How To Heal
How To Heal
Mystic Pop, Jan/Feb 2008
Haven’t you ever looked at someone else and thought,“He’s wound up so tight, he’s going to have a heart attack!” or “If she doesn’t lose a lot of weight, she’ll wind up with diabetes.” We can see it coming from a mile away – the relentless march of cause and effect. But have you looked at yourself that way? What are you doing to yourself that might manifest later as a serious disease?
Some answers are obvious: if you’re smoking two packs a day, you’ve raised the chances of lung cancer considerably. You knew that. But did you realize that your unacknowledged grief could also lead to lung disease, or your anger could mess up your liver, or your fear could wind up as cancer?
At one of my events in Pittsburgh, a woman come up to the stage seeking help with metastasized breast cancer. In working with her, we found her truth – she’d stayed in a bad marriage for financial reasons. She had an “aha!” moment, went home, and moved out. I heard from her a year later and was delighted to find out she’d had a remission. She had gotten in touch with the part of herself she had denied – the pain in her heart.
We can take measures to prevent the manifestation of disease. The key to leading a healthy life – other than getting rid of the external toxins we may be putting into our bodies – is to work through our emotions as they arise. If we don’t, these emotions take up residence in the cells of our body where they can potentially wreak havoc. The strong feelings we have buried inevitably come back to haunt us.
So what can we do to maintain a connection to all parts of ourselves? How do we know what we’re really feeling in the moment or what’s already buried deep inside?
The first thing we can do is to become more aware of ourselves – our true selves. Is most of your time spent collecting INPUT? In other words, do you turn on the TV the moment you walk into the house? If you turn the TV off, do you then pick up a book, plug into your iPod, or head for YouTube? Are you stuffing in food? Alcohol? Drugs? IN IN IN. No wonder you can’t “hear” your truth.
Start to bring things OUT. Express yourself. Paint, sing, throw pots. Journaling is a wonderful way to get in touch with what you’re feeling. The next time you turn on the computer, open up your word processor instead of heading for YouTube … and start writing whatever comes to mind. Or grab an old-fashioned notebook and a pen (remember those?) and go sit under a tree in the park and write. Get out into nature, minus the iPod, and let yourself expand into the openness of sea and sky. Walk in the woods. Or go into the nature of your inner being through various meditation or relaxation techniques.
It is in the stillness of silence that we can recognize and release what we’re truly feeling. And if we can see our own truth, we have a much better chance of leading healthy and happy lives.
