So Have You Worked Out Why You Were Spared?

This seemed like an odd question to have asked of me around 4am by a night nurse I’d never seen before and didn’t see again. I was recovering from serious surgery and an illness that might well have killed me. As far as I was concerned the illness struck without warning and was undeserved. Curiously, I felt that my formal entry to the world of coaching some years before had indeed awakened a realisation of my purpose. My work was helping people to find their way forward through difficult circumstances, reducing stress, improving communications and promoting organisational learning. So what was missing?

Over the next year my health improved, my wounds healed and I regained the weight the fever had stripped from me. Then in 2009, most unexpectedly, I fell in love.  Suddenly I was transported back 25 years, filled with excitement, hope and total infatuation. There was something incongruent about a balding middle aged man being so smitten with a beautiful woman 7 years his junior. But that summer was wonderful and made me want to turn the clock back as best I could. I wanted to live really healthily and avoid any repetition of my hospital experiences. As I searched the internet for answers it slowly emerged that my previous ideas of healthy living were quite wrong. For years I had rode the cultural conveyor belt of the ‘vertically sick’. It now seemed strange that I hadn’t been ‘horizontally sick’ long before.

The relationship didn’t last but it was certainly a landmark in my life. It caused me to look at an even bigger picture than I’d previously considered –at the interrelationship between the physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of our existence, - at the meaning of life itself. My blog pieces are intended to share my perspectives on health in its widest sense, beginning with the individual and extending to the wider context of workplace and community.

So why might anyone be interested in Action Centred Health?  Let me ask another question. - How important is it to you that you enjoy good health and vitality in every aspect of your life – personal, organisational and social? To me it is sufficiently important to have adopted a lifestyle that has reversed a pre-diabetic condition, shed 23lbs, reduced blood pressure from 170/110 to 130/80 and dramatically improved a threatening cholesterol profile, all without medication. To the extent that we move away from the Sick/Not Sick paradigm toward optimum health so we will improve every aspect of our lives. I want more than purely survival, I want life to the full.

This is not about perfection. It’s not about turning back the clock or denying our experience.  It is about celebrating who we are and achieving all of which we’re able from the very real circumstances that we’re in. It’s about creating the work environments that stimulate our creativity and best efforts. It’s about building homes and communities that nurture and through which we find fulfilment. It’s about living in sustainable ways so that we pass on a world that future generations can enjoy. So think big and live courageously. As Ghandi put it – ‘be the change you want to see in the world’.

I’m on a mission to contribute to a better world. One that John Lennon sang about, one that challenges us to be our best. Suddenly life appears too short yet totally wonderful. Perhaps this is why I was spared. What about you?

© Paul Curran, August 2011

Inflammation

This last week the UK has been shocked at the impromptu rioting, looting and arson breaking out in major cities and towns. People’s homes have been burned, businesses looted and gutted and police taunted by marauding crowds of youths, some as young as 9 years.  In Birmingham 3 young men were murdered by a hit and run driver as they stood protecting their locality from attack. There is widespread consternation at why some of the country’s youth is determined to score an ‘own goal’ against society and anger at the wanton disregard for societal norms and values. Understandably, Parliament is debating the situation and measures for containment.

Theories abound on the causes of the rioting and on what should be done to prevent it occurring again. There are inevitable calls for stronger policing tactics and a higher police presence on the streets. Of course emergency measures are needed to tackle the acute situation. Already there have been multiple arrests and 24 hour magistrate court sittings to process offenders. Water cannons and plastic bullets have been approved for use on the UK mainland for the first time. Is this the answer? What can nature tell us about minimising the risk of spontaneous public order breakdown?

The human body has developed elaborate defence systems against infection and we can do well to examine their relevance to the societal situation. Firstly the skin forms a very effective barrier against infection. Secondly white blood cells are summoned to counter any foreign bacteria detected. Macrophage cells absorb the neutralised intruders and store them away from normal blood flow. While these defences are effective, even they have limitations. Chaffed skin breaks the seal. White blood cells may not be available in the right quantity. Macrophage ‘imprisonment’ causes arteries to gradually narrow raising possibilities of thrombosis or infarction. Some of the most serious conditions arise when the body’s defences turn on themselves in an autoimmune response. Analogies can be drawn to all of these situations.

We might liken the outer skin barrier as a fundamental expectation of society for the behaviour of our citizens. This is instilled through the simple disciplined living of family life. White blood cells are equivalent to community police, regularly patrolling to uphold the law and intervene as required. A basic police presence provides maintenance of lawful society, civil reassurance and order. The macrophage level response is like the prison service, locking away offenders until they can be readmitted to normal society. In a healthy body rehabilitation happens through the action of HDL cholesterol which ensures that macrophages do not cause foam cell build up and that the arteries remain clear. Similarly prison programmes which help offenders to gain skills and change behaviour allow such individuals to rejoin society and make a contribution. The more serious autoimmune situation, symptomatic of a very sick country, is seen today in Syria. There the government seeks to suppress dissent against authoritarianism by sending in the army to attack its own people.

While it is necessary to have defence against life threatening situations, it is vital that society responds in a measured and appropriate way to the threats it faces. Intensive ongoing policing would be the societal equivalent of arterial inflammation with an inevitable slide into cardiovascular disease or heightened public tension. What we need is an attitude of communal endeavour where everyone has a role to play and everyone’s contribution is valued rather than a self centred individualism that leads to wanton greed, exploitation and suppression by a controlling elite.

Transfiguration

In the Catholic tradition the feast of the Transfiguration, celebrated on August 6^th , tells the story of how the true nature of Christ, as the son of God, was revealed to his apostles during his life. After the event Jesus instructs them not to tell anyone of what they have witnessed until after his resurrection. What value might this story have in a secular world?

There is an ancient Chinese saying – ‘when the student is ready the teacher will appear’. This speaks of man’s tendency to focus on things of immediate interest to the exclusion of a deeper level of understanding that only life experience can bring. There comes a time when the wider context of life becomes visible and the student’s curiosity is awakened.

To me these stories come to realisation in thinking of our societal structures in terms of the human body. No matter what one’s cultural heritage, land of birth, standard of education or material wealth, every human being plays a unique role in the great cycle of creation. Every cell in the body has a role to play. Every person in creation has the gift of life and a purpose to fulfil. We become absorbed in the minutiae and pressures of daily life so that we are unaware of or unreceptive to this uniqueness of purpose, this spiritual imperative to shine and contribute our light to that of the entire brotherhood of man.

John Lennon was a free and far-sighted thinker, a challenging voice against the social and political institutions of his day. He was much maligned during his life for his ideas, his contempt for authority and his influence on a generation. Two thousand years earlier Jesus was an unpopular figure, he was put to death. In their unique ways each challenged the status quo. Each had the audacity to shine their light on the world and to point to the oneness of creation.

Why must the uplifting message of healthy living be suppressed?

Why organisational departments, or indeed nations, fight for supremacy as though one organ of the body was more important than another?

When will our perspective of our true nature be transfigured to a glorious appreciation of the common soul.

Could it be that one day ‘Imagine’ will find its way into a hymnal for humanity?

© Paul Curran 6^th August 2011