MCS Healing Tools: Shifting Focus

One of the most valuable tools on my healing journey from chronic illness has been a willingness to shift my attitude and focus.

The process that has worked best for me goes something like this:

1. Find things that bring me joy to do or think about (gardening, art, cats, nature)
2. Do them as often as I can
3. When I can't do them, think of doing them - imagine and envision it as richly as I can

and also, very importantly:

1. Note what does not bring me joy (thinking about MCS stuff, limitations)
2. Refrain from doing or thinking about it whenever possible
3. When I notice myself thinking about something that doesn't bring me joy, STOP
4. ... and consciously choose to think about (or better yet do) one of the things that does bring me joy

This may seem extremely simplistic or sound like those irritating people who tell us to 'think positive' but it has done wonders for me on my healing journey.

There is a real mind/body connection - and not in a 'new-agey' sense.
When we do things that feed our joy, a whole bunch of positive things happen physiologically in our bodies - making them much more able to heal or deal with stressors, exposures etc.
When we feed our pain, a whole bunch of negative things happen in the body - encouraging illness.
I have read that when we simply think of doing something, similar things happen in the brain and body.  So if we cannot actually DO the things that bring us joy, merely thinking of doing them can have wonderful physical effects - not to mention the great effect on our mood!

A critical part of Shifting Focus is avoiding thoughts that have what I call 'negative hooks'.
I have written more about this, including some more detailed instructions, in this post: Technique to Tap the Healing Power of Love

I'd love to hear what brings you joy to do or think of!
Please feel free to share in the comments area.

☺

Manifesting A Happy Home

There's a really wonderful post by a Leslie (who has MCS) on her blog about how she drew a picture of her dream sustainable, safe-for-her house... and less than 6 months later found a home that is so close to her picture that it's almost eerie (but very cool)!
A very inspiring read!  You can see it here: Creating A Sustainable Dream Part 3.

It got me thinking about how much I yearn to live in the country, surrounded by nature, in a funky, MCS-safe house.  But I haven't done much to work towards manifesting it.
I want to make a list like Leslie did.
I've been taking part in a neat 'creative every day' challenge via my blog Divinity Withinity and the theme for February is 'Home'.  So without intending it as a manifestation exercise, I have already drawn a picture of my happy home and I wanted to share it with you here just because it's so light-hearted and fun:

(all drawn and coloured with art supplies intolerable to me a year ago)

Healing Humour: A Great Poem About Fudge

Those of you with food sensitivities may appreciate this great poem by Amestress on her blog Life: The Final Attempt (not really).

It's called I Remember Fudge: a eulogy and to me it felt like she was using humour to express some painful feelings about loss.

I am green with envy over her writing skills!
Amestress is using dance to track her recovery from MCS and posts videos (sometimes with fun songs that crack me up :).

I personally have found humour to be a great coping skill and sometimes a healing tool. On down days, I access the healing properties of laughter by watching funny videos online or reading funny stories/books. Studies show that laughter can improve immune system health, increase oxygen to the brain, reduce pain and stress and much more.


Thanks Amestress both for permission to link and for inspiring me! ☺

Technique to Tap the Healing Power of Love (plus video)

♥ ♥ ♥ Love can be an incredibly healing force - whether it is romantic love, the love of human or animal friendship, the love between parents and children or the love we feel for anything we are passionate about (hobbies, healthy food, nature). ♥ ♥ ♥

I believe that when we are in a place of love we attract more love.

One of the techniques I have been using to shift my energy and help healing is to notice my thoughts when I am not feeling well. If I'm not thinking of something I feel love about, I consciously choose to think of something that I love. At first there was very little I could think of that I loved that didn't instantly remind me of one of my many limitations due to MCS, migraines or food sensitivities. I call that a 'negative hook' because although the thought starts off positively, it hooks me into feeling sad or sorry for myself.
So I settled on gardening. I was able to think about that without too many negative 'hooks' and it brought me great joy to think of.

Thinking of gardening can help me get into a 'love place'.
What can help you feel love, joy, happiness, passion or contentment?
Is it something that you do? Something you think?

