I was blessed to speak with two potential clients today who have a whole world of experience to share. For each one, the stress of needing to make major life choices, and resisting, even for theoretically justifiable reasons, caused serious health issues.
One wonderful man hated his career from the beginning yet felt obligated to support his family and he knew this job could do it! Nowhere in there did I say he didn’t need to support them. What I did say, was how unfortunate it was that he didn’t see the opportunity, and need, for other options. Thankfully, now he is ready to choose differently!
Most all of us need to work to support ourselves or our family, what is imperative however is that we acknowledge that when we choose to survive this journey, walking each day in drudgery, we are choosing a life that will not feed us emotionally, spiritually, and/or physically. Actually, we are choosing a life that will literally make us sick. Our emotions and our resultant energy, define our health for us. Choose positive actions that bring you alive and in doing so, choose health.
Have you noticed that when you are overly stressed, sad or overwhelmed for a long period of time, that you also start feeling physically or emotionally ill? You have heard me say it before, that illness does not occur in a vacuum. Being laid off, for him, resulted in prostate cancer. I have seen this many times. Taking the exact same job at another location did not help.
For another client today, needing to close her business has resulted in collapsing into barely breathing, with no energy or even desire to do more. Think of the long-term ramifications…. Coming alive again, reclaiming her passion, allowing another dream, and going for it, can bring back her breath along with her will to create, to explore, and to live.
Being fully present in our lives, becoming willing to actively participate in creating the life we want for ourselves, and if applicable, for those we love, requires us to be on our toes. To actively and creatively jump into living with gusto, with passion and peace as well. Actively participating in our lives, not sitting around to simply see what happens, if anything, allows us to not only create our dreams, but it also automatically supports our immune system, our adrenals, and our full-bodied presence. Every part of us is fed.
Notice that at those moments of excitement and joy we feel called to physical activity, to movement, to activities that bring us fun and to easy laughter. Since the days of scripture, the power of laughter has been raved about. Normal Cousins claimed it healed him from serious illness and he eventually wrote a book, Anatomy of an Illness and then The Healing Heart. Those of us who have been in integrative health for decades can recite case example after case example of clients who have healed themselves of disease through laughter, joy, and deciding to fully come alive.
My wish for you, is to recognize when you are beginning to feel ill that you notice the choices you are making or are not willing to make – and then choose peace – and let all that stress go and simply breathe – you can watch your healing and joy come back miraculously…. Just another day of miracles…
