How To Stop Making Yourself Sick!

Nobody WANTS to be sick.

Right?

Before reading a fabulous book called The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin, I would have gotten all up in your grill at the suggestion that I wanted to be sick.  If you had told me that I, myself, caused my own sniffles, them’s woulda been fightin’ words (once I got better).

After reading the book and practicing the exercises in it for a while, I’ve developed the ability to literally will colds away within an hour of noticing their approach.  The nitty-gritty of how this is done and why it works can be found in the book.

But I’ll give you a hint: it begins (and often ends) with accepting the fact that, just maybe, you want to be sick.

There’s a great deal of research on the mind-body connection and psychosomatic illness. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosomatic_illness]  Accumulated human wisdom from ancient cultures such as India and China have offered us scores of anecdotal evidence pointing to the mutual influence of mind-upon-body, body-upon-mind.

If you’re open to the idea that much sickness isn’t completely – or even mostly – pathogenic [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory_of_disease ] (i.e. caused by microorganisms) and that you exercise a profound control over your own well-being . . . Read on!

What possible benefits could coming down with a nasty bug offer you?

The Vestigial Tail: Attention/Approval

To varying degrees, we have all been conditioned to seek attention and approval from others.  This serves a survival purpose as children, when we are dependent upon our caretakers to inform our actions.  In adulthood it’s a major friggin’ encumbrance.

Ex:

- Child eats pineapple chunks with hearty appetite and displays affinity for the piano = praise and attention from caretakers (who in turn seek it from other, presumably envious parents.)

- Child ponders terroir of dog’s twice-buried chew toy and displays affinity for gleefully peeing on playmates = can of whoop-tushy and “why can’t you be more like child X?”

Given the distinctly pleasant nature of the first option and the yuckiness of the second, we slowly but surely learn to seek approval and attention.

Now you’re an adult.

Imagine this type of scenario:

You – feeling overworked, under-appreciated and pissed off about both, begin to wonder what the point of it all is.  Your subconscious decides that you need a break because your body can’t take any more and mobilizes your immune system for a healing crisis, [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healing_crisis ] otherwise known as a “cold”.

Your symptoms manifest and open the way for a deluge of commiseration from coworkers, friends and family.

Despite your utterly sabotaged productivity, you bravely put in your hours and the boss praises your suicidal adherence to a beloved societal maxim: “work for work’s sake is path to enlightenment!”

Or you take a sick day.  Whichever.

In either case, you’ve successfully averted/postponed odious duties, received soothing consolation and basked in the temporary glory of “MIA office soldier” status.

Nah, you wouldn’t want all that.

Would you?

The details surrounding your particular situation may vary, but allow yourself to consider – ever so briefly – that you may be manifesting what it is that you want all along.

Your personal resiliency may have to do with honestly admitting that you would gladly welcome many minor disasters – and letting go of the want.

This is called being present to experience.  It means that you refuse to subordinate the needs of the body to ideas/stories about those needs.

These are the first giant steps to reclaiming your health and the honesty that this process forces you to exercise with yourself can have many unexpected benefits in every facet of your life.