If you want to know what your thoughts were like yesterday, then check how your body feels today
What if I told you that dieting, microwaves, and dietary supplements could be doing you more harm than good?
If you are concerned about an aspect of your health there is a lot you can do to self-start the self-healing process. The flu might just require a bit of rest and proper nutrition, while more complicated diagnoses might need further treatment.
Our health is influenced not just by the state of our physical body, but also our emotional, spiritual, and mental bodies.
We will find full health when we are able to harmonize all four bodies, and this post will show you how. We have many self-healing tools at our disposal, but just a note of caution.
Alternative therapies and using the tools in this post to self-heal are not a replacement for conventional therapy, particularly for people with mental disorders that require specific medication or behavioral therapy. Please make sure you continue with your normal treatment until your doctor advises you otherwise.
In this post I will show you 13 ways to self-heal today and what could be hindering your self-healing process.
1. Meditation
One of the best things we can do in order to self heal is start a meditation practice.
Meditation has been associated with a decrease in stress, depression, anxiety, and pain, along with an increase in quality of life. It can also help us sleep better.
When we meditate, we enter a state of expanded awareness and inner quiet that refreshes the mind and restores balance.
When we are calm and peaceful our soul comes through our emotions to give us guidance.
It also helps us to raise our vibration, which is essential to receive our desires.
Since the mind and body are inseparable, the body is naturally balanced through the practice of meditation.
Studies have shown that during meditation our heart rate and breath slow down, our body decreases the production of stress hormones, and it increases the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and endorphins, which enhance well-being. (Serotonin is a chemical neurotransmitter that can affect mood, appetite, sleep, and memory. Endorphins – typically released during exercise – trigger a positive feeling in the body).
When we are under real or perceived stress, our muscles tense, our heart beat increases, vitamins and minerals are rapidly used up, and in some cases of great shock even our memory goes.
All these symptoms normally subside as the body relaxes, which is also why meditation is such a great healer.
Meditation study
There is an ever-increasing amount of academic research around the practice of meditation and its effects.
Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar, a leading researcher in the field, was one of the first to show that when people meditate they feel better not just because they are spending time relaxing.
In 2005, Lazar and her team took Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) of the brain structure of sixteen study participants two weeks before and two weeks after they took part in the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness.
In addition to weekly meetings that included the practice of mindfulness meditation, participants received audio recordings for guided meditation practice and were asked to keep track of how much time they practiced each day.
A set of MRI brain images was also taken of a control group of non-meditators over a similar time interval.
Lazar found that long-term meditation produced tangible changes in the brain. Participants had increases in gray matter concentration in areas of the brain associated with learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, and perspective taking.
She also pointed out that they found evidence that meditation might slow down the age related atrophy of certain areas of the brain.
How to meditate
There are numerous forms of meditation, and it is thought that prayer for the self might have an effect similar to that of meditation.
The most common are:
1. The traditional way: Sit quietly, focus on your breathing, and still your mind (that is, try to avoid thinking about anything).
When I started to meditate I had lots of thoughts running around and “to do” items that came and went. With practice, the noise in my head quieted down on its own.
One of the best ways to detach from multiple thoughts running around in your head, and generally to reduce stress, is to practice slow, deep, rhythmic breathing. You can also keep a notebook by your side, so if you remember something important that you need to do, you can quickly write it down and keep meditating.
Some books recommend setting a timer so you don’t have to check your watch, but this doesn’t work for me.
I stop meditating when I feel I’m either too awake, thinking too much, not connected, or bored. It can be 5 or 25 minutes, but I don’t set a timer because I don’t like it when the alarm goes off and I’m happily relaxed and enjoying the trance.
I usually attempt to meditate for 10 minutes; otherwise, the task feels too big for me. I have noticed that sometimes I will continue happily meditating for another 10 or 20 minutes, but aiming at 10 minutes makes the meditation more feasible.
Sogyal Rinpoche, in his book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, writes that what is important is not how long we meditate but ensuring that the practice brings us a state of mindfulness and presence, allowing us to enter a state in which we are a little open and able to connect with our heart presence. He says that five minutes of wakeful sitting practice is of far greater value than twenty minutes of dozing.
2. Guided meditation CDs.
I highly recommend Orin and Daben meditations. You can find them on Sanaya Roman’s website here under audio courses and single download meditations.
She has many meditations for different purposes: living your life purpose, opening to channel, creating a soul relationship, becoming a writer, etc. There are also apps and other websites like YouTube that provide free meditations.
I have recently found a great YouTube channel: Jason Stephenson – Sleep Meditation Music. I did the Surrender meditation and I thought it was awesome. This would be a great free alternative if you prefer not to pay for meditation music.
