The mental side of healing for me always posed the most challenge. This is because my mental head game was for many years my worst enemy. I was an athlete growing up and when I was playing field hockey in higher level matches I would be terrified. I wouldn’t think how exciting this is to be in the CIAU final playing field hockey. Rather my thought was I hope I don’t screw up the biggest match of my life. I didn’t expect to play well or get excited about the chance to showcase my skills. I took a fearful stance rather than an empowered stance. I often think one of the reasons why I did not make the national team was that I did not have the mental toughness needed to excel at the highest level. That was the truth back then but I have worked on my head space in the game of life for the past ten years conciously speaking. My experience with illness demanded this of me. The most important thing in my life became my head space and my head space would soon become my greatest asset. But this didn’t happen overnight. I had to work at it and my health necessitated it. I needed to expect that I could be well consistently. I had a positive expectation of being well. Even when I was challenged I would maintain my positive momentum knowing my health would soon be restored. This became my norm – an optimistic head space despite the occasional setback.

The first part of healing the mental is being mindful of your thoughts. Be aware of your thoughts. Be aware of when your thoughts are health supportive and be aware of when they are health negating. You must be extremely vigilant when you are on the journey of personal healing. If you catch yourself thinking about what you don’t want, correct your thoughts in that moment and think what is it that I do want. The teachings of Abraham taught me that. You must bring yourself back to where you want to be in every moment. The mind requires discipline of the highest order. That is why learning to meditate is a must. The mind will swing like a monkey from tree to tree until it is disciplined. How you meditate is up to you. Some people choose exercise as a medititation; others choose breathing exercises(Dr. Andrew Weil has good tapes on breathing exercises); others do yoga. Some people do better in a group meditation class. Find whatever works for you and then set up a consistent practice so you hold yourself accountable. Being disciplined enough to meditate daily allows you to stay centered no matter what winds are blowing. In today’s world, it is easy to be blown off course. If you have a daily spiritual practice that you do daily, you establish a healthy routine of centredness. Soon this becomes your norm – you are becoming mentally tough and you love how it feels to hold your center, to have your life based on internals versus externals. This is spirit centered living people. More on the mental side of healing soon…