When it comes to healing and sickness and everything in between, it can often be a touchy subject and one that has the potential to ruffle a few feathers and cause certain emotional reactions, mainly because it hits so close to home for all of us. In line with this, it is natural for all of us to be skeptical about alternative views and ideas about health, wellbeing and things to do with sickness and disease in general.

I have had a certain amount of feedback in regards to my previous articles, especially my last one titled “You’re Not What You Eat, But What You Think” where people have expressed that my approach is simply about mind over matter, that I believe you can use the power of your mind to directly heal anything and everything. I admit that while it could be read and interpreted that way on the surface, it most certainly isn't about that. So, in order to help clarify this and provide a bit more insight into my previous articles, this article has been written to clarify on this a bit further.

As has been stated in my previous articles, my approach teaches that illness and disease is not an enemy but a friend; not something that is trying to harm us, but something that is trying to free and liberate us. It is simply matter of perception, or how we look at it. If someone sees illness as a nuisance or a foreign invader that is trying to harm them, then it will seem the way it is perceived. But the key is to realise that it is just a matter of perception.

We have been conditioned from an early age to think of illness and disease as an external thing, something that is separate from us. Whereas, I suggest, as many others are also beginning to suggest, that our health or lack thereof has more to do with things which are internal, factors which are inside us. This may come across as being a bit too “in your face,” but in my experience it is greatly liberating and empowering to know that I have more control over my health than it being mostly out of my ability to influence.

Let me ask you a question. If you had the choice between having direct control of your health or not having direct control, which would you choose? And from this I ask you another question. Would you not be empowered to know that the capability to heal illness and disease is already within you and that it is not dependent on medication, surgery or any other external source to bring about?

I am going to use the big scary “R” word now, one that scares many of us and still scares me to this day, and that is the word “responsibility.” We all admit that if we want to be successful in any area of our lives we need to take some type of responsibility over it. Now, when it comes to our health and wellbeing this is no different. If we want to bring about any type of healing or recovery there is to be a certain amount of personal responsibility taken on our part. Unless and until we take this responsibility, there will be no or very little change take place. Any and all types of change are hinged on personal responsibility and this is no different when it comes to our health and wellbeing.

And this leads us to the main shift in thinking that takes place when considering where this new approach comes from. Instead of illness and disease being an external thing trying to harm and hinder us, it is internal feedback that is trying to free and liberate us. Illness and disease is considered as feedback from a body that is trying to get our attention and that is trying to communicate something to us. It can be likened to a tap on the shoulder or the light on your car dashboard. They are both there to get your attention, and in the case of the light on the car dashboard, it is there to let you know that something is out of balance somewhere else and that it needs your attention.

In keeping with the light on the car dashboard analogy, once you correctly assimilate what the problem is in the car and then address and balance the problem, the light will disappear automatically and all by itself. Why? It is because you have removed the cause of the light coming on in the first place. In the same way, illness and its symptoms is likened to the light on the dashboard, as it is there to indicate an imbalance within us. In exactly the same way as the light on a car dashboard disappears once you have addressed the cause in the car, once you assimilate and address the cause of the problem within yourself, the symptoms and the illness disappear automatically in the body.

How is this possible? It is possible simply by understanding what illness and disease really is, as opposed to understanding what it is not. When we realise and accept that sickness in all its forms is not something that is there to hinder us, everything changes in an instant. When we begin to see that illness and its symptoms fulfill the same role as the light on the car dashboard, we begin to see and understand what is really taking place here.

Healing and recovery from illness and disease is not about using the power of your mind, having power of mind over matter or anything like unto it. Instead, it is about understanding what sickness and its symptoms really are and the purpose they serve. Trying to medicate a symptom is like trying to fix the car by merely focusing on the light on the dashboard. Just like the dashboard light is not the problem and only indicates what the problem is, so it is with sickness and any symptoms experienced in the body.

Illness and disease acts as an indicator, a communication device that is trying to tell you that something else is out of balance. In this way, the sickness and its symptoms are not the cause itself but the effect of something higher, something deeper. This aligns with a basic principle in the universe that states only a cause can create an effect; an effect cannot create another effect. In keeping with this, an effect can only be reversed or taken away on the level of cause, not on the level of effect.

Therefore, the way to treat the effect is to address the cause. Unless and until the actual cause is addressed no progress will be made. But, on the flip side, as soon as the cause has been addressed and balanced, healing and recovery is natural and the symptoms disappear all by themselves, just like the light on the car dashboard does once the cause of its coming on has been addressed.

The hardest part for us to accept is that the cause is within us and not outside of us. And this brings us back to the responsibility part. Although please be aware that taking responsibility has nothing to do with blame and it should not in any way engender guilt in any shape or form. This responsibility is to merely accept that there is an imbalance within us that needs to be addressed and then to take the appropriate action. It is an empowering and liberating process rather than a dis-empowering one that incites blame, shame or guilt.

In essence, illness and disease serves a great and wonderful purpose in our lives as it exists to serve us and help us move forward in life. As hard as it may be to accept at first, the reality is that illness and disease are there to help and serve you, not the opposite as is commonly believed. May you move forward in life in the knowledge that all things are there for your benefit, including sickness in whatever form in may take in your life and body.

Author's Bio: 

Justin Lattaway is a certified NLP Master Practitioner, Master Coach and Master Hypnotherapist, and has a Bachelor of Sport Science through the Auckland University of Technology. Justin's new business, Conscious Health & Wellbeing, exists to help people live life free of illness and disease. Through CHW, Justin offers health coaching, intuitive guidance, support and more to help people with any health issue they may be experiencing.

Justin has been inspired by the likes of Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra, Inna Segal and Lise Bourbeau too name just a few. He has a strong interest in metaphysics and universal principles and loves to apply this knowledge into his work. It is his view that every single person has the innate power and abilities within them to overcome any illness, dis-ease or health related issue.

In his spare time, Justin likes to play sport, read books, volunteer in the community and listen to music. Please visit Justin's websites, facebook page or twitter profile to learn more about him.