Self-Care During Seasons of Scary Times – When It’s Your Health – Part 3 (Continued) What I did

Here’s what I did

 

The Artist's Way - The book that started my journaling journey!

The Artist’s Way – The book that started my journaling journey!

  1. I started to read empowering books and magazines. (This was long before any electronic readers were available. Coaches, especially Mindset Coaches, were very rare and not in my immediate SOI – Sphere of Influence.
  2. I came across Julia Cameron’s book, The Artists Way. It talked about journaling and doing “Morning Pages.” This worked for me. I started to be more optimistic. I was “dumping” the negative thoughts and worries onto a hand-written page. After about a week of this I couldn’t handle the negative writing and started writing about how I wanted to be well, walk again, and be able to do all the activities I loved.
  3. I had learned about Feng Shui about 10 years before. In Feng Shui we learned about the interconnectedness of the home and the body. Since the diagnosis was unknown, all I could do was look at what had been visible – in and on my body – and what my symptoms were.
    • The rash was on the skin and the skin is the outside of the house. I knew the paint on my house was peeling in places. I had someone come and fix it.

      Area where the sheetrock was torn because the doorframe had been removed to move the washer & dryer out of the laundry room.

      Area where the sheetrock was torn because the doorframe had been removed to move the washer & dryer out of the laundry room.

    • My knees wouldn’t bend. Those are the “joints.” I had someone fix the joints where the sheetrock seams were located, which had been broken when the previous owner tore out the door in order to remove the washer and dryer from the laundry room. (The reason those joints had not been fixed before I bought the house was because I had bought the home “as is” out of desperation during the divorce.)
    • I continued the process by changing my thoughts from “symptoms” and “poor me” to my desired outcomes! I saw myself wearing beautiful shoes again and having the ability to dress up, go out of the house, and enjoy the beauty of life. I wanted to see the sunlight from outside, to wear bright colors, and dance. Then in my mind’s eye I saw a stained-glass window with all the colors of the rainbow. I saw where it had to go in the house.

      Before photo of living room when we started the remodeling. - Living room sheet rock removal 4-27-05

      Before photo of living room when we started the remodeling. – Living room sheet rock removal 4-27-05

    • From that point on my mind was on a creative journey. I wrote daily about visions I saw for the house. The visions looked at every part of the home, finding what was wrong or broken or didn’t work for me. These visions included ways to change it, making it beautiful.

Years before I was guided to name my company, A Beautiful Center of Light. During this time the real birthing of my company into a material form occurred. This process showed all the things I needed to change in my home and what to do.

I didn’t know how I was going to pay for any of the work. I didn’t know how this was going to heal my body.

But… the process healed my body! And the money came to do the work on the house.

The multi-colored stained-glass window placed in the living room where I saw it in my Mind's Eye years before!

The multi-colored stained-glass window placed in the living room where I saw it in my Mind’s Eye years before!

They still don’t know what I had or what caused my illness. It really doesn’t matter now. What does matter is I learned how our home is an extension of us. We are connected to it and it to us.

I continued to journal for many years and then stopped. When I went back to reading my journals, I decided I wasn’t going to do any more writing like that. It was so negative and depressing. I tossed the journals because I never wanted anyone to see how far down the dark hole I had gone. They contained an energy I needed to release from my body at that time, not keep to remember or share.

Multi-colored Stained glass window

Closeup – Multi-colored Stained glass window

Journaling has helped many people and may be exactly what you need and want to do. It definitely did help me. But the journals themselves were not something I wanted to keep in my space once I was healed.

If you’d like to learn more about the connection between our body and our home, I’ve written an eBook on this called, HOME: A Reflection of SELF! Check my website for a free copy of it or contact me to receive it.

I think you will find the information fascinating and helpful!

Self-Care During Seasons of Scary Times – When It’s Your Health – Part 3

Navigating your own health challenges can be one of the scariest seasons.

Baked sweets containing sugar contributed to my many health issues.

Baked sweets containing sugar contributed to my many health issues.

This might be for a few reasons: 1. It often commands we address how we might have contributed to the cause of the health issues, 2. It brings up any issues we have regarding independence, and 3. It sometimes makes us confront our own mortality.

 

An example of #1 –

As a child, I was sick most of the time. As I’ve gotten older – and wiser – I’ve discovered I am highly allergic to sugar. My mom was always baking cookies, pies, cakes, etc., that I loved to eat! They all contained massive amounts of sugar. My body reacted with sore throats, sinus infections, and pneumonia.

 

At the time I didn’t know any better. Through trial and error I discovered this allergy. Now I stay away from those sweets knowing what the result will be.

Fear of loosing independence

Fear of loosing independence

 

An example of # 2 –

About a year before my mother died, I became aware she couldn’t balance her checkbook. Then she couldn’t find things and forgot whether she had eaten or not. I had to find what was called a nursing home at that time. Although she couldn’t remember many things, she knew she was being moved from her home. Many seniors have this fear about loosing their independence.

 

An example of #3 –

Often an illness will occur for which there is no known logical reason. How should a person handle those situations? The answer: It depends! It depends on many things.

 

Let me share how I coped with one of mine.

 

Water-Babies & Moon-Faces

 

One morning I noticed a few red patches around both my elbows. The next day they had spread, plus there were now the same type of red rash around my knees. The following day it had spread to most of my arms and legs. I got an appointment to see my doctor, a gynecologist, the next day. When I awakened, I was having trouble moving and could barely walk.

Prednisone induced Moon Face

Prednisone induced Moon Face

 

When she saw me, she immediately asked the neighboring dermatologist to fit me in. Biopsies were taken without any answers. By the time they got the results back (which had no conclusive answers), I couldn’t walk and was told I probably would never walk again!

 

Massive doses of prednisone were prescribed and taken. Slowly I was able to move a little. I started doing water exercises. I lasted 3 visits, then quit!

 

The reason wasn’t that I couldn’t do it. It was I couldn’t handle being in that environment!!!

 

Every one of the people in the group were unbelievably negative. They joked about “moon-faces” because the prednisone caused our faces to be big, fat, and round looking, like the moon. They only talked about how horrible they felt and how they felt more worse as time went on. AND they were accepting and integrating into their lives the words they were using to describe themselves.

 

I couldn’t stand their depression and lack of optimism.

 

Tomorrow I will continue with what I did to support my own healing.