likely to be that you’ve not identified the root cause of your health challenge. You can’t see the cause-and-effect like you can with the sharp object but your daily choices are obstructing your body’s natural course. If the input remains the same, so will the output.
Input - Output
If only we could observe all health troubles as easily and completely as we can with the example of cuts. When they are generated internally (such as with arthritis, atherosclerosis, and various malignancies) it's impossible to see the effects of your choices in real time.
If you have clogged blood vessels or intermittent headaches, it won’t necessarily be obvious to see how acrylamides in crisps, casein in pasteurised and homogenised dairy, free radicals in cheap vegetable oils, sugar, aspartame, heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and the multitude of other disease-causing compounds found in our diet are injuring your cells internally. Or to observe the damage that stress-related compounds released as a result of anger or anxiety does to your organs.
We all know that we should improve our input – good food choices, good lifestyle choices, exercise, sunlight, positivity and stress-coping techniques, surrounding yourself with the right people and so on – but it’s hard to remain focused and motivated when you can’t see the effects of poor choices in real-time. It seems that in many cases the discomfort has to be severe enough to warrant change; and for many more, even that is not enough. Particularly if the plaster successfully covers up the manifestation (of course, the people selling you the plasters don't make money if you stop cutting yourself).
What Does It Take To Stay Motivated?
In short, two things. With just these two things it will become almost natural to make and sustain daily choices that support your body’s innate capacity to be well.
The first is a reason for wanting to be healthy for as long as possible. Not somebody else’s reason, but one that you feel. The second thing is to engage with your health. This means to get away from the idea of quick-fixes that is so firmly entrenched in our culture and to develop your natural instinct for your body’s self-healing design. To become one with your body.
Assisting your body in performing its functions properly and realising its ability to be well is the objective of Naturopathic Personal Training from The Blueberry Clinic. If you'd like this support, click here for more information.
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