The Holistic Wisdom Journal  

May 15, 2001 ~ Articles In This Issue...

~ Special Guest Author- Brad Rosenberg: "Defining Your Dragon"

~ Holistic Tips On Addictions

~ Honoring Our Pain Improves Our Psychic Ability

Defining Your Dragon

By Brad Rosenberg
Special Guest Author

Each one of us has a struggle, an obstacle to overcome. Some of them are minor and are mere annoyances. But, some are giant fire breathing Dragons that challenge not only our strength, but our courage as well. These Dragons stand in our way, preventing us from moving on with our life, making us hesitant to grow. They make us more willing to sit, stagnant, on the side of the road with blinders on, pretending not to see the dragon before us. Every time we want to progress forward, the dragon snarls and belches flame, reminding us that it is FAR more difficult to move forward than it is just to stay right where you are, or worse yet, head back the way you came. There are times when we gather enough strength to fight our way forward, only to be turned back, farther than when we started, exhausted and badly hurt.

Recently, I have been trying to come to terms with an eating disorder that I have. I am a binge eater. It seems so strange to even write now, as not a year ago, I never would have admitted that I had any problem whatsoever, other than I was fat. I find it very difficult to even write about it now. I was over 500 pounds, and gaining. I was refusing to see my Dragon. I knew he was there, but I didn't want to deal with him. It was one morning; at about 4 AM when I was eating a sandwich in my kitchen that something inside of my head simply said enough. There was no parting of the heavens, there were no trumpets playing, there was no voice of God, simply one word echoing in my head: enough. The next day, I began my journey forward. But what about the Dragon standing in my way?

I fixed my gaze on what I thought my Dragon was, and began attacking. I attacked the part of me that craved the comfort of the food. I attacked the fact that I was weak for needing this, and I attacked the person in the mirror for being so disgustingly fat. Every time I thought about eating, or comfort, I would attack that with all of my wrath. After all, it was my weakness that got me here; it was my need for comfort, right? Well then ATTACK AWAY! I beat the hell out of myself, hating everything that I had become. Guess what? That wasn't my Dragon. As a matter of fact, that was my Dragon fighting back.

My Dragon wasn't my need for comfort. We all need comfort, we all need to feel needed and loved, especially by ourselves. My Dragon wasn't my eating at all. My Dragon was the part of me that would attack myself every time I tried to heal. It was the only thing preventing me from moving forward. All along, the tough love that I would try to give myself, was hurting me more, and moving me backwards. In fighting this Dragon, I needed to focus in on the part of me that needed that comfort, and love, and attention, and give it what it needs. I needed to gently come face to face with the tender child that I have been abusing all this time. The tender, shy, scared part of me that reached out for food when it didn't find the comfort it needed; the same part of me that I would attack when it did get comfort from food. Basically, I needed to fight my Dragon with love and kindness toward myself, something that I have not allowed in years.

I have made progress, but my battle is far from over, but for the first time, there is a small ember inside of me that is growing. It is more addictive than any food, or drug that I can remember. Its warmth is comforting the part that needs comfort, and giving strength to the part that was once weak. For the first time in a very long time, I have hope, and it is a wonderful feeling. As I lose weight, I face all the emotions that were hidden by my eating, and each one requires a tremendous amount of courage and strength, but with the help of hope, this uphill battle is no longer impossible. I am far from perfect, and I do slip now and again back to my old ways, but those times are shorter, and farther in between. I have lost 150 pounds since I started, but the numbers don't tell the whole story. It isn't what I have lost, it’s what I have gained: Self-respect.

So, the only piece of wisdom that I can really pass along to those of you that struggle with your Dragons, be sure you are fighting the Dragon, and not yourself.

Holistic Tips On Addictions
By Lisa S. Lawless, Ph.D.
Holistic Wisdom C.E.O.

An addiction can be defined as an overwhelming craving for a substance or behavior. It is usually most associated with drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. However there are many people addicted to food, work, sex, and other "non-drug" activities. Holistic therapy embraces the concept that an addiction impacts us within our mind, body, and spirit, not just mentally or physically.

It is important to understand that addictions to anything stem from a much deeper cause then just a deep yearning for the substance or activity. The addiction begins with an emotional pain or discomfort within us that needs to be comforted or that you desire to escape from, rather than coming to terms with what is truly ailing you.

