Balance

About a month and a half ago I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.  This is the most common thryoid disease.  In lay man terms it means my thryoid is underactive.  The thyroid is a gland at the base of your neck and it releases your thyroid hormone.  This hormone helps control your body's functions.  Hashimotos's Thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease.  In my case (and in the case of most people with hypothyroidism) my own body has attacked my thryoid, enlarging it and making it unable to function properly. The thing that strikes me the most about thyroid disease is the list of symptons it causes. 

This small gland in our neck can wreak havoc on the human body.  It can cause one to have less energy, fatigue, memory loss, deppression, dry skin, low heart rate, high blood pressure, weight gain, irritability, hair loss, constipation and more.  The symptons vary depending on the person and the severity of the case.  This one hormone being off balance can cause unbalance in other parts of a person's life.  It affects both emotions and the physical body.  Similar to the thyroid hormone when little things are off in our lives they can have repurcussions.  

For example an unresolved argument can cause stress, and bitterness. Which, affects our physical body, as well as ones spiritual and emotional state.  Stress can cause physical symptons like stomach aches, headaches and sleeping problems.  Stress and bitterness also can cause a rift between yourself and God and effect your happiness.  In Mark 11:25 Jesus tells us  "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  In Matthew 18, Christ stresses the importance of forgiveness by saying we need to forgive someone 77 times or seventy time seven - depending on the version.  The point remains the same in that we shouldn't keep track of grievances, but to be willing to forgive.  I think this is because when we forgive and don't hold on to things it allows us to grow in both our spiritutal and emotional lives.  Things like anger, too much work not enough play, too much play not enough work, stress, anxiety, not spending enough time to hear God or for that matter to even hear yourself think, can all knock off the balance in our lives.  

  

For my body to have the right about of thyroid hormone I now take a pill every morning.  I will take this pill the rest of my life.  I don't mind because it helps my body function the way it is suppose to.  The doctor increased my dosage this week, but I can feel the difference already from the dosage I was taking for just a few weeks.  Even though I was just diagnosed I have been tired for the last three to four years and there is a good chance that it was due to my thyroid slowly not working right.  Unfortunately, we can not just take a pill to cure us of not wanting to forgive, from stress, bitterness, or to keep us from being workaholics (though they do have medication for deppression and anxiety).  However, we can work on ourselves daily and continue to strive for balance in our lives.  Just like my pill working on one's spiritual, emotional and physical health takes a lifetime habits.  Prayer, a relationship with God, practing spiritual habits, excercise, eating right, and other habits can help us on the journey of life =).

(1st picture is from yahoo image search on balance scale, the second picture is from a search on stress, and the last picture is one of my own)