If you like making lists, I encourage you to make lists of things you love, then go through the list and circle or underline the things that don't have any negative 'hooks' to them (example: I love lasagna but can't eat it - the can't part makes a negative hook that can snag me back into feeling bad if I think about lasagna - even though I love it).
When you've taken note of the ones that don't have negative 'hooks' to them, write them on a new piece of paper all by themselves so that you have a list of things that you can do or think about that cultivate a feeling of love, joy, happiness, passion etc (I feel that all of those enjoyable emotions have love in them).

Do not worry if your list only has one thing on it! That's enough to work with! If all of your positives have a negative hook, find the one that has the least intense hook.
You can carry this list with you or post copies in each room you spend time in. Any time you are feeling less than good, you can look at the list and either do something on it or at least think about one of the things. Even with snow outside, I can still get into a love feeling by fantasizing about gardens I might make in the future.



Another excellent thing you can do is to use that list of the ones that have negative hooks and do a bit (or a lot) of EFT on those every day. Once you have dissolved the negative hook aspects of those things you love, you can use them to tap into the healing power of love.

It sounds a bit simplistic, I know, yet I have been pleasantly surprised at the results and I believe you may also be if you try it.
The more love and 'good' feelings we can cultivate in ourselves, the better we will feel.
The better we feel, the more energy will be freed up in our bodies.
The more energy our bodies have, the more they can use it to heal!

And for those of you who believe in the 'Law Of Attraction', this technique is excellent.
What we think about effects our feelings...
what we feel effects our 'vibration'
we attract things of a similar 'vibration'.

Therefore changing our thoughts can have powerful results.

Many thanks go to Jerry and Esther Hicks for their The Law Of Attraction book that introduced me to this simple and practical way of viewing the 'Law Of Attraction'.

I'd like to leave you with a short, easy tap-along video from Brad Yates on Becoming A Love Magnet! As an introduction, you may want to read my post Why EFT (and what is it anyhow?) .
Please tap at your own risk :-)



Thanks again for your wonderful videos Brad! They definitely increase the love in this world.
You can also view this video directly on Youtube here.

Short Version of Magnificent Video!

As an introduction, you may want to read my post Why EFT (and what is it anyhow?) .

 

A few days ago, I posted a wonderful, powerful and FUN tap-along video by Brad Yates.

If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to check it out - you can view it embedded here on my blog or click on this link to see it directly on Youtube.

Brad has now made another 'magnificent' video that is only 2 minutes and 23 seconds long so if you're ever short on time but would like to have the boost of celebrating how awesome you truly are, you may want to check this video out and keep a link to it so you can do it often!
Now at that length, there's no reason not to try it out ;-)

(bonus for those who have difficulty with the word God - the shorter version does not have that word in it)

I have embedded it below but you can also view it directly on Youtube here.

Happy tapping!





Thank you again Brad for a wonderful video.
♥

You Are Magnificent! (AWEsome EFT video)

 

As an introduction, you may want to read my post Why EFT (and what is it anyhow?) .

 I just finished watching Brad Yates most recent free EFT video on Youtube and it was AWESOME!!!
I have embedded it at the bottom of this post and I hope you'll try it out.

***Note***
You do not need tapping experience to use this video! Just tap on the spots you see Brad tapping and say the words he says.

I haven't even made my breakfast yet (bad me ;-) but I wanted to share this with you right away!

Any of you who have read the famous excerpt from Marianne Williamson's book Return To Love may recognise a similar theme (and even some similar, powerful phrases) in this excellent tap-along video. The excerpt is often entitled "Our Deepest Fear" and has been incorrectly attributed to Nelson Mandela many times.
It's a powerful piece of writing and worth checking out if you're not familiar with it.

Both the video and that piece of writing do use the 'God' word and in the past, that would have gotten in the way for me, but in the last number of years I've gotten used to 'translating' the word 'God' when I hear it.
It used to mean something religious to me (and since I'm patently not religious, it clashed energetically) but now, to me, it means something more spiritual and energetic. I think of the amazing Universe that we live in, the miraculous bodies we may take for granted each day and I think of 'God' as connected to all of that.

In this tap-along video, Brad does use the word 'God' and at the beginning he invites us to think of or say aloud whatever word feels right to us. It could be Life Force, Spirit, Universe, Higher Self, Goddess or any word at all that works for you.

