Why Do We Get Sick? What Stops Us from Getting Better?

You live in the now. You have never been to “then”. All your experiences of life are experienced in the now. Your body lives in the now and sends all that data to the brain. In fact the body and brain are not different. It’s all just one big brain.

When the body and brain live in the now. When they have no other thought than dealing with the now. They respond to the changing and dynamic external environment in real-time. That is their job. They evolved to survive. The mind and physical body are autonomous organisms. They will respond to whatever is happening and deal with any threats or events as they happen. They have been doing this since the dawn of time.

If such is the state of our bodies, they will flow in harmony with life. It may feel tried one day, but if it is present at that moment, tiredness is just part of life. It doesn’t fight with anything to become perfect. It just accepts any sensations as they are. It then also tells you what to do. Unfortunately, being stuck in the human circus, we often don’t have the time and resources to do this. The brain and body are busy. We just continue and ignore any signals. Why?

We gain weight, feel tired, have headaches, skin issues – these are all signals that the brain constantly ignores as you don’t end up doing anything. People who need to take care of their health, whose bodies are telling them through numerous ways. Pain, bad skin, depression and so on. All of this is continuously ignored by the brain. Why?

Memory.

Our brains have a strong memory of “health” and what health feels like. We have also been told what is good and bad when it comes to sensations and feelings. On the other hand, our brains also have a very strong memory of our lifestyles. These clash all the time creating friction and physical and mental sickness.

The body or mind, when in pain, is trying to tell you something. They are trying to sort out this however the brain is engaged in memory and thinking of some kind. It’s not totally here. Instead of focusing on what needs to be done now so that the rhythm flows, the brain has other ideas.

First, it thinks that you should not have that pain. It says that because it wants you to be this person who never feels pain. This person who doesn’t exist I.E. someone who never has pain. Who is just perfect all the time. Look, I agree someone who never has any issues is very healthy. However, if the brain is continuously comparing your current state with this blissful state, your mind and body will never be happy. There isn’t a continuous happy state if you stay in your mind – simply because the mind is programmed to understand pain and happiness. It only knows peace because it knows war. It knows this world of duality by definition. Hence both states will always exist. Without one, the other won’t exist.

So sometimes being in pain. Being sick. Being unhappy. Is part of the life phenomenon as our external environment changes all the time. But the brain comparing this state to an ideal state leads to friction in the brain. This leads to overthinking about the sickness and hence bigger problems.

By the way, this is all happening in the brain and you are observing it. So it is observable. Hence not you. This concept remains the cornerstone of all such teachings. If you can observe a phenomenon, like thinking and feelings, you are not “it”. You are the awareness and observation of it.

Secondly, there is a thing called lifestyle. I don’t mean, clubbing, drinking and eating out… I mean just human lifestyle. Eating three times and day. Drinking 4 coffees. Coca Cola. Sugar. Sauces. Cereals. Chips. Big portion. Sleeping 8 hours a day. Going to a restaurant. Catching up with friends. Hardly any exercise. Or a little. Work. Snacking. Being on socials. Sleeping at a certain time regardless of the activity of the day.

I am talking about a human routine. Things we do. Things we think we need to do every day. Things we continue to do, even when the automatic body and mind are telling the brain itself that we need change as this doesn’t work. For example, we have a routine to sleep at a certain time. This is only possible if your body is tired and ready at exactly the same time. Perhaps you didn’t move around enough one day. Why push the body to sleep and get agitated about it when it’s not tired? The body will sleep when it is tried. Go take a walk and come back – that May help!

When something is not working. Pain arises. Excess fat. Eczema. However, the brain has this memory programmed of how to be human. So we continue our autopilot lives. As that is how routine and life have been programmed into us.

Instead of listening to the needs of the body here and now, the brain compares the current state with another illusionary “ideal state” creating friction and annoyance. This leads to a whole new drama and compulsive thoughts which make us sick both mentally and physically.

And while all of that is happening, the mind continues to convince you to be a normal socially constructed human. So you don’t find a cure. You keep on doing the same things when the body needs rest perhaps. You don’t take action but pills.

Sickness lies not in the moment but in memory. If your brain is capable enough to listen to the body, it will do as the body demands and fix itself. The only cure to any sickness is to realise that this sickness of the body and brain are outside of your true existence and also that the brain needs to program itself not to keep pushing the body being “human” when it doesn’t need to be. It also needs to recognise that it’s part of life not to be perfect all the time.

Look at your bodies and minds. They are telling you something. Yet we continue to also listen to advice that we need to eat 2000 calories and day and whatnot. When the body is hungry, it will tell you. When it is tired, it will tell you. The brain needs to accept it and act on it. We need to interrupt this brain programming for the pain to end. We need to meditate to create a choice for the brain. To create new neural pathways so the memories of how to be a programmed “human” get diluted. We need to meditate to heal ourselves. Physically and mentally.