When I was 14, I sat next to my mother and on the other side of a large desk was the gastroenterologist who said he was going to put me on prednisone, and if that didn’t work, take my colon out.
I had developed ulcerative colitis along with a long string of other health problems after coming down with mononucleosis. My mother had already taken me to 12 other doctors and none had been any help. This was one of the most important transformative moments in my life.
On the way home from the doctor’s office, I asked my mother to drop me off at the library. I needed to better understand what was happening to me. I introduced myself to the librarian and asked for her help. She was an angel and took the task on with vigor finding references to help me understand my condition.
She found a book called The Stress of Life by Hans Selye, a French Canadian endocrinologist. From this work, I understood the need to control stress to heal.
I took 3 sheets of paper from a legal pad and put a header title on each for each type of stress – physical, chemical, mental. I listed all of the stressors of my health and then made a list of what I could change.
I told my parents how I needed to eat, sleep, breath, think, and exercise and my parents thought that I’d lost my mind. But I healed from the post-viral chronic fatigue immunodeficiency syndrome from which I’ve been suffering.
These actions, in large part, came about from reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius at age 14.
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Because of my illness, I was forced to learn what would heal me. My illness was a gift that has served me my whole life and, through the lessons learned, served others.
We tend to look at challenges in our lives ineffectually. We look at the problem and not the solution. We look at our suffering and the challenges, but not the opportunities. We tend to wish our problems away when what we need is to look for the insight within the problem/challenge and take action.
There is an archetype from Hinduism known as Ganesha. This elephant-headed “god” is known as the creator and remover of obstacles (no, I don’t believe there is a Ganesha god other than as a mental construct). Ganesha is also associated with intellect and wisdom. Placing and removing obstacles shapes our character and forces our growth. Through challenges we learn who we are and what we are made of and we are forced to manifest our inherent strengths and talents to resolve our suffering. Ultimately, we learn and become more experienced, strong, clear of vision and purpose, useful, and able to serve.
Or, from the perspective of Stoic philosophy, Amor Fati – love fate, use it to your advantage, and grow in strength and virtue.
