By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Taken from Proverbs 17:22, the topic for this week is the theme of this year’s Health Sunday in the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. Health Sunday falls on every last Sunday of July although some churches celebrate it on other nearby Sundays. Here is the English edited version of my sharing in St. Anne’s Parish in Besao, Mountain Province.
Are we cheerful today? Do we have cheerful hearts? How do we know that a person has a cheerful heart?
A cheerful heart is ready to welcome anybody- whether at home, in church, in school, in office, in an organization, in a community. Rich or poor, well-dressed or not, beautiful or not so beautiful, big or small. But notice how people behave when a well-dressed matron arrives and how they behave when somebody in come-as-you-are clothes arrives. I heard stories of pormang drivers being greeted as the boss while the real boss, who is casually dressed or even in shorts pants, gets no attention.
A cheerful heart or a cheerful person is ever ready to give words of welcome or words of encouragement to anybody s/he meets. Not like somebody I know whom I haven’t seen for a long time and her first greeting to me is “Yaw, yaket sana ay kinmotto-kottong ka. Yaw, estem ay mangan.” (“Oh my, you’ve grown so thin! Eat well.”) Then goes on to repeat it five times! That person is not a cheerful heart. And therefore, not good medicine. A cheerful heart would have said “Aye, gawis ta nen-innila ta after all these years! I like your short hair!” ( “It’s good we meet after all these years!”) Words of welcome and words of encouragement.
Likewise, when you meet a friend who has stretched her waistline to the max, don’t greet her with “Aye pay di tabam!” (“How fat you are!”) I heard that people in this other extreme of the spectrum of body sizes feel strongly about being called “taba” or “obese”. In fact, good manners dictate that we appreciate and refrain from negative comments on appearance, except if it is your spouse or best friend.
So visiting the sick is not everybody’s gift, especially visiting those who are seriously ill. Not everybody can visit the sick, whether at home or in the hospital. Someone who wants to visit the sick should ready herself or himself to be a cheerful heart even before he or she enters the house or hospital. The cheerful smile should already be on your lips as you enter. Because the purpose of visiting the sick is to cheer them up and speed them to recovery. If you are not cheerful, then you are not good medicine. If you are not good medicine, then you are bad medicine and you will worsen the condition of the patient, even if they are unconscious and you think they don’t hear you crying or talking. According to studies, hearing is the last sense to fail so even whispers in the sick bedside should be whispers of hope. So if you are not a cheerful heart, don’t even go. The patient is better off without your physical presence. It is better to pray for the patient, from a distance. It is depressing to the patient if one visitor enters the room and cries “What happened to you? You are so thin! Huhuhu.” Oh my, get out! Remember patients usually don’t look at themselves in the mirror.
Thus workers in hospitals and clinics need to be cheerful always, naka-smile palagi, no matter their personal situation. If they are tired because of many patients, well, they knew that when they applied for the job. They know that sickness and babies appear at off hours so they should not complain but just do their duty cheerfully. After all, they have those jobs because of the patients. And besides, patients are sick, they are not. If they don’t feel well, then they should take leave from work. Who has felt relief and comfort just by the smile of the nurse or doctor? I have. There was a time when I got palpitations in the past from a bad diet and just seeing my doctor smile calmed my heart. Even cooks should cook with a happy heart and food should be served with a smile.
The good news is that this “good medicine” is not only for others but also for ourselves. Win-win situation. Researches show that 8 out of ten 10 diseases are rooted in negative emotions such as envy, jealousy, anger, resentment, constant worry, guilt, etc. This means that if these 8 patients took charge of their negative emotions and resolved them, then they would get well – without having to buy expensive synthetic medicines. Going back to Proverbs 17:22, the full verse states “A cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Negative emotions have an expiry date. This means that after sometime, they should be out from your body or else they will poison it kasi expired na sila, just like expired medicine. For example, the resentment that you felt one year ago with your spouse because he did not remember your birthday should be replaced already by forgiveness.
How then do we make our hearts cheerful? Here are five tried and tested ways:
1. Be more grateful, for anything and everything. Paggising pa lang sa umaga, magpasalamat ka na and fill your body with positive thoughts and feelings. There’s so much to be thankful for. Don’t leave room for negative energies. Pray without ceasing. Find time to meditate and reflect. Even Jesus had to retreat to meditate and pray.
2. Go to church or your worship place regularly. Hebrews 10:25 says “Let us not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
3. Eat healthy – God has provided already in the Garden of Eden what we need to be strong and healthy – organic, natural, in season and in the right quantity. Artificial flavorings like MSG, colorings, & other additives to our food is poison. Too much sugar, milk, meat, eggs destroy the various organs in our body and these can manifest as negative emotions.
4. Do physical exercise – walking is the best exercise. Some health authorities recommend walking 10,000 steps every single day! If we have done all our housework and farm work, let us volunteer to do things for others. Studies show that those who volunteer their services, time, talent and treasure, are happier and healthier.
5. Trust in God, not our limited human understanding. We always say “We believe in God, the father Almighty…” but it is only with our lips. Many times we trust other people more, we trust the doctor more and we trust our gadgets more than the Creator. We trust the factory more than the Creator. In one of my lectures on healthy eating, somebody asked “Yaket enka kankanan en madi nan junk food dampay ilako da asnan store?.” Well, di porque nasa store e okey. Do you think the makers of soft drinks care about your health? Well, with God, you can be sure He cares so much about you and me. He loves us so much and wants the best for us. Trust Him that He has designed our hearts to be cheerful- to be good medicine for others and for ourselves.***
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“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5
