~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
BE WELL! ™ <\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\n 28 June 2013 * * * * * * * * * * * * ISSN 1549-0017
\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
by Dr. Alexandra Gayek
\n http:\/\/www.scienceofbeingwell.net<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
In this edition …<\/p>\n
1. Welcome!
\n 2. Quotes for Healing: The Value of Diversity
\n 3. Feature Article: Perfect Health: An Imperfect
\n Ideal?
\n 4. The Last Word: Love, No Matter What<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
1. WELCOME!<\/p>\n
This ezine is here to support you in making your
\nwellness a reality! You deserve a great life in a
\nhealthy body–if that’s what you want!<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
2. QUOTES FOR HEALING: The Value of Difference<\/p>\n
“Having always imagined myself in a fairly
\n slim minority, I suddenly saw that I was in
\n vast company. Difference unites us.”<\/p>\n
— Andrew Solomon, “Far from the Tree”<\/p>\n
“The world is made more interesting by
\n having every sort of person in it.”<\/p>\n
— Andrew Solomon<\/p>\n
“To love another human in all of her splendor
\n and imperfect perfection, it is a magnificent
\n task…tremendous and foolish and human.”<\/p>\n
— Louise Erdrich <\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
3. FEATURE ARTICLE: PERFECT HEALTH: AN IMPERFECT IDEAL?<\/p>\n
Do you believe it should be the goal for every person
\nalive to have a perfectly functioning body?<\/p>\n
If so, who should define “perfect?”<\/p>\n
What if a person is happier in his or her “imperfect”
\nbody than most people who are in bodies closer to your
\nidea of perfect?<\/p>\n
Should anyone’s idea of perfection be imposed on
\nothers, even children?<\/p>\n
Big questions.<\/p>\n
For years I’ve been believing and teaching that, as Mr.
\nWattles says, that “every person can attain perfect
\nhealth.” This, with the idea that of course everyone
\nwants, or should want, “the priceless blessing of
\nperfect health.”<\/p>\n
But as I read Andrew Solomon’s provocative book, “Far
\nfrom the Tree,” I find myself questioning some
\npotentially slimy underpinnings of that ideal of
\nperfect health.<\/p>\n
Here’s the thing. When I think about it from this new
\nperspective, I find an uncomfortable similarity between
\nthe idea that everyone should have perfect health and
\nthe idea that there is a specific ideal to which we all
\nshould be compared. Kind of like a “master race.”<\/p>\n
This is not very different from what so many of us do
\nevery time we look in the mirror–find fault with the
\nways in which we look different from our idea of the
\nideal body.<\/p>\n
Given the very prevalent media images–in the USA at
\nleast–of the perfect female body as that of a slender
\nairbrushed teen model or a big-breasted goddess, and
\nthe perfect male as a tall, tanned, muscled man in his
\nprime with six-pack abs and full head of hair, it’s not
\ntoo surprising that those of us who don’t look much
\nlike those images have some discomfort, shame or
\nembarrassment about our bodies.<\/p>\n
Nor is it too surprising that so many of us we would
\nactually do ourselves physical harm in order to look
\nmore like that ideal. Case in point: the current fad of
\naging men to take extra testosterone so they can look
\nyounger and more buff, even though it increases their
\nrisk of cancer and heart disease.<\/p>\n
Mr. Wattles doesn’t say we are to strive for perfect
\nlooks. What he says is perfect function. But he does
\nsay we are to form a “conception of perfect health,”
\nwhich is pretty tough to do without a visual image to
\nmatch.<\/p>\n
To me, it’s all too easy to find fault with ourselves
\nand others who don’t measure up to our ideas of either
\nkind of perfection, and to be jealous of those who do.<\/p>\n
What’s missing is valuing the variety of human
\n experience.<\/p>\n
After all, there are deaf people who prefer their
\ndeafness and deaf culture, and do not want to have
\n“perfect” functioning of their ears. There are short
\npeople, even dwarfs, who value their difference from
\naverage stature and do not long for different bodies.
\nWho is to say that their bodies are any less perfect
\nmanifestations of humanity than any other kind of body?<\/p>\n
What if, rather than pitying or being horrified or
\ndisgusted by someone–including yourself–whose body or
\nfunction is far from your ideal, you saw that person as
\npart of the wonderful variety of human beings?<\/p>\n
What if you saw and honored that person–including
\nyourself–as temporarily choosing to experience life
\nthis way–if that expression of humanity was actually a
\nchoice, and not some kind of tragic mistake, flaw, or
\naccident of nature?<\/p>\n
What if you were grateful to that person–including
\nyourself–for the opportunity to learn to love
\nunconditionally BECAUSE of his or her difference from
\nyour ideal? <\/p>\n
What do you think the world would be like if we all
\nenjoyed, with wonder and curiosity, people–including
\nourselves–who have very differently functioning and
\nlooking bodies from our ideals, rather than fearing and
\nrejecting them?<\/p>\n
Reading Mr. Solomon’s book brought me face to face with
\nprejudices I didn’t know I had, and brought healing and
\nlove to prejudices I squirmed about. Having focused for
\nso many years on my job to help people change, it’s
\nhumbling to remember that the most effective way to
\nhelp anyone–ourselves included–to experience the full
\nradiance of our human experience, is not to compare
\nourselves to some ideal or find what’s “wrong,” but
\ninstead to start with fully honoring ourselves just as
\nwe are.<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
4. THE LAST WORD: LOVE, NO MATTER WHAT<\/p>\n
Is there a difference in the experience of a human
\nbeing between being loved, being accepted, and being
\nhonored, respected, and admired?<\/p>\n
Is it really love if it comes with wanting a person to
\nchange?<\/p>\n
Is it really acceptance if it comes with a “but?”<\/p>\n
Can you fully honor yourself or another person without
\nembracing the right of every person to be alive, to
\nhave his or her experience of life as it is, to love,
\nto have children?<\/p>\n
Check out the TED video of Andrew Solomon, telling his
\nvery moving and provocative story, here:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/andrew_solomon_love_no_matter_what.html<\/a><\/p>\n Be sure to read the comments after you’ve watched the video!<\/p>\n With love and appreciation, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n To subscribe to the ezine and receive it by email, go to:<\/p>\n –> http:\/\/www.scienceofbeingwell.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BE WELL! ™ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 28 June 2013 * * * * * * * * * * * * ISSN 1549-0017 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Dr. Alexandra Gayek http:\/\/www.scienceofbeingwell.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this edition … 1. Welcome! 2. Quotes for Healing: The Value of Diversity 3. Feature Article: Perfect Health: An Imperfect Ideal? 4. The Last Word:… Continue reading Perfect Health–An Imperfect Ideal?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-healing","category-love-and-relationships","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":917,"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions\/917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/happyhealthsystem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDr. Alexandra Gayek<\/p>\n