“To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy.”
– Hippocrates, physician (460 – c.370 BC)
Time can be a healer, but time can also be a brutal force. The last month of 2024 has dawned. It feels like the year began only a heartbeat ago. Calendar pages flipped past faster than the blades of a fan. Time seems to be sprinting, not marching steadily.
So, let’s take a leaf out of Hippocrates’ book and do nothing for a few fleeting seconds, as a remedy for our tatty and torn souls. He managed to reach the ripe old age of 90, after all (of which 20 were spent in jail for the crime of penning the Hippocratic Oath). He must’ve gotten some things right.
At the end of 2024, we at Integrow Health are filled with gratitude. It was a roller-coaster year of loss (we bade good-bye to our beloved Martin), but also of growth. We are stronger now than at the beginning of the year. Here are some of our highlights:
- Carla joined our incredible team, making it even incredibler.
- We migrated to a more user-friendly web shop.
- We added more than 20 new products to our line-up.
- We redesigned our product labels.
- We had our biggest and best Green Week ever.
- We packed and shipped more parcels than ever before.
- Our error rate was the lowest ever.
None of the above would have been possible without YOU! Your support enables us to grow and serve more people with our wonderful products.
If you’ve been an Integrow Health customer for a while, you know that we’re not in the business of selling supplements. We are in the business of bringing hope. When you’ve reached the end of the line with Western / allopathic medicine and get told, “There’s nothing more we can do for you,” then Integrow Health’s products offer new hope for renewed health and vigour.
There is always hope. You just have to look in the right places.
But what is health? Health is more than a body free from disease. That isn’t possible for 99% of us, anyway. Health is a mindset and health is a network. Once we realise that our health is our responsibility and once we root ourselves in the right network, we flourish and thrive, even though our bodies may shrivel and wither.
A healthy spirit transcends a frail and failing body.
In today’s “Each to his (her) (its) own,” culture, isolation has become a virtue.
Jean-Paul Sartre’s statement, “Hell is other people,” is more popular now than ever. Mistrust rules. Love is the domain of fools. Fewer and fewer people undertake the hard work of building human relationships. Bonding with social media, robots, AI or Virtual Reality seems so much easier. Who needs humans anyway?
Narcissism is the new opium of the masses.
When focused on self, gratitude is little more than Narcissus on his knees. Being grateful for your own health or your own ability to get ahead of others is of no value. It is empty.
This is not what I mean when I talk about “taking responsibility of your own health.” Health is a gift to be shared, not a boot to trample on others. When we understand health as a network, not a possession, we can achieve health despite bodily restrictions.
Gratitude that does not overflow into generosity is of no use. Self-centred gratitude builds ever higher walls of mistrust, as we try to defend “our” health against possible attack. Whether you drink a handful of prescription medication or a handful of supplements, if you’re doing this as a way of protecting yourself against the “hell” of other people, you will wither in spirit, even though your body may thrive.
Who is your health network?
The people to whom you give your attention, time and resources.
Your health network is not a group of vendors or suppliers. Building a network of medical aids, gap cover, specialists and gurus to pamper your body will always fail. They’re in it for themselves, just like you. When push comes to shove, they shove off.
Building a network of people you love and who get the best of you – that is a sturdy health network. Of course, nothing is guaranteed. Some of those you love will kick you in the teeth. Yet if your network is large enough, these teeth-kickers will remain the exception. Since you were there for them when they were in need, chances are they will be there for you when you are in need. Caution: if you set out to build such a health network out of selfish motivation, it will fail. The strength of such a network is directly proportional to the amount of selfless generosity you pour into it.
This is uncomfortable and unpredictable. It requires sacrifice and vulnerability.
We are entering the Season of Giving. It has become terribly commercialised, yes, but why should that stop us from giving anyway? The most precious gifts are not material and cannot be measured in money. In the over-busy, pell-mell 21st century, two of the most valuable commodities we can trade in are trust and attention. Being generous with money is a walk in the park compared to being generous with your time and attention.
To paraphrase Hippocrates:
“To do nothing with someone you love is sometimes a good remedy.”
Time is fleeting. You can choose to slow it down by giving some of it away – for free – as an act of love.
Here is a last challenge for 2024: List the people you spent significant time with this past year. Then list those you want to spend more time with next year. Plan NOW to improve the time you spend with both groups next year. How can you focus more on them and less on yourself?
You will thank me later.