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3. Reciting a mantra. The word mantra means “that which protects the mind” from negativity and our own mind. Some people find that deep breathing exercises also assist greatly with quieting the mind and emotions.
2. Visualize a healthy body
A significant proven method to provide relief and self-healing to our bodies is utilizing the power of our mind to heal.
Our mind and our thoughts are very powerful. Our mindset can aid healing much more than we realize.
This has been proven in numerous studies of the placebo effect.
A placebo is a substance, such as a pill or a shot, that doesn’t contain any active medicine. The placebo effect occurs when this neutral treatment improves a person’s condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful.
Scientists typically use placebos as controls in research studies. This helps them understand how much of a medicine’s effects is due to the drug itself, versus how much is due to a participant’s expectations or other factors.
Expectations about a drug’s healing properties might have a more powerful effect than the drug itself. The expectation is a real drug that causes healing.
Numerous studies have been done about the placebo effect.
An article published by the American Psychological Association explains how a placebo alters the brain function of people with depression and promotes healing, although no medication was actually given.
The Counterclockwise Experiment
In 1981, a team of researchers headed by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, Ph.D. author of many books including Counterclockwise: Counter Health and the Power of Possibility, took two groups of men in their seventies and eighties to an old monastery in New Hampshire to perform the Counterclockwise experiment.
Members of the first group stayed for one week and were asked to pretend they were young men, once again living in the 1950s. Members of the second group, who arrived one week later, were told to stay in the present and simply reminisce about that era.
Both groups were surrounded by mid-century mementos.
Langer wanted to understand the biological impact of “acting as if.”
Before and after the experiment, both groups of men took many cognitive and physical tests, and after just one week, there were significant positive changes across the board.
Both groups showed improvements in physical strength, manual dexterity, posture, perception, memory, cognition, taste sensitivity, hearing, and vision – even their performance on intelligence tests had improved.
But the men who had acted as if they were actually back in the 1950s showed significantly more improvement.
Those who had impersonated younger men seemed to have bodies that were actually younger.
These results provide evidence that our mind is very powerful and our thoughts can cause a physical response.
Meditation, imagining, remembering, and wondering can all have corresponding physical effects. Visualizing and affirming a healthy body can assist healing.
Dr. Langer said that wherever we put the mind, the body will follow.
She explained that it is not our physical state that limits us, but our mindset about our own limits and our perceptions that draws the lines in the sand.
The power of our mind can work to our detriment too; self-criticism, doubt, and in general mental stress (anger and heavy emotions) can also alter our nervous system by releasing stress hormones which can affect the body in many ways: adjusting our breathing pattern, increasing our blood pressure, or muscle tension, etc.
The Nocebo Effect
The opposite of the placebo effect is a phenomenon called the nocebo effect.
If a doctor gives someone a placebo pill, but tells them the side effect might be nausea and vomiting, studies have proven that the subjects actually vomited.
This is important to understand because focusing our mind (our attention) on sickness has been proven to make us sick.
In Mind Over medicine; Scientific Proof that You Can Heal Yourself, Dr. Lissa Rankin writes that the power of suggestion is powerful, and the mere suggestion that a patient may experience negative symptoms in response to medication (a sugar pill) may be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In order to heal, we need to eliminate the negative and self-sabotaging thought patterns of the subconscious mind. By accessing that deeper mind, we can rewrite any negative beliefs and patterns that are blocking our ability to heal.
As Dr. Langer’s study proved, visualization works very well to aid healing, because visualizing a healthy body and recalling loving memories from the times when we were healthy will transmit healing frequencies all over our bodies.
Book recommendations
A great book that describes general healing methods using the mind and visualizations (as well as meditation exercises) is The Healing Power of Mind: Simple Meditation Exercises for Health, Well-Being, and Enlightenment, by Tulku Thondup.
I particularly like the visualizations for letting go of sadness and the exercise to focus the scattered mind.
You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter, by Joe Dispenza
Dr. Dispenza shares my cases of those who reversed cancer, heart disease, depression, and other serious health issues by believing in a placebo.
I believe these cases to be true; however, I’m also a true believer in the power of conventional medicine, and not everybody can heal from disease by using their mind (Particularly when dealing with karmic issues or not being ready to accept or learn the lesson the illness might be providing).
Please read this post: The truth about conventional medicine and alternative therapies for more information.
To conclude this tool, our mind and our thoughts are very powerful. Our mindset can aid healing much more than we realize.
3. Practice EFT tapping
Definition from The Tapping Solution Foundation:
“Tapping is a combination of Ancient Chinese Acupressure and Modern Psychology that works to physically alter your brain, energy system and body all at once. The practice consists of tapping with your fingertips on specific meridian points while talking through traumatic memories and a wide range of emotions.”
