HOLISTIC HEALTH
By
Dr. Robert Puff
Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D.
2436 West Coast Highway, Suite 103
Newport Beach, CA 92663
http://www.SuccessBeyondYourImagination.com
© Robert Puff 2011 – All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced without written permission of the author.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0526-1
INTRODUCTION
The phrase “holistic health” means creating a balanced lifestyle by treating the whole person. The term was coined in 1926 to describe the direct connection between physical illness and the mental, emotional and spiritual self. For centuries, Eastern medical practitioners have embraced the belief that a person can’t be truly well unless both the mind and body are working in harmony. But it’s only during the past several decades that the effectiveness of holistic health has been recognized by countless American health care providers.
Why is understanding holistic health so important? Because if any one of the components that make up a healthy person breaks down, it affects the entire being, not just the disrupted part of the person. It’s like your car. The parts have to work together in harmony to make it possible for you to drive it. Start the engine, release the brake, and put the car into gear. If anything goes wrong with, say, the steering, the entire car is in trouble, even though that’s only one component of the entire car.
Let’s take that idea a step further, and use the analogy of an airliner. There are thousands of parts that make up a plane. When something major happens, like engine failure, you will probably crash. But even the smaller parts, like nuts and bolts, are essential to making the plane fly smoothly and, more importantly, land safely. The entire airplane must be maintained equally, not just the major, more visible parts.
Holistic health is like that. All of the parts of an individual, both external and internal, should be running smoothly, so that you don’t crash. Of course, the physical body must be in tune, but you need to keep the spiritual and emotional faculties that make up who you are “tuned-up” as well. Otherwise, there will be disharmony in your life.
Let’s examine holistic health from three different perspectives: the past, present, and future. How we comprehend each of these three elements makes up a different dimension of who we are. The first two, the past and the present, have had a direct effect on who you are right now. Your perception of the future also plays a significant role in the way you view the world and who you are as a person. I’ll explain more about that later.
The focus of this book, Holistic Health, is on the big picture. It is on understanding all of the many facets of our lives that need to be taken into consideration if we are to experience an overarching sense of health and happiness. Holistic Health is the foundation upon which everything else I have been teaching is built. In other words, each of the topics I have covered in other books, like Living a Peaceful Life, Anger Work: How To Express Your Anger and Still Be Kind, Meditation for Health and Happiness, How to Live a Positive Life, and so on, are a piece of the puzzle. Holistic Health, is a look at the puzzle box lid. It shows you the picture of the whole puzzle at once.
This book is broken into sections which each cover a necessary building block for achieving overall health and happiness. As I touch on topics that I’ve covered in more detail in my other books found on doctorpuff.com, I will let you know. If you haven’t already read these publications, and you would like more information about these subjects, please take the time to read any or all of them.
THE PAST
GENETICS VERSUS CONDITIONING
I generally stress the importance of living in the moment and not focusing on things that have already occurred in the past. The exception to this is when you are do healing work, like I discuss in my book, Anger Work. That’s when it’s necessary to examine your past in order to work out negative experiences or influences that may have occurred.
Actually, there are two things that have an affect on the kind of a person you have become in the present, as well as how you are living your life. First, genetics, or the genes that we have inherited from our ancestors, determine things like our hair and eye color, how tall or short we are, and certain behavioral traits. While some scientific studies show that genetics determine between 20% and 50% of who we are, I’m personally more comfortable with the lower figure of around 20%.
The second factor is conditioning, which means the way you were brought up and influenced by your parents or the other people who raised you. I believe that conditioning is far more relevant in determining our behavior than genetics. In fact, it’s my opinion that up to 80% of the way we act is established by our conditioning.
The reason I feel strongly about this topic is because giving too much credence to genetics conveys the message that we can’t change many of the things about ourselves that we would like to change. Some of you may have certain misconceptions about inherited traits – for example, thinking that because your father and his father before him had a bad temper, it’s an inescapable family trait. You have heard this since you were a child and likely believe that you have a short fuse because you inherited it. You excuse your behavior by thinking it’s in your genes, right?
Wrong. First of all, it’s possible that there is no genetic component to your temper issue. Much of who you are today was shaped by your upbringing. Secondly, even if there is a genetic predisposition to having a quick temper, it’s my experience that you can change most things about yourself. It may be a lot of work, especially when a particular behavioral pattern has been deeply ingrained in you since childhood. But it is possible.
Let’s look at some more examples of conditioning. Think about your family background. Was your mother a quiet person? Are you? How did your parents view money and possessions? Did you come from a wealthy or an impoverished family? Were your parents religious? Was that a big part of your family’s life? Was education important in your home? How about music? Did your parents play instruments? Do you?
By understanding your past and knowing who you are, you will be able to make effective and lasting changes in yourself. This is how you can get rid of those habits and characteristics that you don’t like, and keep the positive things that you do like.
A lot of people don’t want to deal with their past…which is understandable, especially when they lived through unpleasant experiences. But if you don’t address the negative things that happened to you, it’s like stepping on a rusty nail and covering it with a Band-aid. If you don’t clean it out properly, it can get infected. And if the wound is serious enough, it can fester to the point where it compromises the health of your entire body.
Emotions work the same way. You may think that your old emotional wound no longer impacts you. Unfortunately, it can have a lasting effect on your life, unless you acknowledge it and heal it. For example, the old emotional wound you have tried to bury may have led to a negative habit. As strange as that sounds, it’s true. Here’s an example of what I mean:
What if your parents were alcoholics, and your childhood was marred by bad experiences involving their drinking. By now, you may have already worked out the difficulties you experienced growing