September 2007 New Ideas and Perspective on Healing

Looking for some new ideas and perspectives on healing? Here are a few things to check out from some old (and new) favorites!!

New from Dr. Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra:

Dr. Dyer's new book, Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life is now available and if it is as good as the live lecture he presented last evening on PBS, which is based on the book, it's a winner!! He spent an entire year studying the Tao Te Ching (all 81 verses) and presents the secrets he learned to achieve a way of life "that will bring integrity, joy, peace and balance to your life". Visit Hay House.com (1-800-654-5126) for more information: http://www.hayhouse.com

Dr. Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success! is a classic best seller now available in a pocket-sized edition. Learn what it takes to be successful in all areas of your life! For more information: www.hayhouse.com (1-800-654-5126), www.amazon.com, or www.barnesandnoble.com.



The following books were recommended to me by the amazingly talented medical intuitive, Laura Alden Kamm. If you have not yet read her book, Intuitive Healing, it is a must-read for anyone dealing with illness or looking to better understand intuition, as well to learn to connect with your inner voice/wisdom. Visit her website, www.energymedicine.org for information about the book as well as her upcoming CD, Unlocking Your Intuitive Power, available October 1st. And we are looking forward to October when Laura will be our featured Guest Speaker - mark your calendar as you won't want to miss it!!

From Pema Chodron, renowned American Buddhist nun:

*When Things Fall Apart, "Heart Advice for Difficult Times"
Although I've only read the first four chapters I can already tell that this easy-to-read paperback is loaded with great information for finding a new approach to dealing with all kinds of suffering. Natural Health says, "The advice Chodron offers is radically different from other self-help prescriptions on the market. This book could serve you for a lifetime." Available at www.barnesandnoble.com, or www.amazon.com.

*The Places That Scare You, "A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times"
According to O: The Oprah Magazine this book is "a lively and accessible take on ancient techniques for transforming terror and pain into joy and compassion". It is a guide for learning how to awaken your basic goodness and connect with others, to accept your (and others) faults and imperfections..."We always have a choice: We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder." ~Pema Chodron
Available at www.barnesandnoble.com, or www.amazon.com.

In addition to the books, I also picked up Pema Chodron's CD set: Getting Unstuck...I've listened to the first CD and have already starting looking at things in a different light...I appreciate the unique perspective she presents as a guide to unraveling patterns of self-denigration, cultivate acceptance of irritability and insecurities, along with tips to learn how to relax. You will find more information at www.barnesandnoble.com, or www.amazon.com.

From Stanley H. Block, M.D. and his wife, Carolyn Bryant Block, founders of the Identity System theory and technique:

Come To Your Senses, "Demystifying the Mind-Body Connection"
This book explains Dr. Block's 10-day plan to optimize your life...it is designed to help you heal from post-traumatic stress syndrome, substance abuse, pain and other physical and mental problems. It was the 2005 USABookNews.com Book of the Year in Psychology/Mental Health. Christiane Northrup says, "Transform your life in a matter of ten days. I did." Available at www.barnesandnoble.com, or www.amazon.com.



New From Lynn McTaggert: Living In The Field Course

A few months ago we presented information about Lynne McTaggart and her fascinating new book, The Intention Experiment (www.amazon.com), and her previous work, The Field (www.amazon.com), both of which present thought-provoking information about the mind/body/universe connection, or as Lynn describes it "where spirituality meets physics". Lynne is now offering a new 48 part course for those who are interested in exploring psychic phenomena, spiritual practices from around the world, and age-old beliefs - all from the standpoint of the latest scientific discoveries. For information about the course visit www.wddty.com (What Doctors Don't Tell You) website which is offering the Living The Field Course. You might also want to check our Lynne's website: www.livingthefield.com.

Another Retailer Goes Green: West Elm, furniture and home decor retail stores (they also have a website, www.westelm.com, and catalog 1-888-922-4119) now offers beautiful sheets, towels, pillow covers, throws and more in organic cotton! They come in great fashion colors and styles, too!!



Submitted to Heal With Hope as" an interesting perspective on healing" from the Concept-Therapy Newsletter: www.concept-therapy.org...

