The word introspection, from a Latin word meaning "to look inward," is like the key to a hidden treasure that exists within each of us.  Unfortunately we have been taught that proper thinking is the key to the success we are looking for and with that focus only we ignore the treasure that exists in the silence beyond our thoughts.  Clear thinking is an important tool in dealing with our external world, but to effectively deal with our inner reality we need resources that are found beyond thoughts.  I am talking about the Wisdom of our body, something that has evolved over millions of years to protect our species.

            When we face a struggle like poor health, there is no thought or understanding in your mind that can replace the Wisdom of your Body.  You would think connecting to this wisdom would be exactly what every sick person would like to do, but for many their conditioning doesn't allow them to do that.  The simple desire to heal has the power to break you out of the prison of your character and connect you to the Wisdom of your Body. From that inner wisdom you become an active partner with your doctor in the healing process.  This partnership uses the best of the medical world in medicine and treatments with the powerful inner resources of the patient.

            If healing becomes your most important desire, which having a chronic illness often creates, your focus naturally transcends old character habits.  There is one benefit in being sick you need to take advantage of and that is illness has the ability to free you from your past conditioning and connect you to the Wisdom of your Body.  

            Albert Einstein once said, "Oppor­tunity travels incognito, dis­guised as misfortune."   The word for "crisis" in Chinese is derived from a word meaning both dan­ger" and "opportunity."  Like the pressure that turns coal into dia­monds, a crisis can transform us into the people we were meant to be.

            When you focus on the level of your thoughts and conditioning, struggle can mean defeat. To the wisdom of the body, struggle is a time to grow and manifest beyond the way you were conditioned.  When you focus on the past, it is as though you are looking in the rear view mirror as you drive.   If you only look to the experts for advice it is as though you are reading a map as you drive or talking to your doctor in the back seat; you need to actively participate using your inner resources with your doctor to heal at your true potential.

            Inner communications is in two ways, you communicate to your body and your body communicates with you. Your self image is the part of you that determines the quality of your inner communications;so it is important for you to take control of your self image to insure the best part of you directs your inner communications. I have been teaching people in a health crisis to find the best part of themselves—I call that their Positive Self.

            At a seminar I gave recently, a person with AIDS came to learn the Life Skills Approach. He named his Negative Self "Indifferent" and his Positive Self "Joy." When he channeled his thoughts to “Indifferent,” he got the uncaring answers that came from a part of him that did not care very much about his life. When he directed his thoughts to “Joy,” he got the respons­es that came from the part of him that had a real loving spirit and a strong will to live. It was very obvious which part of him would create the best motivation in his life.                                                          By creating the habit of consciously accepting his Positive Self, he could find resources that turn tragedy into opportunity, and find real quality in his life. It was easy to see the little effort it would take to connect to his Positive Self would have been significant in dealing with his health crisis.

            Science shows that when we develop a habit, that habit can actually change the chemical makeup of our bodies. Just imagine what would happen if you developed the habit of accepting your Positive Self as the real you. Your mental response to everything you experience would trigger a different chemical reaction,     c­reating a dramatic positive effect on your life.                                        When you learn to accept the Positive Self as the real you, you can make the shift that enables you to better deal with the situation. In Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he talks about the need to “shift our para­digm”, which is the way we see the world. Covey tells the story of a subway ride he took in New York. It was a quiet ride until a man and his children entered the subway. The man sat next to Stephen, and his children ran around the subway disturbing everyone there. When Stephen asked the man to do something about his children, he slowly looked up and said they had just come from the hospital, and that their mother had died. The children did not know how to take it. At that moment, Stephen stopped being annoyed and became eager to help. He shifted his para­digm, and saw the world differently.  

                                 Changing your self image has the potential to create that paradigm shift also. When you have the ability to shift from focusing on your Negative Self; where you get negative responses to your thoughts—shifting to your Positive Self instantly gives you positive interpretations. In the technique I teach, a simple word or a phrase can shift your self image; instantly turning a negative self image into an image that represents the best parts of you.
                                                                                                                                   In a health struggle, it is not the illness that determines the outcome as much as who has the illness. In an ordinary life struggle, it is not what you struggle with that determines the outcome of the struggle as much as what part of you deals with that struggle. It is not the struggle you face, but how you react to it.    
           
    If you developed the habit of connecting to your Positive Self, your communications to your body would be as though you were talking to someone you loved and respected. Communications with your Negative Self would be as though you were talking to someone you disliked and didn’t trust. Developing the ability to make that shift from the Negative to the Positive Self would be a wise thing to develop if you are really serious about participating in your health.

            Please note introspection has gotten some bad press, for when people trust their thoughts more than this inner wisdom, their thoughts become their reality. In a partnership you work as a team towards a goal; making what you think an important part of interacting with your doctor. The doctor plays the lead role and you need to follow, but the thoughts in your mind have to be resolved for your participation to be effective. Don’t bury unresolved thoughts so your own mind sabotages your healing. If you don’t resolve unfinished business with your doctor, seek out someone like a therapist to resolve it with.
 Marc Lerner is the President of Life Skills Inc. and the author of "The Life Skills Approach." For more information on Marc Lerner, his published works, and Life Skills Inc, please visit http://www.lifeskillsinc.com and get a free e-book.

© 2005  Life Skills Inc.