“What you think and what you believe is what will come true for you. Your thoughts create your life.”.
Louise Hay
When I first started to “awaken” to what I call my spiritual journey I was in my late 20’s. So many circumstances led me to stop and listen and realize there was a common thread behind many of these experiences. It was soon after this that the new book at the time, You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay came into my life. Her book, a new genre on the market, had people talking, and it changed me.
Louise Hay first published You Can Heal Your Life in 1984, when she was aged 55, and it is still in print to this day. An international bestseller, this single book has sold over 50 million copies. It’s easy to say this book is a definitive bestselling book on self-healing, and a pioneer book in opening the doors to many, many more that have followed. Based on the principles of the metaphysical, Hay offers insight into the relationship between the mind – our thoughts and attitudes – and the body – our physical self and the discomfort or dis-ease we may feel in our physical body. Her main premise is essentially “what you think and believe creates your physical reality”. Hay sets out to explore the way our limiting thoughts and behaviours control us, and she offers a powerful way to help change these limiting thoughts through the power of affirmations.
You will notice that the concept of the book centres around the concepts of love, peace, joy and self-approval. It’s Hay’s belief that truly living from a loving space of the heart – a place without fear, anger or separation ( the main causes of dis-ease in the body according to Hay) – will help illness, discomfort and/or dis-ease in the body to no longer exist. Now this may sound a little far-fetched to some non-believers, but I can vouch that repeating the affirmations she provides for each physical ailment – and she covers pretty well everything you can think of – really does bring about a sense of peace, a change in your mental attitude, and most importantly, an ease in the pain or discomfort you were physically experiencing. I have often found that using Hay’s approach, the dis-ease or dis-comfort I sometimes feel in my body really can give me insight into what’s happening in my life at the time and to the limiting beliefs I am thinking. And, when I consciously change that way of thinking with a positive affirmation, I really do feel changes in my body, and I feel the discomfort leaving. For real. This has been my experience.
As per Hay’s advice, a good way to use this book when you have a physical problem is to:
- Look up your physical ailment. Read the mental cause and see if this resonates for you. If not, sit quietly and ask yourself: “what could be the thoughts in me that create this?”
- Repeat to yourself (aloud if you can) the new thought pattern or affirmation recommended.
- Repeat the new thought pattern to yourself several times. Whenever you think of the condition, repeat the steps.
- Assume that you are already in the process of healing.
A smaller/shorter version of You Can Heal Your Life is Heal Your Body, a fresh and easy step-by-step guide to using the affirmations. Just look up your specific health challenge, as you do with the original book, and you’ll find the probable cause, a new thought pattern and information as to what you need to overcome the health issue. As well, added to this shorter version is a chapter specifically related to Spinal Misalignments which I find particularly informative. As someone with Scoliosis, so much of what she has to say resonates with me.
Even as I write this blog, I’m smiling to myself as to how the subject matter of this blog came to be. I know I haven’t sent out a blog in a while. Summer has distracted me and it’s been nice taking a break but this past week I’ve been trying to come up with a subject matter to write about. And then, in this morning’s email Inbox was an email from Hay House, the self-help publishing company founded by Louise Hay. Hay House is a leader in publishing books that are related to the mind-body-spirit subject matter. August 30th is the anniversary of Hay’s passing and each year since then, Hay House celebrates her life, and of the life of Dr. Wayne Dyer who coincidentally also passed away on this same date, August 30th. To celebrate their lives this year, Hay House is offering many of both Louise Hay and Dr. Wayne Dyer’s e-books for $0.99. As well, they are giving free access to four of their movies (until September 4th). To access, go to Hay House Publishing, or you can go to amazon.ca to find many of these $0.99 books. Just look under Louise Hay or Dr. Wayne Dyer This is a great opportunity to check out some new books for your library. I just bought 3 new books myself.
In closing, this book has been with me on my spiritual journey for over 3 decades and during that time, the insight I have gained is immeasurable and it’s power to promote self-healing continues. It’s a classic must have you will want in your home library.
Loving Treatment
This closing meditation is taken directly from Heal Your Body. As stated in the book, it’s helpful to be read daily, as it creates a healthy consciousness and, therefore, a healthy body.
Deep at the centre of my being, there is an infinite well of love. I now allow this love to flow to the surface. It fills my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness, my very being, and radiates out from me in all directions and returns to me multiplied. The more love I use and give, the more I have to give; the supply is endless. The use of love makes ME FEEL GOOD. It is an expression of my inner joy. I love myself; therefore, I provide a comfortable home for myself, one that fills all my needs and is a pleasure to be in. I fill the rooms with the vibration of love so that all who enter, myself included, will feel this love and be nourished by it. I love myself; therefore, I work at a job that I truly enjoy doing, one that uses my creative talents and abilities, working with and for people whom I love and who love me, and earning a good income. I love myself; therefore, I behave and think in a loving way to all people, for I know that that which I give out returns to me multiplied. I only attract loving people in my world, for they are a mirror of what I am. I love myself; therefore, I forgive and totally release the past and all past experiences, and I am free. I love myself; therefore, I live totally in the now, experiencing each moment as good, and knowing that my future is bright, joyous, and secure. I am a beloved child of the universe, and the universe lovingly takes care of me now and forever more.
And so it is.
I love you.
Louise L. Hay
Heal Your Body: The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Metaphysical Way to Overcome Them
Hay House 4th Edition, March 7, 1995