“80% of all visits to a doctor’s office involve a complaint with a stress related component.”
—Health Stop video
Health issues are perfect for exploring the reflective relationship between reality and some inner need, where need in this book might refer to some inner tension that needs to be expressed. With health we can simultaneously observe the reality of some malady and our emotional state within, and ask, are they linked? Do they reflect each other? Clearly we might not want some malady, but is some need filled by it?
Simply asking the question can lead to better self-awareness. Sometimes nothing will be seen, but what if a reflection is found? Well, it’s natural to wonder what that’s about.
It really doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s part of the larger mystical sort of idea presented in this book, or maybe it’s just stress, or maybe just a coincidence. Whatever, there is benefit to beginning to look and understand the relationship.
For me, it was asking these questions about the relationship between my body, my mind and my emotional state that gave me my first understandings of Reflection.
My Colds
I had started to learn a bit about the power of mind for dealing with health issues. I decided to try it out on these colds I used to get like clockwork, twice a year, when I visited my parents.
On the next visit, sure enough, cold symptoms started to hint that they were on their way. I then used my mind, I meditated, I visualized, I willed that cold not to materialize.
It worked for awhile, keeping the cold away during the visit, but when I got home, that cold came roaring through. What amazed me was that, not only couldn’t I stop it any longer, I didn’t want to stop it. I thoroughly enjoyed the explosive releases of the sneezes, the wailing on my nose, the watery eyes, and wallowing in bed.
The cold was clearly a strong emotional release, but of what emotion? The symptoms of a cold are not unlike those of sadness. When we cry our eyes water and our noses often run.
As I pondered this I began to become aware of a deep hidden sadness in me concerning my parents. I cannot to this day explain exactly what it was, but it was clearly there. It was related to feelings unsaid, to yearnings unfulfilled in what appeared to be a perfectly happy family.
While not being able to name it, I had become aware of it and could bring it into my consciousness, or, in other words, expand my consciousness to include this part of my previously hidden emotional needs. The colds had been a perfect Reflection of that inner sadness. Once I could address the sadness more directly, the colds occurred less frequently.
It was a powerful learning experience for me. Neither cold remedies, nor the power of positive thinking could really combat those colds. Only by understanding the painful, suppressed part of me that was reflected in the colds did the colds begin to abate. Only through exposing the lie to myself, that everything was fine with my parents, did I become healthier.
I was in my mid-twenties at the time, at the age when one makes further steps toward self-hood, independent of parents. The understanding of the inner sad connections helped me on that journey.
[Author note: this section continues with stories of back aches at work and sports injuries and others.]