When faced with a serious illness you have a choice to give up and die or fight and give yourself a new lease on life. Let’s continue to explore what I learned in my NIWH course, Living With Illness, presented by Dr. Bernie Siegel. Dr. Siegel has countless stories of patients who were given death sentences from doctors only to turn around and live far past what they were supposed to. This is because many of them chose at that time they were not ready to die and made the decision to go out and live and enjoy their life. Giving birth to a new self is powerful in helping a sick person heal and survive an illness.
How To Fight the Battle
* Live in the moment and forget about the past. Don’t let the past have any effect on the present and future. Stay away from negative people who are unsupportive and unloving. You have a choice who to hang around so keep the positive caring people around and remove people from your life who are toxic even if they are family or close friends.
* Be like water.. take the form that is most beneficial to your life as it is needed. Water is constantly changing and has the ability to transform into different states. Chose to be open and loving, gentle with yourself and others.
* Caring about yourself and others changes your body chemistry by reducing adrenal output. Serving others is proven to reduce stress physiologically and psychologically. It’s a great feeling when you help someone and you feel worthwhile making a difference in someone else’s life. It also takes the focus off you so you are far less likely to concentrate on your illness.
* Laugher decreases cortisol production and increases thymus gland function. Laughing improves your immune system function and instantly changes your attitude and makes you feel lighter and more positive. Norman Cousins attributed laughter to healing his chronic disease by exposing himself to things that made him laugh every day like comedies and other humorous things.
* Focus on stress reduction especially during an illness because it will positively affect your immunity and the ability of your body to fight off illness. A more relaxed mind and body does help in healing both physically and emotionally. We are capable of altering our physiology with our thoughts and our bodies respond by making healthy changes. I offer a 6 week coaching program all about stress management if you ever need some extra help!
* Love thyself- most important of all is love, be kind to yourself and love and accept who you are. This has an effect on health and healing. Love is powerful and being capable of loving yourself attracts good health, energy and positive people into your life.
Siegel, B. Living With NIWH media course. Retrieved from http://www.classroom.wholepersonhealthcare.org
It is a struggle to feel good enough to try some days but I know that consistently being mindful of these positive practices does help tremendously. If you are going through a tough time right now dealing with an illness, try at least one of these tips and focus on the positive. And don’t feel bad if there are some days where you just can’t do it. It always helps to enlist someone you trust to remind you of the positive stuff. Believe me, I know it’s not easy but it does help to take your mind off your pain and suffering. Comment and let me know what works for you and what you struggle with most. Until next time, enjoy every moment you are still alive 🙂
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