Planting Seeds

The other day, one of my clients was expressing the disappointment she felt over a friend who wasn't taking her advice. I said to her something I have said hundreds of times . . . "Sometimes we have to hear something several times before we're ready to hear it." I think that if we feel compelled to share something, we should share it. The trick is to not be attached to the outcome and trust that when the person is ready, they will be opened to it, that sometimes when we are sharing something, we are just "planting a seed" and the seed won't turn into a flower for some time.

My client knows how much I live by Louise Hay's book, "Heal Your Body," which is about the mind/body connection, so I told her that when I was first introduced to the book, I thought it was a bunch of "Whooey" and was completely closed off to it. I told her that it took years, and seeing the book multiple times, before I really "got it" and fully embraced it. As I was explaining the process I went through to finally embrace the mind-body connection, I realized it might make a good blog post, so I decided to share the story with all of you.

Back in the late 80s, I was struggling with a health issue and a coworker handed me a copy of Louise Hay's book. I looked up a physical ailment I was having and when I read what the emotional root cause could be, I didn't want to see what it said. I think it was because I didn't want to feel that "responsible" for what was going on with me physically and the last thing I needed was to feel like something else was "my fault" . . . so I promptly gave the book back to my coworker and basically said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

The second time I saw the book, it was about three or four years later. I was at the chiropractor's office, waiting for my appointment and I saw the book on the shelf in the waiting room. I picked it up and looked up "upper back pain" because that's why I was in that day and the emotional root cause was "feeling unloved." I couldn't deny that it kind of fit . . . as I had just broken up with my boyfriend because he was cheating on me and I was definitely "feeling unloved" so it did kind of make sense . . . but I still wasn't ready to fully embrace the idea, and I put the book back on the shelf and forgot about it again for several more years.

My third experience with the book was after I adopted Lucky. In our early time together, she threw up 10-12 times a week and had a myriad of other health ailments, like weird breathing problems, etc. I kept bringing her to the vet, having them run test after test, but they could never come up with an explanation for why she was throwing up or why she was having the weird breathing problems, etc. I was at my wits end, frustrated that I couldn't help her and fearful that I was letting her down by not being able to solve the problems she was having. That's when I picked up the book again.

As I looked up each of the physical ailments Lucky was experiencing, I could see how the emotional root causes listed for each ailment made perfect sense for what she had been through in her early life (used as pit bull bait, beaten by humans, thrown in a dumpster and left for dead). I had a grand "a-ha" moment - and I finally realized just how much sense the book made. I went back and looked up the physical ailments I was still struggling with and for the first time, I could really see how the emotional root cause for each one of them made perfect sense for me too. 

I think maybe the book was less scary to me then because I could see how it made so much sense for Lucky. I also knew that nothing that happened to her was "her fault" so it was easier to read Louise's book without feeling like I was being blamed for what was going on with me either. 

It was then that I began approaching healing from a completely different vantage point, focusing on the emotional root cause of what was being manifested. By addressing the emotional root causes, Lucky and I both healed. Some of them took a little while, but eventually, the physical ailments we were both struggling with subsided.

Since then, I have referred to "Heal Your Body" as my bible. I live by it, I use it for myself, I use it with my clients. It is always on the kitchen table because I refer to it so often and it seems that almost weekly, I get emails from friends saying, "This is going on with me, will you look it up in your Louise Hay book?"

I had the wonderful treat of reconnecting with that old co-worker a few years ago. I told her the story I just shared with you and told her how grateful I was that she had "planted that first seed." The funny thing was, she didn't even remember that I was so closed off to the book when she shared it with me. I told her it must be a sign that she truly was embodying the most important rule of sharing . . . that you aren't attached to the outcome. She felt moved to share the book with me and she never gave another thought to whether or not I was opened to what it said.

So keep trusting that if you feel compelled to share something, it means you should share it. And also trust that people will hear things when they are ready . . . that sometimes our job is to just "plant a seed."