Biology as Metaphor

I’ve started doing this thing with my ailments…
(And everybody else’s.
Invite me to your parties. I’m fun.)

I spend my down time reading up on the mind, body, story and spirit connection.
I’m obsessed.
I’m into Gabor Maté. I’m into Caroline Myss.
I’m reading stories of Radical Remission by Kelly A. Turner.

The general vein of their work is that nothing comes from nothing.
Everything is connected.
Your body.
Your relationship dynamics.
Your upbringing.
The cultures you find yourself in.
Your job and how you feel about it.
Your stress levels.
Your support systems.
And what’s going on inside your body, has ties to what’s happening to and with the rest of you.

I find the whole thing fascinating.
The synergy of it all excites me no end.

..and so I have this thing I’m trying out. Where I am taking felt physical sensations and experiences and questioning them literally. Well…symbolically really. The line is a bit blurry. I think that might be the point. Metaphor…it’s about metaphor.

For example:
I have been having very heavy periods.
I lose so much blood that sometimes I faint.
I lose well over twice as much blood as the maximum amount you’re supposed to lose.
And my cycles started becoming very short. Which made me mad. Like I don’t know who’s in charge here, but you can take your 20 day cycle and shove it.

Now, don’t worry that I’m taking this too far into the woo woo realm (whatever that is). I’ve seen doctors. Naturopaths. I’ve read books and studies.
I understand the progesterone/estrogen imbalances that can be at the centre of the chaos. I understand the way iron can be both victim and perpetrator.
I use Anna’s Wild Yam Cream (Highly recommend!)
I took this amazing iron tonic for a while before they yeeted it. Yote it? Yate it.
…before the big guys punished the little guys for being successful and forced them out. I’ve looked up, down and underneath every avenue of both cause and remedy.

However. I started to wonder if there is a biopsychosocial connection going on.
Of course there is.
There always is.

Here is how I approached it…
I started asking myself - “Why am I bleeding more than I need to?”

Can you hear it? It’s like a magic eye book for your brain. Squint your ears a little.

Then I asked myself, “Why am I bleeding more often than I need to?”

Then I cried.
No revelation is complete without tears.

Today I told Jarrod I needed him to respond to the people in his inbox because it was physically hurting me that he’d left them waiting so long. Bleeding more than I need to.

I often worry that my two year old’s habit of slapping is somehow caused by my subpar parenting. Bleeding more than I need to.

Most days, I wonder how each of my siblings’ current challenges and insecurities could have been caused by either child or adult me. Bleeding more than I need to.

I battle with hyper-responsibility. I’m constantly taking on other people’s pain and challenges as something I need to personally remedy. I also take things that don’t need to be painful and use them to injur myself with. Like I said - I’m fun.

Bleeding more than I need to.
Bleeding more often than I need to.
A dysfunctional pattern. An other-functional pattern even…

Slappy McSmackdown and her Mumma.

If you are chronically fatigued, you might ask - “Where is my energy going?”
If your hair is falling out, you might ask - “Where and how am I losing parts of myself?”
If you have sore shoulders, you might ask - “What am I carrying that feels so heavy?”

I say this with a big sassy eye-roll (as if any of you would be silly enough to take me as your new physician) but - obviously this isn’t medical advice and don’t not get your stuff checked out and investigated.

It’s just something to ponder alongside everything else you’re doing.

Caroline Myss says, “Your biography becomes your biology.”¹
Gabor Maté has observed much the same phenomenon in his patients stating, “Our psychology and our biology are shaped by our life experiences.”
Our stories, relationships and our patterns become us, quite literally on a cellular level.

This way of looking at life as not only the container of our existence but interwoven into every aspect of our being, is good news.
Actually, sometimes it’s sad news.
Sometimes it’s confronting news.
But it means illness - chronic or otherwise - doesn’t fall from the sky.
Everything is a process. And we have the ability to effect change within our very organs and our inner ecosystem. That’s a deep dive that I’m not going on today.
Today we’re just prompting our subconscious a little.

What is it that’s giving you a constant headache?
Can you hear it?
Where are you struggling to release what you no longer need? (Constipation.)

There are intricate systems at play. These bodies are cleverly designed.
But just asking these little questions can help us to unveil more of our own picture.
A little piece of the puzzle. Maybe a big piece. Maybe the piece that has left you wondering, Why aren’t I getting any better? I’m doing all the right things!

Everything is connected. We are biopsychosocial beings and each aspect of our being affects the other aspects of our being. I hope this feels like an opening for you.

As within, so without…²

Much love,
Lysette

1. (Myss, 1996. Anatomy of the Spirit, pg 40.)

2. Hermes Trismegistus