Our Healing Journey

"Healing is a process you go through. It's not an event that happens to you. It's not something someone else does to you. You are your own healer and the way you heal is to participate in your process as fully as you can. Everybody's process is different. No two are the same because no two people are the same. Everybody's experience of life is unique. We may do similar things to bring about healing but our experiences of them may be very different. There are many different options for healing. What you choose to do may be different than what other people choose. It doesn't matter. There is no right or wrong way to heal. There is only your way.

It's a choice.

Sometimes things happen in life over which we have no control. Sometimes we use bad judgement and make choices that lead to devastating consequences. Whatever the adversity, and however it was caused, it's up to you to decide how you are going to respond.

You have two choices. You can give all your power over to adversity and live in the past under a cloud of regret and resentment. If you do this, you are letting adversity diminish (maybe even destroy) your life. Or, you can claim your power and claim your life back. You can decide to heal from the losses, adapt to the changes and embrace life in the present. You can decide to live life to the fullest and get the most out of everything it has to offer. Paradoxically, by taking away your sense of control, adversity offers you an opportunity to take control - not of external events, but of how you direct your life regardless of what happens.

It's the restoration of balance.

All of us have a common goal. We want to exist in a state of balance. We are programmed to constantly seek and maintain balance. The fancy name for this is homeostasis - physiological stability and psychological equilibrium. When you are in balance your physiological systems are working well and your needs - physical, social, sexual, emotional, intellectual and spiritual - are being adequately met.  All these different needs blend together in proportions that are exactly right for you at any given time. Needs are fluid things that change as you change. Thus, the proportions in the blend can change too.

When a life-changing adversity happens, it throws you off balance. Your ordered world becomes chaotic. Your needs blend gets out of whack. In an effort to cope, you may do things that first serve to restore balance. But they may become habitual behavior patterns that eventually interfere with your life. For instance you may devote all your attention to your work to keep your mind off what has happened. Later on you may find that lack of attention to your personal relationships has caused them to break down. Healing is the process of getting back in balance and restoring a balanced life. Everyone has their own optimum balance. When we achieve this (or get pretty darn close to it!), we're happy.

It's the transformation of energy.

Emotion is energy. Think of the ways we talk about it. We "jump" for joy. We "shake" with fear. We "boil" with rage. We "burn" with desire. We "die" of boredom. We "burst" out laughing. Adversity activates distressing emotions. You feel a whole host of feelings - anger, fear, sadness and confusion are just a few. They generate energy that you can physically feel (often a feeling of pressure in the chest area or tightness in the abdomen).

The only way to diffuse energy is to release it.

We have two containers for our emotional energy - the physical body and the psyche (comprised of all our thoughts and feelings and the psychological processes that put them into action). If energy is not released it continues to build up inside the containers. Healing happens as the destructive energy of troubling emotions is released and the life-enhancing energy of positive new experiences is allowed to flow in (now that there's space for it!). Healing also happens when you transform harmful energy generated by negative thoughts. Rather than directly releasing this energy through some form of expression, you redirect it to the positive by shifting your thoughts and taking part in positive actions.

It's a revisitation.

Most of us, for one reason or another, have some unresolved issues lingering in the past. You may not have had the opportunity or support you needed in order to heal, or parts of the adversity you went through may have just been too painful to face.  When this happens, people "get on with their lives" as best they can and more often than not, pull everything together again remarkably well - human beings are very resilient! But the unresolved pain and conflict associated with old issues - even if they are decades old - is often the cause of problems in present day life. Healing can involve revisiting the past to better understand what happened to you, how it impacted you, how you responded and the effect your response has had on your life. Then you can move forward on the strength of that understanding. You go back to the past not to try and change or rearrange it. That is just not possible. You go back to make peace with it exactly the way it was.

It's taking responsibility.

When I was told that I needed to have a triple discectomy within six months otherwise I would probably be paralyzed for the rest of my life.  My first reaction was "fear".  I then went to my Chiropractor, Dr. Carmen Carlile of San Antonio, Texas and she asked me what I wanted to do!  A doctor asking and not simply telling!  I told her that I didn't want 1) to be paralyzed or 2) to have a triple discectomy.  She said "Then you need to take responsiblity for your health."  So we drew up an Image for my future "health" without either 1 or 2 and that was over 15 years ago!  I took responsiblity instead of turning it over to "someone" or "something" else.

