What does it mean to be “well”?

It is ironic that in America, we use term “healthcare” to literally define a system whose sole purpose is to treat the sick In spite of spending close to twice as much per capita as other developed nations on so-called “healthcare” the U.S. has a lower life expectancy than peer nations and it is trending even lower. Although the life expectancy still remains high in the U.S. (75.8 years for men and 81.1 years for women), the question is, what kind of quality of life can the elderly expect in a nation growing sicker and sicker every year?

The truth is that capitalism and “healthcare” do not mix. Sadly, it is far more lucrative to treat sick people than to genuinely promote wellness. Even “wellness” spaces in America seem to only exist to sell high-priced ointments, supplements and snake oils.

But what if “wellness” doesn’t actually have to be that hard?

What if doctors, scientists and medical professionals have gotten one very specific thing right all these years? What if the one thing they all seem to agree on is actually the biggest key to well-being?

What if there is a singular driving factor behind almost all of the most common illnesses plaguing Americans today? Obesity, diabetes, anxiety, depression, cancer, an increasing number of mysterious autoimmune diseases, and the number one killer of Americans: heart disease.

What if the largest driving force behind all of these illnesses and diseases is, what we most commonly refer to as “stress”?

It seems like such a simple solution and yet it is incredibly complex. Is there anyone who hasn’t been told that their health would improve by “reducing their stress”? But what does that mean exactly? And if it’s so simple, why do we have such a hard time doing it?

I believe that human beings are comprised of four elements: mind, heart, body and soul. As much as some might try to deny it, we are emotional, physical, mental and spiritual beings. Yet in the Western world, we have distilled “healthcare” down to two elements: physical health (dealing with the body) and “mental” health. Some people may receive some kind of spiritual care through a religion, but religion in America seems to have largely followed “medicine” and “wellness” spaces, in selling high-priced “belief systems” that simply don’t work.

It is also ironic that the term “psychiatry” is the study of the psyche, which is a term once used synonymously with soul . Yet today, highly educated liberals will often mock those that seek spiritual counseling for what they consider to be “mental” health issues, while lesser-educated individuals in deeply religious parts of the country may be led to fear therapists or to believe that psychiatry is “pseudoscience.”

Everywhere we turn, we are sold high-priced solutions that don’t work and in many cases purposefully led away from many of the things that might bring health, healing and wholeness because someone can’t profit from them. Capitalism needs us to be sick and miserable to keep us seeking (and paying for) solutions to our misery and disease. And we just keep getting sicker and sicker.

I believe that the biggest problem plaguing Americans and much of the Western world is our disconnection from nature. Not just from grass and trees, but also the natural rhythms of the earth. Our bodies are meant to be in synch with the sun and the moon, not clocks and calendars. Nature provides times of rest and slumber (winter) and times of busyness and activity (summer), yet thanks to electricity, we largely live our lives at the same pace year-round. And then we can’t figure out why we can’t sleep at night (during the earth’s natural cycle) and why we are so tired all day.

We are meant to connect with the very dirt from which we come and to which we will return. We are meant to absorb nutrients from the soil that our food is supposed to be grown in. Nutrients that are stripped away in the processing meant to increase the profitability of food production. Nutrients that are not even present in the soil from which our food comes in the first place, thanks to the rampant use of nitrogen-based fertilizers.

But from the moment we are born, we are socialized into participating in the very system that is killing us. This “socialization” can also be thought of as programming. In other words, we act in certain ways as adults because we were programmed to act, think or behave in certain ways as children. Our most core “coding” is called our belief system and it doesn’t just apply to our religious beliefs. Every single thing action we take is driven by our beliefs about who we are and the “right” way to live.

To lead a slower, simpler life, we have to deconstruct the belief systems that drive our frantically-paced lives. We have to stop believing that it is admirable to be Superman or Superwoman. Some people have to stop believing that God wants us to do more, be more, achieve more for “Him.” We have to stop believing that more money or more stuff is going to make us happier. We have to stop believing that he who has the most money or works the most hours wins.

Most of us think we know what we believe and would give certain answers if asked, but what you say you believe and even what you think you believe is often not what you really believe. It is your actions, not your words, that are the most accurate indication of your true beliefs.

If you want to change your actions, you have to change the beliefs that drive them. The problem with changing our beliefs is that it is not as simple as just “changing our mind.” First, you have to learn to understand your beliefs through deconstruction, then you have to deprogram your beliefs the same way you were programmed in the first place. Only then you can develop your own value system and reprogram your beliefs to align with them.

Only then, can we live as we were intended to live.

And that, I believe, is what it means to be well.

Deconstruction is the first step in the process of deprogramming your beliefs and reprogramming them to be more in alignment with your own values.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

- Mahatma Gandhi