Tag Archives: pain

Finding Resolution in Acceptance

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My Hellish Health Journey & The One Thing That is Changing Everything

By Elle –

SHARMINI GANA
Collective Evolution

Finally, after over a decade of dealing with multiple undiagnosed physical and emotional symptoms (due to chronic stress, I later realized), I recently experienced a massive shift that is changing EVERYTHING — my health, my emotions, my life.

I was frustrated, exhausted, and suicidal, ready to call it quits many times over the last few years. It was the most painful experience, yet also the most educational, now that I am coming out on the other side of such a dark period. I discovered that a major part of healing, just like illness, is SELF created.

Yes — you create your own pain and suffering and your own joy and healing. Sound crazy? Maybe, but there are a ton of books and research showing that the mind-body connection exists and impacts us immensely. How you feel about yourself plays a huge role in illness and in wellness.

You Play A Role In Your Health

You are a  powerful creator, whether you realize it or not. The stories and beliefs that dominate your mind (we will call these mind programs) all day dictate how you feel and create situations and experiences for you to grow and learn.

Many of us are carrying negative self talk programs as a result of our familial, cultural, and societal influences. Our race, culture, gender, genetics, and background (socio-economic status, etc.) all influence us and the way we look at ourselves and life.

As a whole, the world we live in is filled with fear. From a young age, most of us are told “be careful, don’t do that, watch out” and many other negative phrases, repeatedly, which in return builds up a fear-based foundation of belief systems in us.

We learn to be very cautious, afraid, and obedient, so we stay within our box, confined to a limited way of living. We are not able to think beyond the walls that we have been trained exist all around us. This causes us to react with fear, worry, and anxiety when things happen to us or in our world.

Planetary Energy Shifts

Now, as the energy on the planet has shifted to being more open — we are questioning and rebelling against the status quo and the younger generation is continually pushing the envelope on our perceived limits — things are changing and more of us are becoming aware of this negative, fear driven belief system that we have been surrounded by and embedded in.

The plethora of Awakening information available online, although overwhelming at times and sometimes even controversial, has certainly played a major role in shifting things, as has social media, which has made it possible to share information on multiple platforms instantaneously, thus reaching more and more people.

Going back to the fear based belief system many of us carry, it is clear that a strong component of this is Negative Self Talk. It’s amazing to realize that you are not alone in feeling not good enough, fraudulent (even when you are “successful”), unworthy, and unconfident. These emotions create anxiety, fear, and worry, and can eventually lead to depression.

Many of us experience these feelings on a daily basis, and unbeknownst to us, these beliefs form the basis for our physical and emotional health. Of course other lifestyle factors come into play as well, such as what and how often we eat, how active we are, how we deal with our emotions/challenges, and how high our stress levels are. But there is now more and more research showing the importance of the Mind-Body Connection; it is undeniable.

How Do You Feel About You?

I will go out on a limb and say, in my experience, the biggest factor in determining our physical and emotional health is how we feel about ourselves. Yes, you read that right. How you feel about yourself dictates what kind of messages you tell yourself all day.

How would you like to live with someone who is constantly down on themselves and always judging themselves? Not fun is it? But the truth is that many of us are actually quite mean to ourselves, all day long. How crazy is that? Not only that, but we are usually in constant, deep resistance to what is happening around us as well, which further compounds the issue.

Do you see the picture here? Being hard on ourselves all the time plus being at war with ourselves over what’s “out there” in the external world is slowly and insidiously killing us.

Through my own painful and difficult journey, I came to realize that we have to feel it in order to heal it. It seems to be “normal” to resist feeling difficult emotions and feelings; instead we numb them with addictions like overeating, over drinking, drugs, TV, shopping, etc. in order to suppress and deny them. But sooner or later, they catch up with us. We can’t run away forever, but we can create a lot of suffering for ourselves in trying to escape our pain.

Instead, practice the process of ALLOWING whatever is happening and ALLOWING whatever you are feeling. Accepting (the resistance to it is what causes our suffering), embracing, and actually coming to love it, no matter what it is, is the only way to release it.

Accept Who You Are

Learn to accept your dark parts, also known as your shadow, and stop trying to deny or avoid them. What we resist, persists and magnifies, causing us even more drama. We all have dark parts; it is a normal part of being human.

Rather than run away from our fears, resentments, loneliness, pain, anger, sadness, abandonment, shame, guilt, etc., we should lean into those uncomfortable emotions and name them, write them down, and get curious. Start asking yourself questions about why you are feeling them and where they are coming from (most likely a childhood trauma or experience).