EFT has some things in common with Traditional Chinese Medicine practices like acupuncture because it focuses on energy circuits that run throughout the body. The combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing positive statements works to heal emotional blocks.
EFT is convenient and easy to apply:
1. You don’t need to take pills.
2. Improvement is usually quick.
3. Success rates are high.
4. You can tap almost anywhere when you are feeling stressed or anxious.
5. There are no known side effects to its use.
6. It is free.
The following are examples of conditions EFT tapping can assist you with:
• Reducing depression, stress, and anxiety
• Reducing pain from headaches, muscular tension, and joint pains.
• Getting better sleep.
• Decreasing fatigue.
4. Love and accept your body
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of anybody who went through the “stamping” lineup at birth. Can you imagine God stamping each person’s forehead as he or she came through? “Worthy…unworthy…worthy, worthy…unworthy. Yuck… definitely unworthy.” Sorry, I don’t think it works that way (…). If you say you are worthy, you are. If you say you are not worthy, you are not.
T. Harv Eker – The Millionaire Mind
Today’s society is plagued with images of beauty and happiness that are not real.
Unrealistic images can make us feel inadequate, and worse, in need of fixing.
They can totally disconnect us from our true needs. They lead us to believe that a thin body and being famous equals happiness forever.
Self-acceptance is a form of self-love and self-forgiveness.
If we love and accept ourselves for who we are, we will attract circumstances and people who reflect our self-love. Love and self-acceptance are the biggest magnets for positive changes in your life.
Acceptance also means accepting where we are now.
Find reasons to be grateful for who you are now, not who you think you should be. Our worthiness is not based on how much we have, where we were born, or where we live now, what car we drive, our weight, or any other factors. It might sound simple, but it is really that simple.
People can place no higher value upon us than we place upon ourselves.
Ultimately, we are the ones who determine our own value. If you were told that you wouldn’t amount to anything, decide now that you are worth it and expect great things to happen!
5. Eat well, and organic when possible
One of the biggest issues today is the quality, origin, and amount of processing in the food we eat.
Our ancestors used to eat what was naturally available within their region. They ate whole, fresh, generally balanced meals with organically grown foods that were seasonal and local.
Today, we eat frozen fruit flown across the Atlantic or a “good for you” ready packaged meal without fully understanding the implications for our body’s ability to heal.
Harold Saxton Burr, Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy at Yale University School of Medicine, discovered that all living things, plants, trees, animals, and human beings possess energy fields, or what he termed Fields of Life, or L-Fields.
He was able to demonstrate an accurate and repeatable technique for measuring these fields using standard voltmeters.
In his book, Blueprint for Immortality: The Electric Patterns of Life, Burr claimed that the life field of all living things molds and controls each organism’s development, health, and mood.
His findings are particularly relevant in the context of the food we eat.
Live plants and cut plants don’t have the same type of energy field; the more time that elapses from the moment of cutting, the more the field of the cut plant changes, until the field eventually disappears.
Frozen foods, even when packaged in their original form (plain frozen fruits or vegetables, for example) are not ideal because the life force in them diminishes.
When food is frozen, the cells in the water of those foods burst, which is the reason why untreated vegetables are mushy and limp when thawed.
For this reason, canned and frozen foods might contain all the nutrients present in fresh food, but they are not as healthy.
Poor diet and excessive stress can deplete the body’s energy reserves very quickly.
If we have major surgery and subsequently we eat nutrient deficient foods, it is going to take much longer for our body to repair itself.
The role of food
Food provides us with energy, plays a critical role in the regulation of numerous body processes, and can act as natural protectors against disease, by:
• Detoxifying and eliminating toxins.
• Balancing blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and assisting with digestion and elimination of waste.
• Balancing blood sugar levels. Diabetes and weight gain are tied to poor insulin response and other hormonal changes. Unregulated sugar levels can lead to increased cravings, fatigue, crankiness, and a number of hormonal issues.
• Controlling internal inflammation in the body, which is the root of many diseases. Symptoms of inflammation include fatigue, being overweight, aches and pains, allergies or infections, and a diagnosed autoimmune disease.
When our body is lacking something, like proper nutrition in the form of vitamins and minerals, it tries to compensate.
Our bodies will try to find an equal alternative for what is lacking, but if it can’t find what it needs, it will use a substitute, either a physical alternative, or a symbolic one. (This is one of the reasons people get cravings for things like chalk, dirt, and paint.)
This is also the reason why when we eat a meal deficient in nutrients (e.g., fast or junk food) we are hungry a few hours later; our body is still looking for nutrients.
