Did you know that the top 10 pharmaceutical companies spent 1.1 BILLION dollars last year on TV advertising? That’s billion…with a “B”.

And according to a New York University study done in 2008, the US pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much of sales dollars on promotion (24.4%) as it does on research and development (13.4%) — contrary to what you’ve been told by Big Pharma.

If an alien were to land in the U.S. right now and wanted to know more about us, they’d get the impression, judging by the drug company ads, that we are a society of depressed, impotent, allergic, overweight, stressed-out individuals who are stiff and in pain, have high cholesterol and either can’t pee (the men)…or pee too much (the women)! Geez.

The drug companies offer us a variety of pills to help decrease these “symptoms” of life — in return for some “possible side-effects”. Like dry mouth, dizziness, nausea, hallucinations, seizures and panic attacks. (These are some of the side effects listed for the anti-depression drug Pristiq)

But shouldn’t we want more than that for ourselves?

It seems to me that at $4 a pill for Pristiq (or whatever drug you’re using to treat your symptoms), you should expect more than just having “less symptoms of depression”. Or “less allergy symptoms“, or “less pain symptoms“.

Shouldn’t we be demanding more from our health care system? Not only from the drug companies, but from our doctors and practitioners too?

Shouldn’t we be demanding more from ourselves?

What about vitality, passion, enthusiasm, balance, creativity, living our purpose, living consciously? What aboutexperiencing the simple and pure joy of moving our body, the way a child does?

The answers to living our lives fully, with pleasure, joy and connection, cannot be found in a pill bottle, or on a surgeon’s table.They lie within us.

Shouldn’t we expect our “health care” system to do more than just treat our symptoms? Shouldn’t we expect abundant physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health?

ARE WE ASKING TOO LITTLE?

I intend to demand more!