The Weight of Pain

Many people living in our world suffer in solitude due to pain they can not alleviate. This pain can manifest in many forms. Physical pain is the most talked about in the Western medical world as well as the alternative health world and appears to be more socially acceptable. The more socially unaccepted forms of pain are emotional and psychological. The reason physical pain is more accepted then emotional and psychological pain is that physical pain is seen as something that’s out of our scope of control. This means that according to our Western medical philosophy, we have no choice in our physical pain experience. We experience physical pain due to genetics, age, injuries, etc. Psychological and emotional pain, in some circumstances, is seen by the Western world to be out of our control of experience as well due to genetics, injuries, etc.

Western medicine usually addresses psychological and emotional pain through the use of medications. Alternative health modalities address emotional, and in some circumstances psychological, pain through the practice of various forms of relaxation techniques like meditation, exercise, yoga, reflexology, massage, etc., as well as the use of organic herbs and homeopathy. But there are times when both Western medicine and alternative health worlds are not enough. What then?

You may experience temporary relief from using either philosophies or both but the pain eventually returns. This pain then begins to build with no end in sight. You begin to slow down and become less interested in being active. You also begin to remove yourself from the social world because it’s just too painful to put on a “happy face” just so others don’t see what your going through. Eventually, the weight of your physical, emotional, or psychological pain begins to manifest into physical weight. Then, after many fad diets, long days of exercising, and counting calories, you realize that the weight is not only staying but it’s increasing. What now?

Your Focus Determines Your Reality

In a nutshell, quantum theory states that your focus determines your reality. This means that if you focus on all the things that cause you pain, i.e., negative thoughts, anger, control of others, etc., then more pain will come to you. This will then cause a build up of emotional pain within the physical body if not released properly and in a timely manner. If the emotional pain continues the body, in an effort to protect itself, will create a “suit of armor” so it will not feel threatened and experience pain. This “suit of armor” is the physical weight the body creates to protect itself. As the physical weight increases so do the physical stresses, which translates to psychological and, eventually, physical pain. Ultimately, if these stresses continue it will result in the complete breakdown of the physical body.

A New Way at Looking at Life

What is needed here is a new way at looking at situations that don’t bring on the negative aspects of emotion. This involves a conscious choice to see things differently despite what appears to be occurring to you. By choosing to see the positive side of your life experience then you’ll begin to invite more situations to support your positive outlook. Again, your focus determines your reality. Eventually, enough positive outcomes occur that the emotional pain dissipates, which then causes the reduction of the psychological pain. With both emotional and psychological pain reduced or removed, the body doesn’t feel threatened as much so it has no use for its armor. The armor then begins to be removed, which translates to physical weight loss and a reduction of physical pain. At this point, the use of traditional and alternative health practices is now extremely effective and should be used only after first consulting your medical physician. If you find it difficult to see the positive aspect of life then hypnotherapy should be explored.

Reframing the Mind

The term "hypnosis" is derived from the Greek word hypnos, meaning "sleep." Hypnotherapists typically use exercises that bring about deep relaxation and an altered state of consciousness, also known as a trance. Many people routinely experience a trance-like state while they are watching television or sitting at a red light. A person in a trance or deeply focused state is unusually responsive to an idea or image, but this does not mean that a hypnotherapist can control your mind and free will. On the contrary, hypnosis can actually teach you how to master your own states of awareness, which can affect your own bodily functions and psychological responses.

When something new happens to us, we remember it and learn a particular behavior in response to that circumstance. Memories stored in our brains hold the original physical and emotional reactions that occurred when the given memory was first formed. Each time similar events occur again, the physical and emotional reactions attached to the memory are repeated. These reactions may be inappropriate or unhealthy.

In some forms of hypnotherapy, the trained hypnotherapist guides you to remember the event that led to the first reaction, separate the memory from the learned behavior, and reconstruct the event with new, healthier associations.

During hypnosis, a person's body relaxes while their thoughts become more focused and attentive. In this relaxed state, a person will feel very at ease physically yet fully awake mentally. In this state of deep concentration a person is highly responsive to suggestion. If you are trying to quit smoking, for example, a hypnotherapist's suggestion may successfully convince you that in the future you will have a strong dislike for the taste of cigarettes.

Besides emotional pain, stress, and weight issues, here’s a list of conditions that respond well to hypnotherapy:

• Inflammatory bowel diseases (namely, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis)
• Sleep disorders, including insomnia
• Addictions
• Warts
• Bedwetting
• Fibromyalgia
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Phobias
• Labor and delivery
• Skin disorders [such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema (atopic dermatitis)]
• Migraine headaches
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• Cancer-related pain
• Eating disorders, namely anorexia and bulimia
• Indigestion (dyspepsia)

It’s Your Choice…!

The decision to reframe how you look at life has to be yours and no one else’s. Without your conscious commitment to let go of what you judge to be correct, and look at the positive things in life, any of the alternatives in relieving pain presented today will be doomed to fail. The choice is yours. Use your miraculous gift of choice and free will wisely.