Food is a great physical source of energy that is usually ignored in the role of healing, or relegated to an afterthought.
The importance of a nutritious diet is often overlooked.
Energy is necessary for the healing process as our bodies need energy to fulfill a myriad of processes, such as eliminating toxins, balancing blood sugar levels and controlling internal inflammation in the body.
Poor diet and excessive stress can deplete the body’s energy reserves very quickly.
Although we might not be consciously aware of this, all of the food we eat carries its own frequency and affects our nervous system. Our body resonates with some food and tenses with others.
Why organic food is best
One of the reasons why organic food is best is because as we have seen earlier all the food we eat carries its own frequency and affects our nervous system.
Organic foods are produced without the employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides.
Pesticides that are sprayed all over fruits and vegetables decrease the vibrational rate of the produce to below that which sustains life. The more pesticides in foods, the more the energy field of the food is distorted and weakened.
The quality of the meat we eat is not much better. The beef and chicken industry is ruthless. Animals are being kept in terrible conditions, in minimal, enclosed spaces with no chance of exercise.
They are fed food deficient in nutrients and full of pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides.
These animals are given hormones and antibiotics to help them through the ordeal so they can grow older in order to be killed and sold at the highest profit possible.
Antibiotics, drugs, and growth hormones are passed directly into meat and dairy products. Farmed fish poses a similar issue with the type of diet they are fed.
Animals have not always been treated this way. Native American people knew that animals deserve as much respect as human beings. They treated all animals as equals. In ceremonies, they would ask for permission to receive the nourishment from the animals about to be hunted and killed.
Between the pesticides in our foods, and the poor treatment and diets of animals, we are bombarded by chemicals that contribute to a range of diseases.
Try to eat organic food and ethically raised meat whenever possible and affordable.
Local produce from local farmers is probably the best quality food you can find, although it might not always be accredited as “organic” (it is quite expensive for small farmers to obtain the “organic” accreditation, although their produce might be free of pesticides).
What can you do if you can’t afford or have access to organic food
I fully understand organic food is very expensive, and many times is not easily accessible either.
When buying non organic fruit and vegetables, be mindful of the ones that, according to the EWG website, (Environmental Working Group) contain the largest amount of pesticides:
1. The highest amount of pesticides (“dirty dozen”), in order (highest first): strawberries, spinach, kale, nectarines, apples, grapes, peaches, cherries, pears, tomatoes, celery, potatoes and hot peppers.
2. The cleanest food with the least amount of pesticides (“clean fifteen”) avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, sweet peas (frozen), onions, papayas, eggplants, asparagus, kiwis, cabbages, cauliflower, cantaloupes, broccoli, mushrooms and honeydew melons.
If you can’t afford or can’t buy all of your produce organic, you might want to ensure you buy organic the foods listed in the “dirty dozen” list (which contain the highest amount of pesticides).
Alternatively, as I mentioned earlier buy from your local farmer.
Be also mindful of soft drinks which can be laden with unhealthy ingredients. Dr. Josh Axe has written various articles about what diet sodas and sweeteners do to our bodies. They may cause depression, kidney damage, and cardiovascular disease among other issues.
6. Dietary supplements: help or hinder?
We assume dietary supplements, such as vitamins and minerals, herbs, sports nutrition, and weight management supplements are safe because they are often described as natural, but they can cause harm both directly – through drug interactions and because they may have dangerous ingredients – and indirectly, by delaying conventional care.
We believe we can trust the advice of some individuals and corporations because they have been selling them for a long time, like in a gym or a health shop, or we self-prescribe what we need by reading the label.
Please consider the following:
1. Some supplements are not as “pure” as the seller or the label claims them to be.
A number of well-known toxins have been found in herbal preparations, sometimes resulting in significant human injury.
Supplements are not regulated. There is no guarantee they contain what the package says.
Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and expert on the dietary supplement industry, found his patients started developing mysterious symptoms.
One woman went in with palpitations, sweating, and anxiety, but also feeling very tired. Another was rushed to the emergency room with kidney failure, and one man lost his job after his urine tested positive for amphetamines.
Cohen realized his patients were all taking weight loss pills known as rainbow diet pills.
He then sent the capsules off to a private lab for testing. The tests revealed amphetamines, thyroid hormones, diuretics, benzo-diazepines (tranquilizers), and antidepressants.
Cohen has written numerous articles.
If you want to read more about Cohen’s work you can visit The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, and look under Harvard Catalyst profiles.
2. Sellers aren’t required to do research studies in people to prove that a dietary supplement is safe.
Supplements, like drugs, can also have side effects, and you can overdose on vitamins and minerals.
3. Taking dietary pills might pose a risk to special populations: children, elderly, pregnant women, people undergoing surgery, or people with impaired organ or immunologic function.
