March 2004
By Lise Bourbeau
Lise Bourbeau has worked with thousands of people, helping them to unearth the underlying causes of specific diseases. She professes that any physical problem is a manifestation of disease on psychological and/or emotional levels. The physical body is responding to the imbalance and warning of the need to return to the path of love and harmony
Key Questions To pinpoint the cause of your physical illness more accurately, ask yourself the following questions:
PHYSICAL BLOCK
‘‘What are the words that best describe what I am experiencing inside or on my body and how do I feel about it?’’
The answer to the above question reflects what you are experiencing regarding the person or situation that is at the root of your illness.
EMOTIONAL BLOCK
a) ‘‘What is this illness preventing me from doing and/or having?
The answers to this question represent one or more desires that are being blocked.
b) ‘‘If I allowed myself to achieve these desires, what would I be?’’
MENTAL BLOCK
‘‘If I allowed myself to be ———————————— (fill in the blank with the answer from the previous question) what unpleasant situation could happen to me AND what would people think of me (or what would I think of myself)?’’
Your answers will correspond with the harmful belief that is blocking you from meeting your own needs and achieving your dreams. This belief manifests as a physical block.
SPIRITUAL BLOCK
Refer to answer (b) under the emotional block. Your response indicates a profound need that is being blocked by an inappropriate belief system.
CONCLUSION TO KEY QUESTIONS EXERCISE
Once you can unearth the belief that blocks you from being what you want and need, you will have to work on it. The first step is to acknowledge that at some point in your life, you decided to believe this. You thought that this belief would prevent you from suffering the same pain over and over. The next step is to ask yourself if you still need to believe this to be happy. If you answer yes, you’ve determined that your belief is still of use to you—by all means continue to believe it and behave as you always have. But don’t expect any change in your life as you are the architect of your own life, the choice is yours. Just know that by refusing to go towards what you want in life, your life will remain the same.
If you’ve determined that your belief is still partly true but that it makes you unhappy, determine whether or not it has diminished in strength in the last couple of years. If it has, it will be easier to let go of. By doing so, you will be on the road to recovery.
When you know deep inside that you want to change this belief, all that remains is to take steps to achieve your desires to let yourself to BE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE.
If someone wishes for good health, one must first ask oneself if he is ready to do away with the reasons for his illness. Only then is it possible to help him.
—Hippocrates
Metaphysics is a philosophy that methodically investigates the nature of first principles and problems of ultimate reality. Its link with the physical is critical to permanent healing and is by no means contraindicated in conjunction with conventional healing. On the contrary, it is medicine’s most valuable teammate.
I have chosen to use the word ‘metaphysical’ rather than ‘psychosomatic’ because of the implications of the definitions. Psychosomatic is defined as “about, or caused by phenomena that are both physiological and psychological”. The term carries with it a common misconception that it relates to disease that is ‘all in one’s head’ or ‘in the imagination’.
The science of metaphysics has resurfaced since the advent of psychoanalysis. Freud discovered that the body and the psyche are irrevocably linked. Researchers in the field such as Wilhelm Reich, Fritz Perls, and Louise Hay have greatly contributed to the resurgence of the body of information that constitutes metaphysical science.
When illness or disease is indicated, the body is communicating to us that our way of thinking (although unconscious) is out of harmony with what is beneficial to our being. Illness indicates the need to change our belief system and tells us that we have reached our physical and psychological limits. Illness is thus a gift whose purpose is to bring back the equilibrium in our being. The physical body does not create illness because the physical body can do nothing by itself. What maintains its life is our soul, our inner self.
If you believe that illnesses, accidents, and disorders are relevant only to the physical self, you are dissociating yourself from your mental, emotional and spiritual aspects, thereby refusing to acknowledge the majority of what makes you who you are!
You have only to recall a situation where you’ve experienced instinctive reactions (such as your heart racing when you are afraid or that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you anticipate something you may be dreading), these automatic reactions are not coming from the physical body, but are transferred to the physical body through thoughts or emotions.
Interestingly, these instinctive reactions often manifest in ways that are directly observable, such as the onset of sweaty palms during moments of heightened anxiety or stress. This physical response, while seemingly mundane, can serve as a window into our deeper emotional and psychological states, offering clues to the inner conflicts or stresses we may be facing. Understanding and addressing these signs with compassion and mindfulness can lead us toward deeper healing and equilibrium.
The most frequent causes of illness are negative attitudes and emotions, guilt, the need for attention, or the need to escape an unpleasant situation. Those who are vulnerable to the suggestion that illness is ‘contagious’ will attract illness because they expect to be sick as a result of circumstances. If they believe, for example, that a draught will result in a cold, they will ‘get’ a cold when exposed to a draught.
