| Hints for Healing Yourself Practical Psychology | by Lloyd J. Thomas "The greatest force in the human body is the natural drive of the body to heal itself...," wrote Norman Cousins after he had recovered from a "terminal" illness. Certainly medicine, professional diagnosis and treatment are important, sometimes vital, aspects of becoming well. But medical science still remains ignorant as to precisely why some people heal and others succumb to disease. Indeed, the healing process itself remains a rather mysterious event. We do know however, that the individual person has a lot more power and control over his or her own healing than was ever acknowledged before. Here are some "hints" that might help you realize your own power and ability to help yourself heal. -- Practice acceptance of your illness. Acceptance of your illness is not the same as resigning yourself to it. Resignation can lead to depression, and depression is not a very healing attitude. When you are ill, acceptance of disease as a part of you at the moment will allow you to create in yourself the atmosphere of caring, tenderness and love in which your illness is more likely to heal. It also allows energy to be freed for other activities, other interests and other thoughts and remain a part of your life, even while "being sick." -- View illness not as a loss, but as an opportunity for new growth and development. If a starfish loses one of its "arms," it merely goes about growing another. If a salamander loses its tail, its primitive nervous system begins regenerating another immediately. Certainly our human nervous systems are more sophisticated than those of a starfish or salamander. When we heal, we grow new tissue, new nerves and new cells. Why not grow new ideas, new attitudes, new ways of viewing ourselves and the world and new loves, while you are also healing physically? If you begin to grow psychologically in response to your losses, you may just not need to have a physical illness to evolve or grow. -- See your illness as your body's attempt to redirect your life in a positive direction. Avoid harshly judging your illness and resenting your body for having it. Avoid judging yourself altogether! Your body is always valiantly trying to be well. It has powerful tools in its biochemical, cellular and nervous repertoire to regain its healthful balance. If you are positive and peaceful about your own ability to be well, then illness just becomes a "redirection" of your life. Someone once said, "Illness is God's way of getting your attention!" Pay attention to that message and allow it to redirect your life. -- Realize that death is not a disease, and it is not a failure. The death rate for all living beings is still 100 percent. If staying alive is your only goal, you will most certainly fail at attaining it. Once you begin to accept the inevitability of your own death and realize you only have a limited amount of time to experience being alive, you begin to become aware that you might as well enjoy (as best as you possibly can) the moment-to-moment experience of aliveness, including your illness or pain,. -- Avoid making physical wholeness your goal. Nobody exists with a perfect physical body. Our functioning varies from moment to moment and certainly from day to day. A lot of people heal into peace of mind and self-love, without ever becoming physically well. Perhaps making your goals your own inner peace, your own ability to forgive and love yourself just might promote your healing a lot faster than self-hate, self-criticism and resentment toward your illness. Use your illness as a situation to learn about hope, love, acceptance, forgiveness, peace of mind, openness to living and mindfulness to the moment. In doing so, you just may make the disease remit in the process. -- Our bodies respond to self-love and the love sent to us by others. If you send your own body loving messages, and if you are open to receive the love of others, your body's immune system responds with something like, "Hey, this person likes being alive, let's get to work and fight for his or her life with all the power and energy we can muster." Negative thoughts produce certain chemicals in our bodies...and positive thoughts produce another kind of chemicals. The latter strengthens the immune system. The former weakens it. -- Finally, use your body, use the life in your body, to love. Loving is the only path to immortality. Your love lives on long after you physically die. If you spend most of your life hating, you spend most of it dying. If you spend it loving, you leave a legacy of peace and development to all those persons you touch with your love. A legacy of love. What a gift to offer future generations! Spend most of your life loving and you will only spend a few brief moments dying. Lloyd J. Thomas, Ph.D., has 30+ years experience as a Life Coach and Licensed Psychologist. He is available for coaching in any area presented in "Practical Psychology." As your Coach, his only agenda is to assist you in creating the lifestyle you genuinely desire. The initial coaching session is free. Contact him at (970) 568-0173 or e-mail DrLloyd@CreatingLeaders.com. Visit the website www.lifecoachtraining.com. To subscribe to his weekly column, Practical Psychology, e-mail your request to: PracticalPsychology-On@lists.webvalence.com and write "subscribe" in the subject line and an "X" in the body. Copyright © 2004 Lloyd J. Thomas, Ph.D. |
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Sept 2004 |
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