They say that good things come to those who wait. I’m not sure I believe that since sitting around waiting usually doesn’t accomplish much. However, most good things do take time. In our hurry-up, get-it-now, no-waiting, fast paced world, it’s easy for us to get in a mindset of instant gratification. We expect to see results immediately, and if we don’t, we assume that the results aren’t what we were looking for.
When I was attending chiropractic college, I worked part-time as a smoking and weight therapist. Among other things, we taught people about why smoking is so addictive. Outside of the chemical addiction to nicotine, there is a strong psychological addiction due to the way in which smoking affects the body and makes you feel. Smoking can be both relaxing and stimulating simultaneously, both of which occur quickly, while you are still in contact with the cigarette. Other effects, such as anxiousness and fatigue, which are just as attributable to the tobacco as the previous effects, take a little longer, after the cigarette has been extinguished. Therefore, the mind gets programmed over and over that “when I am in the process of smoking, I feel good… when I am not smoking, I feel bad”. Get that into your mind a thousand times over and no wonder it’s a hard habit to break.
There are a lot of things in life that are somewhat like a tobacco addiction. Although we are blessed with the ability to reason and to look beyond the immediate situation, we are too often not much different from single-celled creatures – drawn toward pleasure, repelled by pain. Without conscious thought and determined purpose, we drift toward whatever feels good at the moment. However, since we are able to reason, when we take the time and effort to use our God-given intelligence, we can see beyond the moment and examine the consequences of our decisions. Therefore, we can exercise, knowing that it will give us strength and energy, although at the moment we feel more weak and tired. We can say no to that cinnamon roll that’s calling our name because we know that we’ll be healthier in the long run if we don’t give into that temptation.
Imagine a gardener plucking seeds back out of the ground or abandoning the garden simply because there was no harvest within a week of planting. Time itself accomplishes nothing. However, time is an important factor in virtually every process. We understand that. However, in life, it’s not always very straight-forward. Every time we try something new or change the way we do things, when we don’t see immediate results, we’re left to wonder whether we’re on the wrong path or if we just need to give it more time. The gardener knows approximately how long it takes for sprouts to appear. He doesn’t worry about it unless it goes significantly past a certain amount of time. However, in most new situations in life, we have no idea how long is too long. Healthcare is a lot like that. People get used to taking drugs where they often feel an almost immediate difference. So when they start taking nutritional supplements and don’t feel any difference for two weeks or more, they wonder if the supplements are doing anything. I’ll sometimes have people come in for treatment and if they don’t feel major changes in one or two visits, they feel like they’re wasting their time and money. Natural health takes time. Proper effort and patience will pay big dividends in the long run.
To sum it up, time does not heal anything. Only healing processes heal. However, all processes take time. Use your knowledge, intuition and inspiration to know what paths to follow in all aspects of your life. Then follow through, stick with it and give it sufficient time to allow natural processes to do their job and bring you the health, happiness and success that you seek.
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