What would you do if I told you that you could change almost everything in your life with one book?
Would you stop for a moment, pick up that book and read it? Would you dismiss the information and keep searching for the next hack to stress less, eat healthier, and feel more energetic?
I strongly believe that to build wellness, you need strategies that work well. Tools that get the job done. And hacks that give you the outcome faster. But the newest tricks and hacks won’t do you any good if they can’t teach you something.
After all, a fork is a fork. You still need to learn how to eat. A book is a book, but it becomes your best tool in fighting stress, overwhelm, and lack of energy when you implement the lessons you learned from it.
And today, I’m spilling 5 lessons I learned from Louise Hay and her phenomenal book You can heal your life. So, kick back, relax and dive in!
Lesson #1 Your Mind Matters
If there is one lesson to learn from the global pandemic, it is that mental health is more important than we think. I never paid much attention to my mind, the inside chatter, and the self-talk I had. But the moment you realise that your mind calls the shots, the better chances of choosing the right shots.
Everything you do is directed by the thoughts your mind generates. You have thoughts all the time, regardless of if you are aware of them or not. And by now you probably can see that the more supportive thoughts and the more positive self-talk you have, the easier it is to face the daily stress, overwhelm, or life’s challenges.
Your thoughts are often part of what is called the belief system. Your belief system determines how you perceive yourself, others, and the world in general. And as with thoughts, your belief system may be supportive or may stop you from taking important steps to living your life to the fullest.
Your belief system is so powerful that it takes enormous strength and perseverance to change it. Why? Because your belief system was shaped when you were a child.
And depending on what support you received from your parents or loved ones when you were growing up and what they believed in, you either feel like you can accomplish anything you set your mind to or you have the hardest time standing up for yourself.
Your mind matters and the best thing you can do for yourself is to pause for a second, observe your thoughts and see how you can change the ones that don’t serve you anymore. But remember that it is a process, and with practice, it will get easier.
Lesson #2 Your Body Talks to You
Louise Hay shows that there is a connection between your thoughts and your body. This body-mind connection becomes eye-opening when you suffer from a disease.
Every disorder, ache, pain, or health condition is reflected by your thought pattern. The more negative a mental pattern is the more pronounced disease in the body. Because what you think will be mirrored in your body.
You may think about this concept with a little bit of scepticism, I know I did. But the more I read about it, the more often I matched my thought pattern with what I felt in the body, the more sense it made to me.
When you don’t support yourself mentally, your body cannot support you physically. And the only way to get yourself out of the pain is to change the way you think.
Your thoughts come from what you feel, and especially negative emotions can bring a great deal of pain. To change your emotions you need to start having supportive thoughts.
How to do it?
First of all, you need to identify the pain in your body and link it to the thought that caused it. (Don’t worry, the book gives you a handy directory!) Then you need to adopt a new thought pattern through affirmations.
Lesson #3 The Power of Affirmations
Louise Hay is known for her extended work with affirmations. If you are new to affirmations, let me quickly say that when I learned about affirmations the first time, I might have rolled my eyes.
Why?
Because I didn’t see the link between my thoughts and the results I was getting in my life. I didn’t connect my mind with my body. I thought I had to feel stressed, overwhelmed, and suffer from depression.
Until I learned that none of this was true.
Affirmations are positive statements that aim to empower you. They foster positive thinking and a belief that you are loved, worthy, and capable of achieving your dreams.
For affirmations to work, you need to believe in them. You also need to repeat them multiple times, so your brain becomes familiar with your new way of thinking.
The first time I did affirmations, I followed Louise’s recommendation to say them out loud while looking in the mirror. That was probably the hardest part. Because when you don’t love yourself, you don’t think you are worthy, looking yourself in the eyes and saying that you do, sounds bizarre.
But by doing so, you disturb your old thinking pattern, you crack a shell that you’ve built till this point. And you let the discomfort show you that there could be another way of thinking.
You may still not be convinced that affirmations work, but I would strongly suggest you give it a try. Even if you start being kinder with words towards yourself, you will soon see a big difference in your life.
Lesson #4 The Past Happens for You
Have you ever wondered how some people get to have it all? How sometimes it is so easy for others to get what they want in life?
And you encounter struggle after struggle. Maybe there is an area in your life where you feel you can’t accomplish what you want to accomplish because of your upbringing.
It is true that our past and whatever happened to us shape who we are. You are the way you are because of what events you went through. But those events do not define your true worth, and they are not an indicator if you prosper or not.
The most powerful lesson from Louise Hay is that everything in life happens for you, not to you. Including your past experiences. They are here to teach you a lesson, guide you, and reshape who you are.
You might have been through terrible events, but you are strong enough to overcome the grief and see the bigger picture. You may think that life is unfair at times and others have it easier. But the real power is within you to rise above and show your light.
But you are in life where you are because of the past. And now, as you become awakened to this truth, you can take your past experiences and use them to fuel you.
Lesson #5 You Can Heal Your Life
The ultimate lesson from Louise Hay is as the book's title suggests. You can heal yourself, your body and mind, and your life. I’m a believer that to start, all you need is to take one step and keep going.
The book comes with a lot of exercises to help you reclaim your self-love and self-worth. You can heal your life one thought at a time. And that is very liberating.
Imagine that you stress less, can cope with the overwhelm in your life, and have the time for yourself and the things that matter to you. Imagine that you can stop the negative self-talk and the many aches and pains in your body.
How does it feel to know that you can do it? You don’t need to have superpowers or lucrative connections to improve your life. You have everything you need to heal your body, mind, and life.
True greatness is within you, and it is possible for you to access it to come out as the best version of yourself. And yes, you are ready even if the thought scares you.
How to Use the Lessons You Learned
Building wellness is a journey. And the more tools you have to do it, the easier and quicker it gets. But the most effective tools are those that help you grow and evolve.
And even if you were to take only one lesson from Louise Hay let it be this: your thoughts are powerful. They can make your life or break it. And by learning new mental patterns you can truly heal your life.
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