 One of the most difficult aspects of healing from a chronic illness or chronic disease or even just chronic low grade symptoms that keep happening over time is specifically the fact that it is very difficult to separate the symptoms from the person. So in this video I thought I would share something that I see clinically a lot and something that I've experienced that I think can help you if you're struggling with chronic chronic symptoms. Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hein, author of the health book Master of the Day and Doctor of Chinese Medicine. So before we jump into this video, there's a very important link right below this video. If you'd like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, you can reach out to my private practice below. And there's also a free download there for you for daily rituals that could potentially help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. So right below this video. There's this great quote that there are no incurable illnesses, only incurable people. Now I don't know who initially said it because it seems to be misattributed all over the internet. But specifically in terms of chronic illness, we're not talking about getting a urinary tract infection and you take antibiotics. What we're talking about is people who chronically are ill. And this isn't to blame or shame people who are chronically ill as if it's all in their head, but it is a very useful quote to understand the role that we play in continually being sick. So the reason I bring this up is because for many of us, we have these chronic patterns that end up continuing the same course that is what we've been on for a long time. So whether it is the allergies or whether it is the stuffy noses, whether it is the anxiety or the sleep problems, or it is the, I keep taking a job that's highly paid and then I burn myself out after three, four years and then I'm bedridden for a year. I mean, I had a patient that her mind's drive to make a lot of money, pushed her into these really high paid to $300,000 a year salary jobs and she would do them as a high paid executive for a couple of years, three, four, five years, reach such severe burnout that she was bedridden and couldn't work for several years. But because she had such an high income, she could afford to be at home. But then the crazy thing was a few years later, she would do it again. And then she did it three times by the time she came to see me. So all of us have these shared neuroses for lack of a better word, not in a, in a disrespectful sense, but almost these neuroses as in these quirky patterns that we keep finding ourselves in. There's a great quote by Dr. Leon Hammer that psychopaths recover faster than neurotics. Now I love this, this concept because what he was trying to illustrate is that the psychopathic approach to life is just screw it. I'm going to barrel forward, whatever, I didn't have a bowel movement today. I'm not going to stress, whatever, at a bad night of sleep, who cares? Whatever red spot on my face, it's not cancer, it's a freaking red spot. It's this very like laissez-faire, like just whatever, it's fine. Let me plow ahead and do what I have to do. Well the neurotic approach is, oh my God, that red spot. I definitely have leukemia, I definitely, no, that's weird. I definitely have cancer. My mom, remember my mom, oh, my dad, my aunt, aunt Sally, she definitely had it, or missing a day of bowel movements, or God forbid two days, I definitely have colon cancer. I don't, this is really bad. I don't know what's going on. This is, no, this is, I need to get purgative right now. I need to get x-lax, I need to drink six cups of coffee, or the little pains, aches and pains, my neck, or I got a zinger on the, you know, on my neck, or my low back, or my knee, I don't, something wrong, am I going to have a stroke? I smell burnt toast, am I having a stroke? Well the neurotic stereotypically is kind of the warrior archetype, right, where little things are big things, even if they're not. Sometimes little things are big things, and a lot of the time they're not. But I love this idea of psychopaths recovering faster than neurotics, meaning just think fundamentally the effect that these two states of consciousness, habits, patterns, and what it does to the nervous system, think about that effect it has in your physiology 100 times a day. If some little thing comes up and you're like, whatever, if it keeps happening then it'll check in on it, versus, oh my god this is really worrisome, this is really bad, this red spot is definitely skin cancer, just think what that does to your nervous system, hundreds of times a day. Now understanding that it is often our neuroses, maybe another synonym, a nicer synonym is our patterns, our habits, these are a little bit less pathologized or stigmatized, understanding how these patterns keep us sick, because fundamentally the first question is always why did somebody get sick? And the second follow up question that is also fundamentally important is why do they stay sick, right, and those are not always easy questions and answers. So neuroses, these patterns, these habits, these systems, these repetitive systems in our lives, loops are often why we stay sick. The loop can be as simple as the person who's on metformin for diabetes and yet they haven't changed anything about what they eat or any exercise. Well, you're going to guarantee keep yourself in that loop probably right up until the day you die, right, or the person who is like that high powered executive I mentioned, where whatever psychological driver is making her choose work that does not make her feel good, what makes her mind believe that making a lot of money makes her feel good. Whatever that pattern is, whether it's childhood, something with her father, her mother, scarcity, mentality, insecurity, self esteem, she gets from making a high income. That pattern is the root of her neurosis that makes her sick versus learning that maybe she can take a job that makes $120,000 a year with a 50 hour work week that's lower stress and it's sustainable. Or the pattern of maybe someone who is an excessive warrior and who every little lost night of sleep, every little misbalm movement, every little a campaign becomes a stressor that then carries over throughout the day. That can be a big problem for that person, because that pattern, that habit of worrying becomes a significant burden on their mental health and their nervous system health. So I think this idea of there are no incurable illnesses, only incurable people is very wise, specifically in chronic illness where the pattern continues and continues and there is a level of crinicity that is, regardless of what you believe, the crinicity may be a part of that actual illness. So understanding where our own patterns or habits are contributing to staying sick longer, I think is very, very important. And the best way I think to visualize this is purely what I'd referenced in other videos where some of us are wired more towards tension and worrying. Other of us are wired more towards laxity and maybe lack of motivation for lack of a better word. One is hyper rigidity, one is hyper laxity. So the hyper rigid person is more likely to be on it on the positive side, on the negative side to be way too on it and just cannot relax. And the lax person maybe should be taking more initiative to go to the gym or eat well or whatever it is to change. And on the positive side, they often have a very relaxed nervous system. So not likely to get worked up over things as much. Recognizing where we are on this yin and yang spectrum is very useful for healing and to break these patterns for good. So I think when it comes to healing from trauma and chronic illness, understanding our patterns of often I've put them into the category of neurosis, right, the excessive tension and worrying type and everything, the chicken little sky is falling kind of pattern is very common. But understanding where we are in that spectrum can be very useful to heal. All right, guys, all I have for today. Again, if you want to become a patient in Los Angeles, reach out to my private practice below and there's also a free guide for you down below on Chinese medicine that can help you. Two other videos for you right over there.