HEALTH or OLD PAIRS OF SHOES? – Part 2
~ An Odyssey of Health

As I wrote in Part I that attitudes and beliefs are like an old pair of shoes, I also identify this with our health. Are you aware that here in the United States that we have more sick people than ever before? In this day and age of technology, we have given our power away to the pharmaceutical companies and to the medical community. And, what do attitudes and beliefs have to do with this? Everything.
My odyssey began in the late sixties of the last century when I noticed a trend in me. For three consecutive years in August, I came down with laryngitis. After the third year, I realized that something was out of kilter. I told myself that this was ridiculous and that I had had enough. I was never bothered with laryngitis in August after I firmly made my declaration. I did not think too much about this until some years later when I began connecting the dots.

I had been plagued with allergies for a number of years and in the late seventies, I went to an allergist who tested me for a large number of possibilities. I was living in southern California at the time and when the results came in, I was allergic to dust mites and mold. Dust mites in southern California – yes, but mold no. I began taking weekly shots and after six weeks, I did not see any measurable improvement and told myself that this is for the birds. I stopped going in for shots or taking medication. Soon my allergies began disappearing and when I moved to the Pacific Northwest where there is lots of mold; my allergies did not come back.

It was also in the late seventies when I was introduced to the healing statements in a small booklet titled Heal Your Body by Louise L. Hay. Her simple – yet profound probable causes of various health conditions helped me to acknowledge suppressed feelings. I realized that the major cause of health problems is due to suppressed feelings.

During the early eighties, I became a program director for a holistic health center and for me this became a school of learning. I scheduled almost every modality of healing that I could from workshops to lectures. I learned that they all worked and they all didn't work – meaning that for some there was a healing and for others there was none. The ancient biblical phrase came to me: It is done unto you as you believe. There is also another ancient phrase that is well known: As a man/woman thinketh, so it is. Some people were receptive and healed and others were not.

My major change regarding my own belief and attitudes began in the late 1970's. I recall that I learned at some healing workshop that our first reaction to an injury such as saying 'ouch' or 'ow' gives the body a message that this is pain and the cells go to work at reacting. One evening I was frying something and grease popped out on my left hand. My first reaction was to tell myself, There is no pain. I repeated this over-and-over and immediately plucked off a piece of my aloe vera plant and smeared it over the spot. Within minutes, there was no pain and within ten minutes there was no red spot. I had proven to myself that this worked.

Taking this one step further, I read Frederick Dodson's book Parallel Universes of Self. Dodson tells an incident where he was riding his bicycle and had an accident. One of his little fingers was broken and the bones were sticking out of the skin. The pain was unbearable and as Dodson tells it: This can't be happening; I have an important meeting. No way. This did not happen. He did not tend the wound. He went home and continued his tasks while insisting that it did not happen. As he describes it, I will go to the meeting tonight, feeling refreshed and well. Nothing ever happened. Fifteen minutes later, the swelling and the cut had disappeared; there was no sign of anything having ever happened. The finger was not only completely healed, it looked like nothing ever happened in the first place. I had reversed cause and effect.

Since reading about Dodson's reversing cause and effect, I have used this often and it works. When I get a bump, stumble, a cut or a burn, I immediately say, It never happened. I say this repeatedly until I sense that it is done and there is no pain. I have realized that we can reverse health conditions and injuries. The key is to be aware and to immediately state the opposite of what occurred.

Our thoughts – our suppressed emotions are the root of our health challenges. Some of these can go back to early childhood. I know one of mine did. It wasn't until I attended a week-end workshop that I had a major breakthrough from a traumatic incident at age three. When the anger I had suppressed for over fifty years erupted, I became hysterical with anger and my anger was so volatile that my body rocked with it for three days. On the third day, I told myself that I had had enough and then I began the healing and forgiveness.

I am aware of the vast epidemic of sickness in this country. We worry about our food we eat and what we drink. Scientists have declared that eggs cause cholesterol and are bad for us. Other scientists declare that eggs are healthy and we should all eat them. This goes for peanuts, coffee, chocolate, and so on. We are bombarded with various twists and recommendations and we give our power away. We give our power to others to diagnose what is wrong with us and what we can do to correct the condition. Perhaps it is time to develop the power of discernment. Why do we want to chemicalize our bodies with drugs? Too many people are chained to taking this pill or that pill and to be sure it is taken on time.

Beliefs and attitudes are like wearing a pair of old worn-out shoes. It is time to shed them and to re-think our unhealthy thinking. The first step is to give oneself a life review. This is to go back in time and pull up all hurts, traumas, resentments, and anger. What is suppressed must come out in order to have health. In Louise Hay's booklet, she gives a probable cause for cancer as Deep secret or grief eating away at the self. Long standing resentment. Deep hurt.

It takes courage to look at our hidden suppressed feelings and emotions. Once we can take them out of our emotional box and look at them individually and objectively, we are using the Power of Discernment. The next step is to forgive not only the other person(s), events, but also our self.

Forgiveness is cleansing. There is an old saying regarding forgiveness and that is to forgive seventy times seven if it is necessary. The result is an emptying of old beliefs and attitudes and allows for healing and a healthier happier life. The cells of the body will respond.

An affirmation I have used effectively is, I forgive myself and I forgive_____. We are each free now and forever. When I know I must forgive, I write down at least fifteen times the above statement or something similar. It works. It is not up to me to determine if the other individual has forgiven me. What matters is that I have forgiven. Forgiveness of self and others is the key to healing and maintaining health.

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." Henry David Thoreau