Our culture is enamored with creating labels; with labeling things in general. We can’t simply appreciate something in nature, generally we have to name it, dissect it, overcomplicate it, judge it, and so forth.
We do the same thing with our bodies. These vessels of life, these biomachines that we travel throughout our life in, our modes of transportation. The Western philosophy of the body has reduced this majestic miracle of nature and of the universe into a piece of machinery to be taken apart the way we would disassemble a car and look at the parts. We often fail to realize that everything works together in the body...all the systems are intertwined in energetic fields and infinite functions.
And, as our nature mandates it seems, we must label it in various ways.
In my health coaching career I have sometimes had to break the mental patterns of people, or at least help them to do so themselves, by assisting them in removing the labels they have of themselves. Here’s a great example:
A person who drinks too much and then quits often times will go to AA or other therapies, and henceforth will refer to themselves as “recovering alcoholic”. This is a term that could be used for their entire lifetime and this is a huge mistake in terms of self-talk. Why? Because it insinuates that you still “have” a problem. You were an alcoholic, and now you are recovering for the rest of life.
Wouldn’t it seem a better strategy to just simply discard that old image of yourself and to create a new one, and help yourself grow spiritually in the process? I know its not that easy, but its much more empowering to shed the label. You’re no longer an alcoholic, now you are just you. And you are now a totally different person. That part about the alcoholism? A thing of the past. And it is much easier to program your mind to not live in the past than it is to constantly battle a label like “recovering alcoholic”.
And we do this all the time with diseases...someone “has” diabetes, ADHD, depression, anxiety, auto-immune conditions, restless leg syndrome, and so on.
The question I ask them to break the mental cycle is this: If you “have” this disease, then where did you get it? Who gave it to you? If you own it, as in “have“ it, then surely it came from somewhere outside of yourself.
This tends to trigger a thought process and mindset shift in people. At least it plants a seed. How does one “have” ADHD? The thought itself is actually ridiculous upon inspection.
Words are very important. They are spells. The self talk is one of the supreme tools for controlling yourself and your thoughts. Never tell yourself you “have” a disease.
Change yourself and shed the label. Personally I don’t “have” any disease. Do I have traits that may be construed as some sort of illness in some shape or form? Yes. But its not in my self-talk. And for that reason I don’t have the dead weight of all these labels. Every time you label yourself in some shape or form you add unnecessary weight and baggage to an already hectic life.
Drop the labels and you’ll be happy with what happens I assure you of that.