With each illness or disorder, your body is reminding you to love yourself. Through genuine self-love, you allow your heart to guide you to wellness and wholeness. To love yourself is to permit yourself to live as you choose. When you love yourself, you accept yourself as you are at any moment—in all your humility—with fears, weaknesses, desires, beliefs, and aspirations that are all facets of who you are.
Accidents
Physical block: Because an accident is an unpredictable event, we often believe it happens by pure chance. But now increasingly we are told: “There are no accidents.” Nothing happens by coincidence. I believe that chance and accidents are tools the Universe (God) uses to get our attention. Just make note of what part of the body has been injured and how seriously. These are important considerations when trying to understand the metaphysical cause of the accident.
Emotional block: Accidents are interpreted unconsciously as punishment, as on a deeper level we blame ourselves and accuse our inner self. We feel responsible for what goes on around us. For example: a mother, tending to her chores, hears her child calling from the next room. She feels the child can wait and, continuing with her chores, trips and hurts her leg. If she asks herself: “What was I thinking just now?” she realizes that she was accusing herself of being a neglectful mother. Hurting her leg was punishment for being such a mother, one who did not want to go to her child. Accidents are a way to neutralize our guilt, to punish ourselves. Unfortunately, all this goes on unconsciously.
Mental block: Your definition of guilt needs to be revised. According to our legal system, a person is declared guilty when it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that harm was intended. Each time you blame yourself or feel guilty about something, ask yourself if you intend to harm. If not, stop accusing yourself in your mind. This will help you to stop punishing yourself with ‘accidents’.
In the example above, do you think the mother intended to harm her child? Nothing happened that she needs to punish herself for. When someone is guilty, the law of cause and effect will prevail and will exhibit itself in his character. A wise and responsible person recognizes when he is at fault and asks for forgiveness of the person he has wronged or hurt. In doing so, he creates harmony that will come back to him as harmony and acceptance. This is Divine Justice.
If your accident was an unconscious way of giving yourself a ‘break’, it is important to remember that you could have accomplished the same thing without injuring yourself physically. It would be much less painful to simply make your request known.
If your injury is significant and painful, such as a fracture, it is an indication that you are consciously or unconsciously suppressing violent thoughts directed at someone else. By nature, violent thoughts cannot be contained and may instead turn inward against yourself. Liberate yourself by communicating your feelings to the other person, forgiving yourself for having the thoughts in the meantime.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refer to the Key Questions at the end of this article. In answering these questions, you will come in touch more easily and accurately with the true cause of your physical problem.
AIDS
Physical block: AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is defined primarily by what appears to be severe immune deficiency, and is distinguished from virtually every other disease by the fact that it has no constant, specific symptoms. AIDS is an umbrella term for any or all of some 25 previously known diseases and symptoms. These include cancer, rheumatism, sarcoma, pneumonia, diarrhea, TB, fever, herpes, neurological malfunction, weight loss, night sweats, rashes and swollen lymph glands. If HIV antibodies are detected, or the patient is seropositive, these diseases converge as AIDS; if not, they are diagnosed simply for what they are. Being HIV positive does not necessarily lead to an AIDS diagnosis.
Emotional block: AIDS is linked directly with self-love. It occurs when we are unable to love ourselves, and especially when we are unable to accept our gender, preferring to be born the opposite sex. AIDS, however, is not partial to either gender and ravages both heterosexual and homosexual populations.
Although many people still view AIDS as a sexually transmitted disease, in reality, it is a disease contracted by those who, because they cannot love themselves, compensate by embracing the illusion of love and acceptance on a sexual level. They live with deep-seated low self-worth and perpetual sense of guilt and disappointment that causes them to become dependent on others for self-validation. This, of course, always leads to disappointment. Thus, a cycle is created of guilt and disappointment that leads to self-punishment. They feel that an illness will neutralize the guilt. As they use sex to feel loved when they believe they are unlovable, to punish themselves they undermine their sexuality.
Mental block: If you will only begin to believe that you deserve to live, AIDS need not be fatal. Understand that every disappointment you’ve experienced is due simply to your unmet expectations about love. You’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places! Being loved is not the answer; you need to love, especially yourself. Believe enough in your own self-worth, in the extraordinary being that you are.
