Let me by your doctor. I received my education from Body Worlds.

What I learned at Body Worlds

I only have one criticism – I was insulted with the kind of info they had for us to read on the display cards. Looking at the lungs, I read, “The first passage the air goes through is the nose and mouth, then carried to the lungs…….” And I thought, ‘I could have been a doctor’.

Except for I couldn’t because quite unexpectedly I became sick while looking at two cadavers’ muscles on display that were spread out so the inner muscles could be seen.

My mind wondered and I started thinking of my own body being plasticized and I think that’s what did it. My knees were giving up on me and I had to bend down to the ground pulling myself into a little ball. But if you had asked me,

“Is this grossing you out?”

I would have said, “No.” and thought I was telling the truth.

My body was reacting completely different than how I thought in my mind. But let’s face it. I’m the daughter of a right brained guy and I’m a right brained gal.

I used to try to change the fact that I was a right brained thinker and that responsible brains chose majors like chemistry or anything scientific. Or just anything that I thought was “Hard”. But after a year of attempting to listen in chemistry classes and training my mind to not daydream about …millions of other things, I decided that I just wasn’t blessed with what it takes to be a part of the “Left brained crowd”.

And at Body Worlds, they had not forgotten about me. I appreciated the display on the heart that talked about Art, Music, and Literature and the emotion involved in the body with such passions.

As a teenager, I thought my need to write things down was a titch bit strange. But just a titch though. I wasn’t really self conscious- just aware that it was a quirk. I didn’t see anyone else doing this. And at school I didn’t hear anyone talk about their passions for things outside of cheer, dance, football, basketball, underground music artists, or Friends the TV show. But to be perfectly honest, that’s not entirely true, but the majority just ruled in these areas.

Behind me at the exhibit, I heard a little boy say, “Dad, Look!” And I turned to look too because I wanted to know what part of this he was most fascinated by. I looked and saw him making hand shadows on the glass from the spotlights shining down on the cadavers. I’m sure the Dad who was hoping to embed a doctor bug in his little boy’s mind was thinking, ‘Oh great, he wants to be a comedian and this is a twenty dollar puppet show. ‘

A few exhibits down the way, I heard this same little boy ask if he could have his pen and paper back because without it, he was bored. He wanted to draw what he was seeing. But the Dad didn’t trust him to keep his notebook off the glass like the signs constantly reminded. I wanted to walk over to this little boy and tell him that he and I were of the same kind. I wanted my pen and paper too. And while I think it would be just flabbergasting to be a doctor or scientist, I’m afraid I have to play the hand I have been given and contribute to the world of bodies and minds as best I can with what I put on paper.

And ironically, the last thing I saw as I walked out of body worlds was a poster of Shakespeare’s famous lines that were some of the first words written down connecting emotion and passion with the physical well being of the heart. But not just because it sounds eloquent and romantic, but because they have been proven true. Then just below Shakespeare’s picture, the last thing I learned besides ‘air first goes through my nose’ was a the philosophical and scientific fact,

“Pessimism, depression and stress will do more damage to your heart than heart attacks and will do more to decrease your health and raise the risks of diseases than being a smoker or choosing an unhealthy diet.”

I did not know that. But it makes perfect sense.
So may these posts be good for wha’smatchoo. Give you reasons to stay optimistic, happy and be a stress free right or left brained person.
A smatchoo a day will keep the shrink away - unless you want to date him.

Hopefully it helps – that way I can say I’m a pretty good doc.
Thanks for reading.

Oh and I didn’t write this, but I found it amazing. Not in a way that it really surprised me, but that it supports everything I’ve always been taught whether it was backed up by science yet or not. Read the New Prescription for Happiness.