You, and only you, are responsible for how you feel about that. No matter how much you suffered at the hands of others or because of forces beyond your control, you are the one who has to take responsibility for putting your life back together again. That can be a hard pill or mental adjustment to swallow. Healing involves moving past unfairness, especially unfairness that is beyond your control. To do that, you have to take responsibility. Ultimately you have to forgive, and part of being responsible is learning how to do that.

It's a learning experience.

Adversity opens doors to parts unknown. Healing is a process of going through the doors and discovering what lies beyond.  There are many wonderful things to be found - understanding, insight, strength, new perspectives and attitudes, security, skills, talents, attributes, beauty and joy to name a few. Within every painful experience, there is something valuable and life-enhancing to learn. This is what keeps hope for the future alive, despite the most tragic circumstances.

You are a multidimensional being - physical, mental and spiritual. While one or two dimensions may have dominated your identity for a very long time, you may find that your attention and energy are drawn to other dimensions as you heal.  Healing is expansive. It is an opportunity to develop your whole being, to become more fully who you are.

It's a quest for happiness.

This, above all else, is what healing is all about. It may not seem so during the times you come face to face with your pain, but it is. People pursue healing because they want to be happy. When they feel the pain of their unhappiness it seems as though healing is taking them farther away from what they want (happiness) and giving them more of what they don't want (pain). Many people equate healing with happiness. They have an idea that healing will make them happy.  But healing isn't happiness. It's the road to happiness. Healing won't make you happy. Traveling the road will get you to the state of being we call happiness.

Along that road there are potholes, bumps, ditches and mud. As you go through these and travel onward, the road vastly improves.  When you get to the place where you can be who you are and live to your potential as a whole multifaceted being you will have found the roots of happiness. When you look back on your journey from this place, every step will have been worth it. There may be times when you get stuck in your healing process. You might even backslide a little. This can last days, weeks, months - even years. It's frustrating and it's discouraging. But these periods are also part of your process and they hold valuable information for you. Don't discredit them and look at them as failings. See them as something to be explored and understood. Understanding opens the way to more healing...

The important thing is to have patience with yourself and the process, and to keep looking until you find what works for you."



New Book From Dr. Wayne Dyer:

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Dyer's new book Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life:

20th Verse

Give up learning and you will be free
from all your cares.
What is the difference between yes and no?
What is the difference between good and evil?

Must I fear what others fear?
Should I fear desolation
when there is abundance?
Should I fear darkness
when that light is shining everywhere?

In spring, some go to the park and climb the terrace,
but I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am.
Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile,
I am alone, without a place to go.

Most people have too much;
I alone seem to be missing something.
Mine is indeed the mind of an ignoramus
in its unadulterated simplicity.
I am but a guest in this world.
While others rush about to get things done,
I accept what is offered.
I alone seem foolish,
earning little, spending less.
Other people strive for fame;
I avoid the limelight,
preferring to be left alone.
Indeed, I seem like an idiot:
no mind, no worries.

I drift like a wave on the ocean.
I blow as aimless as the wind.

All men settle down in their grooves;
I alone am stubborn and remain outside.
But wherein I am most different from others is
in knowing to take sustenance from the great Mother!

***

Living Without Striving

In this verse of the Tao Te Ching, you’re encouraged to experience your life free of worldly striving. Lao-tzu advises you to slow down your incessant demands for more, and to relax your efforts to fill up every moment in anticipation of being somewhere else. You’re invited to experience life in a way that can be summarized in the title of Ram Dass’s book Be Here Now.

Be here in your mind as well as in your body, in a state of appreciation and an absence of longing. Let go of wondering about doing the right thing. Release the what-ifs and all of your goals for the future, replacing them with the power of this instant. Be here, and remember to do it now, for thinking about being someplace else uses up your precious present moments. The enlightened sage makes a practice of immersing himself completely in the current “nowness” of his life.

Being here now is accomplished by adopting an acceptance of life as it is presented by the great Mother, or the Tao. It’s a surrendering process, if you will—simply allowing this great all-creating, all-nourishing Source to take you where it will. You give up the idea of having to get more or to be in another place in the future, and instead see yourself as whole and complete just as you are. This surrendering process allows you to bear witness to the unlimited abundance and eternal light that is always present. You retrain yourself to give up your beliefs about lacks and shortages; you instead trust in the great Source to provide what you need, as it has always done for all beings.

