A Different Way To Look At Illness

Been missing in action lately, I know. I do have an excuse unfortunately as my mother has been unwell and I have been beside myself trying to get her back to the 'Ami' (Urdu for mom) I've known all my life. It's so hard to watch your parents get sick, isn't it? You somehow see them as infallible, unwavering pillars of strength that will never get too old. It is a rude awakening when you discover just how vulnerable they are and as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, even more shocking when you suddenly find yourself in a reversal of roles. Yeah, doesn't feel as good as it did when I was 13, when I fantasized about having that much power over my mom. Nope, not even close. 

So, on my everlasting quest to find natural ways to cope with illness, in this case Ami's, I stumbled upon a book (thank you to my cousin, A, for introducing it to me) which tackled the concept of being sick in a different way. The book, "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay is based on the premise that our negative thought patterns cause disease and that by changing those very thoughts, our bodies rid themselves of the ailments that plague us. Sounds easy, right? Well it's not, trust me. We've managed to do a fine job all these years of filling our heads with negative crap and it's amazing just how much resistance we're going to put up in the face of change. Still, it's all about the habit breaking, isn't it? Don't believe the 'you can't teach old dogs new tricks' and "old habits die hard" adages - change is good and it's going to make you feel better.

What I found the most interesting about the book was the correlation between certain kinds of negative thought patterns and common illnesses, some of which applied to children. For e.g. issues with the ears were said to be caused by the need to drown out things you didn't want to hear, parents arguing for instance. Similarly, coughs caused by the need to be heard by the world. The A-Z list towards the end of the book provides these correlations along with some positive affirmations to practice saying to combat the negative thinking. I was fascinated; having always believed in positive thinking and reinforcement, this theory resonated with me deeply. 

Now, I know what you are thinking *wiggling my finger* - "great, another reason to feel that mommy guilt  because my children are getting chronic ear infections/coughs due to the environment at home" - NO, NO, NO!! The very premise of this book is to drop the negative thinking and guilt is prime suspect # 1. The point is to understand why your children might be getting sick and that very understanding and compassion may just prevent the illness from rearing its ugly head or help it disappear quicker than it would normally. 

Still, I can appreciate, despite all my patronizing, that this is not the easiest concept to get one's head around. I am a bit of a self proclaimed geek when it comes to holistic therapies and so, as I once said in an early post, I literally want to jump up and down on the bed when I come across a new one :-) Nerd I am, yes.

I leave you with an affirmation from Ms. Hay which I would like all my readers to adopt:

"Today I release the need to blame anyone, including myself."

~S~