The Power of Affirmations

After my cancer diagnosis I spent time researching people who healed themselves through natural methods.  Remarkably there are many stories of triumph out there.  Most started by healing the body physically, through proper diet, colonics, Essiac tea, acupuncture, yoga, etc. Detoxifying the body is a great step towards healing. I also noticed in a great deal of the stories, especially those in which the cancer never returned, people also focused on healing the mind. One such woman is Louise Hays, author of "You Can Heal Your Life."  She shares with readers her childhood story of sexual abuse and abandonment, which caused her to runaway and live on her own at age 15. Throughout the years, she eventually married, developed a career and had a pretty good life. However, mid-life she was diagnosed with a vaginal cancer. She chose to put surgery on hold and heal herself naturally. She focused not only on healing her body, but releasing emotional blockages that had created her cancer. Six months later she went in for a checkup and received a clean bill of health. So what did she do? In addition to good nutrition, colonics and foot reflexology, she spent a great deal of time in front of the mirror telling herself, "I love you."  She learned to forgive those in her past that hurt her and forgive herself. She repeated affirmations several times a day, reinforcing her desire to love herself, forgive and gratitude.

I admit that in my own healing, the emotional portion has been the most difficult.  As mentioned in my first blog, I suffered from depression, used cutting as an outlet, and from Kindergarten to my mid-20's had an onslaught on men who sexually harassed, stalked and assaulted me. Louise said, regarding her own situation, "Yes, I had a very difficult childhood with a lot of abuse--mental, physical and sexual.  But that was many years ago, and it was no excuse for the way I was treating myself now.  I was literally eating my body with cancer growth because I had not forgiven."

How powerful is that?  Does my cancer punish anyone but myself?  No, it doesn't.  Forgiveness is difficult, but one of the things I've learned is that forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean you are saying that what happened to you is okay, it simply means letting go and not letting that person or incident harm you or hold you back any longer.  A handy tool when working on forgiveness is to write a letter to the person that hurt you, then burn it. Release it into the air and say, "I forgive you."  I've done this exercise several times and it really does clear that negative energy out of your field.

Affirmations are also very powerful and can be used in many areas of your life.  Louise has a section in her book called "The List" where she breaks down 100's of diseases, describes the related emotion and gives you a positive affirmation to use to overcome said dis-ease.  For Cancer, the emotion is: "Deep hurt. Longstanding resentment. Deep secret or grief eating away at the self. Carrying hatred." The positive affirmation to heal this feeling is "I lovingly forgive and release all of the past.  I choose to fill my world with joy.  I love and approve of myself."  Under Hodgkin's Disease the emotion is: "Blame and a tremendous fear of not being good enough.  A frantic race to prove one's self until the blood has no substance left to support itself.  The joy of life is forgotten in the race for acceptance."  Whew!!! What a doozy, and I resonated strongly with this the first time I read it.  The positive affirmation is: "I am perfectly happy to be me.  I am good enough just as I am.  I love and approve of myself.  I am joy expressing and receiving."

I highly recommend forgiveness exercises, mirror work, and affirmations for everyone.  Why wait until you have a "terminal" disease to heal yourself and be happy?

Check out this link for more information on empowering your affirmations:

http://www.squidoo.com/eft-affirmations