During the last class of this year’s yoga and meditation vacation in Paros, I spoke to students about the concept of “well-being” and how the word is a source of irritation for me. Irritation has little to do with the word itself, but rather because there doesn’t seem to be any other word as commonly used when talking about self-care, and before Throwing the term “self-care” at me, I don’t like that term either.
The ways we are wired to 1) not do stupid things in life (and this is something we are trained to do from childhood when parental figures teach us how to be in the family system and subsequently , in the world), 2 ) obediently participate in the commonly accepted pathways and protocols of membership and participation in an economic system that is not, has never been and never will be designed for us to be healthy and well-being, and 3) let’s unthinkingly accept that the combination of #1 and number 2 listed above results in millions, if not billions, of people trying to financially and personally prevent themselves from “failing”, for fear of not being “good enough,” because just one part of the game of life is, frankly, harmful.
The term “wellness” (like “self-care) is so easily dismissed and relegated to the realm of granola, tree-hugging. And yet the word “wellness” is only used in modern times to illustrate how harmful the commonly accepted lifestyles and protocols of an industrialized society are, how they make us sick, how ingrained they are in discomfort and contribute to it. . Playing the game of life only to compete and emerge victorious will kill us. In fact, that’s already what he’s doing. The stress and fatigue that comes with worshiping the false idols of money and power is deadly. Sometimes eliminating us like sharpshooters, other times slowly poisoning us until the disease silently, insidiously takes over, doing no bullshit while trying not to lose the material things we acquired in times of abundance is what will kill most of us.
Instead of “well-being”, why not use words and terms like “rebellion”, “rejection”, “disruption” or even “agility and resilience”? I work in the agility and resilience sector. The rebellion industry, rejecting most of what was attempted to convince me to remain stupid and hardcore so that some powers that be, powers rooted in financial gain, could make money from my existence. My job is to disrupt archaic systems that were put in place centuries ago by those who could rise to power by subjugating anyone who didn’t look or sound like them. I am an agility and resilience coach.
I know, I know, we will continue to use terms like “wellness” and “self-care.” But please, let’s remember that the only reason we use these terms is because they appear with their opposites, “disease” and “self-neglect.” These are terms that define the very heart of our societies and that we allow to define our lives. when we refuse to take care of ourselves, our mind, body and spirit, instead striving until illness reigns and vitality diminishes.
Take care of your mind. Take care of your thoughts and control them, understanding just because you think something doesn’t make it true or helpful. Take care of your emotions and welcome them all instead of trying to suppress or ignore them. Take care of your physical body so that if it gets injured, you can bounce back faster. In fact, take care of everything so that when you get hurt, you can bounce back faster. Rebel against stupidity. Reject the way everyone seems to accept misery and unnecessary suffering and choose new paths, new paradigms, new perspectives. Disrupt whatever systems you think need to be disrupted, in whatever way you consider to be an honest and authentic expression of what you believe to be true. Stay agile and resilient so you can weather inevitable changes. Take care of yourself. It is more difficult to achieve this than to allow misery, unnecessary suffering and disease to become a part of it. But be careful because, as my late grandmother Lillian Berlin taught me, “no one will do it for you.”
Take care of yourself.
