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Take responsibility for your well-being — physical, psychological, and spiritual. Begin by forgiving yourself and accepting the parts of yourself you disapprove of. The cosmos is more likely to support those who are vigorously trying to help themselves rather than those who abdicate that primary responsibility.
We live in a culture that encourages us to turn responsibility for our physical and mental health over to others. The pharmaceutical industry prefers that we use their products to address symptoms rather than look deeper into our condition. Corporations bombard us with seductive advertising for food-like substances that are addicting and toxic.
Another toxic trend is for some people to continually talk about “healing” as if that should be their sole preoccupation and as if it were a task that could ever be finished. Everyone who incarnates here has been exposed to some trauma or another, beginning with birth trauma. An indefinite preoccupation with “healing” can become a selfish, neurotic tendency. When we have a serious issue, we should work toward functional transcendence, not making the ouchie go away forever. Many misunderstand what transcendence means. It does not mean we ascend above a problem into a divine etherealized state where we are forever free of it. Transcendence includes that which is transcended.
I’ll use myself as example. When I was twenty, just after I discovered the Singularity Archetype, I realized I couldn’t progress in understanding the deep psychology of the species until I had done more work on my neurotic complexes, so I undertook a formal six-year Jungian analysis. During that time, I had one psychologically revealing dream after another, exposing the nature of all the early childhood/family issues, etc. I would show up for weekly sessions with my analyst with a dozen single-spaced typewritten pages of the previous week’s dreams, notes, observations, etc. I worked through all those complexes in my personal unconscious so thoroughly that later, I would rarely dream about them because they weren’t unconscious anymore. That did not, however, mean that I was free and clear of those complexes. But I had functionally transcended them to the extent that I could catch them influencing me and moment-by-moment work toward not letting them control my actions or completely distort my vision. Decades later, that work is ongoing, and the progress is slow but significant. I wouldn’t say that I’m “healed” of all the violence, etc. inflicted on me growing up in the Bronx during its most violent era. I understand it, and it doesn’t dominate me while I focus on my life mission rather than trying to “heal” every last wound I’ve ever incurred. If I hadn’t been traumatized, I couldn’t create this oracle or do my other work, because I wouldn’t understand other people, therefore I would fail my life mission.
Focus on self-healing if you’re in a crisis with your trauma and can’t function or your issues are causing you to traumatize others. Otherwise, accept your lot of suffering and get on with it while you focus on contributing to the world.
Take responsibility for your physical health because nobody else will unless you are wealthy and powerful enough to have your own team of doctors, nutritionists, and personal trainers. If you are fortunate enough to have health insurance and a doctor, that doctor is not responsible for your health. They have far too many other patients and can see you for occasional short visits. View all doctors, specialists, etc. as sub-contractors working for you. Research your conditions and ask health professionals informed questions. Don’t let strangers into your body. If a doctor prescribes a drug, research it and be sure you understand the risks. Read food labels carefully, and make prudent judgment calls about what foods, drinks, and intoxicants you allow into your body. It’s unlikely that pills or surgeries will heal you while you just passively go along with the program. Functional healing requires that you be an empowered participant in the process.
Don’t be unduly influenced by any one medical/nutritional study or news story related to health. When my mom was a peer reviewer of scientific studies at the University of Pennsylvania, she said “Every scientific study I reviewed had flawed methodology. Except the medical ones,” she added. “They all had ridiculously flawed methodology.”
Here’s what we do have true consensus on: processed food is bad, and exercise is good.
Eat actual food, not food-like substances. When you’re eating actual food, you can usually see the once-living substances the food came from.
I wish I could still run twelve miles a day like I could when I was in my twenties and thirties. What people don’t tell you about exercise is that when you get older (66 when I’m revising this card in 2024) exercise becomes even more important. My creative work — mostly writing — is at the center of my life mission, but to keep that life mission going, I need to spend almost as much time every day doing cardio, core strengthening, etc., or I would lose the vitality and cognitive functioning to do the creative work. If I’m neglecting sleep, nutrition, and exercise, I’m failing my life mission. But if I went on some ridiculous, morbid “anti-aging” crusade and made those things my sole focus, I would also be failing my life mission.
Consider this an auspicious time to take greater responsibility for your well-being.
