More important than anything you can do in the world of modern medicine, happens within you. For the person who deals with the health crisis determines how you respond to medical treatments, the messages you send to your body from your brain and how you use external resources. Family and friends are incredible resources, conventional or alternative approaches are valuable and even prayer requires the best of you to respond. Your self image, or “who” deals with your health challenge is something everyone in a health crisis has to be responsible for.

            Of course other people influence you, but you really have direct control over your identity. Your self image, how you use your inner resources and what you focus on have significant affects on your body. I see a “victim” as a person who is dependant on external forces to determine these qualities, but the “empowered person” takes responsibility for them to insure they are at the standards of inner wisdom.

            Most people rely on how they were conditioned in the past to define their self image or self trust, but a person in a health crisis has the ability to create the ideal quality regardless of their past. For instance, a person facing a health challenge with a negative self image can re-condition a self image that reflects powerful inner resources. A person who doesn’t feel they trust their body to heal can learn to trust the wisdom beyond their thinking mind.

            When a person accepts inner qualities and assumes the empowered person’s perspective; they become a partner with medical professionals and significantly influence how you deal with a health crisis in a positive way. The people who don’t take this active role become victims of their past conditioning and tend to unnecessarily suffer.

            I feel that consciously dealing with a health crisis evolves you into becoming a better person. The struggles we face are really meant to make us grow and by doing so we can better deal with that challenge. If your health challenge involves an illness or a disability; realize that you are responsible for how you deal with it.

Marc Lerner, the author of The Life Skills Approach lectures frequently to patients in a health crisis and those in emotional trauma, helping them harness inner resources. For more information and a free e-book, visit www.lifeskillsinc.com

© 2006 Marc A. Lerner