Focus:
Evaluating our needs for the future and applying the most supportive steps needed for our personal needs.
Repetition:
I trust God (or intuition) to lead me to the answers that I need for my present and my future health.
Forty Weeks In
So many congratulations and blessings to you!! You have made it to week 40! You can begin increasing the macros of protein and carbs to see where your ketone/glucose numbers are personally if you have not already.
Creating and Nurturing vs. Producing
For ladies, I want your focus to be on creating and nurturing over productivity. Producing is what men do and it balances their hormones, it gives us an imbalance. Women work and do things of course, but if we can shift our perspective about the things we must do, it can be very supportive. Approach tasks with a mindset of creating and nurturing instead of “I have to get this done, I need to hurry, no one else can do this or will do this but me, I am responsible for my family, etc.” Try changing to “Consecrate this task, make it sacred, I am given this task to do and I am grateful for the gift of it, I am so blessed to be chosen for the honour of daily bed making, getting this report finished, preparing this meal, helping customers at work, being of service to my community.”
For men, it is helpful to approach tasks with a productivity and responsibility, warrior mindset. “Consecrate this and make it sacred, I am the one chosen to do this, I will get this done, I am responsible for myself, my honour, my family, my occupation, etc.”
Staying Present in Our Bodies
At this point in the journey, we may feel a wide range of emotions and experiences. We can be grateful for our healing so far and we can be frustrated about what is not healed yet.
We want to be connected to and truly IN our bodies. This was not always commonplace, we used to be quite present as we did tasks throughout the day and the modern human often dissociates throughout the day. We are not used to staying present, we have experienced things in our past that taught us this was safer, it is actually the body trying to protect us.
When we have illness, we do want to be in our bodies rather than dissociate and distract. We tend to feel a panic when we have to be with our pain, our memories, our feelings and the work we must do to heal on top of all of life’s demands. But we must remain present.
We do not want to be obsessed with our illness or wear it as our identity as we know it can be reversed. Many have done it before us!
The Horror of Suffering
There is a vice named “the horror of suffering” and it is something most of us have now. We all have suffered and we will suffer still. It is now the time, if you have not, to explore what suffering is and how it can be a gift. We can have reverence in all we do, knowing we are created and can place full trust in our Creator.
If you still are not ready for God, it may be the time to explore why and where the suffering lies that keeps you disconnected. If you are not ready, you can still trust the process, where you are in time, why you are here. We do not have all the answers but trust requires no reasons or answers.
We want to be willing to suffer and I know that is a big ask. In the end, it does make life much easier for us, though that is not the purpose. For Christians, we can offer our suffering for the souls in purgatory, for those on earth, or simply as an offering on an altar we see in our mind to The Holy Trinity, One God. For a secular version, you may just offer it up and you do not have to specify for now. Believe that your symptoms can be used for good, for you and for others.
Concupiscence and Pleasure
Concupiscence is the leaning or desire to sin (remember, sin is not “the bad things we do” or a word of looking down upon others but is itself a symptom of illness, spiritual illness that affects the entire world).
Let us look at seeking pleasure. Pleasure in itself is not bad unless it is disordered. But let’s focus only on good pleasure, like something our modern world has to offer us. A cell phone or the internet is not a bad thing. My family would not be well without the internet, we would not be here together without it! Seeking to lower cortisol by scrolling pictures of babies laughing is not a bad thing!
Learning to stop seeking pleasure is also a good thing and is amazing for healing. When we are in this space of recovery, it is good to not pick up the phone, to set down the good things so that a greater good can be fulfilled. Instead of scrolling, for instance, pick up a book, do a task you have put off while repeating a short prayer, scripture, or repetitions for your limbic work.
Just as there is beauty in suffering, there is peace in denying oneself of pleasures to find the deeper places in life. You have already seen proof of it! Refusing the cookies and eating the meat stock has brought about better physical health. Refusing the podcast and being outside in silence while listening will bring about better spiritual health, which is the end goal of this pilgrimage we are all on together.
Living Not Fully in the Modern World
We are living in the modern world with cars, big box stores, WIFI, fast fashion, noise and blue lights, houses made of synthetic material and more. We can choose to not live in it fully, accept what brings suffering and be incredibly grateful for both opportunities to grow.
The ancient Fathers and Mothers had amazing nervous system tools! Spending time in quiet meditation, refusing comfort and seeking discomfort for growth, slowing down and doing everyday tasks mindfully and consecrating everything as sacred, chanting, breathing slowly, seeing the person in front of them as an everlasting soul, spending time in nature, creating sacred art, etc.
We do not necessarily have to seek discomfort but offering up the discomfort we have can be an incredible turning point for us, though that is not the main goal of the offering. The horror of suffering is what is causing the most pain, the ever present thoughts of how we can avoid suffering at all costs is causing the suffering to be ever present. Let us learn to view it all differently.
Generational Healing
Always keep in mind that our illnesses are generational, we are not only working on what we have encountered in our own lives but we are carrying what has been passed down to us. This makes the work truly exceptional. We are healing generations of spiritual, physical and mental illness and even if you do not have children, you are healing future generations. This is the work that is a gift to all and will echo into the future.
Keeping Your Compass
We keep the foundations we have built thus far and discard what is not for us as humans. We know certain truths at this point in the journey. We keep truth as our compass when learning new things without conflicting with our compass.
For example, we can see a study that will support almost any way of life. We can see people living as fruitarians and think, “Is that the way I should go?” Or we can use our compass and know that 1) most fruit has been altered to be sweeter and more delicious 2) no ancestral human would have eaten (or does eat) fruit all year round because fruit does not grow all year round, a tree or bush flowers in its season, produces fruit and then that process does not begin again until the next year 3) excess fruit (especially without animal fat and protein) gives us fatty liver, glycation, and can cause insulin resistance.
This does not mean fruit is terrible and we should never eat it, it simply means we remember our rhythm as humans and live with the seasons and cycles we are given. Always keep your compass at your centre!
Keep moving forward, one step at a time even if you must pause and rest. I am so proud of you and so grateful for you!!