For example, let us imagine that we are faced with a difficult career decision. If we just consider the various possible outcomes, ie, staying in our current job, moving to a new job, leaving this type of work altogether and starting up something by ourselves - we will find that one of the thoughts will make us feel better, more excited than do the other options. This simple emotion is our internal guidance system trying to prod us in the direction which is right for us. Creative thinking is therefore an important part of our continuing progress. This is not to say that we have to be creative like an artist or a sculptor. Creative thinking means simply using our imagination a little to provide us with clues as to the best possible outcome of certain actions. Thoughts that give us strong positive feelings must contain some elements of truth which are in our best interests to pursue. Conversely, thoughts that create strong negative emotions are clearly not in our best interests to pursue. Put like that, this point may seem absurdly obvious, but we must ask ourselves honestly how often in our lives do we blindly pursue a course of action whilst ignoring the voice of our emotions? Often, the reason that we ignore that inner voice is that we do not believe that we can have or deserve what we want - instead we do what we think others want us to, or settle for some unsatisfactory compromise. Yet anything that we want that is in our highest interests to have, as guided by our Higher Self, is within our reach however unlikely it may seem at this moment. This applies to health, wealth and relationships. The more we understand ourselves, the more we are able to apply this technique to everything in our lives. If we are to continue the improvements that we have started to make by progressing this far, we will find that we need all the help and guidance that we can lay our hands on. To hope that we can lead totally happy and healthy lives without using the best guidance of all, the guidance given through our emotions, is the equivalent of trying to win Wimbledon without a tennis racket. As we start to pay attention to our emotions and thus become more aware of those things that make us feel good, we may also start to be aware of other situations which we need to address. For example many of us have blocked out unpleasant memories because we know of no other way of dealing with the events involved. Some of us indeed may even have been too young to remember sad and traumatic events, and yet we may still feel that something is lurking in our memory that has caused us to adopt some negative outlook on life ever since and from which dis-ease may have sprung. As we continue our improvements we are aware that this event (or events) is something that we want to address or find out more about. On the other hand we are also scared by it as we fear the effects that resurrecting it may have on our lives in the present day. We find ourselves locked in a battle between wanting to know the truth - and possibly finding the real cause of a long standing condition - and wanting to stay in ignorance, thus avoiding any frightening confrontation. In the last chapter we spoke about the pain that can be experienced in making changes. This pain is always negligible in comparison to the benefits that we experience when we start to work with our Higher Self. The pain that we can experience by confronting something in our past that we need to deal with, is minor in comparison to the benefits such awareness can bring. It has happened to us for a reason, in the same way as illness happens to us for a reason; it was a lesson from which we are meant to learn. The negative feelings that we may have about it are all to do with our fear of not being able to cope with the memory of the situation. The best way of overcoming that fear is to try and understand the lesson that we can learn through the experience that we have had. So what on earth can events, which seem to have no positive aspects, teach us? We are all healers, teachers and/or creators. Every experience we have is in order that we can use our own inborn talents to convert that experience into something positive that will help us to grow as an individual and enable us to help others to do the same. Whether we go on to heal someone, teach someone, or create something out of that experience, is up to us as individuals. If we ignore it, we will often find that similar experiences occur throughout our life which will continue to give us the opportunity to teach, heal or create. These events can give us, for example, an understanding of how other people may feel who have gone, or are going through, similar 'sufferings', in order that we may pass on our knowledge and experience. Suddenly, something in life that has seemed like a burden all our lives becomes a blessing as we find ourselves now able to help someone else who is going through something of a similar nature. Both parties, be they the person who is currently experiencing pain or the one who has in the past, benefit enormously as they discuss their emotions and thoughts. New meaning is given to an experience that may have once seemed pointless and cruel. A major health problem might even be traced back to something as seemingly trivial as a comment made to us in early childhood. Our minds are capable of turning even a passing comment into the greatest disease known to man through the vehicle of fear. If we hear a remark at an impressionable age or at a time when we are feeling vulnerable, it can live with us for ever, growing and growing until we have finally manifested it as a real condition. To discover what may have triggered a physical condition from a much earlier age, exactly the same thinking must be applied as has been so far. We are not recommending that we all submit ourselves to hypnotic regression or counselling. For most of us there is no need. If we follow the steps given in this book we will find that whatever information we need to know will be given to us through our emotions. As we learn to switch off our active minds more regularly and thus activate this powerful healing ability, trapped negative energy is released in the most painless way that our Higher Self can manage. This might be through dreams that we may not even remember having; sometimes it may be through a discharge connected to an infection; it may even be through an intense fit of