In our fast-paced modern world, it is easy to get swept up in the business of daily life. Most of us are running from task to task, barely keeping up with our email, trying to make ends meet, perhaps even with a sense of guilt that we’re just not measuring up.
How often do we give ourselves the opportunity to pause and connect with a sense of life purpose or meaning? To ask ourselves: why am I here? To do this may feel foreign or uncomfortable; stress and apathy may cause us to reactively turn away from the notion entirely.
Yet deep inside we all yearn to be happy, to be healthy, and to feel whole. This deep yearning leads us to consume what is commercially available, purchasing whatever promises to deliver us there, or promises another high, another escape, another hit of something better than our current state of stress and discontent.
While there are many legitimate medicines, herbs, supplements, diets, programs and technologies that can indeed assist us in our quest to be healthy, happy and whole, there is one ingredient for lasting health and happiness that can only be discovered within. It is an essential ingredient – yet one that cannot be bought or otherwise acquired – because it exists already, within you, waiting to be remembered.
Ever ask a flower why it is here? What is its purpose? The seemingly obvious answer is, to be a flower! A particular kind of flower, growing in its own particular way. Could it be so simple for we humans, too? That we are here, to be uniquely ourselves?
When you think about it, there is no one else out there but you who can be you. You are as rare as a snowflake, and as fleeting; “as common as a field daisy, and as singular” (as one of my favourite poets, Mary Oliver, writes in her poem When Death Comes).
So if we consider that our purpose could be to simply BE ourselves, this begs the question: who and what ARE you? It may be tempting for the mind to concretize and fixate on a rational answer “well, I’m Devon Christie, I’m a human, I’m female, I’m a doctor, I have a body, a mind, etc. etc.) – but in my own searching I’ve found that actually, deep down, I am none of those things. While there is a level of truth to each label, there is a static and lifeless quality that comes with hanging my hat on any one to define who and what I really am. On the flip side, uncovering a true inner knowing of the many beautiful facets of who and what I truly am has been the richest, most meaningful, healing and miraculous journey that continues to improve my life, every day.
No one can tell you or otherwise give you this knowing – even though you can read many different ideas and descriptions, particularly in spiritual literature. In the end, it cannot be intellectualized, but must be felt: in the heart, in the bones, in the gut, and beyond.
“Beyond” is one of the Six Pillars of Whole Human Health. This pillar encourages us to expand beyond what we know or think, about ourselves, life, and existence, and provides a starting place, or the next step, in this journey of inner discovery.
Come join us for Functional Medicine 2.0 – Whole Human Health this September 6-11 at Hollyhock Retreat Centre. Here you will learn more about the Six Pillars of Whole Human Health, and experience the ancient practices and modern technologies that will help you to take the next step living and being YOU!
