My mother in law, age 70 suffers from extreme arthritis, fatigue, insomnia, and a variety of other annoying health complaints.
Yesterday we were chatting about diet and supplements when she told me that all of her problems were really down to genes. She could take some supplements that might help, but basically she must learn to cope and live with these problems.
How easy, yet how difficult it must be to live with this belief system. It is easy to live with this belief because you don’t have to make any changes or do anything…your lot was determined when the egg and sperm of your mother and father joined. You don’t have to take any responsibility for your health, just accept and do the best you can with what you have been given. You have the most incredible excuse for all your health problems…and in fact all of your emotional problems are probably down to your unfortunate genes!
However, holding this belief is so excruciatingly disempowering. In fact, the belief that I am in charge of my destiny, my health and my emotions is my most empowering belief, the belief that makes me sing in the shower and smile to myself on the bus.
Okay…I will, as always when this subject arises, admit that of course we are very much impacted by our genes. If you indulge in loads of sugary fatty foods, one person might become obese, another might get arthritis, another might get cancer, and another might feel pretty much okay.
I call our gene determination the Weakest Link. Our genetic weakest link is what is most likely to be affected as we age if we eat loads of rubbish or don’t face and deal with our emotions.
One of my weakest links is my skin. If I don’t take care of myself, I will break out in acne or eczema. However, instead of viewing my weakest link as my determined destiny that I have no control of, I view it as a signal that I need to take responsibility and make some changes. These may include changing my diet, taking some supplements, or practicing stress relievers.
What if my weakest link is terminal cancer? You ask. I have two answers:
1. Listen to every single sign you get. If I had ignored the warnings from my acne and continued having dairy products and not regulating my hormones, then perhaps that would lead to another problem, such as cancer.
2. I suppose to say that we are always in control of every millimetre of our life is to ignore the magic and the unknown that is all around us. Maybe dying of terminal cancer is a lesson that must be learned. I can’t say for sure.
What I can say without question is that all of us can be in control of our health, our emotions and our destiny to some extent. It may seem incredibly tricky at times to truly believe and live this with conviction, but it is true. To offload this sometimes scary but enormously powerful responsibility onto our genes is to miss out on a fun and exciting journey of self discovery.
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