Part of the reason is that we often don't trust that we can have what we want or we don't feel worthy of receiving it. Many of us have old childhood programming from our parents that tells us that we are not good enough to have what we want. Sometimes we need to let go of addictions, being too hard on ourselves, or habitually limiting ourselves with our thoughts and beliefs. There may be people we need to forgive, or people that we need to release. We need to expand our horizons and open up to the unlimited love and abundance of the universe! In July of 1998 my brain was badly injured by an ear acupuncturist who needled all of the wrong points on my ear and sent my hypothalamus, pituitary, and pineal glands into total chaos. What followed was two and a half years of nonstop trauma. The worst symptom (typical of many brain injuries) was that it was extremely difficult for me to sleep. For almost two years, my heart raced and pounded all night long. After the heart calmed down, sleep was still very difficult to achieve. As a result of all this, my life was severely limited. It was difficult to plan any activities since I was always exhausted. To make matters worse, my body became hypersensitive and rejected almost every herb. My experiences with healers after this accident were very difficult. I was using "New Age" healers, some of whom did help me to achieve better balance. However, all of them, after a time, made some horrible error, leaving me with much more to heal than the original brain injury. My situation was desperate. By November of 2000, I had exhausted every possibility I knew of in terms of healers in and around the Seattle area, along with most of my savings. Throughout most of this ordeal, since I was awake most of the night, I would spend at least twenty minutes reading and rereading two books by Catherine Ponder: The Dynamic Laws of Healing and The Healing Secrets of the Ages. I also hung out a bit with one of her books called Open Your Mind to Receive. In these books, Catherine talks about the power of the mind to heal. She gives numerous examples of people who did it, including the founders of Unity Church. She healed herself of numerous physical ailments and created tremendous financial abundance through using the power of her mind, so I knew she was walking her talk. She went on to found three churches, called Unity Church Worldwide. Catherine mentions in one of her books that the mind is so powerful that our thoughts can actually alter the molecules of our bodies! I would read and reread, yet somehow I didn't quite trust enough to completely apply the ideas. I had a close friend who assisted me in staying alive. She has the power to relax my body through the use of her thoughts, even from a distance. Often she helped me to get the additional sleep I needed to survive. She would also gently correct me when I was being too negative. One of the things that Catherine Ponder emphasizes in The Dynamic Laws of Healing is: "To describe and dwell upon what you do not like magnifies its importance and gives it negative power, which reacts upon you." In Open Your Mind to Receive, she states: "Stop discussing what you do not want. Stop discussing the people who have made you unhappy. Stop feeding unpleasant situations with your negative talk. This only keeps them alive." Though I read these words and felt that there was truth in them, my situation was so extreme that I couldn't wait to talk to my friend to tell her the latest horror story about "what was wrong with me." She would always correct any negative exaggerations. Despite thousands of dollars spent on healers, I never seemed to get any better, and all kinds of new ailments developed due to the mistakes made by the healers and my lack of sleep. Finally, right after Christmas 2000, I hit an all-time low. I was barely sleeping and could not work. My life was completely on hold: I could no longer function unless I could get regular sleep. There were no more healers that I felt drawn to try. I was terrified. And then it happened: I suddenly made a shift and began to apply all the things about the healing power of the mind that I had been reading and rereading about. I began doing "undoing" affirmations twice a day: I let myself know that I no longer felt that there was anything wrong with my brain or that I had any problem with sleeping. I affirmed that my brain now worked perfectly and that it was easy for me to sleep. In my self-talk, I emphasized how grateful I was for my strong, healthy body and that I was now sleeping well every night. Whenever negative thoughts about myself or my life would try to come in, I would replace them with positive thoughts about all of my dreams coming true. Amazingly enough, I immediately began to sleep. At first it was every other night, than gradually every night. I am thrilled! I do not take this for granted. I am still very grateful and thankful every day for the sleep that I have received. I am much more grateful and thankful for everything! I now choose to notice what is positive and good about myself, my life, and my health rather than what is negative. In astrology, the planet Saturn is often referred to as the "Great Teacher." Ancient peoples referred to Saturn as "The Great Malefic," since so many negative events occurred under Saturn transits. From the astrological viewpoint, we have to go beyond the false limitations of Saturn before we can fully experience the energies of the "outer planets," the planets of the higher self: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Saturn tells us that what goes on in the physical plane is reality. In other words, what we see and feel is what is "real." Most spiritual teachings state that the physical plane is only an illusion. We have to be very discerning about how much to buy into that illusion if we want to use the healing power of our minds. In the astrological model, Jupiter and Neptune symbolize faith and trust, the qualities we need to draw on in order to use our mind’s power in a fully positive way. Jupiter represents the energy opposite to Saturn. It lets us know that it is okay to believe in the best possibilities for ourselves and our lives, despite what may appear to be real in the present. Jupiter also gives us the ability to be grateful for the abundance that we do have. Gratitude is a very important link with our higher self. Saturn, of course, will give us hurdles to cross. If we affirm the positive, Saturn always says, "Yeah, but look at this negative or that one." We need to keep confidently affirming anyway. Much of what we believe to be real are only negative beliefs that we have kept alive due to the way we use our minds. (All those times when I was so eager to tell my friend every little detail about what was wrong with me only made my "disease" worse!) The planet Neptune represents unity and oneness with divine love. It is the planet most directly linked with the quality of faith. One of the affirmations from The Healing Secrets of the Ages is, "I have faith in the perfect outcome of every situation in my life, for God is in absolute control. My faith now makes me whole." We need to unify our thoughts with our higher self and ask for guidance to the thoughts that are most healing for us. These are usually very loving, supportive thoughts. The planet Uranus, one of the planets of the higher self, keeps trying to awaken us to who we really are. We can use the intuitive thought of Uranus to develop the healing power of the mind. We need to stay in touch with the intuitive insights from Uranus to be aware of any changes we may need to make in our lives so that our dreams can fully manifest. Pluto, the last planet of the higher self, gives us the sense of personal power and empowerment to use our higher power and positive thinking abilities in an enlightened and transformative way. It gives us the courage to use our power. When we affirm positive things, we need to put the full power of our feelings into our words. This gives them additional force to create what we want. Pluto requires that we let go of what we are affirming; that we state what we want and leave the rest to Spirit. It is important to put out our thoughts about what we want and then release them. Never demand that the universe give you anything. Just trust that all is well, and take any steps you feel drawn to taking. As I write this, Saturn is forming an exact square to my sun. In astrology, this transit is usually considered to be one of the most challenging there is. In fact, it has been a blessing. I am getting well (I affirmed that this would happen long before the transit occurred). Not only has my physical health improved, but my soul and spirit are healing as well. I give thanks daily that this is so. I am thrilled and very excited about being able to share this with you. All of us have far more power than we dream possible. Tapping into this power in a positive manner is exciting and very empowering. It means that the deepest dreams of our hearts really can come true. We need to have faith and trust that this is so, and confidently go forth to co-create with our higher selves a life that feels truly loving and fulfilling. Nancy Kahn has 25 years of experience as a professional astrologer, astrology teacher, clinical hypnotherapist, and past-life regressionist. She seeks to empower all of her clients so that the deepest dreams of their hearts can come true. For more information about Nancy and her work, go to <http://members.aol.com/Nancykahn> or call (206) 284-1143. |
Our minds have tremendous healing power. Our deepest beliefs have a very powerful influence on what we experience in our lives. We all possess the ability to use the power of our minds to affirm the best for ourselves. So why don't more of us do it? Or, why do we begin to affirm something and then drop the whole idea? Why don't we more consistently use our thoughts to support us?