The Real “Secret” to Healing

One of the most frustrating aspects of being in the field called alternative medicine is that it is filled with a hundred times more gimmicks than traditional conventional medical care. You know, because at least typically for the practitioners of conventional medicine, as well as the patients that seek it out, they often want a higher degree of credibility and evidence for the claims people make, but alternative medicine is a little bit funnier. And in this video, I thought I would kind of explode something that I think is very important for people to understand. Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hein, doctor of Chinese medicine and licensed acupuncturist. So before we jump into this video, there's two very important links right below it for you. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually your telemedicine, you can reach out to my private practice right below this video. And the second is a free download, which is four daily rituals that could potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. Now look, everybody is looking for the secret to healing. Actually the secret to everything, right? Secret to weight loss, secret to making love last, secret to enlightenment, secret to being stress-free, secret to everything. And in the wellness industry in particular, the secret often manifests as some kind of ingestible substance found on unicorn poop in the Amazon. Some new thing, usually a plant that was never discovered before. It's algae and then it's mushrooms and then it's a plant and then it's a certain fruit. And then it's a certain extract of a certain fruit. I mean, it never ends. And it will never end because this is human psychology. It's not the marketing at fault. It's not any of this at fault. It's our own psychology. We all want to believe deeply that there is some easy way to get the results that we want in life. Whether those results are healing or whether they are financial or something else. So in the wellness industry in particular, there's always a new little thing coming out. But let's talk about the psychological root of the silver bullet, right? What is the origin of this silver bullet thinking? I realized this is not a video on Chinese medicine specifically, but as a video on healing, because a lot of what comes down to healing is our psychology and our personal daily habits. These are the private conversations I have with my patients in my clinic, and these are the things that really make the difference. Of course, it's taking the Chinese formula that I prescribe, et cetera. But in terms of our individual actions and decisions, this is what it comes down to. You know, when we talk about the psychology of expecting a quick fix or a silver bullet, that one thing that when I do, everything after that will be easy. Let's talk about writing a book. If you want to write a book, what is the only thing that matters when it comes to writing your book? That every day you're taking time to write your book, right? But people would rather take workshops on writing your book, seminars, read books on writing books, go figure. All of these, the reason we do these, not that they aren't necessary, but it's because all of these things are easier to do than doing the one thing that matters, which is writing every day in your book. Now, if it's weight loss, right, a very common, very profitable industry when it comes to losing weight. Yes, there are some medical circumstances, but the general big picture is eating better, moving more often, managing your stress, being happier and doing that for a long period of time. But people would rather get any other piece of advice than that. Because again, it goes back to that quote in the Tao Te Ching that the And when it comes to weight loss or writing your book or healthy marriage, whatever it is, there's often a series of maybe half a dozen daily rituals that if you do, those are pretty darn predictive of reaching the results you want. Not every dream is going to come true, but you're going to get some degree of good results from that. Now, the sooner you stop looking for those side paths, like the Tao Te Ching talks about, the faster you can heal. And that's why I thought I would shoot this video because the faster you stop looking for the shortcuts is the quickest path to healing, because you're going to be realizing that long-term healing is messy, it's complicated, you get better for a while, you get worse for a while. You do some false starts with practitioners that don't help you, that do help you a little, that I'm not sure, did they help me? And then some one or two that really, really helped you. But ultimately the path is your own and you have to walk that alone. It is your own healing journey. It's going to look completely different from anybody else. And that's the most important thing that you understand that this is going to be long-term. You can get feeling better very quickly, in my experience, even if it's chronic. But healing takes years. And the sooner you forget those side paths, those silver bullets you're looking for, the better off you will be. So I thought I would share this as a PSA for today. If you are chasing these side paths in your healing journey, it doesn't mean don't look for new practitioners who may help you or new strategies. Of course, that's an essential part. But the psychology of looking for it to be over fast from one little thing is usually flawed. And I see people go down the wrong paths. That's what I have for you today. Before you go, check out these other related videos here, and I'll catch you guys in the next video.