April 2008 – Creating A Life You Love

“I am willing to change…”

Sometimes the biggest key to our healing is a willingness to change…

Now that may sound obvious, but let me ask you this:

In seeking to “get well”, have you had certain “parameters” around how the “answers”
and the “healing” could come to you?

How about with your money situation…

Again, have you held certain “fixed” ideas about how things would have to be,
or what would “have to” happen for things to get better?

For example, I spoke with someone yesterday who’s been searching for answers
to a physical condition for many years.

Let’s call her Carole (not her real name).

And in searching, Carole has undergone numerous tests and treatments—–both medical and “alternative”, but she’s frustrated because her condition continues.

What I realized in talking with Carole is that for her “healing” to come, the first thing
she’ll want to do is to let go of her attachment to how that healing would come—
the form in which it “should” come—–in this case, in the form of tests, diagnoses, and “treatments”, even though each of these may play a role.

I once heard about a practitioner in California who saw numerous clients
whose conditions had failed to respond to any kind of “ordinary treatment”,
and were at the end of their rope.

When they came to see him and asked him if he could help them, he would answer,
“If your problem is real, I can’t help you. But if it isn’t, I can.”

Now at first this response may come as a shock…and in a sense, that’s what
it was intended to do—–to shock the person into a whole different paradigm,
a whole different way of looking at things—–from which standpoint their “healing”
could begin.

Sometimes with all of our seeking after tests, diagnoses, and treatments, we’re
“locking in” the “realness” of our condition…and keeping it there the way it is…

So today’s discussion is really a continuation of last week’s—–that the single
biggest factor in your healing is ultimately *YOU*—what beliefs are you rigidly
holding on to? and what are you willing to “release” in order to see things a
different way, and perhaps be given a whole new perspective that opens up
new possibilities for you…

a new way for you to be…

and a new experience of your body, your health, your money, or some other area of your life.

I’ll wrap up today with a phrase from Louise Hay that a wonderful client of mine used
in coaching someone else this week.

It’s an affirmation that’s really the starting point for all healing to begin:

“I am willing to change.”

If you want something to be different in your life, it all starts with you.

So are you willing?

Are you willing to change?

Play with this affirmation this week:

I am willing to change.

And see what comes up for you…

Here’s to a prosperous and blessed week,

Dr. Ben

P.S. Each month I have space to work with a few clients one-on-one by phone
to launch them on a path toward healing that continues long after our
coaching session is done. If you’re ready to explore investing in yourself
at this level, you can call me at 1-888-909-6601 to schedule a free 10 minute
coaching evaluation by phone. If this proves a match for you, you can get on
on the waiting list for the next available spot!

Natural Healing: Practicing Life-Affirming Steps and Creating A “Happy, Healthy Atmosphere” For Your Cells

I’ve been pulling together some different material lately,
and while lying in bed with my wife and a couple of my kids
the other morning, I had a couple thoughts I wanted to share
with you. Jotted them down, but didn’t get them on the blog
until today.

Firstly, a good friend just loaned Louise Hay’s wonderful little
I Can Do It book and CD to my wife Rachelle,
and after listening a bit, Rachelle shared with me a thought
from Louise on health that immediately caught my attention:

Take simple steps to give your cells a “happy, healthy atmosphere”.

Today I want to combine this thought with one we’ve touched on
previously — what’s the single biggest factor that affects
your health?

Hint: it’s got 3 letters…

And it’s not something you take or do…

It’s YOU.

Author Gregg Braden has several books out, including his newest one
The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits, that make
accessible the large amounts of scientific research supporting the idea that our attention — and our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs — physically affect the molecules and space we live in and interact with.

So the biggest factor in your healing is not what supplement you
take or what treatment you engage in…

…but rather…

**YOU**

That’s why you can have someone who’s not “doing everything right” (e.g., nutritionally),
but who’s happy and joyful and taking a few simple steps that give their
cells a “healthy environment” who’s thriving…

…while on the other hand, someone else who IS “doing everything right”
but feeling stressed that “there’s so much to do” and that they might not be
“doing enough”, continues to be ill…

This may not seem “fair” until you realize how things work, and that we all
get to choose every day which path we’ll take — one of struggle and fear,
or one of trust, love, and joy.

So practice taking simple steps to give your cells a “happy, healthy atmosphere” —
Gregg Braden calls these “life-affirming steps” — and then magnify them with
a joyful, grateful attitude.

To your abundant well-being,

Dr. Ben

P.S. For my complete guide to life-affirming steps you can take in just minutes a day
to transform your health, get your own copy of Your Journey To Wellness and the
Foundational Wellness Program.

Natural Healing: “Why Am I Sabotaging Myself?”

Today one of my private coaching clients asked the question:

“Why am I sabotaging myself?”

Ever wonder that yourself?

Why you don’t do what you know you “should” to allow things to change?

Well, let’s hop back into our forest analogy from last week…

Imagine you’re in a forest, and you suddenly realize you’re not where you want to be, and you’re heading somewhere you don’t want to go…

And let’s say you get a glimpse—perhaps from a map, sign, brief hilltop view, or outside input—of the direction you do want to head to get where you do want to be.

Well, at this point, if your goal is to get somewhere else, let me ask you this:

Is it more productive to ask why you’re where you are in the forest…

Or…

To simply start heading in the new direction you now realize you want to take?

Think about that for a moment…

Now back to “real” life.

We’re not actually in a forest…so what does heading in a new direction “look” like in our experience?

It looks like new patterns…new steps…that we practice daily.

Once you realize you want to change the direction your body, your health, or some other aspect of your life (money, relationships, etc.) is heading, then the next step is to ask yourself,

What is one step I could take today to start heading in this new direction…

to start creating a new pattern…

that if continued and practiced daily…

will lead me to a new “place”…a new result—or experience—in my health, my body, or my life?

Then take that step…

And practice it daily…

Until you’ve created a new pattern…

And begin experiencing a new result.

Let me know your own experiences, comments, and questions below.

And have a blessed and wonderful week!

Dr. Ben

Natural Healing and Change–So What If You Have A “Setback”…?

Just finished a coaching session with a client, and one of the topics that came up was, what do you do when an old symptom or pattern “pops” back up?

Ever feel like you’re doing all the “work” — changing your eating, doing affirmations, learning to focus your attention on things that feel good — and then something “happens” and you react just like before — maybe it’s losing your temper, getting “tight” in your lungs, or “binging” on food or an activity in some way just when you thought you were doing well?

I know when that “happens” to me, I’m tempted to unravel everything like a ball of yarn and feel lousy.

But here’s a distinction I shared with my client today:

Imagine you’re in a forest traveling down a path, and suddenly you see a sign that shows you’re heading in a direction you no longer want to head, and you realize the path you really want is “over there.”

This is a critical moment of awareness, and of a change in direction (for your cells, your health, or your life, business, or relationships).

But even though you now know there’s a different path you want to get on, and you’ve changed your direction, we still live in “time and space” in our physical experience.

So as you travel over to the path you’re now choosing, you may still be passing through some parts of the forest that you don’t like much.

And when you look at your immediate surroundings, or your current health or condition, it might seem like not much has changed, because indeed, the leaves in this part of the forest still look similar since you haven’t moved very far from where you were…

…yet…

But something very significant HAS changed — your whole direction.

And as time goes on, each day you continue in a different direction — practicing new patterns — pretty soon you’ll find yourself on a very different path, and in a very different place, than where you were before.

So here’s the key.

When you take your eyes off where you’re heading and start to look at your immediate surroundings — your current condition in your body, your finances, or your relationships — you may find that things don’t look that different, and be tempted to get discouraged.

This is another critical moment.

Because something very significant has changed — your direction — and if you continue in this new direction, eventually what you see around you — in your body, your money, and your relationships — will change, too.

But…

If you allow yourself to get discouraged, and believe the “evidence of your eyes”…the “facts” that currently surround you…and you forget that your direction is more important than what’s around you right now…and you stop heading in the new direction you’ve started…then you could get “lost” in this part of the forest, where you’ve already decided you don’t want to be.

So…

Remember this:

*** the direction you’re heading in is more important than where you are right now ***

and don’t let where you are right now — your current condition — stop you from continuing to create new patterns and heading in the new direction you’ve chosen.

To your prosperous well-being!

Dr. Ben