Even if you don’t fall into any of the above groups, always seek your doctor’s advice to determine if you need to take any pills. Self-medicating is dangerous.
Side effects
A study published in the British Medical Journal revealed that additional calcium poses an increase in heart risk. Another study found that Vitamin E, which was originally thought to protect the heart, was later discovered to increase the risk for bleeding strokes.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) warns the public with very similar concerns: the active ingredients of many supplements can have dangerous side effects (or can make other medicines you are taking a lot less effective).
The HHS provides the following examples:
– Vitamin K can reduce the ability of the blood thinner Coumadin® to prevent blood from clotting.
– St. John’s wort can speed the breakdown of many drugs (including antidepressants and birth control pills) and thereby reduce these drugs’ effectiveness.
– Antioxidant supplements, like vitamins C and E, might reduce the effectiveness of some types of cancer chemotherapy.
The bottom line is, although supplements can be wonderful for your health, seek your doctor’s advice, read the ingredients list, and take supplements only as prescribed. If you don’t understand an ingredient, research it, and be satisfied that you know what you are taking into your body.
7. Avoid using microwaves
I have read differing points of view on whether microwaves are good or bad for you, but overall there seems to be a big concern around them; they alter the field of the foods being cooked.
Paul Pitchford, in Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition writes that microwave cooking seems to damage the molecular integrity of the food, diminishing the subtle qi (life force).
He says that experiments reported in the British medical journal The Lancet, on December 9, 1989, demonstrate that microwave cooking alters food enough to cause, upon ingestion, “structural, functional, and immunological changes” in the body.
The report further states that microwaves transform the amino acid L-proline into D-proline, a proven toxin to the nervous system, liver, and kidneys.
Also, a 15-page article called The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking, by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell, shows evidence that microwave cooking is not natural, nor healthy, and is far more dangerous to the human body than anyone could imagine.
It is very well researched and eye-opening.
Other articles reflect similar concerns.
8. Avoid dieting
The topic of why dieting — in the context of restricting oneself to small amounts, or special amounts and types of food to lose weight — is not a good idea is too extensive to cover in this post (you can find the scientific reasons why and how to lose weight in my post How To Lose Weight Without Dieting); however, this post would not be complete if I didn’t list dieting as one of the issues in our health problems.
Please note, I believe in eating fresh nutritious foods to achieve or keep good health, as explained in this post, however I also believe it is okay to eat nice desserts and chocolate occasionally. One of my favorites is lava cake, hence the lovely picture.
I have read many books and articles that assert how some diets can cure illnesses and help you lose weight quickly.
Some books recommend a vegan or raw plant based diet as a sole or complementary diet/therapy.
Other books claim that if you have a specific disease (for example, some types of blood cancers), you could benefit from eating red meat.
There are a lot of mixed messages and confusing information out there.
When we are sick or we are trying to lose weight, we are more vulnerable to believe that some treatment or plan is going to help us.
Please do not blindly follow anybody or any specific health system. We are not all the same, and the same disease can be caused by different reasons.
Follow your doctor’s directions and decide what is best for you. Some diets can do more harm than good, particularly when you are asked to eliminate entire food groups like meat or fruit.
Annemarie Colbin, in her book Food and Healing, has a very good point.
She says that good food will nourish us without causing stress, allowing our immune system to spend its energy in healing.
Therefore, because our immune system can concentrate on other things, some diets will have healing effects.
I have also read in other books that fasting can also be a great healer for the same reason: our body can concentrate on repairing itself instead of spending time and energy with digestion and dealing with the stress of handling chemicals and poor nutritional foods.
Colbin also says that often it is not just what we eat, but also what we don’t eat, that helps us become healthy again.
She gives the example that a diet free of nuts, nut butters, soda pop, fried foods, mayonnaise, and dairy products does not “cure” acne; it just doesn’t cause acne, and therefore the body returns to normal and the acne disappears.
9. Rest
I know what you are thinking: I wish I could find time to rest and me-time!
I hear you, I’m in the same boat. Kids, work, house, appointments, trying to have a bit of a social life, random and last-minute problems… But rest and me-time are essential for self-healing.
It would benefit your health to find me time to:
1. Get enough sleep at night, or nap
Sleep is essential for the realignment of our energies. While we sleep, our body acclimates to the higher, purer vibration that is our real self. Take naps or go to bed earlier whenever possible.
Our energy field also rejuvenates itself.
2. Drink more water
Drink more water even when you are not thirsty. Several studies have proven, here and here, that even mild dehydration can alter a person’s energy level and his ability to think clearly.
It also causes anger, headaches, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating.
3. Go outside and get more sunlight
Sunlight contains UV light.
