Gladys McGarey

November 30, 1920 - September 28, 2024

Recognized around the world as the mother of holistic medicine, Gladys McGarey was a physician and activist who inspired new ways of thinking about disease and health. Throughout her expansive career, she championed the integrated use of healing methods from Western, Eastern and Indigenous sources; advocated the use of food to prevent and treat disease; and promulgated the idea that illnesses offer glimpses into our inner selves.

McGarey practiced medicine for eight decades, was the co-founder and former president of the American Holistic Medical Association (now called the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine) and co-founder of the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine. She was one of the first medical doctors to use acupuncture in the United States.

In her book, The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age, McGarey offers both practical advice and inspiring wisdom drawn from her own life, as well as from the experiences of patients, family and friends. With startling clarity and candor, she shares personal stories about her childhood in India, work/life struggles as a physician and mother of six children, and the survival of heartbreak and two bouts of cancer. Here is a selection of excerpts from her book.

 

Secret I: You Are Here for a Reason

Each of us is here for a reason, to learn and grow and to give our gifts. When we are able to do so, we’re filled with the creative life energy that I call the “juice.” The juice is our reason for living. It’s our fulfillment, our joy. It’s what happens when life is activated by love. It’s the energy we get from the things that matter and mean something to us.

Though there is no one way or one area of life to find our juice, we all need to find it; it’s a vital part of our life force. Without juice, it’s hard to feel joy, and both physical and mental health start to waver. This is part of why I often find myself asking patients what they have to live for, because if they can’t answer this question, I can often only relieve their symptoms temporarily. I may fix what’s wrong, but I can’t necessarily make it right.

I like thinking of us as puzzle pieces because it gives us each space to be unique. We’re not supposed to be shaped this way or that; we’re supposed to be shaped precisely as we are, because that way we can fit together. It isn’t anyone’s job to judge the shape of anyone else’s piece, and in the same way, it isn’t useful to try to make ourselves more or less like anyone else or to worry if they judge our shape. Instead, it’s up to each of us to align with our own soul and help others do the same. Seeing things this way helps us understand that each of us is essential. Have you ever nearly finished a jigsaw puzzle only to find that there’s a piece missing? It’s a crisis!

 

Secret II: All Life Needs to Move

When we feel joy in our body, wiggling, walking, and moving around are natural responses. The inverse is also true: wiggling, walking, and moving around can help us feel more joyful. A brisk walk is incredibly helpful for the brain, which doesn’t like us to sit still, either.

Consider life flowing like a forest stream. A tree falls across the stream, creating a small dam, and some sticks come along to build the dam up a little higher. Downstream of the dam, the water flow may slow significantly, but it usually doesn’t stop completely. Even if it does, the water continues to flow upstream of the dam, and the movement can be seen in the rising waterline. At some point, the water reaches the top of the dam and a trickle forms on one side or another, going around the dam and continuing downstream. If we look only at the dam and the water pooled behind it, we may think that the water has stopped—but it’s always moving.

Life reaches for life. Always. That means that when we feel the most stuck, whether physically, emotionally, situationally, or any other way, we may need only to look to where things are still moving. When we put our focus and our energy there, a trickle will form around our dam. Aligning with this trickle will help us realign with life. When we do, we can get up and start moving again. Once that happens, all we need to do is keep going.

 

Secret III: Love Is the Most Powerful Medicine

Love dispels fear, but it is also blocked by fear. The two are often presented together because they’re constantly in a push-pull game with each other. If fear is our habit, practicing love is a wise solution. And that practice will take us far, because love is infinitely stronger than fear—always. Just as our bodies are born to breathe air, we are born to love. That’s why although it’s good to address our fear, it’s even better to focus on our love. Any effort we put toward love—truly, any effort at all—will self-perpetuate, bringing joy, health, and well-being into our lives.

 

Secret IV: You Are Never Truly Alone

There’s a danger in thinking that we have to agree on everything to enjoy each other’s company. This pushes everyone to extremes. It’s natural that when someone’s life looks like ours, it’s easier to find common points of connection. But it’s sometimes the people who are most unlike us who push us to see things in a new way. That means there’s great meaning in interacting with people we don’t like that much. When we approach people who think very differently from us with curiosity instead of condemnation, we grow.

Setting healthy boundaries starts with knowing who we are and what we came to do. We must first understand what gives us juice and what drains it, because that shows us what’s on our soul’s path and what’s interfering with it. To set and maintain boundaries in just the right place, we have to know ourselves really well. We can look to others who embody this self-assuredness for inspiration, but even then, each of us has to find our own way.

The skill of listening has served me my whole life, because it’s often the best way to start interacting positively with community. Truly listening helps us understand one another’s perspectives and struggles. Our listening to others makes them feel less alone—and the act of listening makes us feel less alone. It’s one of the most important things each of us can do for those around us.

 

Secret V: Everything Is Your Teacher

True optimism isn’t toxic, because focusing on the positive does not mean denying the negative. It does not mean we dissociate from our pain, whether it’s physical or emotional, or pretend that things are okay when they aren’t. Instead, it means we look for what’s wonderful anyway. We allow what hurts to hurt while continuing to search for the lesson in it and be grateful for the teaching.

 

Secret VI: Spend Your Energy Wildly

Understanding where your life is moving and where it is blocked is essential to knowing where to spend your energy. If something feels stagnant, put your energy toward what is moving. Don’t waste your energy on what’s stuck.

Love is always worth your energy. Always. Lean into what you love, whom you love, how you love. Love is an endless font of life force, and it’s always there for you.

Excerpts are printed by permission of The Foundation for Living Medicine, created in 1989 by McGarey to bridge the gap between holistic and allopathic medicine through research and education. To learn more or to make a donation, visit FoundationForLivingMedicine.org.

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