The Life Skills Approach

In 1981, at age 29, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), and I have been on a journey of self-discovery ever since. The disease left me legally blind, handicapped in walking and with poor balance, just to name a few. There isn’t a cure for MS (at this time) and no way to regain the physical functions; modern medicine can only slow down the progression of this devastating illness.

 

This could have been a frustrating challenge, but I knew from past experiences that my greatest resources were deep within me, in a place frustration could not reach. I just needed a way to tap those inner resources as I dealt with my health.

 

Being legally blind left my outer world blurry and frustrated me, but it also gave me an opportunity to study my inner world in a way I never had thought to before. When I began to connect to the Wisdom of my Body, I was no longer a victim, suffering from a crippling disease. Let me share with you how I discov­ered the Wisdom of my Body.

 

After my symptoms set in, I received visits from many well-wishers, but not all visits were the same. I found that people who connected to my heart were very easy to talk with. With other visitors, con­versation was difficult and uninspiring. The conversations appeared normal, but there was no connection.

 

I realized that the difference wasn’t in what we talked about; it was how they related to me. People who related to my whole being were able to pull me out of my mind and share from my heart. Others spoke only to my superficial thinking, and our communication stayed on that level. I was never able to have a quality conversation with them.

 

 

When the visitors went away, I looked inside myself and reflected on what I’d experienced, and I began to draw parallels between my own self-image and the interactions I’d had with visitors. I realized that I had two types of self-images within me, a positive and the other negative. When I was in the mind-frame of a positive self image, it was like talking to the visitors who touched my heart, and when I had a negative self image, it was like talking to superficial visitors.

 

I also noticed that when I approached life from the perspective of this positive self-image, I had more creative, sometimes profound thoughts, and I felt better able to deal with what MS had dealt me. It also improved other aspects of my life: making friends, relationships with family...

 

Through my healing work, I realized that our society puts so much value on information and intellect that we tend to ignore our inner resources. Do not get me wrong: I do not believe thinking is bad. Rather, there are just times in one’s life where we need the qualities found in the Wisdom of the Body, and there’s no substitute.

 

Sharing lessons learned in a crisis turns negative experiences into gifts. Join a Tele-seminar that so patients can play an active role in healing. At http://lifeskillsinc.com read my e-book “I Found a Healthy way to be sick & so can you” then join the Tele-seminar & discover inner wisdom.

There is nothing profound about the Wisdom of the Body.

Once I was running a seminar for mentally ill homeless people. I mentioned “inner wisdom,” and one participant said “I don’t have any wisdom”.

 

Then I asked him, “When you sleep, does your heart beat?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Do you breathe?” I asked.

“Of course,” he said.

That’s the Wisdom of the Body.

 

The Wisdom of the Body has a very simple purpose: to harmonize every function of the mind and body. It is as though every cell works toward the miracle that is the human body, and when all of these cells work together independent of our thinking mind, it puts you in “the Zone.”

 

Simply put, these are times when we are performing at our highest potential. I’ve seen it in people facing a threat of death, or in mothers in the throes of childbirth.  The most popular example of “the Zone” is when athletes perform exceptionally. These types of events move us into the moment where we trust an inner wisdom; we were born with it, and it is our real potential.

 

But you don’t need an extraordinary event to be in the Zone; you can get the same feeling when you’re all alone.

 

The mentally ill man in my seminar was ignoring the Wisdom of his Body because, like most peo­ple, he had been taught to think this way. Many of us are no different: our experiences, the people we’ve encountered and our environment make us who we are today – or so we think! Our everyday cares and the patterns we develop over a lifetime take over our lives, and we tend to ignore this amazing resource we have within.

 

The Wisdom of the Body is not just for extraordinary moments: the goal of life is to connect you to the Wisdom of your Body no matter what your situation. For most people who are healthy, the Wis­dom of the Body operates unnoticed. The heart beats on its’ own; we breathe without being conscious of it. Even for some patients in a coma, the Wisdom of the Body works to preserve that most basic function: the instinct to survive.

Learn to use your inner wisdom inhealing. Go to http://lifeskillsinc.com read “I Found a Healthy way to be sick & so can you”, enroll in my Tele-seminar and use powerful inner resources in challenges. Don’t be a victim to poor health actively participate & grow.

How to benefit from your hardest challenges

                A challenge happens when your mind has no habits developed to accomplish your goal. When habits are developed, you perform actions without being challenged. Basically a challenge occurs when you are unprepared to face a task. If you panic that challenge will create stress and limit you from accomplishing your goal, but you don’t have to panic.

                You can approach challenges as an opportunity to grow and truly benefit from that challenge. Here are three things you need to do to benefit from challenges and once you are prepared your approach significantly changes.

·         Identify with a self image that reflects the best parts of you. Sometimes our self image was created by unconscious conditioning and was defined by how other people related to you. You can create a self image defined by the way you performed your favorite activities. That is the “you” that can face challenges the best.

·         You need to develop a self trust that allows you to enter the unknown and accept your deepest inner wisdom. When thinking and how other people think of you is more important than your own life; it is hard to trust yourself. There is a way to appreciate your life more than your mind and there-by developing a strong self trust.

·         You have to be free from your thinking mind enough to enter silence and accept the Wisdom of your Body. When thoughts like self doubt traps you from inner wisdom, challenges become difficult to accomplish. Without entering silence inner wisdom is replaced by conditioned thinking and the Wisdom of your Body is ignored.

                When these skills are developed; you face challenges with the confidence that assures success. When your challenge is health related inner wisdom automatically activates to become involved. Any challenge you face from this perspective will reflect the confidence your inner wisdom naturally has. Too often our conditioned ego limits us as we approach difficult challenges.

Learn to develop the Life Skills in a Tele-seminar. Go to http://lifeskillsinc.com to learn about that seminar. You can get free introductions to my books, a sample technique from my seminar and learn about the Life Skills Approach. Activate the Wisdom of your Body before facing difficult challenges.

© Marc Lerner 2008