Life Is Your Best Medicine by Tieraona Low Dog M.D

Author:Tieraona Low Dog, M.D.
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781426209611
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Published: 2012-09-03T21:00:00+00:00

Because we get sick for different reasons, we must treat the body, mind, emotions, and spirit as an interconnected whole. This is the foundation of integrative medicine. When a woman comes to my office for her first visit, I spend an hour listening to her story and asking questions that allow me to understand who she is. It’s just as important to know about her friends, family, dreams, faith, beliefs, diet, exercise habits, and sleep patterns as it is to know about her high blood pressure, depression, and fatigue, because all these things are intertwined.

I also tell my patients to remember that getting sick is something we experience—it’s not who we are. Although it’s a part of us, it doesn’t define us. One of the lessons that illness teaches, if we are willing to listen, is that balance and harmony are the keys to health and the paths to healing—balance in our approach to life and harmony in our relationships with the world around us. Healthy food, physical activity, and managing stress are fundamental to our physical health; nature, beauty, art, literature, and music can help heal our mind; and relationships, faith, contentment, and gratitude can provide sustenance to our spirit. When our life is in balance, we experience well-being, even in the face of disease.

Carl Jung said, “He who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” I believe that getting sick often forces us to look inward, and if we allow it, illness can help us awaken to our true self.

When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, my mind wrestled with all the “why me? why now? why this?” questions. I’d always eaten a healthy diet, watched my weight, didn’t smoke, and exercised regularly—all the things you’re supposed to do to stay well. But I’d also maintained an unhealthy workload for decades. Although very happy with my work and career, I’d worked 60 to 70 hours every week for years on end. I never used all my vacation days, forfeiting weeks at the end of every year. I was healthy, so I seldom took a sick day.

Looking back, I realize that I wanted to be everything to everyone all the time: a great mother, great wife, great physician, great daughter, great friend, great supervisor, great teacher, great speaker—not good, not OK, but great. I was strong, smart, and hardworking. I’d been told I could have it all. And I could, we can—but at a price. Do I believe I caused my cancer? No. Do I think my workload affected my health? Yes. When I learned I had cancer, I knew things had to change or I’d be dealing with another illness in the future, perhaps one much harder to treat.

Being sick shifted the way I looked at my life, my work, and my family. It made me prioritize what was important. Whether I lived for one more year or another 50, how would I want to spend that time? I’d always made my children a priority, followed closely by my career.

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