Lifestyle Skills
“Dr. Liao, can you prescribe a vitamin for calm and peace? Isabelle, a new patient suffering from sore teeth, facial pain, and headache, asked as we discussed how to unclench her jaws and unwind the tension in her head, neck and shoulders.
“Sorry, Isabelle. The relief you wish will not come from a bottle” I said “ Peace and calm depends on what you subcribe to far more than what I prescribe.”
“You mean I can’t just pop a few pills and get on with my life?”
“Your life as you have lived it is what landed you in my chair in the first place. You see, you are not only what you eat, but also what you think, what you do and how you perceive. So what you need is not just vitamin pills, but also lifestyle skills.”
“Lifestyle skills? What are those?”
“Just as not brushing and flossing can hurt you in the teeth so the lack of certain skills and habits can hurt you elsewhere in your body and mind.”
“Oh, I know what I need to do, but never have enough time or energy.”
“Body aches are not that different from tooth aches. Tooth aches come from a hazardous diet and poor dental hygiene. The same applies to aches of the head, neck, back and inside. They hurt from poor lifestyle hygiene. So what you need is not a vitamin pill as much as lifestyle hygiene skills for reinventing the well patient in you.”
“Reinventing the well patient” You mean I can trade in this achy body of mine without pills? How do I start?”
“Start by observing what you do to yourself, and listening to what your body is saying, then act on behalf of yoru muscles, joints, heart as you already do with your teeth.”
“This is really interesting.”
“Remember to cure the patient as well as the disease”
-Dr. Alvan Barach
On November 12, 2010, in Chairside Chats, by admin