![IMG_9009[1]](http://skimhenson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/img_900911.jpg)
“Every thought we think is creating our future.” Louise Hay
On March 26, 2004, I slipped in spilled water on a newly varnished floor and broke my knee. In an odd sort of way, it was good luck just like “break a leg” is to actors and musicians before they go on stage – good luck because it got me unstuck.
I mentioned my accident in a tribute video I posted on Facebook to Louise Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life. Her message is, “If we are willing to do the mental work, almost anything can be healed,” which she accomplished personally with God’s help. She cured herself of cancer.
Like the quote at the beginning, Hay believes what we think about creates our future. If we give voice to our thoughts and get emotionally involved with them, we’re almost guaranteed results. This explains why I ended up in a full leg cast for eight weeks, unable to drive and incapable of taking my usual morning and afternoon walks.
A year or so before I broke my knee, the mantra I unintentionally repeated daily was “I’m stuck.”
I said it at least a thousand times. It wasn’t until I actually was stuck at home alone while my husband traveled for work that I experienced the full implications of what I’d brought on myself. On Easter weekend, I felt panicked enough about being stuck in my cast that I considered my husband’s offer when he said, “Do you want me to cut it off?”
Most days I paced the house until I was exhausted. I’d end up at our kitchen table and crying because I felt trapped, scared, and alone. I pledged to help every single person in my situation as soon as I wasn’t there myself. I’ve followed through with compassion when I hear others’ stories of also being stuck whether it’s stuck in physical affliction, mental problems like depression, a lifestyle they desperately want out of – stuck in whatever it is and not moving forward.
When I looked up knee problems in Hay’s book, there were several probable causes as to why I broke my knee other than falling on it, the most likely being that I don’t move forward easily. I don’t bend and flow with ease. I could have told you that if I ever slowed down enough to assess my life with ease, but I didn’t. That is, not until I broke my knee.
According to Hay, knee represents ego – an acronym for edging God out. I wanted to write professionally, but I didn’t have any original ideas. I didn’t realize that none of us do. We write the same ideas differently. Like so many unenlightened writers, I planned to pen a bestseller by the year’s end because God told me to write. However, he failed to tell me what to write or who to send it to or how much to expect from my first royalty check. Instead of waiting on Him and writing small until I had bigger ideas, I didn’t write at all except about being stuck.
I obsessed about being stuck, whined about being stuck, and journaled about being stuck for nearly a year until I brought it to pass.
Breaking my knee got my attention, as well as getting me unstuck … eventually. I still had a good bit of physical healing to do when the cast was removed, but getting it off was the freest I’ve ever felt. It jolted me into paying attention to how my thinking, my emotions, and what comes out of my mouth affects me physically.
Going through the ordeal of breaking my knee and really being stuck continues to shape and heal my life. Is there something going on in your life that needs your attention before it gets to the place where I landed? Or, are you already there and you need to reverse it and begin the healing? I hope this post jolts you to pay attention to how you think, feel, and speak.
In This Together,
Kim
On the side: An interesting article that addresses what our emotions have to do with our health. Click here to read Mind/Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Health
Thanks for the image, Pixabay.com.
Kim, I\’m trying to catch up with the 3 or 4 posts that I missed, starting with this one. I\’m a great believer in mind/body connection and have seen it at work in my own life and body. I also believe that Rich\’s illnesses were related to things that happened to him as a child, and that his failure to ever confront those demons ultimately led to his death. I see the same thing happening with his other family members, all of whom have serious chronic illnesses. I see the connection also between grief and physical symptoms I\’ve been having. I hope I\’m as good at curing myself as Louise Hay was! Thank you for your insights about being stuck and getting out of it.
Mary, I\’m a great believer also even when I don\’t seem to be able to get a grip on my emotions or do much about my thoughts. The good thing about Hay\’s approach is, whether we can fix us or not, she assigns us the responsibility. The truth be known, taking personal responsibility is the only way any of us is going to getting better physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
I\’m grateful I read her book many years ago for the first time even when I couldn\’t implement it. I\’m also grateful I have friends like you with whom I can talk this over. <3 Thank you!