When sunlight is absorbed through the skin it produces Vitamin D, promoting the production of serotonin which is understood to contribute to feelings of well-being and happiness (Serotonin is a chemical that acts as a neurotransmitter, relaying messages from one part of the brain to another.
It is believed to influence psychological and other bodily functions, including brain cells related to mood, sexual desire, appetite, and others)
In general, Vitamin D depletion has been linked to cancer, and sunlight increases mental and physical performance.
4. Get a massage
Receiving a massage has been proven to have many benefits, for example reducing anxiety and depression levels, and helping you sleep better.
5. Pursue your hobbies
6. Read a good uplifting book, or blog
You can read an uplifting book or a blog post. I love these 45 simple self-care practices from Tiny Buddha.
You can also read the best books and guided meditations I recommend here.
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7. Wear crystals
A crystal is part of the highest vibration of the mineral kingdom, and crystals interact with our biology.
8. Listen to uplifting music
9. Exercise, which is vital for optimal health.
10. Take a long bath, ideally with natural soaps and essential oils.
Natural products won’t heal, but they can prevent you from getting ill if you are currently using products that contain an excessive amount of chemicals.
Toxic chemicals are everywhere (in our food, personal care products, and cleaning products), but we can limit our exposure to them with just a little knowledge on our part.
The skin is the largest organ in the body, and it absorbs a lot of the products we put on it. We can see this at work with effective treatments like hormone replacement therapy or nicotine patches.
Also, the reason essential oils that we put on the bottom of our feet could have healing effects is that the oil compounds pass through the skin, then into the capillaries, and finally into the bloodstream.
Because of the ability of our skin to absorb what we put on it we need to be careful what products we use.
For example, most sunscreens are harmful.
Environmental Working Group (EWG) research reveals that the chemicals commonly used in sunscreens may interfere with thyroid and other hormone processes in the body.
The EWG and Consumer Reports have warned consumers against using many types of conventional sunscreens; they offer a false sense of security regarding sun protection and may do more harm than good. Mineral sunscreens, without sunscreen chemicals, are a good alternative option.
You might want to meditate too while in the bath (you can read more about the benefits of meditation in tool #1, and in this post)
11. Journal
Journaling and engaging in creative endeavors (such as painting or cooking) can be a very effective way to release built-up anger and frustration.
It important to release because every emotion that is not properly digested and dealt with is stored within the body (in our heart, muscles, and fibers within our body), which in turn causes various ailments to appear in our lives.
While you journal you might want to ask for help from the universe or list all the things that you are grateful for. This post explains the role of gratitude to attract everything we want in life, including good health.
12. Practice positive thinking
To remove discord, confusion, lack, and limitation, you must remove the cause, and the cause is the way you are using your conscious mind. In other words, the way you are thinking and picturing in your mind. You are living in a fathomless sea of infinite riches. Your subconscious is very sensitive to your thoughts. Your thoughts form the mold or matrix through which the infinite intelligence, wisdom, vital forces, and energies of your subconscious flow.
Paul Joseph Murphy, author of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind: Riches Are Within Your Reach
Nothing can wear your immune system down faster than thoughts can. Notice how many times during the day you say “I’m tired” or “That’s exhausting.”
Thoughts won’t necessarily kill you but we come to believe whatever we are repeatedly told, or whatever we repeat to ourselves (this is why affirmations can be so powerful).
Read good news, spend less time on social media and watching TV, and cultivate a sense of wonder and excitement about life.
To conclude this tool, I know it can be hard to find time for ourselves, but rest and me-time are essential to our wellbeing.
A wonderful book to help you with time management is 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, by Kevin Kruse.
You will also benefit from spending a lot less time in social media. Check out this great post from Lifehack: When you stop checking Facebook constantly, these 10 things will happen.
10. Use Essential oils
I was unfamiliar with essential oils until two years ago after I had my second baby.
At that time I experienced firsthand the benefit of using essential oils when I was given a bottle of bergamot essential oil (citrus aurantium bergamia peel oil).
I had a stressful pregnancy followed by a difficult C-section recovery, and I was feeling physically and emotionally exhausted.
I felt uplifted the moment I smelled bergamot. I can’t fully describe it, but the scent gave me an immediate sense of emotional relief.
I didn’t know then that the nerve endings in our nose pick up the various organic compounds of the oil and send them immediately to the limbic system of the brain, which begins to use them for therapeutic function. The limbic system supports various functions, including emotion, behavior, motivation, and long-term memory.
What Are Essential Oils
Essential oils are the botanical extracts of plant leaves, the life force of plants.
There is a vast amount of free content on the Internet regarding essential oils (here and here), many books show you how to use them, and many studies have been done regarding their effectiveness.