For those who are atheist, I invite you to not let this tiny, 3-letter 'God' word stop you from benefiting from this video!
'Life Force' can refer entirely to the amazing force in our bodies that created us and sustains us and might be a more comfortable phrase for you (if any atheists reading this have other phrases or terms that work for them in this sort of context, I'd love it if you shared! ☺)

I cannot say enough how excellent and, well, 'kicka$$' (as my younger brother would say) I found this video! For me, it triggered all sorts of giggles and gleeful laughter though for some, including myself at times, it may bring tears.

*if you find tapping physically difficult due to fatigue or injury, I have found that benefit can still be had from simply holding my fingers in place over each tapping point while saying the words.*
As always, tap at your own risk ☺

Now I'd better go and eat breakfast.

Happy tapping!





Thank you Brad for another wonderful video!!!
I'm still giggling now and then!

♥

If you'd like to watch the video directly on Youtube, you can do so here.

Thoughts on Pain vs. Suffering

I realised recently that if I wait until blog posts feel 'finished', I won't post very often. So I think I'll start sharing my meandering thoughts, recognising that they may not always come across coherently and that I may later disagree with myself :-)

-

As I was lying in bed recently, in the dark with a migraine, I was thinking a bit about the difference between pain and suffering.

Usually I think of them as the same thing but...

in theory,
pain and suffering
are two separate things.

How to experience pain
without suffering?

I really want that skill!

I bet a big part of it is
to
not want.

If I want to be pain free,
then any time I feel pain
I will probably
experience 'suffering'.

So, then,
is 'suffering' the experience of wanting something other than what is?

If so, most people in our culture suffer a LOT.
There are degrees of suffering. Some are more uncomfortable than others.

All this is interesting to think about but doesn't help too much in the midst of intense pain or adversity.

I realise this has been written about extensively in many circles - Buddhist ones being at the top of the list. I just never really thought about it in the same, intense way that I did the other day.

I was lying there knowing there was no escape from the pain and feeling so desperate for anything that could bring me relief.
Into my mind popped the idea that the experience of the pain would not be nearly so bad if I wasn't suffering so much.

I don't have any solutions for this, nor many ideas on how to stop wanting other than what is.
I guess one could do EFT or, if it works for them, or read up on methods of detachment such as those used in Buddhist practice. Some people find meditation or prayer help though neither have worked well for me so far.

I think of people I know who have chronic illnesses (or terminal ones) and it occurs to me that the ones who seem happy don't seem to suffer much - even when they are in pain.
I think this may be a piece of the puzzle of how to live vibrantly with illness or disability.
There are people out there who have intense pain - physical or emotional - and some of them still seem happy and alive.
What is the difference between them and those of us who are terribly unhappy or get totally bogged down by the negative in our lives?
Maybe some of them are naturally cheerful, optimistic people.

I believe it's possible for those of us who aren't naturally like that to shift our attitudes. I have been a pretty negative person most of my life... at least about things that happen to me. I'm pretty good at being positive for others'.

I don't believe that 'positive thinking' is a magic pill but I do believe that it can really effect our quality of life. Which in turn can effect our energy levels, which in turn can effect the resources our bodies have available to heal with. I feel like everything is connected.

I think I'll write more on attitude and how I've been trying to shift mine... but I'll save it for another day. :-)

For now, I'll leave you with a link to an article about healing by Raymond Francis, a chemist who had severe MCS. I really appreciate how he expresses that thought can greatly effect us on many levels and if we want to change how we feel, we are well-served by starting with changing what we think.

He says this and much more very succinctly and I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did!
I particularly like how he says that it's not necessary to understand exactly how this works - it's just necessary to do it.

The positive thought that he suggests using is not actually one that feel right for me personally but I have heard it has worked for many people.

There are a number of articles available to read for free on his website here.

Enjoy!

Dealing With Differences of Opinion

Most people who don’t have MCS have a pretty strong difference of opinion with me on how toxic every day scented, chemical-laden products really are. We usually disagree about the safety scented products, particle board furniture, laminate or carpet as flooring choices, vinyl used in baby cribs/training pants, whether or not to use pesticides on lawns, gardens and pets and oh so many more topics.

I used to engage in conversations about these topics with people. I felt it was important for me to share my knowledge with them, to enlighten them about the toxins they were unwittingly exposing themselves, their children and their pets to. Occasionally I met someone interested in learning but more often I met strong resistance.

