by Marcel Hernandez, N.D.
Many, if not most, of the 3 billion people on the planet today seem so totally attuned to instant gratification that they find the thought of undergoing a process to reach a more attractive destination off-putting, unfair, and a near-abusive infringement on their free will and their right to do whatever they please.
In the form of my wonderful life partner, Dr. Connie, I’m blessed to be able to witness daily the tremendous fruits of a life of unrelenting, disciplined commitment to caring for our own health so that we can better care for others.
Next week, Dr. Connie will share the happiness and health benefits she and our office manager, Bridget, have reaped from their daily walking regimen. I’ll let the cat at least partway out of the bag – they’ve vowed to each other that they will walk 10,000 steps every single day.
Dr. Connie’s determination and tenacity inspire me, insofar as I tend to glide through life in a more insouciant manner. Even the pain of having a dislocated bone in her foot hasn’t slowed Dr. Connie down.
The lesson I take from her life is that we can never really achieve optimum health solely with pills, diet, or sporadic visits to the gym. A sustained, comprehensive approach to nourishing the three levels of our being is the ticket to vibrant health and happiness.
This is the essence of “holistic medicine.”
In the physical realm, exercise, diet, proper rest, and a targeted supplement program are the key ingredients.
On the mental/emotional level, things get a bit harder to pin down. But really, it all just boils down to making nourishing choices in our relationships, our work, our close and casual friendships, our media exposure, and the art, music, and leisure-time activities we choose to allow into our lives.
The spiritual level can seem even more misty and swirlingly evanescent than the emotional – yet it’s actually the most important, since it sets energetic patterns in motion that have a tremendous influence on our health, or lack thereof, at the lower, physical and emotional levels of our being.
Starting a spiritual practice is almost always difficult. That’s why we must desire it from the very depths of our being.
Open the faucet a bit, and there’s a trickle. Open it fully, and it gushes. It’s the same when it comes to an inner spiritual practice – once we’ve opened inner channels to a higher connection and it’s flowing in our life like a cheerful mountain stream, our self-defeating attitudes, ideas, and other limiting mental structures tend to be washed away.
The spiritual practices of all true paths are carefully designed by great souls for the sole purpose of enabling us to open portals for a higher happiness and contentment to flow into us and fill the spaces where dark limitations formerly cowered.
This is when the greatest healing at all levels of our being can begin. Unlike lesser physical and emotional healing practices, spiritual practices are more difficult to enter into and sustain, because we are never simply handed the results of spiritual transformation on a platter. As I noted, we have to long for them from our innermost depths.
Years ago, I told a friend that I was unhappy, and that I had no idea how I could open a door to let a higher spiritual energy into my life. I told him that if I didn’t want to pretend that I was opening the door, because I longed for a real change, not some imaginary, self-consoling set of airy ideas.
My friend startled me when he shouted, with great enthusiasm: “By all means – pretend!!”
When I began making the first, faltering steps to do so, a new reality began to enter my consciousness. I became aware that my former denial of spiritual realities was actually the real pretense, and that the true reality of my life was the flow of truth and real inspiration that had begun to flow in through the slowly opening door of my consciousness.
Like many new converts to the spiritual search, I then entered what I’m now amused to call my “butterfly life,” a period when I sipped from the nectar of many paths and teachings until I found the one that suited me most perfectly.
It was, in fact, a step-by-step PROCESS of gradual, steady growth that continues to this day. I’ve realized that the PROCESS is the most important thing – not that we reach our spiritual goals instantly or that we be handed them effortlessly, but that each small, determined step brings us incommensurate rewards.
Thus, I am grateful for the countless small and large blessings, and even for my painful stumbles over the years, because when I look back I can see clearly how each one revealed itself as a priceless stimulus to greater self-transcendence.
If you are moved to refine your life’s upward focus, Dr. Connie and I would welcome the opportunity to be of whatever help we can to you in your search. Also, we are in touch with several extraordinary souls to whom we can confidently refer you for advice and counseling.
For information about the services we offer at Pacific Naturopathic, please give us a call at 650-961-1660, or use the convenient Contact Form to get in touch, or follow the link to: Consultations – Pacific Naturopathic. Thank you!