What to Do When Confronting Illness and Disease – by A. Harris Stone Ed.D.
Most of our daily behaviors emerge from patterns we’ve developed and reinforced. We react to situationsautomatically, often completing an action without recalling having done so. Consider driving to work, or any of the other routines of the average day. These events are the outcomes of habits carried out by our body as it responds to the deep seated memories of knowing what to do.
But when we have no memory of what to do, it is important to be able to make decisions that serve us well, and do so without committing any significant error. Nowhere is this more apparent than when confronting a serious illness or catastrophic injury. Given the many options available in holistic and allopathic medicine, the best course of action may not be readily apparent. So how do we know what to do?
Discovering appropriate health solutions requires trust… in the mind, the senses, the body, and in the recommendations of others. By researching and considering your options, you may serve as your own health coach and patient advocate, thus promoting an optimal path to recovery and wellness.
A 12 Step Approach to acquiring decision-making skills follows. It is intended to serve as a guideline for knowing what to do.
1) Gathering information is the first step. Define your situation and describe it in detail to better orient your thinking. Catalogue it as you sort, ponder, and question all available data. Ask key questions as you navigate through the maze of available possibilities. For example, if you are trying to determine the viability of medical information, ask for clarification of its implications.
2) Seeking wisdom and opinions allows meaningful discussions with trusted confidantes. When choosing who you’ll explore ideas with, consider others’ potential knowledge, intelligence, breadth of experiences and interpretative skills. For example, if pondering the possibility of surgery, be sure to speak with someone who has survived surgical experience.
3) Evaluating what is known enables you to make sense of all accumulated and sorted data. Firstconsider what feels right as well as what you think is right. Learn to trust your own judgment in selecting specific options and the consequences they lead to. Here you may ask yourself, “Of the information I’ve gathered, what is applicable to my situation and what action does it suggest?” For example, it is easy to follow the physician’s advice for putting a cast on a broken bone, but it is less apparent as to whether radiation treatments should be undertaken for some particular form of cancer.
4) Discovering what is not known is equally important in determining what counts! In medicine, there is never a decision made that is based on access to 100% of possible information. Even with the best intentions and the greatest effort for clarity, every decision is based only on information available in that moment. Staying attuned to new information allows you to maximize treatment options. For example, in the world of heart disease, new technologies arise at an astounding rate. Questions that were not answerable last year generate solutions today.
5) Exploring your felt senses will lead you toward discovering and trusting in your body’s wisdom. Make time to be quiet and breathe in the inklings and intimations provided by your body’s implicit self-knowledge. Even fleeting notions hold important relevance. Try to focus on new sensations that you experience… how does it feel in the gut, the throat, the chest, or any part of the body you become aware of? For example, when ill it is especially wise to pay attention to nutritional demands. Such questions as, “What do I sense I’d like to eat?” “Am I thirsty?” allow you to break patterned behaviors and pay attention to what’s happening in the moment.
6) Honoring your intuition allows the felt senses to become more easily observed. In Western society, we are conditioned to trust only what we can see or touch. But often our body communicates with us most directly through intuition. For example, though a prescription drug may have a proven success rate, only the patient who takes time to sense their reactions to medication will be able to determine whether it is appropriate for their needs.
7) Continuously assessing information and possibilities must be an ongoing process throughout any healing journey. Not an easy task, it requires the careful development of language to evoke effective comparisons. New information must be considered and evaluated for use, with old information modified for understanding. For example, medical progress in any field demands that patients, physicians, and researchers continuously refine the recommendations, procedures, and protocols that contribute to a higher quality of life.
8) Proposing multiple scenarios and estimating the outcomes of action leads toward new understanding. This requires willingness to pursue ideas, even though they may be incomplete. For example, when confronted with an ill-defined biological or physical discomfort, it is useful to guess what might be the cause. Projections lead to the rejection of what does not make sense, and increases the likelihood of discovering what’s real.
9) Identifying the best case and worst case scenarios allows ideas to be tested against what is real and what is not. Finding the optimal solution to a particular problem may be the result of moving between the worst and best possible outcomes. For example, skin conditions may be pervasive in one’s daily consciousness, even though they may present no immediate danger. But an empirically effective treatment may be detrimental to the natural experience of life. So a patient may choose an adequate treatment, not to solve the issue immediately but to allow easier life functions on an hourly basis.
10) Making and living up to decisions is critical to successful treatment. Though inspired to follow a right but difficult path, we often lack the tenacity to carry out the details of an uncomfortable solution. But will must prevail in order for positive outcomes to accrue. For example, losing weight requires that one live up to a personal commitment, and be constrained from disruptive eating behaviors. We call it will power, but we really mean won’t-power when it comes to sticking to a diet.
11) Translating decisions into actions is the foundation of lasting change. Actions may appear to be relatively simple, but they may unwittingly be modified by daily life experiences and of course, by our memory. Positive intentions alone do not assure reliable behaviors. So it is imperative to review decisions on a frequent basis. For example, when there is bitter medicine to take (metaphorically speaking), one might be prone to less compliance and inadvertently change behaviors to suit personal desires. So don’t give in to urges to revert to old patterns.
12) Believing in yourself is the only way to assure that decisions you’ve made, and the actions you’ve taken, are the right ones.So you’ve considered all the iterations, and you’re ready to take a swing at it. It’s time to move forward with a real sense of knowing what you’re doing. Remember, success is a matter of self love, and the confidence that comes from trusting in your self. Now just do it, and affirm that you Know what to do!
© 2010 The Graduate Institute 171 Amity Road, Bethany, CT 06524 All Rights Reserved
A. Harris (Bud) Stone is the Founder and Chancellor of The Graduate Institute, an institution dedicated to offering holistic, transformative educational experiences for lifelong learners. As a professor, author, researcher, and educational entrepreneur, Bud has dedicated his life to leadership in the cause of educational transformation. He is responsible for the establishment of more than 15 graduate programs, including a Master of Arts in Experiential Health and Healing, which focuses on complementary, mind-body approaches to health and wellness. For more information, visit www.learn.edu.