In time I stopped sharing about these topics unless they expressed interest. I just found it too draining. It felt like fighting an uphill battle and I decided it was standing in the way of my healing in a number of ways – most strongly because it exhausted me – taking energy that was much needed for healing!

However, even though I rarely get into those discussions now, I still frequently end up having imaginary conversations with people. I may see an advertisement about a product I think of as toxic and think of how many well-intentioned people use it who are in the dark about how toxic it may be. I find myself mentally rehearsing what I might say if I wanted to share with them about this.

Even these mental discussions (often arguments) are draining my energy.

So I was very excited to find this tap-along video that addresses the topic of differences of opinion. I feel it addresses some of the core feelings about differences of opinion that may be interfering with personal peace. Therefore it may help across the board – not just for a specific difference of opinion.

When I tap with pre-made videos, I try to listen to my intuition. Sometimes I feel an urge to use different words or to add in extra words. I try to listen to my inner wisdom about this. Sometimes I’ll be able to fit the words in while watching and sometimes I’ll pause the video to give myself time to pay attention to that inner voice, that inner knowing, feeling.

*I want to acknowledge that some people get inspired and energised through activism. I have a great appreciation for the time and energy they put towards raising awareness. If any of you are reading this, thank you! I am grateful for all that you do for those of us who cannot.*

If you are someone who enjoys activism, I feel this video could be very beneficial for you too. I believe that when we are more at peace about differences of opinion, we can communicate more clearly. Confidence and calm may be able to replace frustration and urgency – making us much more effective communicators. People are more likely to take our words seriously when we are coming from a calm place – unruffled by their differences of opinion

Happy tapping!

As an introduction, you may want to read my post Why EFT (and what is it anyhow?) .

Brad Yates is an experienced EFT practitioner who is known for his light-hearted, sometimes humorous style. Thank you Brad for permission to embed this video!! :-)

You can see more of Brad's free Youtube videos here.

Thoughts On Healing from MCS - 'Insurmountable Odds'

I have been thinking about people who defy the outcomes that health care professionals predict for them. People who surmount supposedly 'insurmountable' odds. These are very inspiring people and they exist in all walks of physical and mental health conditions, illnesses, disabilities etc.
I feel so much could be learned from these people!


Dr. Bernie Siegel has written a lot about how attitude, expectations, outlook and approach can dramatically alter the outcome of patients with terminal illnesses.

In one brief article here, he says, "Physicians call the most dramatic healings "spontaneous remissions." Once we have labeled them, we learn nothing from the people in whom those remissions take place. We cannot afford to ignore these remarkable successes. We are all at risk for a great many diseases, and as the world gets smaller the list of things we are exposed to grows larger. We need to learn from people who recover and people who stay healthy."

You can read the full article here:
http://www.shareguide.com/Siegel.html


Although MCS is generally not a terminal diagnosis, it is often thought to be a 'life sentence' and I feel we can learn a lot from people who defy 'death sentences'.


Many people I have spoken with know of someone who had a 'terminal' diagnosis and went on to live many years beyond the date they were 'supposed' to die.


In hindsight, I notice that my more dramatic improvements from MCS began happening shortly after I decided that I could be one of the people who recovered with MCS, who defied the 'life sentence'.
I believe that wanting to be one of those people wasn't enough for me. I had been wanting that for years. At some point, somehow, that wanting transformed into almost a knowing - a confidence that I would be able to recover. I do not have a knowing about how long this recovery will take. Perhaps that will come in time.


Since I came to have this 'knowing' about my healing, my symptoms have improved faster than I had dreamed might be possible. That confidence alone seems to have really sped up my healing which, I suppose, makes sense if I consider how stress itself is proven to negatively effect the body.
Feeling hopeless, trapped and doomed causes a massive amount of stress. It's almost like a vicious circle: One is sick and feels no hope of getting better which stresses the body so much that it truly makes it less able to get better and so it can become almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.


To an outsider, my life still looks (and is) extremely limited by MCS. But I am aware, almost every day, of how I am doing things that used to be non-options... or that I am having mild or no reactions to things that used to put me out of commission for days.


I find that the more I notice the ways in which I am much better than I used to be, the better I feel - the more hopeful, positive and confident of my body's amazing powers of healing.

I believe this state of mind actually effects my body in a positive way.
At the very least, it lessens stress. Which frees up energy for the body to put towards healing.
Stress is a big energy drain.