Fear Affects Your Body
What is your biggest nightmare? Are you afraid of speaking in public, driving down the freeway, or bombs in the mail? Are you terrified that you will die of cancer? Fear in the body may worsen the very illnesses we dread.
As a wake up call fear might alert us to a dangerous condition and lead us to protect ourselves. Often it is caused by a figment of our imagination and just keeps us from seeing what’s really right for us to do.
When a person has a serious illness, finding the way to healing it is like hiking in a dark dense forest with a narrow path winding through it. The fear comes from all directions and threatens you in every way and the answer is hard to feel. Sometimes it is so overwhelming that all you can do is give in.
With a dangerous illness like cancer or HIV there are often statistics that will predict the outcome. It is difficult not to buy into the prevailing medical opinion about that condition. No matter what the statistics say you are an individual. There are always choices. Conventional medicine is one way. Alternative medicines help others. Some people find the answer through combining several different styles of healing.
As a physician I am faced with helping people find the truth for themselves. I offer you choices and give my opinion of which will work best for you but in the end the decision of which path to take through the forest is yours.
Allow yourself the time to find the answers you need. Many times fear is increased because it feels like there is no time to create the right treatment. The feeling that the clock is ticking just increases the sensation of fear in our bodies. Spend time really reflecting on what it is you want for your healing. How does it look to you? Allow the inner knowing to come through so you can make a choice that makes sense. If chemotherapy is the best option that is fine. Another person may be so against chemotherapy that it would seriously harm him to even consider it.
Twenty years ago, Marty was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Radiation and surgery were prescribed as cures. One morning he woke up and realized that he needed to sing. He refused conventional treatment and took opera lessons. Using his voice in a new way healed his cancer. His decision to heal came from deep within himself and he was able to listen to it without letting the fear take him down.
Healing occurs through relaxation, love, laughter, and kindness not when a person feels afraid. Even with a critical illness enjoyment and a sense of purpose in life should drive us to seek good health. What does it take to make life more fun?
