The Recovery Article - Part II

Why Recovery (or “Renewal”) Is More Essential Than You May Realize

In Part I of this two-part series, I pointed out that recovery is the most undervalued and most important aspect of health. While many people take it for granted, I believe it’s the miraculous underpinning of our lives. So much so that my entire health and wellness practice is devoted to enhancing and prolonging the healing power that is at the heart of recovery.

In the first article, I explained that I’ve encountered three areas of recovery in my later life:

1.    Exercise-induced recovery

2.    Recovery from illness or injury

3.    Recovery from inner or emotional causes

In Part I, I addressed physical recovery. I wrote that, listening to my body is central to my recovery from, say, a rigorous gym workout. But when it comes to chronic conditions, as well as outright injuries, we need to pay more attention. In this case, recovery often involves enlisting outside support.

Recovery from Illness or Injury

I devote a lengthy chapter in my book, called “When Bad Stuff Happens,” to several chronic injury and illness conditions I was able to overcome and heal from in later life. When I realized these conditions – a heart arrhythmia, a problem knee and hip, and a severe case of both Lyme disease and babesiosis – were either getting worse or weren’t going away with my regular health practice, my first step was seeing a medical doctor.

Yet while I was consulting an MD (and sometimes two of these medical professionals to see if their opinions differed) or waiting for test results, I also consulted a functional medicine doctor or practitioner to get their opinion. This includes physiotherapists. These people see things differently; they are more oriented to seeking out the source of the issue (as opposed to simply resolving symptoms), and they are more experienced in looking at the entire body and not just focusing on a specific part. I wanted to have all the pertinent information I could gather before deciding on a treatment plan.

During this entire process I would also “check in with myself.” I have come to rely on this process to take my emotional temperature. I would ask myself, Is anything going on inside me that could have a bearing on the condition?

This is not where most modern medicine practitioners want us to look for answers. Yet through the experiences I write about I have found this process to be an essential part of diagnosis and, especially, treatment and healing. It is also a way to look at a problem that, once healed, can help me prevent it from happening again.

In each case I was able to make an informed decision using all three aspects: consulting at least one MD, consulting at least one functional medicine practitioner, and regularly doing my “check in with myself” process.

In one case I opted for a mostly medical path (the heart arrhythmia). In another I opted for a functional (yoga) and preventive approach (the knee and hip problem.) And to recover from Lyme disease, I used antibiotics to cure my illness. During my lengthy recovery, I learned valuable lessons in healing, in supporting myself and facing some inner emotional trauma that had eluded me up till then.

I am not saying that you need to follow my example, other than seeing an MD first if something doesn’t resolve on its own. I have found a system that works for me given who I am and how I practice health. Use your own inner barometer to find your best course of action to recover from illness or injury.

Recovery from Inner or Emotional Causes

Inner emotional work is the third area of recovery I have found to be enormously beneficial to my health practice. My attitude toward myself needs to be benevolent to allow myself to be healthy and to live a life that matters to me. If I were to have a less than benevolent attitude toward myself and simply force myself to do what others recommend, the genuineness of my experience of life would fall flat. Perhaps the most wonderful aspect of everything I’ve experienced over the past 15 years is standing on my own two feet and liking who I am. It wasn’t always so.

This is subtle and sometimes baffling territory. It can lie deep within us. It can often be tied to physical problems. After persistently looking at my “inner space,” I realized that an underground river of negative emotions toward myself was hidden deep inside. I wasn’t even aware of this. It was like Dorothy opening the door to Oz and seeing a whole new world.

A Wayne Dyer quote over my desk says, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.” I would modify this slightly to say, “If you change the way you look at yourself, the world and people around you will change.” This is what has happened to me with self-care and self-benevolence.

Much of later-life unhappiness begins with low self-esteem. Practicing better preventive health is such a basic and non-optional part of achieving happiness during this stage of life. Yet many people can’t even start the process. Thoughts like “What’s the use?” or “It won’t change me” or “I’m not good enough” take the place of hope and optimism and stymie the chance for long-term health and happiness.

There are several places to look for help to address and recover from inner or emotional problems. First and foremost is to look inside. Call it soul-searching, checking in, or just wanting something different, change comes from inside. Another is psychotherapy (see the other article in this week’s newsletter written by Meri Wallace).

You can also look into free or low-cost support groups like ACA (Adult Children of Alcoholics) that provide counselling and caring people who offer empathy and support. I have a friend, John Donovan, who runs regular online sessions, which he calls Intentional Living.

I have also found a lot of company and inspiration in the many books I have read – and in the myriad pages I have written, some just rambling about life that no one ever sees, a la Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. I have found insight and direction in the pages of my journals.

This area of recovery is very nuanced and personal territory, the world of spirit and dreams inside us. In my case, once I experienced physical health on a level that felt so much better and stronger than ever before, the inner healing of my emotional and spiritual self also gained strength and took me in a new direction. I began looking at old hurts that had never healed well and needed attention to fully heal. Much of this information was stored in my body as well as my emotional brain in the form of feelings and physical sensations.

This area of recovery is not everyone’s cup of tea. So be it. But those who are led there or feel the need to explore it are usually well and deeply rewarded.