Your body is telling you that you must learn to love and accept yourself as you are, with a full and open heart. It’s interesting to note that AIDS patients are generally extremely sensitive and compassionate people with enough love inside them to fill the planet. Tap some of that wellspring of love for yourself! You must accept yourself and your sex. On the most profound soul level, you chose your gender to experience and learn powerful life lessons, whether or not they please those around you, including your parents. They have lessons to learn from you, too, including those surrounding your sexuality. You are meant to approach these lessons with love and acceptance, as you honor the choices your soul has made. The most important lesson is to see to your evolution and to grow in the soil of unconditional love. This is the only reason for being, for all human beings.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your being, refer to the Key Questions.
ASTHMA
Physical block: Asthma is an intermittent illness characterized by episodes of narrowing of the bronchial tubes of the lungs, resulting in a form of suffocation. Symptoms include pressure in the chest, wheezing, shortness of breath and often a feeling of panic. Between attacks, breathing is normal and the thorax is quiet.
Emotional block: If you are asthmatic, you will find you usually have no problem inhaling but have difficulty exhaling. Your body is signaling that you want to take on too much and have great difficulty delivering. You will not admit any limitation, even to yourself. You want to seem stronger than you are just to be loved by others. You also want things to be done your way, and when that doesn’t happen, an asthma attack is just the excuse you need to not be strong as you seem.
Mental block: Your asthma attacks are sending you an urgent message. The internal approach of ‘taking on too much’ is poisoning and suffocating you. Liberate yourself. Love and accept yourself with all your weaknesses and limitations. You are human; simply take your place in the human family. There is no need to overwhelm others with your feats or your illness.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refers to the Key Questions.
CANCER
Physical block: This is now a general term for more than 100 diseases that are characterized by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division. It may spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or the bloodstream. Read the following and realize that the part of the body affected by the cancer will give you a clue as to the psychological implications.
Emotional block: Cancer is the result of significant emotional wounding that was experienced in isolation during childhood. The most common emotional wounds that can manifest as serious physical diseases are rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, and injustice. Some people have endured a number or a combination of these wounds.
If you suffer from cancer, you’re probably a very loving person who wants to live in a loving world, so much that you completely repressed your feelings of bitterness, resentment, and even hatred towards one of your parents. You may even have blamed God for what you went through and still blame Him for the state of your life. These suppressed feelings are not even acknowledged, let alone dealt with and released, so they are left to accumulate and gather in the body, to grow every time something awakens the emotional wound. Once emotional critical mass has been reached, cancer will surface.
Mental block: Forgive yourself for having vengeful thoughts towards one or both of your parents. You are human; you’re allowed to suffer. Forgive and love the child in you who has suffered silently and who had no one in whom to confide.
Forgiveness is the great healer. The only thing your soul needs is love and forgiveness. Visualize if you will, all of your emotional baggage in one bag that you have carried with you all your life. It’s time to simply put down the bag. There is no need to punish yourself any longer or to feel guilty for having these thoughts. You must stop thinking that you’re unkind if you hate someone. You’re not unkind—you’re human. Self-forgiveness is the greatest challenge for the cancer patient.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refer to the Key Questions.
COMMON COLD
Physical block: A common cold is a viral infection characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the upper respiratory passages and usually accompanied by fever, chills, coughing, and sneezing. It is also called coryza.
Emotional block: A cold will often manifest as a result of congestion on a mental level, especially when there’s so much going on in your head that you don’t know which way to turn. You have the feeling that someone or some situation is either walking all over you or is being thrust upon you. You also get so caught up in unimportant details that you don’t know where to begin. This is frustrating for you because you want to see everything completed, even before you’ve begun. You’ve gotten ahead of yourself. The mental conclusion that results blocks your view of your needs and you are unable to live in the moment. It may be that there is someone that you just can’t stand; the cold is your body reacting to your wish to keep this person away from you.
Mental block: The most common misconception regarding a cold is that catching a chill will result in a cold. The more popular a belief system, the more influence it will have on society. Even if you are unaware that you have accepted a belief system, your body is in touch with your subconscious and reacts to the belief you have internalized. It’s interesting to note that, although popular belief deems that a cold can be caught, only those who believe it seem to catch one! It’s important, therefore, to stop letting yourself be influenced by the mainstream mindset. The more we stop following popular belief systems, the less influence they will have on a global level.
As every illness has a purpose, however, a clod serves to tell you that external forces too easily influence you. The onset of a cold is a message from the body that it’s time for you to let go; and stop worrying needlessly about every little thing. You don’t have to become insensitive in order to accomplish what you need to do. Blaming someone else or some situation for your discomfort is not the answer either, desensitizing yourself to distance yourself from them will not help you sort out your priorities.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refer to the Key Questions.
