Fish in the Water: A Reflection on Life, Health, Meaning, and Spirituality

Would you consider an idea for a moment?

What if we were more than our physical bodies?What if we were infinite and simply changed form after death?What if we discovered that we had been here before, and would likely be here again?

This is not a dogmatic or religious reflection. Those tend to divide. There are countless religions in the world, and most claim to be the “chosen” one. Enough of division. What follows is an exploration of ideas that may feel foreign, or even impossible to some. All I ask is that you stay with me as we ponder the great mystery of our lives. No dogmas. Just philosophy. Just possibilities. No judgment.

I have been meeting so many fellow humans seeking answers, people whose eyes hint at a longing to go beyond the hustle and bustle of mundane life. And yet, spirituality remains the white elephant in the room. Medicine rarely considers it. Science cannot confirm it.

This article is for all of us who are seeking meaning and wisdom beyond appearances, social conditioning, and limitation.

Disclaimer: I am a health researcher with a PhD, and a health coach. I see divinity in every cell of the human body, in every human, and in the planet and its living beings. I understand health as a complex intersection of physiology (the body), the psyche (the mind), emotions (the biochemistry of what we feel), and the spiritual (the unknown). This article is a humble invitation to explore the deeper layers of existence.

Fish in the Water

This morning, as I walked by the sea, I stopped at a natural rock pool: transparent, still, inviting. I sat for a moment, admiring its quiet beauty. At first, it looked like just water flowing in and out with the waves. Then, slowly, fish appeared. Their delicate details were visible through the crystal-clear water.

As I stared, a thought arose: Do fish know they are in water? They likely only discover it when they are taken out of it.

The analogy felt powerful. If we were more than our physical bodies, perhaps many of us would only realize that we are souls in a body only once we leave it.

Let’s entertain this idea for a moment.

What if we only discovered our spiritual nature after death?

What if everything we experienced, every hardship, every relationship, every choice, carried meaning, purpose, and lessons?

What if your profession, titles, and achievements were just one side of a much deeper magnificence? What if our true legacy were the lives we touched, the love we cultivated for ourselves, for others, and for all sentient beings?

How would that realization impact you?

Would you regret being distracted by the mundane?Would you have made the same choices?Would you have laughed more? Cried more?Would you have been more sensitive to suffering and inequality?Would you have spent less time in front of mirrors and more time trying to feel alive?

When I think about this, a quiet sadness arises. We are so busy with our lives: houses, cars, jobs, trips, food, status, social media, that we may be missing the very essence of life itself.

And if reincarnation were true, perhaps the lessons simply repeat until they are fully understood. From this perspective, suffering—physical, emotional, or otherwise—is not punishment, but part of the school of life. If this realization only arrives at death, what then? Have we wasted a lifetime? Or are we destined to return and repeat the lessons once again?

If this were true, we might make different choices.

• The person you resent—perhaps you harmed them in another life.

• The relative who triggers you—maybe you chose proximity because something in them needs mirroring, or healing.

• The family you were born into—perhaps they were once wronged by you, or perhaps they are ancient friends who agreed to return together.

• 
  

The possibilities become vast when we view life through the wide lens of divine mystery. And the truth is, we will only know for sure when we cross the veil.

In reincarnation philosophies, everything happens according to divine order, aligned with spiritual evolution. I know how tender this idea can feel—especially in moments of loss, illness, or despair. Rather than denying pain or injustice, these perspectives gently propose that meaning may exist beyond what we can currently see, and that our choices matter as part of a longer, unfolding journey as eternal souls.

The Mystery of Life

And perhaps it is our human arrogance and spiritual ignorance that make us live like we already know all there is to know. What if we simply acknowledged the mystery of life?

The miracle of trillions of cells forming a living body. A brain rich with synapses, experiences, and inner worlds, though no scientist has ever seen a thought. The quiet intelligence that beats your heart, breathes your lungs, and repairs your body without ever asking permission.

Humanity has evolved enormously through technology and science. Yet our souls seem thirsty for a deeper understanding, one that includes the unseen and the unknown.

Why have we stopped asking the big questions? Who are we? Who were you before you were born? Who will you be when your body dies?

My favourite conversations are those that don’t shy away from these questions. They never become boring; they help expand and enrich our experience of being alive.

Psychosomatics and the Body as Messenger

I’ll add another controversial layer: psychosomatics.

What if our bodies are not merely vessels through which we experience life, but responsive systems influenced by mental, emotional, and spiritual states?

This would mean that repetitive thoughts, unconscious beliefs, and unresolved emotions are constantly shaping our physiology. This becomes especially relevant when people receive state-of-the-art medical treatment and still do not improve, still suffering.

Is there another explanation?

I don’t claim to have answers. But the placebo effect—measured, validated, and scientifically undeniable—tells us that the mind profoundly influences the body. And the mind is shaped by trauma, beliefs, and patterns (conscious and unconscious). And we all carry trauma to some degree, even if ancestral through our DNA.