I believe essential oils work because I have experienced physical and emotional relief firsthand, but here are listed a couple of issues that I have with their commercial use:
- Essential oils are not the “be all and end all” they are promoted to be.
With their increased popularity, there are a lot of people with few or no health qualifications who promote and sell them.
They make healing claims for major illnesses that although they might be true, the promoters and sellers probably don’t have the whole picture of the person who was healed, such as what other therapies they were receiving or how long they had experienced the issue for.
2. Essential oils don’t work for everybody and you should never delay seeking your physician’s advice while waiting to see if the oils are helping you.
Essential oils are wonderful, but no two people are alike; what works for somebody else might not work for you.
Before buying any essential oils note the following:
• The market, particularly health shops and some spas, is flooded with impure essential oils that are either treated with chemicals or have chemical additives (such as perfumes).
As a general rule, the cheaper the oil, the worse the quality and the worse it is for you.
• Read the label; it should only contain one ingredient: the essential oil.
Sometimes distributors and corporations dilute the oil with a “carrier” oil, like coconut oil. This might be okay but bear in mind that doing this will dilute the potency of the essential oil.
This might have been done intentionally if the oil is strong, but the manufacturer could also have done it to sell it more cheaply, and not all carrier oils are good for you.
Low quality carrier oils can be hazardous.
• The bottle should always list the botanical (Latin) name of the oil because there are many types of “lavender” oil.
Lavender oils include True lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas), spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia), and lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia). If it just says “lavender” oil, you don’t know what you are getting.
• Be wary of labels that read “100% certified pure,” or “Pure therapeutic grade,” because there is no certification or regulatory agency in the U.S. to back up those claims.
They are usually marketing titles and nothing more.
• Check the container. Essential oils need to be kept in dark glass containers because their chemical compounds interact negatively with plastic.
Enjoying the scent of essential oils is very personal. Just like the types of food we like or the clothes we wear, we all have different preferences.
How I Use Essential Oils
In case you find it helpful, below are some of my favorites oils and how I use them.
When I feel down I use bergamot orange (citrus aurantium bergamia) peel oil.
Actually, even when I feel well I also use it. I just smell it straight out of the bottle as often as I want it.
Many other essential oils can also help with emotional issues, but bergamot is my favorite.
• I use peppermint (Mentha piperita) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus radiata) for many things.
If I have a headache or I feel sleepy, I put a bit of peppermint oil across my forehead.
I also use eucalyptus mixed with peppermint (or either on its own) on my hands and then I smell them.
It wakes me up and keeps me alert.
• I like using mixed oils for diffusing in my room.
I use whatever oils I feel that I need the most.
I’m mainly driven by how good they smell and how they make me feel, and I also look at blogs and books for inspiration as to what to mix.
Some companies also offer bottles with already mixed oils to improve or assist different afflictions; for example, to improve breathing or to sleep better.
• I rub lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) oil on my children’s feet (occasionally, as needed) to help them sleep; if they have minor afflictions I will also use a variety of oils to help them.
Please note: if my children are unwell I always take them to their pediatrician first, who is a conventional doctor, to see what is wrong with them. I always follow their pediatrician’s advice, and I use essential oils as a complement.
• I have used frankincense (Boswellia carterii) oil successfully to treat a very stubborn nail fungus that was not going away with conventional means.
It is also very good for the skin in general and I use it in my face almost daily.
11. Unclutter your house and your life
The energy field of people, places, things, and your own home can amplify and add to your personal energy.
Surround yourself with beautiful, uplifting things and people and let go of stuff and relationships that are no longer serving you.
Arguments, swearing, and very negative thoughts and people lower the vibration of those things around them, whereas beautiful, inspiring thoughts, and conversations raise their frequency.
Having a serene, peaceful home alleviates feelings of agitation and restlessness that the clutter precipitates in our brain. Maintaining an uncluttered, peaceful home can make us feel more energetic and relaxed at the same time.
Most people feel better in an uncluttered environment.
Uncluttering is one of the 20 Proven Tools to Manifest Faster, and is fully explained in that post if you want to read more about it. It is worthwhile mentioning in this post too because it is such an important aspect for our wellbeing.
When we are looking after ourselves and doing inner work, it is crucial to choose a living environment that supports our new vibration.
12. Forgive (yourself and others)
The importance of forgiving yourself and others has been explained in this post (jump to tool #13). However, forgiveness of the self and others is vital to make peace with our past and achieve full health, so I’m repeating it here. Below is a script of what I wrote. (Please skip to the next tool if you have already read it).
We are on Earth to heal the deep wounds within our own being, to evolve and grow in consciousness.
