Untangling the Health Narrative: What If We’re Starting in the Wrong Place?

During Mental Health Awareness Month, I can’t help but reflect on how we operate as a society. Humanity seems decidedly busy taking action based on historical norms and behaviors—and I can’t help but think that we are tackling some of our biggest challenges from a very myopic and limited point of view. Based on some quick research, while some reputable medical journals have conducted interesting studies with intriguing findings around the health of monks when compared to the general population, there seems to be an opportunity for more in-depth research around medical outcomes and modalities.

I am not a medical expert, nor a mental health professional. I am just someone who tends to look at patterns, questions the validity of what is habitually done when it doesn’t create the intended outcome or impact, and isn’t afraid to challenge the norms with limitless “what-ifs” from a broader lens that integrates concepts across philosophy, psychology, the wisdom of nature, religion, cultural traditions, and scientific exploration.

As I reflect, I can’t help but think we are souls having a human experience—and that we get it backwards when we focus health modalities toward the body and mind. I use this example a lot, but those are the branches of the tree. The root, however, is the soul. Our health comes from that at its core. If you are doing things that are in congruence with the health of your soul, the body, mind, and heart will fall into place. If you are feeding your soul, you won’t do things that are bad for your health—figuratively and literally.

Your soul wants to get back to unity, love, and authenticity—your highest vibrational frequency, your purest energy state. Unity within self. Unity with others. Unity with the universe. Everything, at its core, is energy, and any lack of harmonious and symbiotic relationship with its purest form creates friction and, eventually, the resounding domino effect—given enough tension—of a proverbial sore.

So how does that affect how you show up in the world? For example, if your soul isn’t at peace, you carry extra weight on your body as external validation of the internal baggage you need to release. It can show up as angst toward others—a reflection of what your soul is trying to mirror, which is not mentally aligned with you. Your soul is seeking ways of wholly integrating exactly who you are and who you were meant to be—authentically expressed. And anything that shows up in your body or mind as a challenge should be interpreted as a warning signal of not following your heart—a red flag, if you will.

Your soul is stretching and pushing for complete acceptance and alignment with yourself and the universe around you. You are both you and we—they are completely intertwined and entangled. Have you ever tried to untangle a knot, and every time you pull the wrong thread it gets worse? That, in its simplest essence, is what you are doing when you fight against your soul’s truest essence and calling. And until you release the proverbial knot, it will continue to constrict—until you free it.

Listen to your heart, the signals of your body, pull the right thread, and find peace in the untangling and unfolding. Life is both art and science—and should be treated as such. It is not linear—we make it messy, layered, and complex by our own designs. But at the base of it, we can make it elegantly simple by exposing and nourishing the root.

So experiment with me—allow yourself the freedom to explore your own self-inflicted boundaries with limitless “what-ifs.” Let awe and wonder lead the way. Be open to the possibilities that can arise. Perhaps we can change the world together. Worst case, I can assure you that you will change yours.