In Western society most of us rely heavily on western medicine and have a faith and belief in our doctors, that they will diagnose and support us in healing. Many people happily take the prescription or even expect to be given a pill or some sort of medicine to “fix them”. In defence of the medical fraternity, this is what they have been taught in all those years in medical school-this is all they know. They haven’t been taught nutrition. They haven’t been taught about holistic health and they haven’t been taught the incredible ability we have to heal ourselves and what emotions and trauma do to our physical health!
Fast forward to today, we have first world countries where pharmaceutical companies call many of the shots. They dictate and control what the doctors prescribe to us and sadly this is more about money and profit than it will ever be about our health. An example of this is what has happened to my mum this year. Having suffered poor health for many years she has been prescribed a myriad of medications, that she has been taking for years. After her recent health crisis which included several cardiac arrests and many weeks in hospital, a specialist team assessed everything. Over half the medications she was on were removed and with this she lost the horrendous side affects- most of which were worse than the symptoms and illness!
I have never had blind faith in the medical profession but respect everyone’s choices and of course there is definitely a need for western medicine but we shouldn’t rely solely on this as our only option. I have always been more holistic and open in my approach to my health and that of my kids. Everything has it’s place but we SHOULD always have a choice in managing our health. My daughter is a type 1 diabetic so obviously she requires insulin to live- there is absolutely no alternate option here but there are many health conditions that we can definitely treat alternatively and with a holistic approach. Body, mind and spirit.
What I have learnt and continue to learn is our mind and emotions have a direct affect on our physical health and this is scientifically proven. We all know those people that catch every virus that’s going around. They forever have colds, flu’s, stomach viruses or other illnesses. This is because their immune system is run down and our immune system becomes run down when our body is in a constant state of stress- sometimes it’s obvious stress but many times it’s not and you don’t even realise that you have unresolved emotions, traumas or wounds. When we are in this state we activate the fight or flight mode and this sends our body haywire when it’s in this state for prolonged periods.
I personally have been through a lot in the past few years- in fact on the RAHE stress scale I was right up there! This assesses things like relationship breakdowns, deaths, moving home and a host of other things. The interesting thing is, I rarely get physically sick. Everyone around me can have viral infections that seemingly go on for weeks or they get one virus after another and I’ve been fortunate enough to stay healthy. The last virus I had was early January. I rarely get the flu and if I do get a symptom it doesn’t last long. My belief is my stress and emotions don’t make me sick because I allow them to be felt. I speak about them. I write about them. I seek help in need. I let them out and don’t bury them!
I’m currently reading Mind Over Medicine by Dr Lissa Rankin (highly recommend) who is a medically trained doctor, who after some disillusionment with western medical practises, went in search of more holistic approaches and now combines the two. Her studies and findings have been incredible, when it comes to the bodies natural healing abilities, when we are emotionally well. She found some of the wealthiest people who ate all the right organic, whole foods and exercised daily were some of her most unhealthy patients. Why? Because they had not dealt with their emotions. Their feelings. Their unhealed childhood wounds or traumas. They were not living their truth in all aspects of their life.
As humans, when we are faced with physical illness or emotions we do not want to deal with, we tend to look for quick fixes. A pill. Drugs (some drugs like psychedelics can be beneficial with treating certain mental illnesses and trauma but not all). Alcohol. Or someone who promises to fix us in a couple of sessions. We want to believe that we can heal our emotions and wounds in the shortest possible time.
Here’s the thing, we can’t. There’s no one stop shop of miracle cures to fix someone’s unique wounds-which we’ve often lived with for years, decades even. Sure there are tools to help and support but if we want to truly heal and grow-physically, emotionally and spiritually, we have to be prepared to do the work. We are all different, therefore different approaches are required. We have to realise it’s a process. We need to understand it’s like peeling an onion- we remove one layer and then there’s another and another. We can get short term fixes but longterm healing and growth is not for the faint hearted. It’s also not for the unrealistic and it’s certainly not for those who are looking to bypass their sh*t and just get the temporary quick fix. It’s for those that are prepared to face their darkness and be completely honest.
We operate from the subconscious mind about 95% of the time, therefore trying to just consciously think positively will never be enough. We need to tap into our subconscious and change our belief system, that we have carried around from childhood. We do this by becoming aware of what those beliefs are, through things like meditation and hypnotherapy- kinesiology and other forms of energy healing can also be beneficial. In order to change our beliefs permanently, we also need to treat the traumas and wounds (yes we all have them), that have caused our beliefs to be run on autopilot in our subconscious. If we don’t do this hard inner work, all we are doing is decorating a pile of sh*t with chocolate icing and we’ll never get long lasting growth and healing and we will continue to get sick!
We all need to understand and accept that we will feel negative emotions and that is not only normal but healthy! It’s great to have a positive mindset but not to the point we are masking our emotions and feelings and not allowing ourselves to feel and deal with negative stuff that comes up. EVERY emotion is necessary. Anger protects boundaries. Fear is related to intuition and sadness brings the gift of release. No amount of positive thinking, positive psychology or emotional or spiritual bypassing will help us heal or grow. It’s only when we accept, feel and deal with our negative feelings can we ultimately heal.
So if you are a person who catches every virus going by. Perhaps have body aches or pains, maybe it’s time to look at your emotional health as a possibility as to why you are physically unwell. Sometimes it’s obvious that you are under stress and you haven’t been dealing with that stress and sometimes it’s not obvious. Sometimes we are unaware of what’s buried deep inside and sometimes we don’t want to face it. But as long as there is unhealed or not fully healed trauma and wounds in our body’s system, we will continue to be physically run down and suffer from viruses and other ill health.
When we deny what is not working in our lives or think we need to live in a particular way to suit societal or family ideals or we continue to suppress our emotions and feelings, we will forever suffer. Turning away from the truth of our deepest knowing puts us at a secret war within ourselves and our nervous system instinctively reacts. It sets off a chain of triggers which ultimately affects our physical health. There’s no medicine that will fix your unhealed wounds.
No matter how much organic food you eat. How many vegetable juices you drink. How many vitamins you take. How much exercise you do. How many positive affirmations you tell yourself. If you are not honest with yourself and do not allow yourself to feel your emotions and heal your inner wounds, you will forever be unhealthy.
Find Your Inner Goddess 