A Tribute to Louise Hay and Thoughts of Change

A couple of days ago I learned that my favorite self help author, Louise Hay, died peacefully at the age of 90 on August 30.

I have given away more of her book, "You Can Heal Your Life" to my friends, relatives and clients than I can count. I give it away, buy a new one, and then give it away again. It is the book that I credit with helping me change my life from a life of misery to a more empowered and joyful version of myself that I now enjoy.

I can't even count how many times I read her book over and over and over again. The first time I read it I could hardly believe some of the words which jumped off the page and slapped me in the face. I became such an advocate for the words on the pages of that book that anytime someone around me was sick, I would run to the book to find the emotional trigger and find the positive affirmation to turn it around. Everytime I got a bladder infection (once a month or so at the time), I would go within to see who I was pissed off at (always the same person). However, she helped me realize it was not that person's fault that I was pissed off. It was my choice to be angry and to internalize that anger until it affected my health.

Some claim that to say that our conditions in life are a direct result of our thinking is not possible. What about those who are born into poverty or with a deadly illness? How can we say we are responsible for everything that happens to us in our lives? I can't say for sure that 100 percent of our issues are self generated, but our thinking and our emotions are responsible for many illnesses and problems. For myself, when I began to take responsibility for my thinking and my emotions, many of my physical issues have disappeared. (yes,  no more bladder infections!)

I will have to offset the claim of belief generated illnesses with a disclaimer that, yes, sometimes, shit just happens. I think we as Souls choose certain experiences to help our Souls evolve and what better way to grow a strong soul than to go through a challenge of some sort. Kind of like weight lifting for the Soul. But who is to say that our Soul on some higher plane of existence did not set it up? Or maybe our Soul chose it to help someone else grow their soul? Who knows. These days I am not so much about why did it happen as what was my reaction to what happened and how can I get through this with a good attitude? And yes, I am still working on this. I still sometimes get angry while driving or while standing in a long line. I am a perfect combination of the best and worst versions of myself. Instead of asking myself, what belief created this challenge, I ask, what can I do to make myself feel better? Louise's postive affirmations always do the trick.

I guess it is not surprising that her message was not readily supported by the press. It is so easy to blame something outside of ourselves for our problems. One of the favorite scapegoats is the devil in many of the churches I attended. "The devil made me do it" was a popular catch phrase a few years ago. Although I have left behind the thoughts of a devil whose main objective is to make our lives a living hell, apparently many still hold to that belief. To my relief when I left behind that belief, I ceased to run into the devil much.

What can I say about a woman who loved so much and made such a contribution to the lives of so many? Thank you seems like such a small token.

Can you think of one person who maybe said one thing that completely changed your thought processes and began the road to a completely different version of yourself? For me that was Louise Hay. Maybe you don't hold to the belief that your thoughts and emotions affect your health to the degree that Louise Hay claimed. That is fine. Her loving affirmations could do no possible harm. Now I don't claim to advocate refusing medical treatment or professional help when you have a life threatening illness or issue, but I do advocate suplementing your care with positive affirmations and happy thoughts!

When we empower ourselves we empower our children, we empower the people in our lives who we call friends, lovers, relatives, co workers, or even just someone we are friends with on Facebook or Twitter. If we affect even one person to make a change in their lives that then affects everyone they are connected to, think of the changes that happen.

Just for today, take one of Louise's affirmations and say it at least ten times and see if you don't feel better. Here are a few:

"I love and approve of myself."
"I am open and receptive to change,"
"Every thought we think is creating our future."
"My happy thoughts help create my healthy body."

If we feel better, we will feel healthier. If we feel good, we will be able to handle crisis in a more positive and loving way. Maybe your illnesses and problems will go away on their own and maybe they won't. But you may feel more peaceful and loving going through your difficult times. What could be wrong with that?

Thanks Louise Hay. Rest in peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/obituaries/louise-hay-dead-widely-read-self-help-author.html?mcubz=1

http://www.hayhouse.com/

Day Six... This Book Changed My Life!

If you are just beginning to read my blog, the whole month of August I am  participating in a blog challenge from Amethyst Mahoney and her group .. Spiritual Badasses.. You can find a link for it HERE.

Every day she sends a suggested topic, and we can choose whether to blog about the suggested topic or come up with one of our own. So far I have pretty much stayed on topic.

Today's topic is books. What books inspire me, or I can share about my books and why someone should want to read them.

Let's start with books that inspire me.

I have a very  long relationship with books. When I was small, my mother was always challenged to find me another book to read. I read all the time. I read instead of going outside to play. Looking back, I am pretty sure I was an adult in a child's body.

 One of the things she did was sign up for Reader's Digest Book of the Month. Usually the book that came had an abridged version of three or four books. I read them all.

Of course, being brought up Born Again Christian, the Bible was always a book I dutifully read. Over and over. Even the boring parts.

But there was one book that completely changed my life.

Here is a short version of what happened. (you can find the longer version HERE.)

I was attending a Charismatic Born Again Church. There was a woman in the church who did "inner healing." I began to go to her on a semi-regular basis. This woman was amazing. She used some really unorthodox methods for her practices. We did regressions, we did anger therapy, we did dream therapy. She would assign me books to read. Some of the books were Christian, and some not so much.

Are you chomping at the bit yet to find out what book changed my life? Not yet? Okay. A little more information.

Okay, so, one of the books she assigned me to read was Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life.

Link HERE

This is it. This is the book that changed my life.

If I was stranded on a desert island with only one book, this is the one I would take with me.

Why? Because if you believe everything in this book, you will find a way off that island.

At first my little born again Christian brain did not fully latch on to all the principles in this book. I was a slow learner. I had to chew on some of the principles. But now this is my Bible. I have given away more copies of this book than any other book, other than the ones I have written myself.

Okay, so here is the fun part of this story.

I was dirt poor. Yes, I worked at the Post Office. However, due to some REALLY  bad decisions, I never had any money. My bills were always late. So I would go down to the local Books a Million and go to the Self Help section of the store and pull a book down that looked good and sit there on one of their very comfortable chairs and read the book, and then put it back.

Guess what happened.

Eventually things changed.

Now I am writing my own books.

I guess my point to this story is that if you want to change bad enough, there is a way to do it.

Yes, I could have used today's theme to plug my own book. (okay, so if you are really interested, HERE

is a link. I think my books are amazing!)

But what I really want you to do is look within yourself and ask your soul, what do YOU need? If you need to read some messages from Spirit, or you want to read an AMAZING story of how this super conservative Born Again Christian began to receive messages from the Spirit world and how she overcame her prejudices and upbringing to finally answer the call, then you need to read MY book..

But if you need healing in your soul, or you need to find out why that nasty cold just won't go away, or why you keep having car accidents, then you need to read YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE. If you need to overcome shame, then I recommend HEALING THE SHAME THAT BINDS YOU by John Bradshaw.

Here is my recommendation. Go to the bookstore. This might be hard if you shop online, but maybe not. Stand in front of the SELF HELP section or the METAPHYSICAL section or even the SPIRITUALITY section. Then just look and see what jumps out at you. I have had books actually jump off the shelf and land on the floor in front of me. Talk about a message from Spirit.

Your life will change. 
When you change your mind, you change your life.