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Anti-Cancer
Lifestyle ...
Symptoms: friends or foes?
by Lady Barbara |
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If we make the glaring 21st century mistake and allow the
TV to feed us health information, we’ll begin slipping
into a mindset where ‘relief from symptoms’
is the goal. Now, isn’t that rather shooting the messenger?
I say, open the envelope first. Better yet, invite the messenger
in for tea.
For starters, let’s look at this odd
WORD….symptom. Any word that starts off with fiveconsonants
has some kind of agenda.
symptom [n]
anything that accompanies X and is regarded as an indication
of X's existence
Right there, we see that ‘symptom’ does not
EQUAL ‘X’, and that’s the entire point.
One phrase pretty much everyone is familiar with is ‘flu-like
symptoms’. Sure wish we could call them something else,
something more accurate, like “Immune-Kicker Signals”
Then perhaps folks wouldn’t get so frantic to SQUELCH
them before they even know what their Immune System is KICKING
about. Yes, they’re uncomfortable, that ‘oh no,
I’m coming down with SOMETHING’ feeling, usually
aching all over, often sore throat, headache, tired, cranky
-- everybody’s are a little different.
It’s truly foolish to start scarfing down Ibuprofen to
just STOP the feeling if you haven’t listened to WHY it’s
happening. It’s also truly foolish to just take the same
mindset over to the herb patch and immediately begin loading
up on Echinacea root to STIMULATE your immune system if it’s
doing a fine job on its own. If you MUST grab a bottle of SOMETHING,
how about the empty one over there marked “LISTEN”.
Symptoms are a whole lot like toddlers. The sooner you
listen and respond, the less likely they are to start
shrieking. Ignore them all together and you’ve got
a tantrum lying on its back in the grocery store.
It really changes everything to consider symptoms to
be the language in which your body tells you things. They’re
the way your body gets your attention, and the closer
you listen, the more you learn. I’m sure every one
of you has some subtle signal that says you’re just
pushing too hard. Time to back off, get a little more
rest. Ignore that one for too long and you’re flat
on your back.
We also each have a set of signals that
tell us of a serious infection. The sooner we catch on to
those, the sooner we can start HELPING our bodies really
HEAL themselves.
Chronic symptoms are a real pain (how’s
THAT for a bumper sticker?) But the more deeply we can understand
even those symptoms, the better chance we have of helping
ourselves.
One of the best places to start learning
‘symptom-ese’ is with just plain old PAIN. Pain
comes in lots of different ‘flavors’….muscle
pain, which is rather tight; nerve pain which is somewhat
sharp and ‘electric’-feeling; inflammation,
which is a hot and swollen feeling (whether there’s
actual swelling or not); there’s pressure-pain, telling
us something is swollen and leaning on something else. (and
all you said was “ow”)
Taking that a step further, it helps to
take a little time to just try to imagine what would REALLY
relieve/release that ‘symptom’ – not just
an OFF button, but what would it like to have happen. If
you find yourself thinking of frayed wires, there’s
a good chance it’s nerve pain. If you don’t
get all tangled up trying to figure it out, and just use
your imagination to grab some image (we use this a lot in
hypnotherapy) whether it’s changing the color of something,
or seeing it as totally unrelated objects, you can get some
pretty amazing insights.
One client of mine had a chronic neck pain
and when all relaxed down, she ‘saw’ it as a
spitball stuck in a straw and had a great feeling that AIR
would help move it through. When she explored that in more
detail, she was clear that for some reason just BREEZES
made sense to her and it also hooked in with some ‘not
being allowed to be a child’ issues and round and
round we go. It’s all connected.
So, perhaps, before your body feels the
need to stick its foot out and STOP you, you might check
in with it to see if there are any small messages. If it
starts to get truly cranky, try to hear what it’s
getting cranky ABOUT, before you send it off to ‘go
watch TV, I’m BUSY’………LadyB
CONVERSATIONS
with YOURSELF with Lady Barbara
to find out more go to www.susunweed.com/Workshops.htm#ladyb
August 14, 2004
I am an herbalist, hypnotherapist, and
belly dance teacher
with a rowdy reverence for life's dancing.
The first step to caring for yourself is the ability
to listen to yourself and trust your inner wisdom. Using
the tools of Self-Testing, Guided Visualization, "Granny
Unconditional" and Reading Symptoms, LadyB will set
you on the path to becoming your own greatest ally.
1 day: $50-$75. $25 deposit.
Register for this workshop at
www.susunweed.com/Workshops.htm#register
DEFINE NOURISHMENT
with Lady Barbara
to find out more go to www.susunweed.com/Workshops.htm#ladyb
August 15, 2004
Nourishment goes far beyond just what we put into our
mouths! Learn to expand the nourishment you absorb from
what you DO eat, but also to nourish yourself through
BellyDancing, 'ingesting' music, using visualizations
and discovering exactly what in your own life can truly
nourish you and GOING for it.
1 day: $50-$75. $25 deposit.
Register for this workshop at
www.susunweed.com/Workshops.htm#register
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