Self Love

      

By Maureen Minnehan Jones

The wonderful thing is that once we experience self-love at the core of our being, we can compassionately look inside ourselves and take personal responsibility for our illnesses without pushing any blame buttons. The very act of blaming has put us back centuries in our quest to cure disease; we have made ourselves comfortable in this “old house”. But this old house is musty and run-down; to build a “new house”, we have to put blame aside and provide room for new structure and new knowledge. It’s time to create a paradigm that works, right? The word blame means to place responsibility for (an error, fault, etc.) on someone or something. The word responsible refers to one’s ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and to think and act rationally. Can we throw out the word blame and replace it with the word accountability? That is the concept of being responsible by acting rationally and being answerable for our behavior. We are expected to do this in every other area of our lives, so why not with disease? Another way to dismiss blame is by acknowledging that the soul (one’s spirit) is the only part of the body that goes on to the afterlife. At that point, the soul looks back and asks, “Did I accomplish what I set out to do on Planet Earth?” Because the soul is the only part that goes on, wouldn’t our soul discoveries be the most important reason we reside on Planet Earth? Disease presents us with this critical reason. Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., author of The Biology of Belief, stated, “Human Intelligence can only be fully understood when we include spirit (“energy”) or what quantum-physics-savvy psychologists call the superconscious mind.” I believe that when the superconscious mind, soul, or our spirit (where our truth resides) is understood, we will know our true power. But without connecting with our superconscious mind, we cannot nourish the core of who we really are—and therefore we cannot nourish the world. Once the soul or spirit is incorporated into healing (as happens with the MO Technique), we can heal our whole being—mind, body, and spirit—and prevent the killers that shorten our lives and steal our joy. We’ve been told that lung cancer may be caused by smoking—another instance of blaming an outside source. But why do people smoke? According to Dr. Michael J. Lincoln in Addictions and Cravings: Their Psychological Meaning, the smoking habit often stems from feelings of self-rejection—in other words, it may actually be caused by feelings and judgments from within. Smoking is a form of self-rejection and lack of self-love that can lead to heart disease. Therefore, it’s best to start by looking within! Tied to self-love is self-discovery, which leads us to mastery of our inner selves, rather than blaming outside sources. That’s why I say it’s time to throw out blame and declare, “I do not blame myself or anything else. Instead, I am responsible and accountable for me.” Dr. Michael Lincoln, also the author of Messages from the Body, wrote, “Anyone with artery problems is Joyless Joe or Jo. To them, life is one long problem to be solved . . . a very serious business, indeed. They have lost the ability to feel and express love, and they tend to be hard and bitter.” It’s highly probable that heart disease results from a failure to love oneself. Given the grave consequences of this failure, it’s unfortunate that few people have strong role models for loving themselves. How many have actually been taught to love themselves? How many of us treat ourselves as a treasure, as one of the most precious gems in the world? When I spoke at the 2008 American Holistic Nurses Convention, I asked audience members to raise their hand if they loved themselves and treated themselves like one of the most precious gems in the world. Only one person raised her hand! I recognize that self-love—acknowledging all our faults and failings—may be the most difficult kind of love to achieve. Yet it’s this love that keeps our hearts and bodies healthy. When the body doesn’t have any self-love, the foundation is absent and the heart weakens. A weakened heart weakens the whole body. Because disease runs rampant and is often incurable, let’s research how the emotional component is related to why and how disease manifests in the body. After all, looking outside ourselves has just not worked very well. Instead, let’s look compassionately within and take responsibility for our diseases. Let’s embrace disease as its soul discoveries. Let’s understand the emotional and soul determinates of disorders that underlie physical ailments. Let’s free ourselves from the shackles of our life histories. Once you understand the message of the illness, then the way it bubbles up in the body becomes clear. You see the world through how you think and feel, which determines how you operate. This is your MO or modus operandi. An adapted extract from Wisdom to Wellness by Maureen Minnehan Jones, published by O Books, ISBN: 978-1-84694-399-7 (Paperback) £14.99 $24.95.