laughter or tears. Whatever way it comes out, we can be assured that there is no easier or more painless way of releasing it. We only need to trust ourselves. When these negative energies do start to get released, it is the proof that we have begun to learn the lessons that we need to learn. We are making the changes in our lives that are necessary to lead a healthy and happy life and we are letting our intuition guide us in whatever direction seems right. Learning a lesson from a past experience does not mean going back to that particular time and learning now how we should have dealt with it then; the only time that is important is the present and so if we are doing the things that are best for us now, if we are undoing the things that upset us now, we have by definition learnt what we were meant to learn. With this understanding we can proceed in the knowledge that there is nothing in our past experiences that we have any need to fear now. We must understand that it is no longer the event that fuels our dis-ease, it is our fear. When we realise that all the time it was only an opportunity for us to learn, the fear dissolves and when the fear dissolves there is nothing left to feed the flames of this particular dis-ease. Once we have started to make the changes necessary to give us a happier, healthier life, we will find that the cumulative positive effects are irresistible. The desire to learn more about ourselves increases as does the desire to help other people understand how they can help themselves. As we start to introduce other people to books, meditation and holistic therapies so we will find that our own well-being goes from strength to strength. We are no longer living in the grip of fear, we are living in a joyful new world where there is much to wonder at and benefit from, and where we will discover how much we have to offer others. We will find that there is no going back and neither do we wish to do so. Case Study – Diana Diana has asked us to use her real name and print her story in her own words: "On 6th March I went into hospital for the treatment of cervical cancer, which had been detected two years earlier, after the birth of my third child. After repeated abnormal smears it was decided that treatment was necessary, but I decided to delay this treatment in order to have another baby. Oliver was born at home in October 1995, but on returning for my check-up it was discovered that the cancerous cells had increased. Treatment under local anaesthetic, using a hot wire (Loop Diathermy) to cut away the affected cells, was recommended as soon as possible. The operation was duly carried out - I was in and out of hospital within a couple of hours with no time either before or afterwards for preparation or recovery. I cried all the way home, not with relief but because I felt brutalised. Once at home, I carried on in my usual way, running the house and taking care of my four children - I was basically a workaholic. I had been warned that the cancer treatment would cause continuous, light bleeding for up to three months, but on 20th March I started to haemorrhage and was rushed back into hospital. We sat with our two youngest children in the hospital for more than two hours before I could be seen. The doctor who finally saw me was very kind, but did not have any idea why the bleeding had become so severe. At first he thought it must be due to the cancer treatment and was about to send me to have cauterisation, but I suggested that he should examine me first. Upon investigation, he discovered that the top of the cervix was open and that I must have been suffering a miscarriage. I was duly sent for a pregnancy test which came back negative. Now the doctors concluded that I could not have been pregnant. They suggested that it must be the return of my periods, but as they were unsure they wanted me to stay in for observation and would offer medication if the bleeding persisted. At this point I could stand no more and discharged myself and went home to contact Barry and Winnie whom I had met briefly, and who had explained the basics of how they treat illness. They taught me to meditate and gave me a homeopathic remedy. The heavy bleeding stopped over the next day or so and returned to the level expected as a result of the cancer treatment. Things went well until, a week later I haemorrhaged again. I called Barry first, who gave me my first ever healing, and then I went off to the hospital. This time I saw a different doctor who was of the opinion that this was not my periods returning but was certainly a result of the cancer treatment. She was in the process of examining me when the bleeding completely stopped. She was completely baffled either to the exact source of the bleeding or the reason for its sudden cessation. I went home. Barry had explained to me that I had to take full responsibility for my own recovery, and that I would have to make the necessary changes in my lifestyle. I had to learn to relax, sleep more and allow others to help me. I now thought very hard about my self-image as "Supermum' and my addiction to perfectionism - it suddenly seemed all I was doing was killing myself. I spent the next two weeks taking bed-rest and regular healing sessions. The bleeding never returned except for a very light spotting and stopped altogether by the end of that fortnight. Since then, I have tried to relax my perfectionist standards, and regularly ask for help from those close to me. I am now fit, healthy and happy; my husband and children love the new me as I have much more time for them. My life is no longer controlled by housework. I have also now been able to address the emotional problems which I believe allowed the cancer into my body; the abuse which I had suffered as a child, my troubled relationships with my mother and sister, the ending of my first marriage - the list was harrowing. I have taken responsibility for my life and health - I believe I allowed and chose those awful things to happen to me in order to make me the mother and person that I am now. I no longer feel any fears for my future health. I am grateful for the lessons I have learned even though they have been hard, and I look forward to helping others who find themselves in similar situations. Diana G, September 1996 (Since Diana wrote this, we have learnt that her most recent smear test in November 1996 has indicated absolutely no abnormalities.)