Understanding Illness Deciphering The Ailment Message   The Underlying Causes Of Illness Our own thought patterns effect the health of our body. Each emotional thought pattern is really an underlying "cause" of a physical illness. Understanding the illness can help you address the cause and thereby riding the body of the disease.   There are many books on the market that describe this system of belief and understanding, but in my opinion, one of the best books on the market for healers is called "Heal Your Body" by Louise Hay, from Hay House Publishing. Ms. Hay has created one if not the definitive source for emotional causes, their corresponding illness and a metaphysical affirmation to help the individual deal with the originating cause.   One way to help bring about change in your life it so focus on replacing negative thinking with positive thinking through affirmations. Affirmations are a way of reprogramming the subconscious to think differently and to automatically react in a more positive way when trigger situations occur in your life. You can read Affirmations Evolving The Spirit to learn more about how to change negative patterns, how to create your own affirmation and how to use affirmations in your daily life.   The Body and Disease Understanding the cause is not the cure for an ailment. And this metaphysical/spiritual approach should be used as a support and in conjunction with traditional approaches to medical evaluations and treatment by your doctor.   But there is a belief that even if you are involved in traditional treatment, and not addressing the whole body (mind/body/spirit), the ailment will either continue, or return. So there is a new approach by traditional practioners to look at the whole person when deciphering disease and prescribing treatment. This approach isn't new, as it's based on very old metaphysical theory, but today it's often referred to as the Mind/Body/Spirit connection or approach to healing. Deciphering The Message Your body will try to let you know there's an issue to be addressed. Ailments tend to start out as minor discomforts. When ignored, these minor issues grow into more serious ailments. But how do you recognize there's a problem and interpret the message?   To do this, you first need to understand a few basic principles of energy within the body. I won't confuse the issue with metaphysical concepts such as Kundilini energy and chakra centers. While these are important, they can make something simple seem a lot more complex. So let's stick to the basics. Energy flows in the body in a clockwise motion. From the root of your spine, to the crown of your head and back again. This flow has a physical and emotional connection to your being. Simply put, the right side of your body is related to masculine/physical energies and the left side related to the feminine/emotional energies. Each part of your body is related to a concept of life. The easiest way to put this is give you an example. Let's say you have discomfort in your right wrist. This would indicate you're having difficulty in the way you're "handling" a situation, specifically, in the way you're being flexible, or not flexible in that situation.   The best way to look at a situation is to ask yourself, what does this body part do for me? The pancreas for instance manages the sugar in your body. So look at the sweetness in your life. Has it left you? Are you so focused on the material things in life that you're missing out on the sweetness life offers you?   Next look at which side of the body the ailment is manifesting on. The left side where you're dealing with emotions, how you're reacting to situations in your thoughts? Or on the right side which is affected by the physical actions you're making? This is where the right/masculine or left/feminine energies come into play.   Finally, you might also look at who is involved in a situation that is currently causing you stress. Simply put, if you're having an issue with the right side of your body, you could be having an issue with a male figure you're dealing with. A spouse, sibling, friend or boss.   Deciphering Examples Ok, so how do we really put all this together. Again the easiest way is to give you 3 specific examples. The first thing to do is look at the ailment and decipher it's underlying issue. The key is to be very open and totally honest with yourself. Some situations can be things you don't want to face, or admit that you are doing, either to others or to yourself. So you must be willing to face the truth and be open to changing your own mental patterns. Carpal Tunnel Carpal Tunnel Anger and frustrations at life's seeming injustices. Let's say you have problems with carpal tunnel in your right hand. When the carpal tunnel becomes inflamed it tightens around the nerves in your hand. Causing a tingling in the thumb, index and middle fingers. Because it's on the right side, we can point to an issue you're having with a male figure in your life. Or with the physical things that are occurring within a situation you're involved in. We can see how the tightening can seem like you're being squeezed unfairly or unjustly.    From here no book can give you an answer. You need to look at the situations in your life and determine what the situation could be. Are you treating yourself fairly, or are you involved in a situation involving a male person where you feel they are creating or involved in an unjust situation. Stress in your shoulders Shoulder Problems Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Feeling like life is a burden. Let's say you have tightness in your shoulders continuously, day in and day out. Define for yourself what do your shoulders do? What function to they perform? They carry things, they carry the heavy burdens, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. In this example, we're not talking about the left or right side, but both. So how does that correspond to situations? Well, you still have a right and left shoulder. So in this case, we're talking about how you feel you're carrying the load both emotionally and doing all the things life requires you to do physically. This could mean you're responsible for always carrying for the kids, the house, the chores of the house, cooking, grocery shopping and so on. Having no down time for yourself. This can be overwhelming and can often make you feel like you have no emotional support at home for all the things you're doing either.   Pancreatic Cancer Pancreas Problems Not being able to enjoy the sweetness in life. This one is a little close to home in my family. The pancreas manages the sugar in your physical body. Cancer eats away at the body. So from this ailment we can decipher the message as the sugar in life is being or has been eaten away. My father's brother developed pancreatic cancer after the death of his wife. She was the sweetness in his life and there is no cancer history in our family. When she died, his life was suddenly lonely and he felt it was empty. His sweetness had left them and that was eating away at his emotions, and within the things he did. Everything they had done together, was gone and he no longer felt as though he could do them.   Addressing The Issue Now that you know what the underlying issue is, what do you do next? Knowing is fine, but if you don't work to change the outlook the issue will not go away. There are of course various ways to deal with issues in your life. Let me emphasize again, that holistic healing is not meant to take place of conventional medicine. So the first step is not to self diagnose your problem, but to find a doctor you trust and verify your condition. Use the mainstream medicines that are offered and in conjunction with those, start a holistic approach.   From a metaphysical point of view, addressing the underlying cause is paramount to reversing or curing the ailment. If it's not to late. So how do you address the cause? Through healing the cause, and changing it's pattern in your life. And that's the hard part, making change.   To change issues in your life, you just have to follow the basic formula for change, Acknowledgment, Acceptance , Forgiveness, Action and Letting Go. Acknowledgement - you first have to admit you have a problem Acceptance - when you identify the exact issue, accept it. You are "this thing" or "have this trait". Forgiveness - no one is perfect, so there's no reason to blame yourself or feel guilty. You have admitted you have a problem and it's time to work on the issue and change it. But before you can change, you must first forgive yourself. Action - here is where you start working on changing the issue. You've admitted you have a problem, you accept your actions and are willing to change the physical and emotional pattern. So now it's time to start making that change. Letting Go - At some point you need to let go of the old patterns. Stop dwelling on the old negative patterns that have been replaced by your new positive thinking.   This is done on both a conscious level, you really have to work at controlling your thoughts and actions when dealing with situations. And on an unconscious/spiritual level. Here you can use various methods to help make change. Visualized meditations, therapy, holistic healings and affirmations. Created: 03/20/1999       Updated: 04/28/2008   Duplication of any material, articles or graphics on this site, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited. By using this site, you are agreeing to our Terms & Conditions