 |
| Photo by pol sifter on Flickr.com |
The Importance of Hope
When someone writes to me in desperation, my first attention is always on hope. It doesn't have to be grand or elaborate. Sometimes what they most need to hear is that, yes, it is possible to make it through this. Yes, it is possible to heal.
Since I know many people who have cured their own arthritis, this part is easy for me. But hope does not depend on miracle stories to thrive. Hope can be found just by taking care of ourselves amidst the realities we are facing. This is summed up beautifully in the often quoted serenity prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr:
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”
Serenity
One of the turning points in my illness, ironically, was making peace with the fact that I might never get well.
I thrashed around for a few years first, learning everything I could about arthritis and desperately trying anything I thought might work to heal myself. But it wasn’t until I came to a place of deep acceptance that I freed up an additional wellspring of energy for healing and started to get better. This energy had previously been trapped in desperation and negative judgments about myself.
I recommend using whatever spiritual path you are drawn to help develop this serenity. The Buddhist path and the yogic branch of the Vedic path helped me tremendously during my arthritis years, but any of the great spiritual traditions, including but not limited to, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and many tribal traditions, can help lead you to this type of deep spiritual healing.
Deep spiritual healing must sometimes happen before physical healing can make much headway.
Courage
The most effective arthritis treatments in the world will have no power to help you if you don’t have the courage to undertake them. In the case of arthritis, that may mean lifestyle changes including giving up smoking, changing what you eat, and how you exercise. It may also include developing a spiritual practice.
Wisdom
Wisdom is dependent upon knowing your options. Seeking information specific to your own situation is an excellent first strategy for figuring out what can be changed.
Wisdom also grows out of courage. Wisdom is not some aerie fairy kind of disembodied knowledge. Only by courageously undertaking promising treatments will you actually learn what you can change.
Website Special
Let me guide you through the meditations that were instrumental in my own healing from arthritis.
Normally my 6 CD guided meditation set designed especially for people with arthritis sells for $127.
Using the link below you can get it for $87.
https://tiny.cc/D8K3B
The intro CD explains everything you need to get started, even if you have never meditated before.
The other CDs guide you through meditations that can help you to resolve certain deep seated issues most people with arthritis need to address before they can completely heal.
https://tiny.cc/D8K3B
To see a picture of the meditation CD set:
https://www.conqueringarthritis.com/store/meditation_cds.htm
|
