My Health Beliefs

The easiest thing in life is to surround ourselves with people who think exactly as we do. Certainly that minimizes our disagreements and our stress level. On the other hand, it may reduce our learning opportunities and limit our perspective to the known and the comfortable. Bottom line: less learning and less creativity.

When I choose a doctor or another professional to work with, it’s important to me that I know a bit about their philosophy and perspective. That helps me determine if we’re likely to work as collaborative partners or expend more energy discounting each others’ opinions.

If I am selecting a heath advocate to work with – for myself or a loved one – I want to know his or her thoughts about health and healing. I also want to have a good sense that our relationship can be productive, trusting, and helpful.

As such, I offer you a window into my beliefs. I believe…

– It’s important to find a provider whose belief system and approach are complementary to our own, someone we view as our partner in an on-going process.

– Each of us has our own beliefs about health. While it’s important to honor those, I believe there is value in keeping an open mind about new ways to achieve greater health.

– Each of us must take responsibility for our own health – diet, exercise, life-long learning, spirituality.

– We each need to serve as our own advocate, and remain an active, empowered participant in our own care.

– There is power in trusting our body’s innate ability to heal and in understanding the body/mind connection.

– Conservative approaches are best in non-emergency situations.

– Each form of healing, traditional and alternative, has its place and its value.

– Health and healing are on-going processes.

– Every health challenge offers an opportunity for greater awareness and growth.