One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself

During my meditation practice of “Meeting Asciepius,” I envisioned my pastor who passed away several years ago. During his life time I consider him to be a special man. He was filled with love and did not have a problem on expressing this feeling towards others. I was most impressed with the way he behaved in public, he would grab you on the street and give a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek, it did not bother him whether you were a woman or a man. As a Pentecostal pastor, he would grab other people from different religions and embrace them the same way. That for me was an eye opening experience when I was young, that was something that I never saw from other religious leaders. As I mentioned he passed away many years ago, and even though I do not follow any church services anymore, the person that came to my mind during the meditation of someone to envision was him. I would hope that I will follow in his loving way that he left imprinted in me as a young man, and to carry this with myself and others as I go along the path of life, because we all need to express ourselves with love and compassion more especially towards each other.

The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself,” is an important quote because for someone to lead in integral health lifestyle, one must follow it to the letter. We as human beings are very weak and filled with imperfections and this is why it is important that a person who decides to teach others be an example of living life to the discipline that he/she follows. I constantly teach many of my customers to live by taking care of themselves. For example, they need to be open and be aware of the things that they eat otherwise they will face health complications. They need to take care of their skin while working out in the elements and be aware of the possible things that may affect them while working in agriculture. I, as a person who is also exposed to these elements, have to carry with the products I tell them to use. I have to make sure I check my body for ticks or insect bites, put lotion to protect my skin from the sun or the cold weather. Those are things that I have to remind myself to teach, but at the same time remind myself to practice what I teach. These are the first steps to integral health, the moment that we begin to take care of our main vessel, we can start to become aware that there are other things we must learn to care for and those are the mind and later the spirit.