How am I healthy? Well, let me put down this cheeseburger and tell you. I don’t often think of health only in terms of my physical body…if I did I would be in some big trouble! Health to me is about the total person…Body, Mind, Sprit, and Experience. I am healthy because I am Powerful and Free!
I have always been lucky enough to have parents who taught me accept everyone. When I came out my mother said “that’s nice…go clean your room!” The one person I never learned to accept was myself! Growing up I was always the kid who was made fun of. So I learned very early to play the victim. Nothing was ever my fault, I was fat because of my genetics, and I wasn’t stylish because I was poor, and so on and so on. That led to abusive relationships and broken hearts. Anyone feel sorry for me? Good, me either!
I would stand in front of mirror and pick myself apart, I told myself I was fat, ugly and that no one would ever want me. I degraded myself and played victim to the bondage of our society’s cookie cutter image. Finally this voice went off and said “SHUT UP!” That was the day that I realized I was who I was because I chose to be that way.
What is Power? Well, my parents always told me “Knowledge is power”. (Until they got the tuition bill and then my dad called and said “ignorance is bliss”) I see power as a choice and I had lost my Power and Freedom! I just handed all of that along with my self-esteem over to those “bullies” in life. The process of becoming powerful is like making a path through the Amazon. It’s about not knowing what is lying ahead but remembering where you come from.
I gain power these days by looking in that mirror and saying “Unlike Visa you do not need to be accepted everywhere…but like MasterCard you are Priceless!” In this process, I have learned to own my faults, character flaws, and how to be free. I am constantly working on who I am, but I choose to be powerful and therefore I am healthier because of it.
My health is about living my life free from the bondage of insecurities, taking back my power, and setting myself free! Oh and I stopped smoking and am losing weight, too!
Un fuerte abrazo de tu amigo,
Patricio Battani
South Bend, Indiana
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