Did anyone ever tell you that you don’t have to develop some sort of disease or live in pain? That’s right! Your health is your choice. That’s the good news and also the not-so-good news. It’s good that you have the ability to make choices to help yourself feel good and be healthy. Maybe not so good (or at least not so easy!) that the responsibility lies with you – not your doctor, the government, or someone who betrayed you – you.

It’s true. Even though just about everyone seems to be suffering or sick in one way or another, you simply don’t have to participate – well, unless you want to. Here’s why: Everything that happens in your body is caused by something else. There is no one cell, bit of tissue, organ, or system in your body designed to make you sick. Every function and process of your body is a response to a stimulus – cause and effect. And, to go one step further, every response of your body is perfect for the stimulus that caused it.

Assuming you are in reasonable control of your day-to-day existence, you are the one to decide how you will live, what you will eat, and what you will think about. The choices you make in each of these areas daily are the stimulus that determines your health today and in the years to come.

As a child, you may have been led to believe that your body really doesn’t know what it’s doing – that you are at the mercy of luck and heredity to determine how healthy you are. For most occasions when your body “acts up,” pills and potions are as near as the closest pharmacy. And, as far as “nutrition” was concerned, that was a part of health class in school. Good nutrition meant that you didn’t go overboard on sweets, and you ate at least two bites of those vegetables at dinner. Now, however, it’s time to understand that there is more to health than subduing the symptoms of heartburn, bad luck, and fast food. What fuels your body this year dictates how healthy you will be in the coming years.

Yes, it’s a big responsibility, your health. And, with such a responsibility, it’s really much better that we don’t have to be dependent on overworked doctors or an impersonal government to determine our fate. Symptoms are warning signs that you have pushed your body’s natural healing potential too far. Through Morter HealthSystem materials, you can learn the choices to make to maximize rather than minimize that potential. Your health really is your choice.