Is there an opportunity to reconsider that scene with new eyes and realize that positive things also came out of the perceived trauma/negative? Can we see that we learned and grew from that experience, rather than cling to the lopsided victim story we tend to carry around for years? If we can neutralize our one sided victim story, we balance it, and our emotions can shift and begin to heal. This is life transforming.

Stop Comparing!

Lastly, STOP comparing yourself to anyone else or where you think you should be — this is the fastest way to depression. The reality is, you are where you are and it is exactly where you need to be at this time. Anything outside of that is a Story that your mind program made up.

Shift your perception of the story or memory by balancing it and you transform yourself and the situation. It is not easy to do, as most are so addicted to their victim stories, but if you are open and willing to try it, you will experience a powerful change that will impact all areas of your life.

I was surprised to realize that I was being very angry, judgemental, and mean to myself most of the time, so I really had to practice what I preach and learn to Accept, Embrace, and Love myself. This changed Everything — my physical and emotional health started shifting almost immediately and my energy levels improved significantly.

My long-dormant creativity was ignited, after being buried under multiple layers of stress for decades. I discovered new parts of myself and feel different. I feel a renewed love of Life and at a much deeper level than I have ever experienced before. (I was a very positive, compassionate, loving person who helped people and animals in need but did not like or care for myself much.)

A powerful INNER Transformation has taken place and the results are nothing short of amazing. Try being gentle, kind and loving to yourself consistently and you will experience a whole new perspective and way of BEing.

There are good meditation apps as well as personal development apps available to help you with this process, along with many transformational books and various processes on the market. There are countless workshops, articles, and coaches to assist you with this powerful, life-changing process of learning Self Compassion.

The only person who knows what is best for you is You — so make some quiet time to meditate, go to nature, and do some research — and then INVEST in yourself. You are more than worth it.

Do I still experience challenges? Of course – challenges are a part of life and play in important role in our growth. Think about it – without obstacles, we wouldn’t have learned to deal with adversity, face our fears and realize our own strength. Challenges are not a bad thing, they force us to step up and take action, as does fear.

What is it costing you to keep feeling the way you do? Suffering and in pain, physically and emotionally? If you are ready and willing to do the work (because it IS work!) and you realize it’s time for Change — start taking small steps towards Self Connection and Self Transformation. Watch your world change.

from:    http://www.zengardner.com/my-hellish-health-journey/

Benefits of Pine Bark (Pycnogenol)

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The Powerful Aspirin Alternative That Grows On Trees

The Powerful Aspirin Alternative That Grows On Trees

Aspirin’s long held promises are increasingly falling flat. A natural, safer and more effective alternative to this synthetic drug has been known about for at least 15 years!

In a previous article titled “The Evidence Against Aspirin and For Natural Alternatives,” we discussed the clear and present danger linked with the use of aspirin as well as several clinically proven alternatives that feature significant side benefits as opposed to aspirin’s many known side effects.

Since writing this article, even more evidence has accumulated indicating that aspirin’s risks outweigh its benefits. Most notably, a 15-year Dutch study published in the journal Heart found that among 27,939 healthy female health professionals (average age 54) randomized to receive either 100 mg of aspirin every day or a placebo the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding outweighed the benefit of the intervention for colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention in those under 65 years of age.

Of course, aspirin is not alone as far as dangerous side effects are concerned. The entire non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) category of prescription and over-the-counter drugs is fraught with serious danger. Ibuprofen, for instance, is known to kill thousands each year, and is believed no less dangerous than Merck’s COX-2 inhibitor NSAID drug Vioxx which caused between 88,000-140,000 cases of serious heart disease in the five years it was on the market (1999-2004).  Tylenol is so profoundly toxic to the liver that contributing writer Dr. Michael Murray recently asked in his Op-Ed piece, “Is it Time for the FDA to Remove Tylenol From the Market?”

Given the dire state of affairs associated with pharmaceutical intervention for chronic pain issues, what can folks do who don’t want to kill themselves along with their pain?

Pine Bark Extract (Pycnogenol) Puts Aspirin To Shame

When it comes to aspirin alternatives, one promising contender is pycnogenol, a powerful antioxidant extracted from French maritime pine back, backed by over 40 years of research, the most compelling of which we have aggregated on GreenMedInfo.com here: Pycnogenol Research. Amazingly, you will find research indexed there showing it may have value for over 80 health conditions.

