I am inspired by the following words from two totally different perspectives. The theme of both is empowerment: “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” It is time to take personal responsibility for making our own lives what we want them to be. This is a crucial part of the doctor-patient relationship. Stop waiting for a super hero to come and save the day. In order to become and stay healthy using naturopathic or any other form of medicine, you have to be willing to consistently make .

It is actually exciting and rewarding to commit to making a healthy lifestyle change and sticking with it. This is made easier with support from friends, family, your doctor, your community, good music, poetry, art and nature. By surrounding ourselves with others making healthy choices, we can make our own lives better as we help others do the same. We can reward each other and ourselves with healthy activities when we reach even small goals. It is important to celebrate often to stay motivated. Living well is fun!

When I find my own personal motivation flagging, I find from all kinds of sources. The writings here are my two current favorites:

    Attributed to an unnamed Hopi elder:

“Where are you living? 
What are you doing? 
What are your relationships? 
Are you in right relation? 
Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to each other.
 And do not look outside yourself for the leader… There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from you attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

    for South African Women

Our own shadows disappear as the feet of thousands
 by the tens of thousands pound the fallow land 
into new dust that 
rising like a marvelous pollen will be
 fertile
 even as the first woman whispering
 imagination to the trees around her made
 for righteous fruit 
from such deliberate defense of life 
as no other still
 will claim inferior to any other safety 
in the world
The whispers too they 
intimate to the inmost ear of every spirit
 now aroused they
 carousing in ferocious affirmation
 of all peaceable and loving amplitude 
sound a certainly unbounded heat
 from a baptismal smoke where yes 
there will be fire
And the babies cease alarm as mothers 
raising arms 
and heart high as the stars so far unseen 
nevertheless hurl into the universe
a moving force 
irreversible as light years 
traveling to the open eye
And who will join this standing up
and the ones who stood without sweet company
 will sing and sing
back into the mountains and 
if necessary
 even under the sea:
We are the ones we have been waiting for.

from Passion: New Poems, 1977-80, by 
 copyright 1980 June Jordan 
re printed with permission of the June M. Jordan Literary Estate Trust

Margaret Philhower, ND
www.drmargaret.org