Following
in the footsteps of A Course in Miracles,
Louise Hay is one of the frontrunners of the movement to expand
people’s awareness of the emotional causes of disease. The author
of over twenty books on the subject and, prior to her retirement, a
frequent lecturer on the subject of emotional healing, Louise Hay
wrote You Can Heal Your Life
as a response to the need for a practical guide to her philosophy and
healing techniques. Hay’s philosophy does tend be extreme and can,
at first, trigger some skepticism. Press on, however, and you will
find that the journey of self-discovery and development of
self-efficacy that can be obtained through the suggestions and
exercises in You Can Heal Your Life
can be a benefit to anyone who wants their life to change for the
better.
Hay’s
philosophy, as explained in the first section of You Can Heal Your
Life, is based on the idea that all physical distress is caused
by negative emotional patterns that can be controlled and reversed.
Claiming both that “we create every so-called illness in our body”
and “when we really love ourselves, everything in our life works,”
Hay brings up some very useful points, but takes these ideas to a
less-useful extreme. There can be little doubt that she is correct
in saying that all disease has an emotional component and permanent
healing cannot take place until the mind is healed. Hay walks a
dangerous path, though, when she claims that merely ridding oneself
of resentment will cure even life-threatening diseases such as cancer
or AIDS. You Can Heal Your Life can be a wonderful resource
for healing the emotional patterns that can make one more susceptible
to disease, but the reader would be well advised to address the
physical causes of their illnesses as well.
Hay’s
philosophical viewpoint does put a great deal of responsibility on
the individual for the state of his/her health, but Part II of her
book does an excellent job of explaining why blame has no place in
the healing process. This second section of You Can Heal Your
Life is a lesson-plan for beginning the process of emotional
healing through self-evaluation and the development of “the will to
change,” using techniques such as mirror work. Hay begins by
introducing the reader to his/her own patterns of distress and
emotional priorities, which can be seen by observing personal
patterns of resistance to information in the book. Then, she does
what few self-help authors ever do, which is to give practical advice
on the ways to change habitual thought patterns, providing
affirmations to replace the old degradations. This portion of Hay’s
work is where she truly shines, providing anyone – whether in a
state of “dis-ease” or perfectly healthy – with the tools to
understand and accept themselves to an extent they may never have
thought possible.
Given
the tools to change and having begun this change by picking up the
book and reading the first two sections, each reader will have a
different goal to pursue based on their initial self-evaluation.
Thus, Hay provides a reference section in the third part of You
Can Heal Your Life. Interesting to read on its own, Part III is
far more useful to refer to while working through Part II. The first
four chapters of this section are a plethora of suggestions on how to
bring success, prosperity, and happiness into one’s life with
self-love and the use of affirmations. While some of the claims Hay
makes –like those about disease in her introduction – are a bit
extreme, the basic idea that one’s attitude affects the
opportunities they receive has been proven time and time again in our
success-oriented society. The bulk of Part III is a reprint of
information provided in Heal Your Body. This list of
“dis-eases” provides a quick and easy reference for healing
everything from serious illnesses to everyday aches and pains, by
replacing the negative thought patterns that caused the “dis-ease”
with Hay’s suggested affirmations. An invaluable tool for daily
reference, Part III of You Can Heal Your Life can be used to
continue the journey towards self-love begun in Part II for the rest
of one’s life.
Though
Hay’s philosophy tends to dismiss the immediate physical causes of
disease and oversimplifies the power of thought over our environments
and lives, the very indignity one might feel as a result of these
claims opens the mind to new perspectives. Perhaps the reader is
supposed to be shocked by some of Hay’s claims. The author herself
explains at the beginning of the book that it was written to reflect
the format of a therapy session, and a well-known psychological
technique for stepping out of existing thought patterns is to cause
shock or disbelief. Whatever Hay’s purpose, she has definitely
gotten something right! Of all the self-help books I’ve read (and
I’ve read a few), none have captured my attention, broadened my
mind, or made such an immediate difference in my life as this one
has. When I picked this book up, I did not expect to be changed, but
my perspective and my body is changing and I feel better for
it. So, whether or not you believe in Hay’s philosophy or think
you need to read a book like this, I suggest you pick it up and read
it at least once, just to see what positive differences You Can
Heal Your Life can make in your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment