Creating Health; Creating Ill-Health (Ask Laurie)

Chief Wellness Hero, Laurie Erdman, writes a monthly column for FemCentral. If you have a question for Laurie, simply leave it as a comment to this post, or email jennifer@jenniferlshelton.com, with the subject, “Ask Laurie.”

While I’m not normally one to shake things up, the more I encounter the laundry list of “reasons” people have for not getting healthy, the harder time I have resisting sharing my true thoughts on the subject.  So when Jennifer pointed me to her earlier post – “The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation” – as a prompt for this month’s column, I knew the Universe was telling me to end my silence.

When I was first diagnosed with MS, I wondered what lesson I was supposed to learn from it.  Was I to learn to slow down?  To pursue my dreams? What lesson was here?

While I did end up slowing down and pursuing my dreams, I have come to believe there was NO lesson.  Instead, I have come to believe that our health, or ill-health, is solely a product of our creation and that I had created my ill-health.

Now I know this is controversial, especially since no one “knows” what causes MS or the multitude of other auto-immune conditions out there.  In fact, there is controversy over what causes heart disease and diabetes – conditions with seemingly clear-cut causes.  Although science may not have identified the cause of a disease, there is more and more research showing that we are more often than not, the cause or own ill-health, fatigue and dis-ease.

But It’s in the Genes

Oh, I can hear the cacophony of protests now.  So I’ll address one of the more popular ones – “but, it’s in my genes.”  Um, no.

That was a great scape goat, and one that got more weight in 2003 when the human genome project was completed.  That project identified all the genes in our DNA and what they cause (i.e., cancer, high cholesterol, etc). But that wasn’t the end of the story, it was the beginning.

With the catalog of genes in hand, scientists now had the information necessary to create epigenetics – the study of the molecular mechanisms by which the environment controls gene activity.  What does “environment “mean?  It means our lifestyle as defined by stress, diet, behavior, toxin exposure, thoughts, and beliefs.  All of these things together tell a gene whether to express itself or not, i.e., cause cancer, cause the immune system to attack the body, etc.

So as bitter a pill as it may be to swallow, the evidence keeps coming in that our lifestyle paves the way for our genes to express themselves as programmed.  The good news is our lifestyle can create a roadblock to that expression, but more on that later.

But I Certainly Didn’t Cause My . . .

Yes, I hear you.  No one wants to think they created their illness, their circumstance, their dis-ease.  Certainly this diagnosis you’ve been delivered is here to teach you a lesson.  Certainly, you’re not going to own responsibility for this.  As Jennifer pointed out, it is easier to be a victim than it is to be the cause.

Before you start beating yourself up, let me say that most of don’t create our illness consciously or intentionally.  Few do.

I’ll use my own creation as an example here.  I spent years working 60+ hours a week; eating quickly, almost always at my desk; blowing off steam by drinking and partying or indulging in rich dinners; treating each various stress related malady as it came my way; and making every excuse possible to NOT exercise in the last 7 to 8 years.  There were times when I was on this hamster wheel when I wondered when this would end.  When would I get sick? In fact, I treasured days when I was too sick to go to work.

I think about this when I contemplate the role I had in creating my dis-ease.  My poor diet, marginal sleep, and lagging exercise certainly helped my genes execute on their programming.  But my thoughts helped to.  As much as I hate to admit it, there was a small part of me hoping something would happen so I could get off the hamster wheel.  When work stress got particularly bad, I would wonder “what would they do if I got cancer and couldn’t come to work.”  My body eventually complied in it’s way.

Now not every illness is created in quite this way.  Sometimes the thoughts are more subtle.  But if you have ever thought “this job is killing me,” or some such variation, know that your cells are listening.  And if you follow up by providing those cells with substandard nutrients, you are compounding the message.

The Silver Lining

Ok, darling, get over any guilt and shame you are feeling after reading all this.  Now is not the time for a pity party. It’s time for action.  Face it, this news is great.  It’s the keys to the castle.  Now all you have do is change your lifestyle and create health.  Tell your genes you’re creating a new body.

“Easier said than done,” you say? Really? Easier than being sick?  Easier than being fatigued?

Look at it this way.  How many things in your life do you control?  Not many right?  In fact the only thing you do control is you.  What you eat. What you say. What you think. How you move.

And how much time do you spend trying to control things you can’t?  If you’re like just about every woman I know, you spend every waking hour (and then some) trying to control others.

What if you took all that time spent controlling others and went for walk, came home and made a big kale and avocado salad?  For one thing, your genes would get the message that a new dominatrix is in town and she’s not going to let them have their way anymore.  Second, you’re going to feel pretty darn good.  In fact, you’re going to feel great.  When we control the things we can, it is empowering.  When we control the things we can, we start creating a new more vibrant world for ourselves.

Ready? What’s your first action step to create health for yourself?

Check out Laurie’s upcoming program: Transformation is possible. The status quo is not your future.  Empower your self to be more Vibrant, Energetic and Joyful.  The journey begins October 5th.