By
Dr. Allison Barriscale
Pride Wellness Columnist
Originally printed in Pride
News Magazine – April 6th, 2005
Our
bodies are brilliant, self-healing, self-regulating systems.
We have everything we need to be healthy already inside of
us.
Sometimes we forget this.
The
majority of the time, our bodies will move through symptoms,
sickness and disease without any outside assistance. However,
we often will intervene with medications or surgery before
our bodies have been given the opportunity to heal naturally.
When
we jump to intervention in our children’s health what
we are teaching them is that they need help from the outside
to heal. One of the best gifts we can give our children for
their future health and well-being is to allow them the opportunity
to heal themselves before we intervene with drugs or herbs
to make them feel better. There is always a time and a place
for emergency medical care and as a parent you must trust
yourself to know when that point is. All I am suggesting is
that point may be past where we normally make it.
I
want to tell you Johnny’s story. When Johnny was aged
2 to 4 he had ear infections; he was taken to the doctor and
prescribed antibiotics and he felt better. When Johnny was
3 he had the flu with a fever; he was given Tylenol, his fever
dropped, and he felt better. When Johnny was 5 he had the
flu and he was vomiting; he was given Gravol and he felt better.
In his childhood whenever he had a headache he was given Aspirin
and he would feel better. Each time Johnny had symptoms in
his body he was given medication to suppress the symptoms
and he felt better. When Johnny was 15, he was suffering from
depression. Where do you think Johnny turned to feel better?
Johnny started using marijuanna, he felt better. But after
a few years the marijuanna was no longer making him feel better
and he turned to using cocaine. Now Johnny feels that he needs
to use cocaine to feel good.
By
using medications every time Johnny experienced a health event,
he was taught from a very young age that he and his body needed
help from the outside to heal and feel good. He was not empowered
in the abilities that he had to heal himself and care for
himself. When he was feeling depressed he did not trust that
he had the power inside of himself to heal, therefore, he
turned to recreational drugs.
Recreational
drug use in North America is higher than it has ever been.
Governments are fighting the war on drugs and losing, why?
Our society has become highly dependent on medications for
our health care and it has become normal to regularly be medicating
our bodies even with numerous medications at a time. I believe
that we need to shift our focus from fighting the effects
(recreational drug use) to looking at a primary cause (overuse
of medications and a lack of trust in our bodies and its innate
intelligence).
We
need to be empowering our young people in their ability to
heal themselves and be powerful self-sufficient human beings.
Each time we use an outside intervention to try and fix a
health or any other problem for our children we take their
power away. The more we can trust in our children’s
innate intelligence and abilities the more they will trust
in themselves. Our bodies and minds are capable of incredible
feats and acts of healing.
Chiropractic
prescribes to an inside-out philosophy. What does this mean?
This means that we have everything we need inside of us to
be successful in life and to heal. In Chiropractic we believe
that our innate intelligence (internal wisdom) knows what
is best for us. We encourage people to trust in the ability
of their body to heal. We empower people to “follow
their heart” or “listen to their gut feelings”.
The educated mind was a blank slate when we were born and
we have been accumulating a finite amount of information and
knowledge to form up our ideas and perspectives about the
world. The innate mind has always, and will always, have infinite
knowledge and wisdom, and the more we can listen to and trust
our innate the more powerful we will be.
Too
often we look outside of ourselves for answers. We think that
more money, a new house, a new car, a new baby, a new relationship,
or that new medication will be the thing to save us. Living
from the outside-in will always leave us unfulfilled. When
we can live from the inside-out that is when the magic happens.
Empower
our children in trusting their innate intelligence. Provide
them with choices in everything they do, from what they eat
to what they wear, to the sports they play. When they feel
like they have a choice they feel like they are in control.
When they observe that their bodies can heal themselves they
feel powerful. The future of our society rests in the hands
of our children; let us give them the best start to life possible
through inside-out empowerment.
Allison Barriscale practices Wellness Chiropractic at
the
Café of Life in North Toronto. She welcomes your
questions and invites everyone to explore their bodies’
potential for health, healing and wellbeing. She has
a special interest in serving children, pregnant women
and babies.
She can be contacted at (416) 728-7365, allison@cafeoflifetoronto.com,
or visit her website at www.cafeoflifetoronto.com.
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