Posts Tagged ‘lessons’

“Lesson Learned From A Dozen Eggs”

// January 26th, 2011 // No Comments » // Women's Health

“Lesson learned from a dozen eggs”
by Jan Janzen

While living in Ecuador almost 20 years ago, I still remember the question of a woman named Amanda Chavez.  I can see her face clearly as if it was just yesterday and I can still hear the confusion in her voice.  Amanda had a good little business selling eggs.  Many of her customers were foreigners living in the city of Riobamba.  But one day while purchasing my dozen eggs, handed to me most gingerly in a plastic bag, Amanda asked me a simple question that changed my life.

She said, “Jan, why do all you foreigners buy a dozen eggs?   Why 12?”  I looked at her in silence for a moment and then said, “We buy a dozen eggs because that’s how we buy them at home.”  “But why 12?” she asked again as if I hadn’t answered her question.  And for the life of me I couldn’t answer her.  Honestly, a dozen eggs made no sense.  And it really made no sense as we continued to buy 12 eggs at a time in a country that would have sold me 3 eggs, 7 eggs or 14 eggs in that precarious plastic bag.

Amanda’s question haunted me for a long time.  It was innocent enough – a simple question from a woman selling eggs to foreigners with a habit to buy a dozen eggs.  But I realized in that moment that I did lots of things because that’s how I was trained, taught, raised and told to believe.   We all do.

There are very few places I have seen false beliefs more evident than in the arena of breast health.  We have been told to have an annual mammogram after the age of 50 and when we hear the diagnosis of breast cancer, we are expected to have surgery, chemo, radiation and take drugs.  It’s as standard as buying a dozen eggs at a time for people in North America.

However, just because we have always done something does not make it any way true.  Otherwise many barbaric practices and beliefs from the past would still be around today, but they have been discounted as another truth was revealed.

As long as women today accept “the standard”, there won’t be any strong impetus to change the routine.  It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t work; it’s not effective and is actually counter-productive.  People are slow to change when money is involved and there are billions of dollars involved in the breast cancer industry.

Yet, experts say that mammograms cause breast cancer.  Specialists will tell you that you are more likely to die from chemotherapy than from breast cancer.  Statistics prove that radiation doesn’t improve results and can cause further health damage.  Every single drug has a side-effect which can be deadlier than the disease.  So why are we accepting what doesn’t work?  Is it just a bad habit that has become an integral part of our culture?

It’s time for us to stop believing that just because it’s the current treatment or it’s what the doctor recommended or worse yet, what the medical system pays for, is not a good enough reason to blindly accept a protocol or treatment.

There are far more effective screening tools to mammography that are safe and will let a woman know of issues up to a decade before a mammogram.  Why are we not demanding that these tests are paid for, regulated and advertised?  The number of amazing treatments for cancer boggle my mind.  I hear about at least one every week.  Why are we settling for treatment that is archaic and will surely be looked upon in horror very shortly?  And why are we buying into the fear of cancer rather than understanding that we can heal ourselves and there are many doctors, practitioners, clinics and formulas having amazing success using non-standard treatments?

I get a thrill living in countries where I can buy 4 eggs or 10 eggs at a time.  It reminds me that I have the power to choose solutions that make sense rather than doing what the masses are doing.  And once enough of the masses stop following a protocol around their breasts that is not working, then we will see change.  Will you be one of those trend-setters?  I hope so!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Jan Janzen is a non-denominational minister, healer and business coach. She is the author of two books and 8 CDs for the spiritual entrepreneur. To receive Jan’s complimentary ebook: 10 Secrets to Living the Life of Your Dreams, visit www.janjanzendaily.com

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