If we haven’t attended to ourselves first we can’t help others or the earth.
When we take extreme care of ourselves and seek inner peace, everything else falls into place because everything we want is in our vibration.
The better we feel, the more we will be in vibrational harmony with those things we want and the easier it will be to manifest them, including health and wellbeing.
I want to address what I perceive to be a misconception around the role of forgiveness.
We are told we need to forgive anybody who has hurt us because:
• It is the path to healing
• It is what spiritual people do
• God would forgive and expects us to do so
• It is the right thing to do
• We will find freedom
• [Fill in the blank.]
I agree it is important to forgive, but only when we wish to and are ready to do so.
Understanding the Law of Attraction, and the agreements we made in our planning sessions prior to coming to Earth has helped me to understand the reasons behind hurtful people and events.
But forgiveness only came as a byproduct of that under-standing, not because “I had to forgive.”
We don’t have to love unconditionally regardless of how people behave or who they are.
The fact that the soul doesn’t die doesn’t make war right.
If somebody is being abusive, it is not right to allow the abuse to continue. When we are ready we will forgive, but we should not push ourselves against what we feel.
We have a lot to gain when we genuinely feel that way, but we shouldn’t feel we have to forgive if, in our heart, we know we haven’t, or can’t.
Even worse, don’t feel guilty because you have been told, “shame on you for not forgiving.” If you don’t want to forgive don’t, if you want to be angry, sad, and vulnerable, then feel that.
There is a normal progression in our emotions, and it is healthy to naturally follow them. It is like the process of grieving; after losing a loved one it is good to allow yourself to be sad and grieve.
After a negative experience, at first you might feel powerless and depressed. You might follow that with anger and a desire for revenge, followed by pessimism about life and all things.
Slowly, as time passes, you might move up the emotional scale and feel hopeful that there is a way out.
Eventually, you see the higher picture and analyze the situation from your soul’s perspective, who knows what it is doing.
All difficult situations arose to help us on our path.
I believe I chose to experience a difficult childhood and years of bullying because I would never have had such an interest in self-help books or achieved what I have done in my life as a result of the knowledge that I have gained.
I have always been looking for answers to soothe myself, and I believe I’m a more improved person because of everything I have learned in the process.
Rumi, a 13th century poet and Sufi mystic said that the wound is the place where the light enters you.
It is healing for our body and soul to seek and find forgiveness; we let go of ideas of revenge, we see a reduction in our stress levels and feelings of despair, our depression lifts, and our relationships improve.
When we are resentful, we keep ourselves stuck in a vibrational pattern that doesn’t help us find peace or achieve our goals. (“I’m down because of this, or that.”)
Success and full health vibrates at a high frequency, and feeling and being a victim vibrates at a much lower one.
I wish the bullies well now, but it has taken me a long time to genuinely feel that way; I carried that pain for many years. In my mid-thirties I realized that by not letting go of my childhood bullying experience, I was still letting the bullies hurt me.
By not forgiving, the only one still suffering was me.
Nelson Mandela, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said it so eloquently:
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies
—Nelson Mandela
Don’t forget to Forgive and love yourself
I read somewhere that if your compassion does not include yourself, then it is incomplete.
I find it easier to forgive others than to forgive myself, but we would not be on Earth if we were perfect. If we had mastered every lesson and every aspect of ourselves, we would be on another planet, but not here.
There is no point in looking back at our past and giving ourselves a hard time over what we did or didn’t do, or how we behaved. It is beneficial to learn from that if we don’t like what we did, but there is no point feeling guilty and punishing our-selves about it.
We did the very best we could at that time with the information we had. If we could have done better, we would have.
I have done things I’m not proud of, I have said things that I would rather not remember, and I have been childish and selfish.
But what we did or didn’t do has no bearing on what we can accomplish today. Nobody other than ourselves is going to punish us.
13. Take one step
Last, but not least, if you haven’t done it yet, take a small step today toward your healing.
Meditate on all the tools in this post, take what feels right for today and do it.
Call your doctor, go for a long walk, seek to forgive and heal your broken relationships, write a letter to God, guides or angels and ask them for help, get out of bed and take a shower, tidy up your house, or do what you need to do.
Just take a small step and keep going.
One of the most significant stresses in life is when we feel we have no control over a situation; however, without responsibility there is no power. You will feel immediately better when you realize you are in charge of your destiny.
Do something today to take you a step closer to the relief you are seeking, whether it is emotional or physical.
The following posts might help:
- How To Lose Weight Without Dieting
- The Truth About Conventional Medicine and Alternative Therapies
- 5 Surprising Causes of Disease (and how you can heal)
I can help you too. Please leave a comment/question below. I love to hear from my readers!
