The “Miracle Doctor”
I can still recall my visits to our “miracle doctor” in Austria when I was a kid.
It had always been a big adventure.
First of all it meant a trip to another country, even though his private practice was just 1,5 hours away from my hometown Munich.
And second it meant being introduced to a bunch of “weird” treatments, which I found super interesting.
Nothing like the normal 10-minute examinations at my house doctor’s, which always resulted in the prescription of antibiotics or pills.
No, our “miracle doctor” always spent a lot of time with me, asked tons of questions, and used funny futuristic instruments, like a “bioresonance” machine, to not only examine the visible, but also the invisible. Fascinating.
In other words, he wanted to understand what was the root cause of my problems instead of just “covering up” the symptoms. As any great holistic doctor would do.
“If you focus on strengthening and balancing the body in a holistic way, the body will heal the symptoms itself”, that’s what he always used to say.
Holistic Medicine and Life Designing – the same approach to “healing”
Recently, while talking to a client, something in our conversation made me think of this “holistic healing approach” and how this relates to the concept of Life Designing.
When it comes to our own life, how often do we only focus on the “symptoms”?
The job we no longer want, the partner who stresses us out, the body or looks we want to change?
Yes, there’re quick fixes and cover ups for all of these symptoms: changing the job, leaving the partner, going on the next diet!
But if we’re not willing to dig deeper, if we’re not willing to do a comprehensive anamnesis of what’s truly going on, too often it all ends up in a relapse.
The next job isn’t the right one either. So isn’t the next partnership. And the old weight returned in a blink of an eye with the special bonus of two extra kilos.
So, what went wrong?
Well, let’s put it this way; by addressing only the symptoms and opting for a superficial cover up, we chose the “antibiotics”. And we missed out on activating our “self-healing power”.
Strengthen and balance your life – and it will heal itself
As soon as we start to see our Life Design as something holistic, we understand that we cannot have a tunnel view, focusing on one issue only.
Equal to the approach of a holistic doctor, we need to zoom out for a moment and enter a deeper assessment of all life areas. Our professional situation, our health and wellbeing, our intellectual wellbeing and of course our relationships.
Equal to the questions of a holistic doctor, we need to approach our current situation in a very special way: non-judgemental, unbiased, empathic and with curiosity.
Questions like:
When did I first noticed things are going off track? One incident or a slow process?
How was my life before? And how after?
Who else was or is involved in those changes? Did they play an active or a passive role?
Where do I feel changes? Physically, emotionally?
And so the list goes on…
None of these questions, taken separately, will lead immediately to an answer or solution.
But putting them all together, connecting the dots and maybe realizing non-obvious interconnections will help us to create a holistic picture.
And only then we’ll be able to see the root-causes of our current dilemma.
The “weak points” we need to take care of and strengthen.
Maybe it is the deep rooted frustration over stepping back professionally for the sake of the family life, which started to play out in the partnership. Or it’s a deep insecurity about a new work project or an un-manageable workload that started to affect our weight. Or it’s an unhappy or destructive relationship that drains all the energy for a professional life we used to love.
Balancing and strengthening those root-cause areas will, over time, start to shift and move the whole picture into a new light.
And we’ll start to see solutions and opportunities we couldn’t perceive before because our overall energy level was too low to even look around.
This is exactly what I mean by activating your “self-healing” power in regards to your life.
Strengthening and balancing your life from the ground up and seeing opportunities again.
Possible Side Effects?
Yes, I also need to be frank about the possible “side effects” of this holistic approach in Life Designing.
This approach might trigger your impatience because it is not about quick-fixes or instant gratification. Life Designing is about building a solid ground for a life you truly love.
And it might trigger your aversion to change. Because you might need to address or change things which you carefully ignored for a very long time.
But given all the benefits of Life Designing, I believe the “side effects” are negligible. Don’t you think?