Lao-tzu emphasizes that this wasn’t a socially accepted standard even 2,500 years ago, as he refers to himself as an outsider who is unlike most people. Striving for satisfaction was viewed at that time as a proper role in life, just as it is today. The narrator of this verse admits that he is drifting, not knowing where he is, yet his tone is ironic. It’s as if he’s saying, “No one really knows where they are in this endless universe with no beginning and no ending, so why not admit it and allow yourself to be moved by the Tao that brought you here from nowhere?”

You’re being encouraged to simplify your life by not seeking another thing. Yes, others might judge you as unmotivated and call you an ignoramus, but your reward will be the strong sense of inner peace that comes from a direct knowing that you’re here as a guest who’s always being provided for. Yes, you may seem to be missing something, but the something is really only an illusion. You’re no longer living inside of yourself with a desire to be someone else or to gain something that seems to be omnipresent in all of those around you—you’ve traded in striving for arriving.

“I accept what is offered,” says the narrator of this provocative verse in the Tao Te Ching. He continues to express that this may seem foolish, perhaps echoing your thoughts as you contemplate letting go of striving. Lao-tzu is telling you to change how you see what’s here now in your life, for then it will become exactly what you need in order to be happy. In other words, you can change how you look at striving and have contentment without anxiety and fear.

When you live by the tenets explained in this verse, you begin to have a worry-free existence. Imagine that! No concerns or fears—only a sense of being connected to the Source of all, knowing that all will be handled for you by the same force that’s always handling everything. Lao-tzu is teaching you to free your mind from its persistent nagging. The world and everything in it are already taken care of by the Tao . . . it has always done this and always will.

Your mind continually urges you to strive in spite of the all-providing perfection of the Tao; it prompts you to pursue fame, to look for a groove or purpose. Lao-tzu encourages you to do precisely the opposite: Stay outside the rat race and let your mind be in peaceful harmony with the Tao rather than worrying and fighting. The concluding line of this passage of the Tao Te Ching says it all, instructing you to change how you look at your life by “knowing to take sustenance from the great Mother!”

The following are suggestions coming from Lao-tzu to you in the 20th verse of the Tao:

Practice letting go of thoughts about what’s not here now.

Just allow yourself to meld into the perfection of the universe you live in. You don’t need another thing to be happy; it’s all being provided for you right here, right now. Be in this moment, and free yourself of striving for something more or someone else. This is a mind exercise that will put you in touch with the peace of the Tao. Affirm: It is all perfect. God’s love is everywhere and forgets no one. I trust in this force to guide me, and I am not allowing ego to enter now. Notice how free you feel when you relax into this no-fears, no-worries attitude.

Take time to “let go and let God,” every single day.

Say the words over and over to yourself until you can actually tell what the difference feels like. Letting go is a markedly distinct physical and psychological experience, much different from striving. Let go of your demands, along with your beliefs that you can’t be happy because of what is supposedly missing in your life. Insisting that you need what you don’t have is insane! The fact that you’re okay without what you think you need is the change you want to see. Then you can note that you already have everything you need to be peaceful, happy, and content right here and right now! Relax into this knowing and affirm, again and again: I am letting go and letting God. I am a glorious infant nursing at the great all-providing Mother’s breast.


Do the Tao Now

Begin to notice the situations where you’re not in the moment because you’re striving to complete or attain something for a future benefit. You may not realize how often you endeavor to accomplish all sorts of things with the idea that once you do, you’ll finally have the time to do what you really want. This is one of the most pernicious ways that many of us unconsciously prevent (or perpetually postpone) a life free of striving. It’s a tough one to become aware of, and may be easiest to see when our free time becomes hijacked by family members or business emergencies.

Here’s an example: You’ve put in extra hours at work all week in order to have a deliciously imagined free day to [fill in the blank], when you learn that your spouse has invited a friend of a friend who’s never been to this part of the country before—and whom you’ve never met—to stay at your home.
There are two opportunities to practice living without striving in this situation. The first, of course, is to catch yourself wrapped up in striving for future benefit, notice what you’re doing, and focus on the now. The second comes after the example above, which is a difficult but incredibly rewarding exercise. Do the Tao now by accepting what is offered—that is, know that this situation, in some way that your striving ego rejects, is actually sustenance from the Great Mother.

For more information on this book, click here: http://www.amazon.com. Also watch for Dr. Dyer's new inspirational Public Television special airing this August. Check your local listings for broadcast dates.