We have never had better or faster access to information on health (or anything else for that matter) than we do now. Magazines, the TV entertainment screen at the doctor’s office, Instagram, Facebook, the news, endless blogs & vlogs and the ever-infinite World Wide Web – the sources seem as varying in quality as they seem many.
Too many options?
We are constantly being exposed to a plethora of options that promise to improve our health: you can take supplements, go Paleo, sleep on magnets, do intermittent fasting, do yoga, go on health tourism holidays, do a liver cleanse, listen to binaural beats, drink Kombucha, go vegan, have a colonic, eat alkaline, use a Fitbit, go Ketogenic, steam your yoni (go on, have a Google), etc.
(Need tips on how to de-stress mind and body? Check out 5 Tools to Reduce the Effects of Stress Now)
How do people figure out what is healthy for them when presented with a bottomless pit of information?
So, how do people figure out what is healthy for them, when presented with a bottomless pit of information? Social Psychology professor Dan Gilbert argues that human beings actually haven’t demonstrated to deal well with too much freedom of choice.
Based on his experimental trials, Gilbert concludes that unlimited choice and the ability to change our selections along the way, can lead to significant dissatisfaction, and not the liberation and happiness, that we might expect. Have we gotten to the paradoxical point where the huge amount of ‘health’ information available everywhere and all of the time, is actually impairing our ability to make good choices?
More does not = better
According to statistics, human beings are getting fatter and more inactive across the globe, despite all the information at hand. As a health professional I have observed information-overload being the cause of confusion, hopelessness and a lack of trust in inner decision-making skills. Could this be creating a backlash phenomenon of people making even poorer health choices out of sheer overwhelm?
An untrained mind is like sitting in a driverless carriage with the horses bolting and the reins flying
Throughout the majority of the western world we are not taught about the power of the mind, let alone how to use it as the wonderful tool it was designed to be. For millennia enlightened beings have acknowledged the importance of training the mind in order to cultivate clarity, inner peace and self awareness. To a yogi, an untrained mind is like sitting in a driverless carriage with the horses bolting and the reins flying.
When our focus is scattered, our connection to our own inner knowing is weakened
Constant feeds of tips, advice, other people’s opinions, trends and even pop psychology, can become a distractor rather than an aid, frazzling the mind. When our focus is scattered, our connection to our own inner knowing is weakened. The unfiltered information stream of today will continue to flow uncontrollably like lava – what we need to do, is learn how to navigate it, so as to not get swept away and overwhelmed by it.
Get choosy
Limiting the amount of information we receive by being selective about what sources/sites/people we allow it from, will greatly reduce the amount of needless processing the mind will have to do. Switching off automatic/constant update feeds is a good place to start.
Engaging in mind-discipline activities like meditation, makes the mind calmer and clearer, strengthening the ability to discern what is true and right for oneself. Building inner peace and awareness, is the only sustainable solution to combat overwhelm, as our attention will continue to get pulled off-centre by an ever-speeding world.
Most of us do not need any more information about health & wellness, we need to begin sorting what we already know, deflecting the white noise, and reconnecting back with ourselves to allow inner guidance to start directing what is really most appropriate for us.
Happy intuitive health everyone!
Kirsten Louise