A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Personal Healing

Preface: Someone once said, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, which I believe is a statement of truth. I also believe that true healing and restoration are in the mind of a person and from those thoughts come the wellspring of health or the pit of despair. It is my belief that all healing comes from the creator who is the source of all giving, the source of all love and light, and well being. With that in mind, we share in the creation and work of healing and new beginnings in our lives. In this world God has created us to be co-creators with him. We can choose to live out our dreams or we can fall into the nightmare of seeing life as out of control and beyond our ability to change. Many self-help books and motivational speakers seek to help people by having them simply recite daily affi rmations and think good thoughts for success and a happy life. While the value of affi rmations and good thoughts are important, they are only one step in the process of healing and they must be supported by deeper spiritual and practical disciplines which open the door to daily miracles and healing. While this writing deals with healing from a mind-body-spirit approach, it is not meant to replace proper medical care and treatment. Rather, the material in this writing should serve as an augmentation to traditional medical care and provide a spiritual basis for healing in all its forms. My perspective in this writing is that all healing comes from God and that even in suff ering his sustaining presence exists. Th ere is no promise of a cure for various diseases. Instead, there is the promise of spiritual healing to renew and strengthen one’s relationship with God. Many times in life we take for granted the wonderful gifts that God has given us, our health, family, friends, and our planet. Th e old expression certainly holds true, you don’t know what you have until you lose it. As human beings we often face suff ering and loss. I believe that these events serve to remind us of God’s presence and to draw us closer to him. Many people have been taught that life is a battle to be fought; and therefore, see events or people as victories to be won or enemies to over come for punishment of past mistakes or sins. Life can seem like one battle after another, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Th e problem with this view of life is that we are always feeling out of balance in regard to our place in the universe. Are we an enemy or a friend of creation? Is God someone to be feared or loved? Do we see life as the result of punishment for past mistakes or sins, or is there an untapped potential future waiting? I believe that the Creator has never changed in his nature and being, the same yesterday, today, and forever. What changes our response to God’s goodness and giving? If God is always giving when we ask, why don’t we experience more of this goodness and blessings? My response is that we are not able to receive blessing because there is no room in our hearts for God’s Gift. Our Soul and emotions are fi lled with fear, anxiety, worry, anger, and despair. All of these emotions and feelings keep us from receiving God’s light and healing grace. As you read this book, take time to look inward to see yourself, look outward to see others and what you can do to help them, look upward to see God who wants to bless, heal, and restore your life and soul. James G. Mackey Fall 2007 Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xv Introduction: Explaining books purpose, background . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi Chapter One: What is Healing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Four Common Myths about the Process of Healing. . . . . . . . . . . 4 Th e Need for Health Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Th e Source of healing revealed!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Uncovering the process for healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Simple Steps to Self-breakthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Th e power of Emotions: Th ey Can Heal or Make Us Sick . . . . . 26 Th ree Important Laws that Govern our Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Chapter Two: Steps to Spiritual Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Five proven Steps to open your life to Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Th e Role of Fasting for physical and Spiritual Breakthroughs. . . 37 How Stress can block your Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Th e Human Energy Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 How to start healing in your body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Conclusion: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Th ings to Ponder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Chapter Th ree: Secrets to Living a Happy Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 What is the process for Self-Discovery?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 How To Be DISEASE Free For Th e Rest Of Your Life . . . . . . . . 58 Sources of electronic chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Steps to Reduce Stress and Anxiety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Chapter Four: HOPE: Our Anchor and Life Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Th e Four Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Energize your Spirit with Joy and Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 How to Create a powerful Soul-Force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Understanding Vibration Healing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 How to Heal Disease Before it Manifest in the Body. . . . . . . . . . 74 Chapter Five: Unleash Th e Power of Your Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 What is Hypnosis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Christianity and Hypnosis.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Benefi ts of Hypnosis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Chapter Six: Well-being: A Vital Key to Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Stress and the Mind/Body Complex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Stories that Illustrate: Chronic Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Stories that illustrate: How expectations can create reality. . . . . . 91 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Chapter Seven: Spirituality and Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Historical Background and Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Defi nitions of Religion and Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Incorporating Spirituality into a Medical Practice. . . . . . . . . . . 102 Beliefs and Prescriptions for Health; Strongly Prescribed Health Behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Your Powerful Mind-Body Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Cognition and Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Th e New Age Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Free Will versus Destiny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Chapter Eight: Th e Power of Daily Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Types of Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Health Benefi ts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 How is Affi rmative or Scientifi c Prayer diff erent? . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Five Steps of Affi rmative or Scientifi c Prayer: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Benefi ts of Prayer and Belief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Th e impact of loss and Grief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Is Prayer g