WHAT SHAMPOOING YOUR HAIR HAS TO DO WITH HEALING

Today, I’m going to uncover a deep, dark secret. It’s a truth — or, you could consider it, THE truth. When it comes to health, healing and especially to recovery from chronic illness, you want to understand the meaning of the following three words.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Say, what?

It’s hard to believe that we need instructions on how to use shampoo, yet it’s there on every label. The directions tell us what to do with the shampoo, lather (how to work it into the hair), rinse (how to remove it from the hair), and repeat (how to use more shampoo). Good sales pitch.

Rebuilding the body from chronic illness to chronic wellness works much in the same way. It works instead with healing ACTION instead of selling a product. Here’s the bottom line:

Healing success stems more from taking action

than from what action you take.

 Have you tried a new nutrition plan? A new fitness regimen? Are you practicing stress-relieving activities? Great! When I blog or post articles on various healing treatments, here’s a response I hear quite often – “I tried that, but it didn’t work.”

Really? Let’s break that down. Was it the treatment that didn’t work, or the “tried that?”  What does “tried that” actually mean, anyway?

Here’s what it means to some.

1)      I tried giving up bread for a week and felt no better, so clearly the whole wheat/gluten issue is a scam. It didn’t work.

2)      I tried giving up my diet sodas for a long time and I still have pain, so that didn’t work.

3)      I tried a new exercise program last week and woke up so stiff and sore that I’ll never try that again. It didn’t work.

4)      I tried to meditate once. It was the longest 5 minutes of my life. It doesn’t work.

5)      I tried EFT and did it a lot. It doesn’t work.

There are several problems with the statements above so let me tackle them one at a time.

1) When looking to remove wheat/gluten from the diet, you first must know what foods contain wheat/gluten. Removing bread but still consuming other sources of the inflammation-causing ingredients will continue to prove problematic.

2) The same goes for food additives, chemicals, preservatives, dyes, and artificial sweeteners. You may remove diet soda from your diet, but where else are you consuming these chemical elements? Is it just a little or a lot? You may be surprised once you start digging into nutrition labels.

3) Exercise is one of the most powerful healing treatment plans you can implement. But, it needs to be done gently. Start slowly. Look for ways to move gently with little or no impact to the joints. Have you tried tai chi, qigong, and/or restorative yoga? Have you tried it on a consistent basis? When it comes to exercise, practice doesn’t make perfect (there is no such thing). Practice makes health.

4) Meditation is a learned practice. It takes time, patience, and diligence. It also means different things to each person who tries it. Walking in nature can be a form of meditation. Prayer is meditation. Time alone at home, at work, or even in your car can be meditative. Taking the time to calm your thoughts can prove more valuable than you can imagine. But I urge you to do just that – imagine it.

5) EFT is a topic for another post, but just like any other healing modality, it takes time, patience, and diligence. In other words, lather, rinse, and repeat.

So, the statements above may be true, but the conclusions “it doesn’t work” are most likely false. We often jump to conclusions, right? How ‘bout instead, we walk to our conclusions? Or perhaps take baby steps toward our conclusions?

The biggest variable in the above statements is about time. What does a long time mean? What about a lot? Was that all in one week or over several months? Should we try a new activity for days, weeks, months or even years? Here’s the thing — rather than focus on the amount of time – focus on the ACTION. Focus on doing it over and over. In other words, “repeat.”

Think about the things you do regularly – over and over. You manage to feed yourself every day. Brush your teeth. Take a shower. Go to school or get to work. It’s simple!

Healing success is rather simple, too. It’s the actions we take regularly that provide the most success. Even small steps. Baby steps.

What baby steps are you going to implement today? When it comes to taking the next step, all you have to remember is — lather, rinse, and repeat.

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And CONGRATS go out to Deborah– our big winner in the GoodOnYa bar giveaway! Hope you enjoy your tasty winnings!