Beliefs Part II

Now that you are all questioning and rewriting your beliefs, changing your lives, and living the life of your dreams, here's some food for thought about illness, disease, and the uncomfortable symptoms that often accompany them. Chew slowly!

In our traditional medical system, symptoms have been grouped together and given fancy names:
Auto-Immune Disorder, non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and even Maple Syrup Urine Disease.
We then run around claiming ownership of such maladies, using phrases like "my allergies," "my urinary tract infection" and even, "my cancer." Words are powerful. And when we claim ownership of groups of symptoms like this, we perpetuate them. We tell our subconscious minds that we own them. They are a part of us. How can we expect to heal ourselves when we are essentially telling ourselves not to? (We can instead refer to them as "the symptoms I am experiencing" which gives you room for healing and keeps you detached from disease and illness.)

Let's remember that the body is self healing. When you cut yourself with a kitchen knife, it's not the band-aid that heals the cut. It's your body. When you heal from breast cancer, it's not the surgeon or the drugs that healed you. They may have provided a catalyst, but ultimately, you healed you. Understand that you don't have insomnia because of a lack of Lunesta. The body is awake because it's trying to survive something. The body is always trying to survive. Everything it does is to this end. Sometimes the symptoms it creates in surviving aren't pleasant. For example, I've had a headache for three days now. But I trust it. I know that my body is healing something. It's working for my survival. Rather than mask the symptoms with drugs, I am asking myself, "What am I doing to make this headache necessary?" and "What can I do to make it no longer necessary for my body to create this?"

This is a very different way of looking at health than the medical model. Essentially we are looking at the causes of illness, and not the symptoms. We are finding a way to get out of our own way, so that our bodies can heal. And we are trusting our bodies. Do you understand that even cancer is your body's attempt at healing something? In fact, if your body hadn't been able to create cancer, you would've already been dead. The cancer kept you alive long enough to figure it all out, get out of the way, and let the healing take place. I know this sounds radical. Instead of being fear-based and centered on "healing" from an outside person or drugs, it's self-empowering, fostering trust in your body. It leads to not only physical healing, but emotional healing as well.

Here's an exercise you can do to foster health and healing in your life. The next time you experience a symptom~ a headache or nausea, or even something more serious like an asthma attack or the growth of a tumor~ close your eyes, take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and say "thank you" to your body. Over and over, say "thank you." Once you are in a state of calm, ask yourself, "What do I need so that this symptom will no longer be necessary for my body to create?" Sit with that question silently, until an answer comes to you. All of the answers are in you. Maybe you need more time to yourself. Maybe you need a different job. Maybe you need to say "no" more often. Maybe you need to forgive others. Maybe you need to be a priority in your own life.

What we believe about illness and healing affects our health every day. Choose empowerment. Choose self-healing. Choose trust. And thank your body!