Thanks to the wonderful Kala Mujibha, our
community center was able to host another workshop on healthy living and having
a purposeful lifestyle. We were honored to have Dr. Nana Kwaku Opare as the
leading speaker. He is a foremost figure in the community of healthy living experts
and those wanting to live outside of the Allopathic or western medicinal systems.
Speaking from his book, The Rule Book and User guide to Healthy
Living, (which can be purchased from www.opare.net), Dr. Opare states that you
cannot be healthy if you are not on purpose. If your “being” is lost or if you
are not “being on purpose” about your life, you cannot maintain a healthy body.
He defines dis-ease as messages from the Divine.
Signs, signals or gifts even, to help us get back on track. These signals are
to help us change our state of mind, our feelings, and behaviors and to help us
reconnect to the Divine/our ancestors/purpose. He continued that the only
purpose of health is to for us to fulfill our purpose in life. We are thus healthy
if we are on purpose or on track.
Dr. Opare was also emphatic in the belief
that our bodies have everything it needs to heal itself. He states that our
bodies are self correcting. Many western trained doctors have been quoted
stating similar observations.
He elaborates on key steps that one must
take to maintain health by being on purpose. The key most important one is
finding out your purpose in life. Are you doing what you love? Are you doing
what you are put on this Earth to do at this time? And how do you know?
To find out he proposes that we seek a
diviner, a lwa, an Oshun or someone whose job it is to help us find our
purpose. No lwa near you? You can also find your purpose by listening to your
intuition…that little voice that speaks to you from the realm of the ancestors.
It is them guiding and aiding you in finding your purpose. Some of us listen
while others continue to bathe in the sea of dis-ease.
Another key step to healthy living, which
makes his work stand apart from others, is the focus on community building. You
must be part of building a community, taking care of your family, and connected
to others. Most studies confirm that people who live longer have communities
that they are engaged in building. He
also mentions that we must have loving kindness, not just for our families but
for humanity and all living things.
I would add that you must engage in
giving life. This is not about reproduction, but production. Planting trees, a
garden or a farm are just some examples. You must be engaged in food production
or taking care of plant life, the source of your diet to healthy living and
being on purpose.
Go ahead. Be on purpose.
