My body was
slowly detoxifying from a change of diet, using infrared sauna and ridding
external toxins such as daily products I’d use either to wash my body or
personal/household hygiene; these ranged from deodorants, perfumes, daily
toothpaste/mouthwash, hair dyes, make up, bathing soaps and whatever products
id normally use around the house like, bug sprays, floor cleaners, air
deodorizers and so on. I needed to do extensive research into what products I
could make from plants/non chemical ingredients and were available to purchase
and make the switch to using these immediately.
I must say, this alone was a new world and I am never going to look at daily
living as I once did. I could write a book on the hidden secrets and misleading
information our government and major companies lead us to believe about the
products that are sold us filling our homes and medicine cabinets with
chemicals that are slowly killing us, the environment, our children and our
pets.
One would
think (as did I) that now that my physical body was on some kind of recovery
and life changing direction that I would be closer to being healed. However,
there were elements in my healing process that could not be repaired unless I
began working on my spiritual health. By this, I don’t mean any religious
connotation….. but emotions that had shaped me from childhood to my current
adult years. My holistic health coach, Helena has this statement on her website
‘The journey to self discovery’. And
this is exactly what it is…. Is it easy to take this journey? Absolutely not! In
fact working on spiritual health is quite confronting and challenging. So where does one begin?
Helena is a
professional and is highly qualified in being able to identify strengths and
weakness in people. During (what I thought were) ordinary conversations with
her, she would pick up on my body language. For example, during one of our
conversations (without my realizing my movements) Helena stopped the
conversation and asked ‘what makes you uncomfortable about what we are talking
about?’ To which I replied ‘nothing’.
Then Helena proceeded in her smooth professional way to point out I was
flinching or adjusting my posture (or whatever movement I was making) and would
explain to me that certain movements or pains within the body where a
reflection of some deep emotional connection. At this point I thought to myself….
‘Bullshit!. Until she showed me something
that made me think just maybe she was
right! Helena, pulled out a book called ‘The secret language of our body’ and
read out to me the physiological and emotional manifestations that were linked
with my diagnosis of lupus/autoimmunity. To put is quite simply, as she was reading
this out to me, I started to cry.
I asked her
for suggestions of self help books/ papers I could read as I wanted to explore
this further. Helena doesn’t work with individuals to just ‘give answers’ but
she coaches individuals to learn how to research and take in information then
make educated changes and apply these to daily living. Is it possible that I
made myself sick with my thoughts? My honest answer now that I have been on my
new journey for almost 1 year is YES!
We are all raised with certain beliefs that are embedded in our psychology.
Everybody is different, but speaking from my
personal experience and upbringing, I was not raised to believe in myself and
my abilities or follow my dreams. I was raised in a strict upbringing that more
or less was to live a life that my parents expected of me. Although I have a good
relationship with my parents, most of my late teenage years and early adult
years I spent hiding my ‘true self’ in fear that what I wanted and felt was not
going to make my parents happy. I continued
to live my life this way subconsciously and have applied this mentality to
almost everything I have done (and not done) to date. Just because I had become an expert in
hiding my true self, I had subconsciously given myself permission to think and
feel that what I wanted didn’t matter or that I wasn’t good enough. This may
all seem a bit to ‘deep’ for some people but I will put it to you this way; have
you ever met that someone you think to yourself is always the ‘victim’? This
person is typically vocal about not achieving goals because of ‘such and such’,
or constantly feeling run down because of ‘such and such? I know people like
this for sure, but I never thought I was one of them until this journey to self
discovery showed me that my shaped up bringing and unchanged thought processes
actually was allowing me to subconsciously live a ‘victim’ mentality without
being vocal about it. I have stopped myself from achieving certain goals,
acting/saying as I feel or doing what I want because I allowed myself to
believe I couldn’t!
So how does
one move away from these thought patterns and change? The first thing is to
identify and be honest to yourself. This can be hard and will raise some
painful memories for some people, but the only way to accept and make changes
is to first acknowledge. I would never want to have believed that I was a ‘victim’
but the truth is in many ways I was. Now I can say, ‘this is ok’. Because I am
aware of my weaknesses I can now change these into my strengths. It’s not
something that will change overnight, but one day at a time, one change of
thought pattern at any one time, one acknowledgment and acceptance at a time, and
one will slowly move into many new and positive changes and new thought
patterns. Understanding how powerful the mind really is and how in control of
our own thoughts we truly can be is life changing in its self!
My journey
to self discovery has thought me to do the following:
- Accept myself as I am
- Make fundamental choices to change things myself (in health and goals)
I have no
doubt many years of unchanged thought patterns created a chemical imbalance in
my brain. Along with this and other environmental chemicals, I had subconsciously
given myself permission to not fully function nor believe I could function as I
truly wanted for myself. Have you ever felt inadequate or not good enough? Do
you have fears of failing? Are you the type of person who procrastinates? If
you answered yes to any of these, now ask yourself; Are you lethargic? Stuck in
a job you hate? Have digestive issues? Overweight?
Have unhappy relationships? Afraid of commitment? Suffer from depression? Mood
swings? Other health issues? If you answered yes to any of these, then I
suggest you spend some time with yourself. Be open to reading and learning new
things. Understand that people, situations or information have only as much
influence on your life as you allow. I believe that
it is possible to create illness with our thoughts. I also believe we can heal illnesses
with the power of positive thinking!
Suggested
reads:
- The secret language of your body – Inna Segal
- You can heal your life – Louise Hay
- End your addiction now – Charles Grant
- Instant Calm – Paul Wilson
