Maybe your mind is your friend

Regain control of your happiness by changing the question.

Story: Brian Clement, PHD, IN

Long ago, when people were confident in their own abilities, there was little to no depression, mental illness, or confusion. Searching the data from the 19th century and before, it is nearly impossible to find even one case where a child endured mental illness. Today, it is commonplace and we create labeled diseases to pin on our youth, then drug them into submission. Adults consume antidepressants like candy and it has become a presumed cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry. Do we all think that abruptly our minds are failing us, or is it possible that valueless living has imposed stress on such a continual basis, creating deep sadness and cutting scars?

Psychology and psychiatry have created a system that teaches us that certain events have deeply disturbed our emotional homeostasis, thus creating our frail society. Truthfully, this fictitious information has little to do with the core cause of our displeasure. Would it not be refreshing to look at this phenomena as just being unresolved issues that we have been unable to process in our hearts and minds? Seemingly, the professionals no longer want to be bothered with the hard work of helping people dismiss these self-imposed disorders. Protocols such as this lead to sedation of parts of the brain, unfortunately, doing little else than just fogging our thought patterns.

Sadly, where the real issue resides is in the human heart. Regrettably, drugs do not work here, so people often live their whole lives in a sad and reduced state. Allow yourself to liberate the courage required to break through the film of resistance. Each and every problem can be overtaken by an awareness of what value they bring us. You will never resolve these deep, heartfelt problems by glossing over their causes and drugging them out of your mind.

Since 1969, when I made a conscious decision to move in the direction of progressive living, my learning and professional life radically changed. At first, I believed that bad lifestyle choices were the cause of physical and emotional disorder. Suddenly, one day in my 30s, a bolt of lightning struck my closed mind. I realized every problem erupted from a significant sense of confusion. Without answers, we become vulnerable, and the physics that govern the universe sniff that vulnerability out like a hound dog, fulfilling our negative, self-imposed prophecies. We often believe that someone else causes our grief; this is not at all true.

Each and every one of us is able to have total control. All experiences are realities we manufacture through our depth of understanding (or lack thereof). Raising wisdom from your inner essence swallows fear and clarifies the “Why?” Now the question is no longer, “Why is this happening to me?” but rather, “I know why this is happening to me.” The first is like being hit by a boulder. The second is like catching the boulder to avoid being hit. What a world of difference there is when you make a minor, but essential, adjustment in your perception and your choice.

I recently counseled a woman who is facing stage 4 mutagenic disease. Midway through the process, I felt as if she were counseling me.

What a delight it was to listen to her history. Twenty years ago, when she faced advanced cancer, the doctors involved predicted death. They told her there was no hope. So she went home to deal with it herself. Several months later, she was in spontaneous remission. When asking the doctor what this meant, he said, “We don’t know; it rarely happens.”

She responded, “Do you think I could have wished the disease away?”

He retorted, “That is very silly. There is no scientific evidence that that is possible.”

I asked what she was going to do this time. She stated, “Exactly what I did before, but now with Hippocrates’ help.” When I asked her why she was enlisting the institute this time, she said, “Last time I guess I wasn’t thorough enough.”

Each and every one of us is the master of our own existence. There is no one to blame, including yourself, and no legitimate way to divert your attention from what matters: you! All that you think, all that you do, and all that you are is determined by the level of respect you afford yourself. The lesser the consideration, the greater the struggle.

Are you here to suffer or are you here to thrive? Do you deserve happiness or do you think sadness is a normal state? Have you ever truly thanked the universe for the gift of life or are you constantly whining about what you don’t have?

Yes, people, it is completely up to you. The day you stop wasting energy trying to figure out what it is all about will be the day you will become a viable human being. Rather than wallow in confusion, learn to love your sorry ass.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Brian Clement, Ph.D., L.N., is co-director of Hippocrates Health Institute. He spearheaded the international progressive health movement for more than 35 years. He and his wife and co-director, Ann Wigmore, brought the Institute to Florida in 1986.