As I was bicycling my way home up Eighth Avenue the other day, a speck of urban something-or-other flew into one of my eyes, leaving me the other to navigate the mad rush hour traffic. Immediately my mind went into high gear. Should I stop and try to get the speck out? How do I do it? Should I ask someone to help?
Then, just as suddenly, I felt my eye tearing and, in a blink, the irritant was gone! “Wow!” I thought. While “I” was busy analyzing, plotting how to deal with this seemingly stressful situation, my body was way ahead of “me.” In the course of its usual business, it happened upon the intruder and post haste expelled it. All in a day’s work! While the mind obsessed, the body did what came naturally.
What a nice reminder: trust in the body to do its work. It’s an incredible survival machine. Too often we think we have to “do” something, when just letting the natural healing forces do their daily drill is much more efficient. In the same way the body spotted that speck, it constantly scouts around in-side—fixing, cleaning, healing, tuning up, defend-ing—without a word from our conscious mind, thank you. When we break a bone, a doctor can set it, but the body does the healing. When we cut ourselves, the body wisdom knows just how to form a clot and then replace it with fresh new skin—all without an “okay” from “us.” In the same way, if given the proper conditions and materials—and lack of interference—the body can correct more serious chemical imbalances that create disease.
Years ago John H. Knowles, M.D., then of Rockefeller Institute in New City, stated at an American Medical Association (AMA) conference that about 95 percent of the patients entering doctors’ offices would heal themselves without any treatment. The other 5 percent would need a doctor’s attention. (Interestingly, when President Nixon was elected in 1968, he nominated Dr. Knowles to fill the post of Surgeon General. But the opposition of the medical community forced the President to withdraw his name.)
Be good to your body—feed it well, give it good quality water, oxygen to breathe, moderate exercise and plenty of rest. Then relax, knowing that most times the less YOU do, the better.
