If you ask the question--"Why did I get sick with Fibromyalgia?"--that is a $64,000,000 question (forget the old $64,000 game). This is surely the question of the hour, maybe the decade.
Even I answer, "job stress and having been born with a disordered Immune System," when someone asks the question and expects a succinct answer. That's not really true, though. These may have been the precipitating factors and my current life happenings at the time, but not the reason I got sick or why my health went downhill like a falling boulder.
Listen to the 9 min 30 sec Health Matters Show below. In the audio, I digress a bit, but the questions listed here are the main ones to consider. Print them out if that helps you stay on course.
We all wonder about whether the events and relationships of our life are causal, purposeful, fleeting, random or somehow part of a larger plan. We think about whether illness is something that was meant to happen and become a major part of us.
Sometime today I encourage you to sit down quietly and ask yourself some hard questions. Get out a pen and paper to make some notes. And most of all... prepare to think about and measure your feelings.
Ask yourself about:
- Feelings (How do you feel about your illness? How does it affect you, your friends, your family, your role in life?)
- Motives (Are there underlying reasons? Did you have a psychological motive involved in your getting sick? *Please, don't skirt this question with your honest feelings. If the answer is no, that's fine. But if it's yes, really pay attention to this and explore it..)
- Events (What past events might have been contributing factors that put you where you are? What is happening in your life now that is keeping you sick?)
- Purpose (What is the purpose? Why did you get sick? Why are you still sick? Why?)
- Cause (Hint: think of a cause other than a germ or virus. Really now, what caused you to get sick?)
- Short term outcome (What will happen this month? Next month?)
- Long term outcome (How does this affect your future years?)
- Whole life implications (What kind of life can you look forward to? Is healing in your future?)
Answer them to the best of your ability. Then put these questions and answers away for a month or two months. Sometimes I bring out my writings and journals years later and am always amazed as what has transpired since I wrote something and how much I've changed.
We all grow and mature in our thinking. The events of our life will teach us lessons if we're open to receive them. The key, probably, is not only to think about these, but to feel them. Search out the answers in the deepest recesses of who you are. Your spirit and soul know more than you realize. They will share the truths with you when you make the quiet time to ask for the information.
Ask the questions.
Look for the answers.
Be prepared for the answers.
Make this a personal quest to discover the right answers, not the flippy quips that roll off the tongue.
Note: I was inspired to write this post from reading Entering the Castle, by Caroline Myss. Caroline is a fantastic writer and a great teacher. This book is definitely soul work. You can pick up a copy easily by visiting the front of the blog, left side in the Cinda Recommends section. You'll be glad that you started studying. Keep in mind that you'll get out of your illness, what you put into it. And it just may be a grand gift!
Thanks,
Cinda Crawford, host of the Health Matters Show
