The George Costanza Law of Health Recovery

Do you remember when George, in a desperate attempt to end his suffering, decided to do everything opposite of what he thought he “should do?”

The “punch line” went something like this…speaking to a woman at the café counter, “Hi, my name is George, I’m 40, out of work, and live with my parents.”  It was something like that…and the approach worked.  

My point…not a bad idea to consider…if nothing you know “should be” working…is working…consider ANYTHING.  And in George’s case, the complete opposite was a great insight. 

I see struggling health seekers stuck in a similar quandary…creating “stories” and likelihoods from their struggle.  In George’s experience, he was sure that if he was wealthy…if he had hair…if he specifically was an architect…or an importer/exporter…he would have a successful relationship and/or feel good about himself.  

In some of my patient’s experience, they are sure (hopeful) that if they eat well enough, avoid the “right/wrong” things…they will have a successful health recovery.   And, yet they don’t.  

I can think of several people who just wanted a doctor to finally diagnose (and treat) their candida or yeast overgrowth…others needed to know what their food allergy was…many people tell me they need an adjustment, even though they have had several hundred adjustments and the pain returns!

As an unbiased reporter…every one of them was…as they say…barking up the wrong tree.  (for those who let me check their trees...there have been some who wouldn’t give up the idea!)  

Now, just so this doesn’t seem critical…or superior in some way…it was the same with me a couple years ago.  Maybe even worse…I knew too much, so I didn’t just do a candida or food elimination diet…I had hundreds of protocols to attempt before I finally said… “Doc, show me the way.”  (and I drove 5 hours one way to my doctor).  

The crazy thing was…I felt better after the first visit.  It was crazy that I allowed myself to struggle for so long when I knew of someone who could end my struggle.  (If you haven’t heard me complain before, I had over a year of sinus infections and congestion).   

I still had many bad days after that, but week by week I improved.  

One lesson I learned the value of diversity.  The “golden key” that my doc found was something not in my list of possible keys (supplements I had for testing).  For me, my magical earth remedy was a plant called Cats claw, along with a huge dose of buckwheat leaf juice.  

But the biggest lesson in all of that was ignorance…I suffered many months attempting to know what I “should do,” and every intuition was wrong.  Heck, it wasn’t intuition…intuition is more like listening inwardly to true genius…I was trying to think my way through it, with the most ignorant part of my brain…conscious thought.  

Looking back to when I was younger and so much smarter…after graduation, I knew how important it was to eat raw veggies…and later knew (I read research that said so!) that I should drink green tea.  And, in both instances, I kept doing so despite intestinal distress, bloating and gas.  Even earlier, during grad school, I believed it true that diet Mt. Dew would improve my health and concentration, despite the fact that I often fell asleep during class!  

Clear enough??…I am an idiot!  But, I’m not stupid enough to not learn from my experiences, and currently I learn from that internal genius as much as possible.  And in following that guidance, and accepting that my thinking brain is ignorant, I am enjoying the best physical health and energy of my life.  

Care to join me in the club of ignorance?!  Listen… instead of knowing…

You’ll be glad you did!