Buyer Beware....Where Do You Buy Your Health?

With just a few short weeks till Black Friday, I'm excited to share with you an article on the intersection of consumerism and health.

In commerce, many categories and classifications of products exist. Categories within categories within categories. As an example, lets use a store we all know, Bed, Bath and Beyond. Whether in store or online, some of the product categories include;

• Bedding
• Bath
• Kitchen
• Dining
• Home Decor
• Furniture
• Storage & Cleaning
• Outdoor
• Baby & Kids
• Healthy & Beauty

Let’s say you you’re in the market for a vacuum and you decide to go to BB&B to purchase it.

Would you look for that vacuum in the bedding section? Would you look for it in the Furniture section? How about the Health & Beauty section?

No, no and no.

You would go to the Storage & Cleaning section, given that a vacuum is used for cleaning.

Another example.

You decide it’s time to upgrade to a Vitamix.

Would it be found in the outdoor section? No. Maybe the Bath section, yeah that’s it, the Vitamix would be found in the Bath section. Well, maybe not. How about Baby & Kids...you know, because every baby needs his or her own Vitamix for making sweet potato puree.

Ridiculous right? We both know a Vitamix should be (given the store is properly organized) in the Kitchen section. Why? Because a Vitamix typically sits on the counter in your kitchen and is used to prepare smoothies and other goodies.

Commerce is like a fractal. BB&B has retail locations, those retail locations have state distribution centers, those state distribution centers have regional distribution centers, which have a national distribution center, which are part and parcel of an international supply chain, extending into a plethora of locales.

Within BB&B there are locations, sections, centers, whatever you want to call them, let’s say in-store distribution points.

Vaccums are distributed to the public in the Storage & Cleaning section. Vitamix’s in the Kitchen. Pillows in the Bedding section. Sections are just a nifty way of saying an “in-store distribution point”

Theoretically you can only get the product you want by locating its distribution point.

Similarly you would never look to purchase a Ferrari at a Home Depot, an imported Persian rug from a 99 cent store, or swanky boat shoes from an electrical supply shop.

Those distribution points, aka stores, do not distribute those particular products. A Ferrari is found at a Ferrari dealership, or any other culturally accepted distribution point, like a used car dealership next to an airport. Boat shoes are purchased from a shoe store and tissues and rubber bands from a 99 cent store.

Rule #1
Every product has a corresponding distribution center, aka, purchasing location

Using simple logic we can deduce the following.

Rule #2
Every service has a corresponding service provider

You’re roof is leaking. Would you call an electrician?
You’re sink is clogged. Would you call a baker?
You’re lawn is overgrown. Would you call a locksmith?
You’re locked out of your car. Would you call a gardener?

No, no, no and more no.

Here’s where the fun starts.

Your blood sugar, pressure, cholesterol, and white cell count are high. Would you call a doctor?
You notice your mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be. Would you call a doctor?
Like Joe, you have a rash raging across your body. Would you call a doctor?

We’ve been trained to say yes - every single one of us.

But, guess what? The answer is no, a big fat no.

If you want to hide what you have, then YES, by all means, call a doctor.

You most certainly would not call a doctor, unless that is if you wanted to diagnose and then suppress and mask the symptom(s) through some form of treatment.

Doctors are in the business of diagnosing and then prescribing a corresponding treatment that will, when it works, like a magician, make your boo boo go bye bye.

The service they provide is symptom suppression by means of diagnosing and treating. If that’s what you want then yes, yes, and yes, go to a doctor.

It would be unfair of me to not mention that physicians are also in the business of symptom management. I take insulin and insulin helps to manage my blood sugar. Without insulin or the endocrinologists who have supported me I'm not sure that I would be here right now to write this article.

But, what if you don’t want to diagnose and treat, or temporarily mask your symptom into hiding or manage it? What if you want to identify the root cause and permanently heal your symptom?

Then calling the doctor would be no different than calling the plumber when your shoes need repair.

To you, me and the wall it’s so abundantly clear that you would never, not in a million years call an electrician to fix your roof, yet the vast majority of the world’s population cannot see for a variety of reasons that health is not the service provided by physicians, no different than sink installation is not the service provided by bakers.

We look and we look and we look to doctors to provide us with a service they simply do not provide. It's not the doctors fault, it's our fault and it's not our fault that it's our fault...it's the fault of a system that is designed to keep you separate from getting what you want, with your health and with your life.

It’s like walking into a hardware store and getting pissed off when they tell you,

“Sir/Miss we don’t do taxes here, you’ll have to see an accountant for that!”

“WTF [as your face turns red] I don’t want to see an accountant, I came here to have my taxes done and I’m not leaving till you do it!”

Day after day, like an insane person, you show up at the hardware store demanding they do your taxes.

What would make such a situation even more representative of current affairs would be if those hardware guys actually thought their job was to provide a solution for your tax problem.

In that case, who’s more insane you or your alleged ‘accountant’ who cuts keys and stocks hardware?

Would you look to western medicine to provide health? No that’s now what it does, it provides treatments, which create the appearance of health, but health is far more than simply the lack of perception of symptoms.

Absurd, right? Welcome to the circus called modern health care.

I don’t go around claiming to fix flat tires because that’s simply not the service I provide. Similarly I don’t go around pretending to diagnosis, because that’s definitely not the service I provide, that's what doctors do and I'm not a doctor.

If on the other hand you’re interested in getting to the root of your symptoms and addressing them at a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and trans-generational level, then, ok, I can help you out, I am the provider of such services.

These days the lines are blurred. Who provides what and "is what is being provided what I actually need?"

A reasonable question to ask and concern to have given that turning your back to the conventional medical approach means entering into an alternative market saturated with big claims and big promises. It means stepping outside the confines of the familiar establishment and of course that's discomforting.

There’s an ocean of myth, mystery and misinformation colluding the market place, both conventional and alternative.

Service providers providing services beyond the confines of their field, simply so they can make a buck. You know, you’ve heard of those general contractors taking on jobs and leaving homes in dis-array. Taking on more than they can handle, services beyond their expertise and/or experience.

So, if you don’t take responsibility for identifying the service provider who provides the service you desire then who will?

Doing so starts by realizing that you're just shopping at the wrong store.

Simple as that.

Leave your comment below and share if you feel called to bless someone with a new perspective!