The Truth Behind Your Illness

After going down the rabbit hole of healing modalities to “cure” my migraines, I gained a new understanding of the body and our relationship to “health.”

What’s your health issue? Some people have chronic sinus problems, others have rheumatoid arthritis, sleep apnea, or bad backs. If you are like me, you are on friendly terms with migraine — a debilitating condition that brings one into an intimate relationship with pain.

Throughout my life I’ve been on special diets to rid myself of them, got up at the same time every day (with excruciating results), tried acupuncture, physical therapy . . . the list goes on. But the migraines didn’t behave. They came and went as they pleased seemingly unconnected to any new “therapy.” I figured at this point in my life, I’d tried everything.

Or had I?

Could there be a metaphysical solution to my ailment? As I normally do when curious, I sought out a book on the topic. Picking up the Psychic Healing Book from Thrift Books, I decided to delve in with a healthy dose of skepticism. For the next few weeks, I would follow the tenants of healing stipulated in its pages. During the process, learned the key tenants of psychic energy, belief, and our health. Most importantly, I discovered one technique that, despite your ailment, will offer instant relief.

Belief

Even if you don’t believe that “everything is energy” (it IS science, btw) and don’t buy into the chakra system, belief is incredibly powerful. The human mind is exceptional, and placebo works for a reason. Along these lines, the book stipulates that if you really believe something, then it is true for you. If you change your relationship with reality, you can alter your circumstances, including your health.

This part excited me, and I was all ready to walk on water. So I tried to believe, REALLY believe that I could release migraine from my life. Every morning and every night, I did a little mini-meditation where I told myself that I no longer had migraines. It was fun to do, it was calming and I felt more in control. As the week went on, I got more excited when migraine didn’t appear. But sure enough, it came. Maybe I didn’t believe hard enough.

Visualization

So I couldn’t believe my way out of migraines. What’s next? The Psychic Healing Book offers different visualization techniques that “remove” the illness from the body and replace it with healing energy. While this feels a little silly at first, I found some exercises in the book I liked. This visualization therapy is backed, once again, with science (hmm, I sense a pattern here). So I figured what the hell, let’s try on some clairvoyance. During one migraine episode, I imagined my pain as helium air balloons, drifting away from my body. Another exercise involved daydreaming a “healthy” version of myself free of migraine.

So, did it work? Did my imagination remove all migraine pain from my body? Nope. However, I did find these exercises reduced the anxiety I felt around migraine. As with any condition, it’s not so much the pain, but the fear surrounding it. You being to worry about work the next day, or a big client dinner that night. The visualization techniques, more than anything, seem to calm this part of me by forcing a present focus.

Releasing the Need

Well, I tried to believe and visualize away my pain with mixed results. What did the book have next in store? The authors spend a long time discussing how we subconsciously desire our illnesses. So if you have a debilitating attack and have to be in bed all day, that means someone has to care for you, bring you meals, etc. It feels almost good, without the sick part. The book tells us that this hidden desire is what you need to uncover as the driving force behind your illness. The trick is to feed that desire before your body does.

This pissed me off. Especially if you, like me, have ever lost someone to a horrific illness. It’s hardly better when applied to your own condition. So not only do I get migraines but now I have to feel bad that I caused them? This derailed me for a time, and I couldn’t bring myself to confront why I may subconsciously desire migraine. But after enough “good days,” I began to journal.

When I get a migraine, I’m in a crap mood. I say everything I want to say without a filter. I’m relieved of duties I don’t want to do, and meetings I don’t want to take.

Could these “benefits” be the reason for my illness?

I began to explore some of these suggestions. Could migraines give me permission to speak my mind? I spent a few days watching how I was expressing myself. I started censoring less, in a diplomatic way. Not waiting for a migraine to give me “permission” to tell someone how I felt. I also studied my schedule. Were there meetings I felt I had to take, friends I had to see? Could I be more deliberate with my schedule?

But, alas, no matter how direct I was, or how much free time I scheduled, the migraines came back.

The Truth Behind Your Illness

I don’t think you can believe away your illness. I also think visualization cannot replace proper medical care, but can powerfully enhance it. I do believe we can learn from our conditions, and discover what they may be telling us about our own desires. It is this knowledge of one's inner needs that can offer instant relief. That said, I do not think we should blame ourselves for “attracting” illness. The guilt we assign to our physical bodies is already so significant, and the body is such an amazing machine. Getting sick is helping rid the body of whatever ails it. In the end, pain is only information. What will you do with it? Take off a day to Netflix and chill, or get a cold?

As I was wrapping up this article, I got sick. I could feel the scratchy throat, the stuffy nose, and the aching head. When I get a cold, it usually takes me two weeks or more to recover. But this time, I didn’t fight it. I did my visualization exercises in the morning at night, watching the helium balloons pull the illness away from my body. I took long naps. I canceled plans.

Three days later, the cold went away.

There is more you can do than pop a pill or run from pain. You can lean into it, you don’t have to fear it. You can question it, and discover its hidden gifts. After my cold, I decided I’m going to have one “chill weekend” every month. One where there are no social plans or events other than a long nap . . . and maybe some blogging.