Have you really ever thought about the healing journey? And what it takes to become symptom free? And I’m not talking about going to the doc and taking perscription meds for the rest of your life. I’m talking about NO MORE SYMPTOMS. NO MORE LABEL (Diabetic, arthritic, etc). Is it even possible?

Mona Grayson, a super cool gal I’ve “met” on Twitter, has a blog post up about her healing journey in regards to fibromyalgia, and man, does she hit the nail on the head. Her post is called 5 Lessons From Fibromyalgia, and her points are so accurate. Here is what she has to say:

Here are some things I’ve learned from my experiences with “Fibromyalgia.”

1. Fibromyalgia is NOT incurable. When I was diagnosed with it back in 2002, (at the age of 25) the specialist I saw at the University of Miami who had been doing extensive studies on it, didn’t have much good news for me. She said, “Make friends with Advil.” Um, hello? What kind of life is that? My mom and I looked at each other and knew that we would figure out some other way to heal myself from the pain my body was going through. Advil is great and all. But I wasn’t going to be taking that for the rest of my life. No way. And I DID figure it out. And I don’t have fibromyalgia anymore. Ta-da!!
2. I’ve had a lot of anger. ALL of my Fibro-related body pain was as a result of my emotional state. Especially my anger. And the anger that I cared not to acknowledge because it was too crazy and scary and upsetting. And I hesitate to say anything hokey like “Getting in touch with my anger cured me,” but in some ways it did. And because it was so instrumental in curing me, that makes it awesome and not hokey at all. Anger is a powerful thing. And because my mind thought it woud be too scary to deal with the anger, it created physical body pain to distract me from the emotional issues.
3. My body is trying to help me. When it acted up and was in incredible pain, it was really just trying to protect me from things it thought would be much more uncomfortable for me. Namely painful emotions. Don’t pay attention to those yucky emotions. Just pay attention to this pain in your body instead. (Distract, Distract. Pay no attention to that thing you want so badly that I’m hiding behind my back. Eat this lollipop instead.) Also, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s much more socially acceptable to say that you’re too sore and tired to go out and do something with your friends than it is to say, “Sorry, can’t do that because I’m a raging bitch underneath all of this and I don’t have control of my emotions.” So the body pain also made it easier for me to say No to things. Which brings me to the next thing…
4. Body pain gave me an excuse. And at the time, I needed one. I didn’t grow up feeling confident in saying No to other people. Mostly I said yes to everything and I wound up sacrificing myself and my happiness. Sometimes in some pretty big ways. It got so bad (my inability to say no) that I actually wound up having sex with a guy I didn’t want to have sex with…and I was severely traumatized by it and soon after that’s when all my Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome symptoms started and then stuck around for several years. I did not feel safe saying no. My body collapsed with all the symptom to try to help me stay safe, stay indoors, stay away from people, and curl up in a corner and heal and take care of myself. Ultimate excuse: my body won’t let me.
5. We are “meant” to be free and clear. It’s not okay to have chronic pain in the body. Yes, sometimes that’s “what is” so it’s okay in that sense, but it’s neither normal, nor natural to have chronic pain. When there’s chronic pain, something is OFF. Outside of structural abnormalities, there’s no reason for chronic pain. Especially the pain associated with Fibromyalgia. There’s nothing structural happening with that kind of pain. That means something else is causing it.  I didn’t want to look at the mind/body connection for a whole year when I was first diagnosed. (Nothing wrong over here with my mind thank you very much!) But ultimately it was working with my mind and my emotions that healed me. That’s what did it. When you have things that hurt for long periods of time, it’s a signal that something is off. The body is trying to get back to its natural state of feeling good – and it needs our emotions to be on board with the plan.

I’m now a HUGE fan of emotional wellness. Understanding myself and what I’m feeling. Understanding the beliefs that lead me to feel certain things. Sometimes I feel bad, sometimes I feel angry, sometimes I feel weird or confused. But there’s no reason to stay that way chronically. Chronic anything is a huge wake up call for me now. It’s a wake up call to look at my inner world. My emotions. My feelings. To acknowledge and love them.

I do not know what process Mona employed to overcome her emotions and her symptoms. But I can tell you the process she describes does sound very much like the LifeLine process. So no matter what you are working to overcome, and no matter what tools or techniques you are employing, keep the following in mind:

1. If you get a scary diagnosis from a doc, and they tell you that you are stuck with it for the rest of your life, go deeper. Get a better understanding of what is going on in your body and life. If you don’t want to deal with it forever, then do something about it! Symptoms are not intended to be permanent. A diagnosis is not permanent. And for gosh sakes a perscription shouldn’t have to last a lifetime.
2. Emotions are the root cause for your symptoms. Processing and releasing those emotions also releases the symptoms. Mona said it best:
   

   And I hesitate to say anything hokey like “Getting in touch with my anger cured me,” but in some ways it did. And because it was so instrumental in curing me, that makes it awesome and not hokey at all. Anger is a powerful thing. And because my mind thought it would be too scary to deal with the anger, it created physical body pain to distract me from the emotional issues.

3. Symptoms are sent from our subconscious, as a means to protect us. Sounds crazy, no? Again, Mona said it best:
   

   When it acted up and was in incredible pain, it was really just trying to protect me from things it thought would be much more uncomfortable for me.

   Yes, it actually works that way. Thank you, subconscious.

4. Discover the root cause of your symptoms. It wasn’t that she woke up one day with fibromyalgia. Following a complex series of events in her life, her subconscious kicked into protection mode, which resulted in her symptoms. We LifeLiners like to call symptoms “gifts in strange wrapping paper.” The symptoms while they did “protect” her, they also were a wake up call: to deal with the root cause, process it, learn from it, and grow beyond it moving closer to her truth. Her truth was not a “I’m a gal with fibromyalgia.” Her truth is who she is today, a gal who has transcended fibromyalgia, and has learned from the process (and is sharing with others)!
5. We are meant to be healed and whole! Since the body speaks the mind, if there is imbalance in the body, then it exists in the mind. But it isn’t permanent! You are not incurable! This time, Louise Hay says it best:
   

   When clients come to me, no matter how dire their predicament seems to be, I KNOW if they are WILLING to do the mental work of releasing and forgiving, almost anything can be healed. The word incurable, which is so frightening to so many people, really only means that the particular condition cannot be cured by outer methods and that we must GO WITHIN to effect the healing. The condition came from nothing and will go back to nothing.

Thank you Mona for your honest recount of your healing journey. I applaud you for shining the light of your experience for others to learn from! Infinite Love & Gratitude!