Healing – it sounds romantic, and the end result is definitely beautiful. However the journey is often long and solitary.
Healing takes time and work.
It requires a lot of effort, determination and self-control.
But you CAN heal.
Healing IS possible.
Your body was made to heal.
I have had the privilege to walk through multiple healing journeys in my own life and body. They have not been easy. But I do consider them a blessing: a knowledge that I now carry within me to share and pass on to others.
I will write further articles on how I healed infertility, chronic acne and more recently chronic auto-immune atopic dermititis: ezcema.
But in this post, I want simply to talk about the mindset of healing.
It can and should be approached with a positive mindset.
You are doing this for yourself, perhaps for your family, for future possibilities. And you are learning the art of healing, how to keep your mind, body and spirit well.
First, it is a choice.
You have to choose to heal and to what level you want healing.
Are you happy with your symptoms lessening, or do you want complete healing to the root of the issue?
It takes a decision, even for first level healing, to do whatever it takes to help your body heal.
This will absolutely mean changing your life choices, food choices and priorities.
Your entire past choices brought you to this point in your body and life. Now is the time to take responsibility and make changes. If you do not make any changes and have a chronic condition, it will continue to progress.
Secondly, step into your healing journey with love and compassion.
From the perspective of wanting to take care of yourself and live the best version of who you can be.
Don’t bring judgment of your past choices or anger of where you are at. It’s ok to feel those emotions, but don’t carry them and breathe life into them.
Begin your healing with a deep compassion for yourself. Your past is your past, but you can create a new future. You can make new choices that nourish, cleanse and build the body.
Thirdly, approach your healing diet in terms of all the things you CAN eat.
There is definitely food from your past you will have to let go of.
Probably a lot.
But don’t focus on that. Instead, look to all the food you can eat.
Focus on the foods that are calming and healing your body. This is freedom. This is the ability to see the bounty, the diversity of beautiful foods that will direct your body and future into healing.
Fourth, listen to your body.
Your body is communicating to you through your symptoms and sensations. Your body is intelligent.
Consider your symptoms a gift, the only language your body has to impart to you that it is not well, that something you are doing is not helping it and that you need to make changes.
Symptoms will appear before disease, and if you listen well and early, you can often avoid disease. As you heal, your symptoms will decrease.
Fifth, do your best, and then do it again.
Healing is a path you have to walk, day after day.
It is not perfection, and some days will be easier than others. Some days you may make unwise choices, eat or do something you know is a trigger or detrimental to your body. That is also part of the journey.
So be easy on yourself, yet at the same time, do this well.
Do your best, and continue doing it. Choose your healing plan and stay with it, be strict.
It takes time: months, possibly years to reverse chronic conditions and experience deep, long-lasting healing.
Sixth, it’s not only food you have to change.
Absolutely, food is foundational. If you do not change your food, healing will be difficult.
But food is not the only component.
What are you feeding your mind? What is the narrative you are speaking to yourself, about yourself and others? How positive or negative is your circle of friends? Is your job crushing your soul and hurting your body? What is your relationshiop with God? How are you managing your emotions?
Seventh, emotions.
You have to look at your emotions. Without judgment.
Allow yourself to honestly and clearly see your emotions. To look at them with compassion, will begin the process of dissolving and healing difficult ones.
Emotions are part of a normal and healthy human experience. It’s ok to have and feel the entire range of emotions. What is not healthy, is to be stuck in the past experience of anger, jealousy, frustration or judgment. Don’t continue the narrative of something you experienced years ago.
Learn healthy ways to release your emotions and to soften your heart.
Eight, invite God into your experience.
You are strong. And you can do a lot by your own intentions, will power and motivation.
But with God all things are possible.
God can help direct your choices, inspire your mind and breathe healing into your body. Ask God to help you and direct you.
Ninth, the positive power of epigenetics.
In the past, it was believed that disease was passed down through inherited genetics. Sometimes this is true.
However, more commonly, disease is a combination of environmental and lifestyle factors rather than inherited genetics.
Epigenetics is the science of how biological mechanisms turn genes on and off. How certain nutrients in foods can create pathways within the body, turning disease expression off.
The positive choices you make and the healing foods you ingest can and will direct your genes into health and healing rather than disease.
Last but not least: Ten, trust and hope.
Trust that you can do this. You are strong enough to walk this path of healing. You can create a new and healthy future.
Science and epigenetics tells you it is possible.
God tells you it is possible.
Thousands of stories of those who went before you and have healed, tell you it is possible.
It does not mean it will be easy, but with hope, trust, faith and often massive action, you CAN heal.
It is a choice.
My hope is you choose to heal.