In 1999, a remarkable study published in the journal Thrombotic Research found that pycnogenol was superior (i.e. effective at a lower dosage) to aspirin at inhibiting smoking-induced clotting, without the significant (and potentially life-threatening) increase in bleeding time associated with aspirin use. The abstract is well worth reading in its entirety:

“The effects of a bioflavonoid mixture, Pycnogenol, were assessed on platelet function in humans. Cigarette smoking increased heart rate and blood pressure. These increases were not influenced by oral consumption of Pycnogenol or Aspirin just before smoking. However, increased platelet reactivity yielding aggregation 2 hours after smoking was prevented by 500 mg Aspirin or 100 mg Pycnogenol in 22 German heavy smokers. In a group of 16 American smokers, blood pressure increased after smoking. It was unchanged after intake of 500 mg Aspirin or 125 mg Pycnogenol. In another group of 19 American smokers, increased platelet aggregation was more significantly reduced by 200 than either 150 mg or 100 mg Pycnogenol supplementation. This study showed that a single, high dose, 200 mg Pycnogenol, remained effective for over 6 days against smoking-induced platelet aggregation. Smoking increased platelet aggregation that was prevented after administration of 500 mg Aspirin and 125 mg Pycnogenol. Thus, smoking-induced enhanced platelet aggregation was inhibited by 500 mg Aspirin as well as by a lower range of 100-125 mg Pycnogenol. Aspirin significantly (p<0.001) increased bleeding time from 167 to 236 seconds while Pycnogenol did not. These observations suggest an advantageous risk-benefit ratio for Pycnogenol.” [emphasis added]”

As emphasized in bold above, pycnogenol unlike aspirin did not significantly increase bleeding time. This has profound implications, as aspirin’s potent anti-platelet/’blood thinning’ properties can also cause life-threatening hemorrhagic events. If this study is accurate and pycnogenol is more effective at decreasing pathologic platelet aggregation at a lower dose without causing the increased bleeding linked to aspirin, then it is clearly a superior natural alternative worthy of far more attention by the conventional medical establishment and research community than it presently receives.

Not Just A Drug Alternative

Pycnogenol, like so many other natural interventions, has a wide range of side benefits that may confer significant advantage when it comes to reducing cardiovascular disease risk. For instance, pycnogenol is also:

  • Blood Pressure Reducing/Endothelial Function Enhancer: A number of clinical studies indicate that pycnogenol is therapeutic for those suffering with hypertension. Pycnogenol actually addresses a root cause of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in general, namely, endothelial dysfunction (the inability of the inner lining of the blood vessels to function correctly, e.g. fully dilate).[1] It has been shown to prevent damage in microcirculation in hypertensive patients, as well as reducing the dose of blood pressure drugs in hypertensive patients,[2] including hypertensive diabetic patients.[3] It has even been found to reduce intraocular hypertension found in glaucoma patients.[4]
  • Anti-Inflammatory Effects: There is a growing appreciation among the medical community that inflammation contributes to cardiovascular disease. Several markers, including C-reactive protein are now being fore grounded as being at least as important in determining cardiovascular disease risk as various blood lipids and/or their ratios, such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Pycnogenol has been found to reduce C-reactive protein in hypertensive patients.[5] Pycnogenol has been found to rapidly modulate downward (inhibit) both Cox-1 and Cox-2 enzyme activity in human subjects, resulting in reduced expression of these inflammation-promoting enzymes within 30 minutes post-ingestion.[6]  Another observed anti-inflammatory effect of pycnogenol is its ability to down-regulate the class of inflammatory enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).[7] Pycnogenol has also been found to significantly inhibit NF-kappaB activation, a key body-wide regulator of inflammation levels whose overexpression and/or dysregulation may result in pathologic cardiovascular manifestations.[8] Finally, pycnogenol has been found to reduce fibrinogen levels, a glycoprotein that contributes to the formation of blood clots; fibrinogen has been identified as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.[9]

Given the evidence for pycnogenol’s pleotrophic cardioprotective properties, we hope that pycnogenol will become more commonly recommended by health care practitioners as the medical paradigm continues to evolve past its reliance on synthetic chemicals, eventually (we hope) returning to natural, increasingly evidence-based interventions. However, it is important that we don’t fall prey to the one-disease-one-pill model, convincing ourselves to focus on popping pills – this time natural ones – as simply countermeasures or ‘insurance’ against the well known harms associated with the standard American diet, lack of exercise, and uncontrolled stress. The ultimate goal is to remove the need for pills altogether, focusing on preventing cardiovascular disease from the ground up and inside out, e.g. letting high quality food, clean water and air, and a healthy attitude nourish and sustain our health and well-being.

from:    http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/powerful-aspirin-alternative-grows-trees-1

Jim Self on Pain

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Everybody Holds Pain — Where do you hold yours?

by Roxane BUrnett
I recently spent some time with a woman I grew up around. I was in her town and offered to treat her to lunch. I told her to choose a restaurant that she hasn’t been to before and that feels ‘abundant’ and extravagant to her. She chose an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. She had a coupon.

