Meeting Aesclepius

When I began to listen this week and had to picture a wise person before me, I think I had a mixture of Jesus and an Indian shaman. I tried very hard to envision this person, but I was having some pretty severe joint and back pain and try as I might, I couldn't focus on anything but how bad I was hurting. I do think that by the end of the tape I had actually let go of some of the pain and was better able to focus.
I have made myself a routine now of going outside each evening around dusk to walk in the park by the creek. It has very much helped me to meditate in the calm and quiet of nature. I come home feeling refreshed and I have had the added benefit of exercise. This is a routine that I will continue and try very hard to foster into one that will help to improve my health and wellness.
I think the saying "one cannot lead another where one has not gone him or herself" means that until we have experienced our own inner peace and had attained health and wellness through our practices, we will not be able to help others reach the same level.  Being a health care professional means that we have to be open to our patients feelings and attitudes on wellness and health. We must listen with an open mind and an open heart, keeping in mind that others have different beliefs than we may have. We do have an obligation to develop our own health psychologically, physically and spiritually before we can expect it of our patients.
I once had a physician who would sit behind his desk at each visit I had with him and rant and rave about how much I needed to loose weight. He must have tipped the scale at 350 himself. It irritated me to no end that he could sit there and lecture me about my weight and he looked like he was 9 months pregnant. How dare he!!  I finally had enough of it and after politely telling him how I felt about his comments and his own weight, I found another doctor.! Incidentally, about 8 months later, he dropped dead in the parking lot of his office, from a massive coronary.