Chronic illness can come from a number of different sources.

Heredity

Some chronic illnesses can be handed down from generation to generation. However, the emerging science of epigenetics is proving that much of what we thought was accurate concerning genes and heredity is false. "Genes do not determine human outcomes – it is our responses to our environment that actually determine the expression of our genes." What this means is that "Our beliefs can change our biology. We have the power to heal ourselves, increase our feelings of self-worth and improve our emotional state. Every aspect of our lives can be improved with the right intention." (http://wakeup-world.com/2012/03/26/the-science-of-epigenetics-how-our-minds-can-reprogram-our-genes/)

So, while genes do play a role, they do not determine the course of your life. Since it is now proven that "Every aspect of our lives can be improved with the right intention," you can use your daily Inner Bonding process to consistently move yourself toward the intent to learn about loving yourself, and that will greatly affect chronic illness.

Child Abuse 

Children who are consistently threatened and violently hurt may eventually exhaust their immune system, which opens them to chronic illness. It's always been so sad to me when someone who works very hard to heal from childhood physical and sexual abuse may then have to face chronic illness as a result of a worn-out immune system.

Fortunately, through practicing Inner Bonding and learning to lovingly take care of your emotional and physical self, the immune system can heal. One must be devoted to creating both inner peace and excellent nutrition, for the immune system to gradually heal. 

Self-Abandonment

I have worked with many people suffering from various forms of chronic illness that seem directly related to self-abandonment. Often, their immune system is compromised due to giving themselves up to care-take others.

When you sacrifice yourself to care-take others, in the hopes that they will love and care about you, you give your inner child the message that he or she isn't important.

When you abandon yourself with self-judgment, various addictions, and making others responsible for your feelings, you create great stress.

These are strong negative messages that cause much of our anxiety and depression. Recent research indicates that 95% of illness is stress-related, so anything that causes stress negatively affects the immune system. As you know, Inner Bonding is a powerful process for healing the self-abandonment that is often the underlying cause of anxiety and depression.

“The worst thing we can do as thinking and feeling people is to get cut off from our deep, positive emotions and let fear and anger take over our lives. When we allow ourselves to be taken over by negativity, we are putting ourselves in a mental-biological state of fear akin to the fight or flight response.”

http://wakeup-world.com/2012/03/26/the-science-of-epigenetics-how-our-minds-can-reprogram-our-genes/

Spending too much time in the flight or fight state leads to a breakdown in our immune system.

We may cause ourselves to go into fight or flight, or even freeze, when we abandon ourselves.

Nutrition and Exercise

Our bodies are not designed to handle high quantities of non-food and food-like products—which includes most packaged, processed, factory-farmed, sugared, chemical-laden, colored, preserved, pesticide-sprayed, hormone-injected and antibiotic-injected ”food." We put huge stress on our bodies when we consume anything other than clean, natural, organic food. Films such as "Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead" indicate that much chronic and degenerative illness can be cured with healthy changes in our diets. Years ago I read "Food Is Your Best Medicine," by Henry Beiler, and I become a convert to using food rather than drugs to heal.

In addition to eating well, our bodies need to move. Finding an exercise that you love, and continuing to be physically active throughout your life, goes a long way toward creating and maintaining health.

Community

Research indicates that people who live with others with whom they have caring connections have far fewer health problems than people who feel lonely. Part of taking loving care of ourselves is making sure we have these connections in our life.

Healthy food, consistent exercise, community and a consistently positive state of mind—these are the keys to health and to managing, or even healing, many chronic illnesses.

Join Dr. Margaret Paul for her 30-Day at-home Course: "Love Yourself: An Inner Bonding Experience to Heal Anxiety, Depression, Shame, Addictions and Relationships."

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