Are Your Feelings Making You Sick?

Interestingly enough, feelings can be both the culprit in causing illness and disease, and also the key to their cure. Longstanding "negative" emotions such as anger, resentment, bitterness, disappointment, grief, etc...can break down the body's defenses and create a ripe climate for illness to occur over time.


On the other hand, we are now being taught the value of having our feelings, as well. Knowing how you feel at any given moment, feeling those feelings and giving yourself permission to express them in a healthy way, allows you to get them OUT of the body. Repressing feelings, creates toxins that ultimately hurt us.


So what's the trick? How do we balance our emotions? How can we make sure that we're not indulging them to the degreee that they are doing damage, and how can we make sure that we're not avoiding them and pushing them down, just to discover later that they've been slowly eating away at us?


I'm sure we've all come in contact with an occasional person who likes to tell the same "poor me" story over and over again, who maintains the stance of being a victim, or who goes through life being angry and resentful, and always blaming others for it. In my experience, the really verbal ones are usually not the ones who create serious illness, it's the people around them who do, that harbor resentment for feeling like they've  had to listen to it ad-nauseum. I say this tongue and cheek, but truthfully being a pushover, people-pleaser, or not having good boundaries is not good for your health, especially if you secretly harbor resentment over it.


The key to balancing emotions is RESPONSIBILITY. Being responsible for how YOU feel, means not blaming others for being who they are, where they are in their own growth and development, doing what they do, or saying what they say.....no matter how deeply it may contrast with your own values and belief systems. People are allowed to be who they are. You don't have to like it or agree with it, but YOUR feelings are simply put, not caused by them. They're caused by your own beliefs.


Sometimes, your beliefs cause good feelings like when you believe you ran a good race, and celebrate your achievement. Other times, your beliefs can cause bad feelings like when you think you should have beat last year's score, even though you won the race, but you feel disappointed in yourself. In either case, your feelings are of your own making, a product of the way you think. They are neither right or wrong, but some will support you and keep you healthy more than others.


The extremely good news here, is that you have complete dominion over your feelings. You "thought" them up, and you can un-think them up, as well. Change your mind and you will change your feelings, especially the toxic ones.


In the ideal scenario, you will choose to have your feelings, allow them to run their course without self-judgment, with the willingness to release them if you find yourself re-circulating them over and over again.


You can also choose to examine the root of negative feelings, by looking at the underlying beliefs that created them. For example, maybe you have feelings of regret because you believe you made mistakes and should have made better choices in your life. Replace that belief with one that supports you rather than judges or condemns you. Try taking on a different belief like "everything that happened in my life led me to greater awareness and to making better choices now". Come to acceptance, and release the old belief and feeling.


If illness occurs, be willing to look at what's happening in your life and address the issues that cause you the most dis-stress. Disease, since it takes longer to manifest in the body, is usually associated with a more longstanding issue, unresolved feelings, or a pattern of negative beliefs. There is a good possibility that these issues are at the root of the condition. If you are willing to re-frame your past experiences, and release the old negative feelings, you will find yourself standing at the threshold of your own healing.


Be courageous, face your feelings however painful, be willing to change the way you see your past or present circumstances, and you will begin to feel better immediately. I promise you, your body will thank you for it!


To the Truth that Sets Us All Free,


Donna Gershman ALSP


PS. Don't Suffer! If you or someone you know, needs support in healing a disease, illness, chronic condition or pain, please feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com or call my office at (818)904-6840.