Constipation Cures

Constipation is a health ailment that causes disturbance in the digestion system. This gives rise to toxins that are carried to all parts of the body. Constipation becomes a cause of diseases such as rheumatism, high blood pressure, and cancer. Symptoms include difficulty in elimination, headaches, and depression. Unhealthy eating habits, emotional stress, lack of physical exercise, and an insufficient intake of water are some of the causes of constipation.

I once read somewhere that ninety percent of all diseases have their roots in constipation. In talking about bowel movements, there is a of course a snicker factor. But this is a serious disease that can result in death. I think there is also another kind of constipation that saps the mind and soul and sometimes the body as well.

One kind of constipation is an abnormal need to hold onto stuff. I've seen folks who are otherwise normal find that they have a need to accumulate for the sake of accumulating. Often, they are things that have no sentimental or practical use-- clothes that are too small, magazines from years previous, and junk in general. Sometimes, we must destroy in order to build, throw out in order to take in. The destruction of the great cities of Japan and Germany during World War II prepared the way for industrial resurgence in the post war years that might not have otherwise taken place. And so that is also true with us. Each year, we go through our house and put into a big pile things that we plan to give to charity, freeing up space as well as allowing us to upgrade where we need to our wardrobe or appliances. Sometimes, also, excessive outside activies-- doing rather than being-- creates a weariness of the soul that is akin to constipation.

And there is spiritual constipation. I'm struck by the prodigious memories of some people who nurse and rehearse slights that they have received over the years. They play back in their minds I suspect with pelasure events from sometimes decades ago of teachers, classmates, bosses, siblings, or parents. In some cases, these people are ghosts-- they exist only in the memory loop of the offended. There is some value in looking look back over the past. But an obsessive and unbalanced focus on the most negative episodes in our life's journey can only damage us-- put us in a ever-deepening pit of self-pity and self-hate. To get out of this funk onto the path to a centered and fulfilling life, we must disenthrall ourself from those ancient spectres by consciously rejecting those resentments. So to all those bad memories that haunt us, I say let them go, and good riddance.

Recently, my wife and I saw Billy Crystal's humorous and heartfelt 700 Sundays at the Gammage. It deals with his adolescence and growing up on Long Island and in the jazz world of Manhatten. The play took on a poignancy when Crystal talks about his father Jack, who died when he was 15-- or about 700 Sundays together. Towards the end of the show, Crystal argues with God as to why this had to be so-- an event that threw a shadow over his entire life. He resolves the debate by going through a metaphorical pack of cards-- tossing a few such as the death of his dad-- but holding others such as his heritage, his family and marriage, and his work. And to me that's a great way to look at it. Life gives us a deck of cards, and in some cases the deck is filled with low numbers. But we can still play the great game, dispensing with the the bad and keeping the good to the point that much of our own life is good.