You know how it goes when you're sick or injured. In the first place, you're not in your most resourceful state. It's hard to think clearly. You may not understand your situation well. And generally, you're scared - about what this problem means for your future, your quality of life, your ability to work and provide for your family - perhaps even your life itself.
When something's seriously wrong, it's natural - and smart - to look for help. Depending on what the problem is and your available resources, you may start with your family doctor, the emergency room, or even another trusted practitioner like your chiropractor.
Presumably, they'll do the best they're able to help you out. But what happens when their best isn't good enough?
Most health care providers are well-trained, compassionate people who desire the best for you. Honest. I know there are some shady characters in any field, but that's not our topic today. We're talking about what happens when a skilled person's best efforts fail to produce the result you want.
Over the years, I've listened to a number of very angry people go on and on about their doctor's inability to fix them. The conversation might go like this, "I went to the chiropractor before and he made my headache go away. I got another headache later, so I went back. He adjusted me but the headache didn't go away. I don't know why he wouldn't fix it! The pain was so bad!"
The basic underlying belief I'm alluding to is this: that the patient is entitled to be cured of whatever the problem is, and that the doctor who doesn't serve up a solution on the patient's desired timetable must be deliberately withholding it.
Let's think this through.
I have a number of questions for the patient who subscribes to that belief. Certainly I do understand your desire to be well and free from pain. However:
- What was your role in creating the situation you're in? (By the way, if you don't understand your role in the situation, you might find our Holistic Health and Language display helpful.)
- What was the doctor's role in creating your situation?
- Whose problem is it really, yours or the doctor's?
- If you drove your vehicle into a tree at 60 miles an hour, would you be angry with the body shop that couldn't fix the frame up good as new?
- Finally, what makes you think you should be entitled to be cured of anything? The US constitution, for example, grants its citizens the right to pursue happiness. It does not promise we'll find it, though many have. Doesn't the same principle apply to pursuing a state of good health? (By the way, healing and curing are two different concepts. Watch for that discussion in a future post.)
Rather than getting angry at your health care provider, I suggest another strategy. I'm about to use a highly-charged word that won't match every reader's belief system. Please adapt my suggestion to the form of spiritual practice that you subscribe to.
The strategy: pray for the doctor.
You want every advantage when you enter that exam room, surgical suite, or treatment setting. You can achieve a better result for yourself by empowering your health care provider than by blasting him or her with a wave of self-righteous anger. Things will go better this way, I assure you.
Those of you who have access to my book Word Cures will find a case history that illustrates this exact point on pages 68-69. (Click the link to check it out!)
Enjoy!
Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!
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