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Help your mind, body, soul with health care
Political Science Instructor
“What can I do to change things? It seems so impossible. I’m just one person. In fact it’s so overwhelming that I’m just going to try and live my life.”
I hear this everyday in some form or another. And indeed, we live complicated lives, in a complicated political and economic system, in a complicated world. We’ve all been focused on the national health care debate and have heard that “health care costs are skyrocketing” and witnessed the stories of those who are uncovered or dropped from insurance and bankrupt their lives over, oh say, a kidney infection. There are those individuals who organize, analyze, digest, and suggest and then try to get various policies implemented in a political system that is compromise-driven and contentious.
And then there are the vast majority who are not directly engaged in political change . . . but who are ALL affected by its outcome. It seems as though as individuals we are, well, powerless, perhaps even to the point where we don’t “get” the basic of the healthcare problem OR understand possible solutions.
So let’s approach the situation in a different way. Health is something that affects each individual intimately. It seems natural that we would “care” about it. In this context health care is something we can readily understand. The next step is to personally define health. I would define in terms of body, mind, and soul. I would define care as paying attention to body, mind and soul. In the ideal sense, it would involve paying enough attention to the body, mind and soul to make sure all those things are in good shape. This approach raises questions that ONLY individuals can answer. Body: What makes my body feel right? (Likely answers: eating good food, moving around a little bit, feeling energetic.) Mind: What makes my mind feel good? (Likely answers: Being intrigued by something, learning something new, having focus and interest.) Soul: What makes my soul feel good (Likely answers: contemplating life in a focused way; creating calm amidst a storm; creating moments of simplicity in a complex environment; engaging in shared moments with others).
Thinking about health care in the above ways empowers each and every one of us. You can try to focus on incorporating a little health in day-to-day activities. Example: I ate an apple, parked by the Child Development Center so I got in a little walk, and during my class break sat under a tree for five minutes and marveled at the fall colors. Even if you eat a brownie rather than an apple, you’ve hit two out of three. Granted, if you have cancer and have no health coverage such tactics may not go very far. But perhaps if we all individually truly focus on our own health each and every day, incidences of cancer will decrease, as well as our sense of powerlessness when faced with such a daunting issue as health care.
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