Sunday, May 29, 2011

LOfT LIFE: Life and health

I am tired of battling infection, shingles, and all else I have been through in the last two years. You know, I have always been a very healthy person. This sick girl isn’t me. So, I started reflecting on what has changed.
OK, I am older. Right. What else?
Well, they say that shingles erupts with too much stress. I have analyzed that condition also, and after reading three books, I think I have reached some very basic conclusions:
The two little Christian books my friend Connie gave me are about combating fear, and claiming health. The fear book is all about our two choices of believing the Spirit of life and truth, or believing our Enemy who tries to scare us into dying. Now, yes, we are going to die. But, do we have to go there afraid? NO!
The other book is Dr. Marc Siegel’s new book, Inner Pulse, which I am finding fascinating reading. It too, recommends tuning into the “truth” we know within, and choosing to listen to our inner pulse, rather than other voices--be they doctors, friends, family, or whoever, who would deny us that strong desire to reach deep within and connect with this pulse. 
You can call it insight, intuition, God’s whisper, or something else. But, what I believe is that God has placed within each of us a great capacity to hear Him, and to know ourselves. None of this is about fear. Fear and negative thinking produce all kinds of changes to our brain chemistry and our bodily systems. 
Siegel tells case history after case history to demonstrate that we can actually change our metabolism, our blood pressure, our blood sugar levels, and more simply by this positive or negative energy that occurs from what we believe and how we think and feel.
I find this to be good news. I do have some control over my life--until it is time to die.
So, I decided to stop wallowing in the morbid and morose, and to return to my usual positive outlook.
The strangest thing. The shingles pain, although slightly present here and there, mostly disappeared. The pain in my lungs disappeared. My somewhat labored breathing returned to normal. And, I think my slightly elevated blood pressure has calmed considerably.
Here’s another discovery I have made. I listen to news daily, and sometimes hourly. The news is not good news. And, being a very intuitive person, my spiritual discernment also kicks in, and informs me that the prophets of doom are probably right. The world is not going in the right direction. There is hatred all around the globe. History may be about to repeat itself, and worse, for places like Israel. Floods, earthquakes, fires, tornados, famines--they are all accelerating, and more and more of us are living in disaster zones. 
Now, I think it is important to stay informed. But, it is also important not to continually bathe myself in this bad news and doom. I didn’t realize how much it may be affecting me. So I am going to stop listening to this at such a pervasive level. My spirit cannot be cheerful and healthy with bad news.
The little book on healing says that listening to the Good News is what makes us stay well. For me, that means reading the Word of God, listening to music that is uplifting, watching shows and reading books that lift and enlighten, rather than devouring crime novels and television shows about crime and death. I read a review of a designer who celebrated Satan and ended up committing suicide. I felt so sick after reading about him, I realized if this one story affected me, these other things must be also.
It is pretty radical to think of changing all of this. And, then my pastor’s message this week was about seeking the Kingdom above all else. That clinches it. I am worth it. I must practice what I believe.
No, I will not completely stop reading crime novels, or watching Dexter (who I still think is sweet). But, I will not immerse myself in these things. I can’t. My health is at risk.
I say these things to encourage you to look at your own pastimes and thinking. I wish you all life and health!