Physical block: I refer here to clinical or chronic depression. Common symptoms of depression include loss of interest and lack of pleasure in everyday activities, a feeling of hopelessness or despondency associated with exhaustion or loss of energy, loss of concentration, feelings of indifference, disinterest, discouragement, withdrawal and preoccupation. The depressive becomes completely self-absorbed and feels no need for help from others. They feel others should change, not themselves. Serious depression can lead to suicidal thoughts. Depression is often misdiagnosed as burnout.
Emotional block: If you are experiencing depression, realize that it is a state of mind to which you retreat in order to escape the feeling of pressure, especially emotional pressure. After many years of careful observation, I have determined that most depressive people carry unresolved issues with opposite-sex parents. This explains why it is common to blame their spouses for their depression. The resulting torment the spouse goes through was meant for the parent. By refusing to get help, you continue to feed the monstrous frame of mind a steady diet of bitterness and hatred that builds and increases the weight of the depression. This cloud of accumulated destructive thoughts and emotions becomes heavier and heavier.
The depth of emotional wounding determines the depth of the depression. Wounds of rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, or injustice set the stage for tremendous mental upheaval, especially if experienced in isolation. As young children, depressives had no one to talk to, to hear their questions and to share their anguish. If they do not learn to trust others, they will continue to withdraw and deny their desires.
Mental block: Since a depressive person doesn’t want to be helped, it’s usually the people close to them that want to help. If you are one of these people and have someone close to you who is depressive, I suggest you be quite firm with them. Tell them they are the only one capable of digging themselves out of the pit they dug for themselves and, thereafter stop trying to solve their problem.
Note to the depressive: The most important thing for you to realize is that depression is a result of tremendous emotional wounding, when young, on the deepest level, the level of BEING. You refuse who you are. You reject yourself and believe you are unlovable and unworthy because of the profound rejection of someone you loved and trusted. We all need nurturing and need to trust someone completely. If those needs are violated through rejection or abandonment, we will naturally be bitter, as we feel intensely alone and afraid. If you can understand that the parent or loved one that you feel rejected you were coming from their own pain and rejection; if you can learn to see them as fellow human beings and have compassion for them, you will have taken the first step toward your own recovery. It wasn’t a lack of love that caused them to reject you; it was their own wounded inner child that made them unable to express their love.
By connecting with the inner child of the person who hurt you, you will find that you are able to forgive them. The next important step is to get in touch with your own inner child and to forgive it for being angry and bitter. Love this child unconditionally to begin the healing process.
The final step is to talk openly with the person who hurt you about what you have felt. Tell them how you have carried all this pain inside, talk about the anger and the bitterness without judgment or accusation. Above all, forgive.
Once you have expressed your feelings, reconnect with your own self-worth. If this is difficult for you, ask others close to you to show you your positive attributes. It may seem superficial at first, but you will slowly begin to feel validated.
If you have been having suicidal thoughts, there is a part of you that wants to die in order to make room for a healthier, more vital part of you—your true self. You are confusing the part of you that wants to die with yourself.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refers to the Key Questions.
Physical block: Diabetes is a disturbance in the metabolism from lack of insulin secreted by the pancreas, or from its inability to function normally. 85 percent of adults diagnosed with diabetes are overweight.
Emotional block: The pancreas is the gland linked with the solar plexus, which deals with emotions, desires and all intellectual activities. Pancreatic disorders indicate an imbalance on the emotional level. If you are diabetic, you are often very emotional and have too many desires for yourself and others. You want everyone to have a slice of the pie. But you can also be envious if someone has more than you.
You are a devoted person but you expect much from yourself and others. You tend to blame yourself readily for others’ dissatisfaction. You also tend to expend excessive energy to respond to your needs. This behavior is caused by an inner sadness from an unmet desire to be loved.
Juvenile diabetes may manifest in children who feel insufficiently acknowledged. They are exhibiting an inner emptiness that seeks some form of compensation.
Mental block: Diabetes is a signal that you need to learn to let go and let things happen at their own pace. Stop trying to control the course of events. You need to realize that it is not your purpose to make everyone else happy. Others may not even want what you want for them, or they might not desire it intensely. Acknowledge all the goodness that flows freely in your life, become mindful of the moment and taste each moment in all its delicious glory. Don’t let yourself be distracted by what you may want tomorrow. Accept that, even though you may have been unable to fulfill a very important desire in the past, you still can enjoy smaller ones at the moment.
If you are a young child or adolescent with juvenile diabetes, stop thinking that you are the forgotten child. Find yourself and your place in the family.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refers to the Key Questions.
HEADACHE
Physical block: The following explanation applies to a normal headache not bigger problems such as migraines.