As I was on my second salad, she began commenting on the physicality of our fellow eaters. ‘Why doesn’t she DO something about THAT.’ ‘I’m surprised these chairs can hold him.’ ‘How sad, even their kids are huge.’ ‘How could she let her self GO like that?’

Her words were hurtful and made my stomach turn. As we finished our meals, my friend stood up and as she did, she gripped her back and moaned. She has had back pain for years and every move she makes is painful. She has been sleeping on the same mattress for 30 years.

As I drove back to her home my friend chatted continuously about other drivers and how one ‘should’ always play by the rules so everyone on the road feels safe. When I dropped her off at home and began to say goodbye, her partner of many years greeted me with kindness. My friend’s partner has been depressed for a long time and doesn’t leave the house. Her pain shows as a permanent, downturned mouth and swollen eyes. Perhaps she cries often, I don’t know. We hugged and chatted a bit as I found a place to sit in their living room. It was packed with stuff.

Stuff. You know, important things we collect. On the top of one of the piles on the coffee table was a magazine. Reminace. My friend is 80+ and likes to focus upon her ‘good’ life in the 40s and 50s.

After chatting about the weather, the government, illegal aliens, and how immigrants ‘should’ learn English in order to stay here in the US, I graciously left and drove back to my hotel room. My 5D sanctuary.

Pain
We all hold pain. Every body holds pain in it’s own unique way. It can show up as complaining about others, as extra weight (I’ve been there), depression (that too) or physical aches (sometimes). Our individual art or mastery is how we deal with it. How do YOU deal with your pain? Do you even recognize it?

How to cope with pain
One way we cope with our pain is to deny it. ‘If I just ignore it, it will go away.’ But does it truly go away? Or does it simply demonstrate itself in quiet, passive/aggressive ways? As with my friend’s partner-sadness and depression.

Another way is to be macho (got testosterone?) ‘I’m as strong as a bull. I can bulldoze my way through anything.’ Yes you can’ until that body or mind gets exhausted and quits in some way-an injury or breakdown.

Another way we respond to pain is to project our inner pain onto those around us. ‘Why doesn’t she DO something about that fat/back pain/cough/acne/depression?’ This is a common solution most engage in. If I find others who I can pick on or criticize, I don’t have look at my own pain or where I am off-balance. They are much worse off than I am. I have mine under control.

Moan. You can moan and grunt and make big sighs, and perhaps others around you will become sympathetic and pity you. Or perhaps they will ask you what your problem is. This will open the door for you to talk about all your doctors and surgeries and medications. Better yet, find someone you can commiserate with and compare pains. You can make it a game and compete to see who has the sorest back.

Self-medicate. Lots of options here.

No matter what, it begins in your head.
The more masterful (and perhaps more difficult) way to cope with pain is to focus on releasing or lessening it. Use the tools you’ve learned to de-charge and release that pain, whether it manifests as physical, emotional or mental off-balance. Of course, before we do that we must decide that we are really finished with it. Many are not finished carrying that pain around. It has become so familiar they can’t imagine life without it. ‘Who will I be if I am not depressed and overwhelmed?’

Start with imagining what is possible. Pretend. What would today be if I were not eating a bag of cookies right now? If I were happy? If imagining is too difficult find a living example of the ideal you. What words is that person demonstrating? Certain, Successful, Active, Vibrant? Simply watch how s/he demonstrates that energy.

First, decide that the pain and the pickle you are in is no longer fun, nor does it give you the attention/sympathy/comfort it did originally. Then you must decide it is too expensive to carry that rock around in your backpack any longer; it’s too expensive physically, emotionally, and mentally. Then step up to your tool bench and use the tools you have to de-charge that old habit. The Rose, the Grounding Cord, the Living Words and others. (There are many others.) Take baby steps to avoid discouragement or self-pressure. This isn’t a race to wellness.
Buying a new mattress and seeing a chiropractor could also be a great first step to relieving that painful back. But if you did that, you might not have much to talk about anymore. You might lose all your complaining friends. You might get happy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An author and teacher, Roxane has been offering tools for developing intuition and Personal Power to individuals, businesses and women’s groups since 1994. Following a successful career as an art director for two large corporations and as manager of her own design firm, she trained as a Life Coach and Mastering Alchemy teacher.
Roxane’s seminars include: Spiritual Abilities and Tools for Intuition, Personal Energy Management and Female Alchemy. She also has been featured on television, radio and in national publications both in the US and Australia. She is the co-founder of Mastering Alchemy and presents this work with Jim.

PLEASE NOTE: Universal ©Copyright 2010 is authorized here. Please distribute freely as long as the website www.masteringalchemy.comis included as the resource and this information is distributed on a non-commercial no charge basis.