Health Crisis or 'Wake-up Call'?
I recently had a fall while hiking in the Grampians National Park (Gariwerd). A favourite place of mine, I have been there many times and know the terrain very well. On the day of my fall I was completing the Wonderland circuit, the quintessential Grampians walk that starts at Halls Gap, winds up through rocky granite outcrops to the Pinnacle and back down by a different route to Halls Gap. I had tread that track many times and was usually very sure-footed.
However, this day it was raining on and off, the rocks were slippery and I had pushed myself hard to end the walk before the threatening large down-pour. It was very near the end of the walk (thankfully!) that I slipped on a wet rock and came crashing down on the rocky edge off the path, lacerating my leg and the left side of my face in several places. It happened in a flash and unfortunately the natural reflex to put my hand in front of my head for protection did not even have time to come in to play. Muddied and with blood gushing from various areas of my body I hobbled back to Halls Gap and on to Stawell Hospital to have my wounds stitched and attended to. Fortunately, there were no broken bones.
So, as I reminded myself that my body knew how to heal the wounds, I contemplated why I had created this situation and the resultant injuries. Personally I do not believe that accidents are accidents. Yes of course they are in our conventional understanding of reality – wrong place, wrong time, wrong foot on wrong rock and all of that; however, I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to it than just the prevailing physical circumstances. I believe there is a ‘bigger picture’ and I figure that it is a good idea to heed the wake-up call to hopefully prevent larger indicators from vying to get my attention.
Hmm, the left side of my face is my feminine side, ‘falling flat on my face’, ‘lost my footing’…
We can view crises, including our health challenges and accidents, as ‘wake up calls’ having a purpose beyond just ‘bad luck’. Crises have a purpose – and that it to shake us up, to uproot entrenched old patterns that no longer serve us. We are such creatures of habit that it often takes something beyond the ordinary to get our attention. It might be when the body says “enough!” Crises can be transformative and growth enhancing, as they flush out stagnant attitudes and ways of being. They make us alert.
Many people use their significant health challenges as the impetus to really examine themselves and their lives. Rather than go in to victimhood, they make changes that are health promoting and more aligned with their true values. We all know of individuals who, due to the experience of illness or an accident, re-evaluated their lives and patterns and went on to create much more fulfilling and heart-aligned lives for themselves. We are always a little bit wiser through the experience of illness, even when we could not overcome it and had no choice but to surrender to it. We are not accustomed to looking at the positive side of health challenges.
Our medical culture promotes ridding any symptoms in as expedient way as possible. That all has its place but it can be like taking the battery out of the fire alarm if we do not look beyond the physical symptomatology. That annoying noise will go away but meanwhile the fire will continue unabated. We can attend to the details (treating our symptoms, healing our wounds) while also looking at the underlying causation and the more expansive symbolic picture.
Of course one does not have to wait for a crisis to occur to bring about positive change. There are less traumatic and more elegant ways to embrace the changes that might be necessary to optimise our health and promote our growth. However, crises are designed to get our attention when all else fails, so best to take time to utilise a little introspection when they occur.
Dr Catherine Fyans is a holistic medical practitioner/conscious health facilitator and the author of The Wounding of Health Care: From Fragmentation to Integration