Emotional block: The head has a direct link with the I AM. If you have a headache (especially on the top of the head), it means that you hit yourself over the head with belittling I AMs. You accuse yourself of not being intelligent enough; you ask a lot for yourself.
You belittle instead of appreciating yourself. If you feel as though your head is going to burst, the message is to stop accumulating so much within yourself through fear of other people’s judgment of what you are or are not.
You may fear to be ahead, in other words being in front, being first or leading the way.
Having a headache, especially in the area of the forehead, indicates that you try too hard to understand everything. You should give your intellect time to accumulate enough data in its memory for your intelligence to be able to make a synthesis and better understand.
Mental block: Because the head is the seat of four or five senses, it is a very important part of the body. When it hurts, you are prevented from seeing, hearing, feeling, and saying clearly what meets your needs; this distances you from what you want to be. You’re being sent the message to get in contact with your real I AM, with who you are at the moment. There’s no point in forcing yourself to be what you believe others want you to be. No one in this world can be exactly what all those around them would like.
Your body is showing you that you should let go of your mental activity, stop wanting to understand everything mentally and just be yourself.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refer to the Key Questions.
Physical block: The heart acts as a two-way pump for the circulatory system. Its life-giving rhythm regulates the flow of the life force throughout the body. Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of death in North America.
Emotional block: It’s interesting to note that the heart is placed virtually at the center of the body. If you are centered, you are living from the heart in a balanced state of love and trust that is in sync with the natural flow of the universe. Your perspective is one of balance and you tend to listen to the mutterings of your own heart when faced with decisions. A heart disorder is the manifestation of the opposite mindset. If you are having heart trouble, you probably tend to take everything to heart or to take things far too seriously. You are not allowing for the proper flow in your life, whether it’s the flow of ideas, of love or of your very lifeblood. You are fighting the current of life to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion. You tend to deny your own needs and fulfill other people’s needs in order to be loved. You seek love through what you do for others. The main message associated with any heart condition is LOVE YOURSELF!
Mental block: Heart disease is an urgent message from your body to change your perception of yourself. There is a need for self-validation. Fill the wellspring of love within you by changing your belief that love can come only from others. Give yourself the love you seek and it will always be there; you won’t have to search for it.
Get in touch with your self-worth step by step. Begin by giving yourself ten compliments a day until you begin to believe them. You are unique and very special, yet your low self-esteem does not allow you to keep some of your goodness to yourself. Become whole emotionally and spiritually and your heart will heal as you begin to nurture it.
A healthy heart no longer fears being unloved. It is able to cope with disappointment, as nothing can disturb its equilibrium. You will continue to nurture others because you want to, not because you need to prove to yourself and others that you are lovable.
Spiritual block and conclusion: To uncover the spiritual block that keeps you from responding to the needs of your BEING, refers to the Key Questions.
OBESITY
Physical block: Obesity is an increase in body weight as a result of an excessive accumulation of fat in the body beyond skeletal and physical limitations.
Emotional block: Although obesity can be caused by many physiological factors, the psychological implications are related to a situation or person that humiliated you when you were young and you felt ashamed. You now live in a state of perpetual fear of feeling ashamed, making someone else feel ashamed or being shamed by someone else.
You have built a psychological wall around you—a barrier of fat to shield you from the demands and expectations of others. You probably have difficulty saying no and have a tendency to take on too much because you would be ashamed to say no.
You may feel sandwiched between two people; doing everything you can to satisfy both. You want to make others happy to prove that you are not ashamed of them. While doing this, you’re completely out of touch with your own needs.
It is also common to gain weight as a protective psychological barrier against the opposite sex. You may believe that your bulk will not be attractive to the opposite sex and you will, therefore, avoid being hurt, humiliated or emotionally abused by them.
Frequently, obese people want to take their rightful place in life but are uncomfortable doing so. Little do they know that they are already taking a lot of space in life, not only physically.
Mental block: In my observation, those with obesity are often deeply sensitive; they are unable to take a long, hard, honest look at themselves in a mirror. Are you able to really look at each part of your body in a mirror? It’s very important if you want to address your obesity and fully understand it. The ability to look honestly at your physical body is linked with your capacity to look beyond the physical to the real cause of this problem.
Experiencing the humiliation you did as a child has caused you to build a protective barrier to prevent you from being taken advantage of. You thought you could achieve your goals by being a ‘nice’ person and by taking on other people’s burdens. It is important for you to learn how to receive instead of always giving. Realize that receiving takes nothing away from others.
I suggest that at the end of each day you recount an incident that humiliated you or made you feel ashamed and determ
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