So let me ask, gently: Could a persisting condition be linked to something beyond the physical, maybe even beyond this lifetime? Could the body function as a signalling energetic system, prompting deeper awareness and reflection?

What if radical self-love and acceptance were essential nutrients, just as important as diet and exercise?

If you’re still reading, thank you. You are at least allowing yourself to sit with ideas that challenge certainty.

What Changes When We See Life Differently?

Perhaps it changes the questions we ask.

Instead of “Why is this happening to me?”What if we asked, “What is this here to teach me?”

Instead of “Why is life so hard?”What if we asked, “What did I come here to learn?”

Instead of “I don’t get it,”What if we asked, “What lies just beyond my current view?”

This shift may seem small, but questions shape perception, and perception shapes life. Answers may arrive through intuition, insight, inspiration, or a quiet inner knowing, if we are willing to listen. Some may deny because they have simply never made space for the unknown. That, too, is okay. No judgment.

Toxic Positivity

I also meet many spiritual people who believe that everything is just about love (I tend to call it toxic positivity). And while love is a major force, I believe spirituality is also about awareness. Bypassing existential suffering with toxic positivity does not honour our duality. When pain is not met with awareness, “love” can quietly turn into avoidance, sometimes even into hedonistic behaviours that seek pleasure, transcendence, or constant positivity as a way to numb what feels unbearable, rather than face it.

To be a spiritual human is to acknowledge that we all carry both light and darkness. Denying our shadows does not make them disappear; it often pushes them underground.

For me, love begins with owning—and befriending—our shadows and our ego. There is no human existence without them. True maturity comes from daring to enter the inner abyss of existential pain and returning with greater honesty, humility, and strength. Only then can we meet others fully—capable of loving both their light and their darkness, because we have learned to hold our own.

As Rumi said, “The wound is where the light enters.”There is no lotus without mud.

As a collective, perhaps we have become experts at mundane tasks while numbing pain and hiding behind status, productivity, and aesthetics. So much so that we forgot how to feel. And the emotions, after all, are the language of the soul.

Sometimes the body reminds us of this. Through illness. Through collapse. Through fatigue. Through burnout. To soften our walls. To nudge us back into what really matters.

When we allow ourselves to feel again, we reconnect with heart and spirit. Transformation becomes possible.

And life—perhaps—becomes a little lighter.

Ways of Remembering

People often ask me: What can I do? How can I try to connect with the unknown?

There are many ways in. The real starting point is curiosity. Find what touches your heart, and the mind will often follow, opening naturally to a wider perspective.

When we are dealing with illness, chronic symptoms, or states of suffering, and traditional approaches reach their limits, curiosity becomes especially powerful. Not as a rejection of science, but as an expansion of possibility.

Below, I list some alternative approaches that consider all aspects of wellbeing: physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. These are not cures or shortcuts, but doorways, ways of exploring the less-traveled roads.

• Reiki: Energy-based healing through the hands, working with the body’s energy systems. Recognized within Brazil’s public health system and used to support recovery and regulation.

• Sound baths: Sound is frequency—this is physics. Frequency influences cells. MRI uses frequency and wavelength. It is not unreasonable to imagine that the body responds to sound in ways we are still learning to understand.

• Quantum healing: Some individuals work directly with energetic fields, producing physiological responses in the body. The mechanism may remain elusive, but the experience can be deeply transformative and evoke a deep sense of calmness and balance.

• Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: Emerging evidence shows profound effects in trauma, depression, and PTSD when conducted ethically, legally, and with skilled professionals. These experiences can temporarily soften the mind’s defenses.

• Family constellation therapy: Many of the patterns we carry did not begin with us. Inherited biological, emotional, and behavioral imprints—aligned with epigenetics—can surface as emotional or physical symptoms. This work seeks to bring unconscious ancestral dynamics into awareness.

• Conscious connected breathwork: Oxygen alone can alter physiology and states of consciousness. Guided breathwork can bypass habitual mental patterns, allowing emotional release, insight, and nervous system regulation.

• Retreats: Stepping away from routine—into silence, reflection, and presence—can reconnect us with ourselves in ways everyday life rarely allows. Sometimes for the first time.

• Acupuncture: Rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this practice seeks to restore balance and harmony across body, mind, and energetic systems, supporting regulation, coherence and balance.

  
  

Why not be curious? What do you truly have to lose?

We build inner walls to survive—to avoid pain, our own and that of others. But those walls also limit vulnerability and love. Sometimes the body slows us down so we are finally forced to listen—so we can begin dismantling what no longer serves us.

And when we do, we feel again. Joy and grief. Love and fear. Life in its full spectrum.

Maybe—just maybe—life’s difficulties serve as interruptions that invite us to question who we truly are beyond our bodies, stories, and circumstances.

In doing so, they may point us back to deeper aspects of our existence.

What might change if you chose to live from that part of you—today?