Raising money for Lupus

A few weeks ago, my brother, his partner, my sister, my dad, Casey, Duffy and I all participated in a 5K Walk/Run to raise money for the Lupus Foundation. It ended up being a very fun event and it felt good to be doing something to honor my mom. It was interesting to me though that my mom had Lupus for 54 years and yet, this was the first time we had done something as a family to raise money for Lupus. I guess the important thing is that we finally did something, even if it was after she was already gone.

Seven hundred and twenty seven people participated in the 5K and their preliminary count showed the event raised $69,000, a 40% increase over what they had raised last year at this event. While looking at their website, I saw that a drug had just recently been approved for Lupus patients. It is the first approved Lupus drug in 50 years (and they estimate that it would cost a person about $30K/year to be on the drug). I found that a bit disconcerting.

While I was happy to do something to help the cause, and happy to honor my mom, I did still have a small inner conflict . . . the same inner conflict I feel when I am at the grocery store, and the checkout clerk asks you if you want to donate to the cause of the month (this month it is Prostate cancer). It's not that I am against raising money to find cures for diseases, it has more to do with my belief that physical illnesses are rooted in emotional/mental beliefs. I feel sad sometimes that people suffer so much without understanding how truly empowered they are to improve their physical health.

Many years ago, I was introduced to a book by Louise Hay called "Heal Your Body." In the book, she lists out hundreds of physical ailments, what the potential emotional root cause could be and a positive affirmation to help you change the belief you hold. Admittedly, I was not opened to the book when I first saw it, because I didn't want to admit that my own thoughts and emotions could be causing the physical problems I was having. It felt too much like "it's my fault" and the last thing I wanted to feel was "at fault" . . . but over time, (and after being introduced to the book two more times) I finally began to realize how much truth there was in the book and how empowered I truly was to take charge of my health.

I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that the good majority of my human clients have the book too. I enjoy being able to refer to the book and gain insights from it when a client and I are working through some physical pain or illness they are dealing with. Some things can be resolved pretty quickly and some take a lot longer, especially if they are rooted in some really old well ingrained beliefs, but bottom line, I have seen evidence again and again that we really can heal our bodies.

An example of one that I can resolve pretty quickly. . . I used to get a stiff neck all the time and now I barely get them at all, or if I do, I can clear it up in a matter of hours. I'll never forget the first time I looked up "stiff neck" in Louise's book. It said, "Unbending bullheadedness." I laughed my head off because I couldn't deny the truth. Whenever I would get stuck in one of those "I'm right - No, I'm right" push/pull tug of wars, I would instantly get a stiff neck. Now, as soon as I notice what is happening, I can open my mind more to see the other person's perspective, stop being so set on my opinion . . . and the neck pain goes away.

One that I have been working on for years is my hypothyroidism. I was diagnosed when I was in 7th grade, so it's definitely rooted in some old well ingrained beliefs. The emotional root cause is, "giving up, feeling hopelessly stifled" which very accurately describes how I felt as a child and how I feel, on occasion, even now. I have managed to "heal" my thyroid enough that the doctors have twice lowered the level of medication I need to take every day. I hope to continue to heal those old beliefs and thought patterns, so that the dosage can continue to be lowered.

At any rate, I do wish more people realized there was a connection between what they think and believe and feel . . . and how it manifests itself as dis-ease in the body. We have so much more power over our experiences in life than most of us realize. We have the ability to heal the dis-ease that we experience, if we can allow ourselves to look more closely at our deeply held beliefs and decide to change them.

My family is already signed up for the next 5K Walk/Run to raise money for Lupus. It is in October and I will happily participate, to honor my mother . . . and I will also continue to hope that more people will begin to feel empowered to heal their bodies and their lives.