We cannot solve our
problems with the same thinking we used when we created them
~Albert Einstein
Hi everyone, my name is Barbara Steingas.
Just after
graduating college, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, an autoimmune disease
deemed incurable by traditional western medicine. The first several years I
followed the gastroenterologist’s advice and
took the prescribed medicines that were supposed to control my symptoms. However, I continued to spiral downward until I was a walking skeleton from not being able to really eat, and had
excruciating vaginal-rectal abscesses. As a last resort, the gastroenterologist suggested a new treatment option:
take an immunosuppressive medication, but due to my frail state, the doctor
said there was a high risk that if I contracted a cold it could potentially turn
into a deadly case of pneumonia.
I was already basically on a death path, so I didn’t feel this
was the right route for me to take. It was then I made the decision that would
change my life around: I no longer
believed that my condition was
incurable and I affirmed that there
had to be a way back to health. It occurred to me to think of it like a
puzzle and all I had to do was find the missing pieces to restore my health.
Eventually I was able to accomplish this, yet it took a lot of time, money and effort.
My goal is to help streamline the
process for others so they may find the pieces to their
healing puzzle faster. I hope to continue posting here, and on my personal website with the keys to these puzzle pieces.
Before getting to the body strategies, I’m starting with the mind/emotion strategy of affirmation stating. Hopefully, this will save you the self-sabotaging encountered by not being in the same mindset.
Do you ever wonder why so many goal resolutions fail after a couple of weeks to months? To me it’s because the way most of us were taught to state resolutions involve stopping or giving up something– like saying “I’m no longer going to be fat anymore so I’m giving up eating chocolate.” It focuses on the problem and what you have to give up and that isn’t very motivating or exciting. By speaking resolutions in this way, we are basically wishing, hoping or trying. In the movie Star Wars, Yoda tells Luke Skywalker that in order to lift the space ship out of the water, which seems impossible to Luke, he must not try, just do (it). In other words, he has to believe he can do it.
Before getting to the body strategies, I’m starting with the mind/emotion strategy of affirmation stating. Hopefully, this will save you the self-sabotaging encountered by not being in the same mindset.
Do you ever wonder why so many goal resolutions fail after a couple of weeks to months? To me it’s because the way most of us were taught to state resolutions involve stopping or giving up something– like saying “I’m no longer going to be fat anymore so I’m giving up eating chocolate.” It focuses on the problem and what you have to give up and that isn’t very motivating or exciting. By speaking resolutions in this way, we are basically wishing, hoping or trying. In the movie Star Wars, Yoda tells Luke Skywalker that in order to lift the space ship out of the water, which seems impossible to Luke, he must not try, just do (it). In other words, he has to believe he can do it.
Affirmations help us believe and keep us focused on the
result thereby creating the way for us to become what we want to have occur.
The most powerful ones start with “I am.” Like “I am able to lose weight easily.”
When I began to believe and say, “I am healthy” rather than what I was saying,
“I don’t want to be sick anymore,” that’s when I truly began to transform and
started to gel the pieces of my healing puzzle together. Focusing on getting
healthy and feeling good again was very motivating and kept me on tract,
especially through the challenging times of my journey when it didn’t seem like
I was making any progress and began to have doubts. By repeating the “I am
healthy” statement over and over again held me to my resolution that I could
find my way back to health.
It was also my late husband’s unconditional love that gelled the
pieces of my puzzle together and I attracted him into my life by stating a New
Year’s affirmation that 1994 was the year I was going to meet my soulmate. Four
months later in April is when we met! It can take time for your result to be
achieved because it can be difficult to stop the running of your old programs,
but if you stay persistently consistent in affirming your new goals, you will eventually
start to see changes.
Write down and state one or a few “I am” affirmations for
goals you wish to have occur this year. Our brain is the computer that runs the
programs that control the body, so ask yourself, “What programs am I running?”
Are they positive and empowering for what you want to achieve (i.e. I deserve and can have better health), or victimizing and disempowering thereby
further perpetuating what you don’t want (i.e. saying things like I’m
tired/sick of being chronically ill)? Don’t beat yourself up for the latter
ones. This first way to spark change is to identify the cause of things. Then
we can have the power to do the strategies that can change it. By using these “I
am” affirmation statements, you are setting a foundation towards achieving your
goals.
Feel free to leave comments or contact me with any questions.
In the meantime, I wish everyone happiness & health!
~Barbara Steingas
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