Sometimes this emotional pain is unconscious and it is difficult to even comprehend what is driving our behaviors. Yet it is important to get in touch with our pain to allow it to heal. It does not mean that we have to trace our addiction back to age four, when our father yelled at us, or at age seven when a class mate made fun of us. Usually an addiction is not based on one painful event, but a string of many, that we have shoved deep within us. The way we learn to cope with pain is as important, if not more important than the pain itself.

If we grew up believing that we needed to smile when we were sad, or say "I'm great," when we weren't, or simply deny our pain or sorrow completely... then we were well on our way to a life of being dishonest to ourselves as well as others. When we can be true to our emotions, and honor them my allowing them to surface, then we further the opportunity to nurture ourselves through healthy coping that enhance our growth.

Addictions are truly overwhelming, and one of the best things that one can do to heal an addiction is to seek support. Making your addiction "real" through acknowledging it and being vulnerable to a compassionate person who can provide you with support during your healing process is a very powerful tool. Whether you seek holistic counseling with us through our Holistic Life Counseling sessions, or if you simply reach out to a friend, or local support group. Remember you are not alone... there are many people going through similar pain and the same addictive behavior.

Please note that addictions to physical substances such as drugs and alcohol should always be treated first by a registered medical physician. Serous physical problems must be treated immediately.

In addition to support here are some herbal remedies that may be helpful-

Chinese Herbalism:
~ Alcoholism: excess "heat" within the body can be cleared from the lung and liver with watermelon, or kudzu.
~ Drugs & Alcoholism: green tea assist in healing the damage done to the liver.
~ Food Addiction: Spleen dysfunction requires cutting back on dairy, carbohydrates, and sugar. Lightly steaming vegetables, and eating whole grains will assist with excess "phlegm."

Herbalism:
~ Oats: will calm you and assist with will power.
~ Skullcap & Valerian: calm the nervous system and will assist with withdrawal symptoms.
~ Cramp bark: aides in nervous tension and jitters.

Aromatherapy:
~ Antidepressant oils include: chamomile, clary sage, ylang, ylang, and rose.

Flower Essences:
~ Crab apple: for purification
~ Gorse: For being stuck in a negative pattern
~ Mustard: for depression with an unknown cause
~ Olive: particularly good for recovery from drugs and alcohol

Vitamins & Minerals:
~ Vitamin B: especially with alcoholism
~ Amino Acids: especially with alcoholism
~ Primrose Oil: Provides GLA (gammalinolenic acid) to assist with mood swings.

Honoring Our Pain Improves Our Psychic Ability
By Lisa S. Lawless, Ph.D.
Holistic Wisdom C.E.O.

Children have an innate ability to intuit things that are going on around them. They sense when things are going well, and when things are not. One of the strongest abilities of a child is to speak their truth. Too often adults, due to their own insecurities, and repression, try to convince children that they need to repress their feelings, their thoughts, their intuition.

A child asks their father if he is sad about getting a divorce from their mother. The father replies "We don't talk about that." The child can sense his sadness. Is it wrong to sense it? Had the child done something "bad" by wanting to share their intuition about his feelings with him? Of course not... but it an example of the many times that children are told that familiar phrase "We don't talk about that."

This is a phrase many families have. We have been taught and we teach our children to avoid feeling, and talking about emotional pain. Why not talk about the truth, about what is real? Isn't that what allows us to grow, to evolve, to feel love? While respecting the importance on personal boundaries, and appropriate timing, I also believe that we need to stop repressing that which is painful and talk about it. If we can not acknowledge our pain, our regrets, our mistakes... how can we begin to heal?

Why are we so afraid to be vulnerable about whom we really are? We are all human beings who are beautiful and full of potential, while we struggle in our own crap! Yes, we all do. We all screw up, fail others, ourselves, make mistakes, and we continue to do these things all the time. We do it, our parents do it, our friends do it, our co-workers do it, who doesn't? That is the great part of life!

How can I say that? I say it with a smile on my facing knowing that it is those horrible experiences that we inflict on others and have inflicted on us, that provide us with the opportunity to evolve. How can we know happiness if we never know pain. How can we understand someone else's pain if we haven't even gotten in touch with our own? How can we deeply love someone and be loved without exposing our wounds, dirty deeds as they divulge theirs? We can't!

We have not come into this life to experience nothing but joy, peace, and harmony. We came into this life to experience all of who we are, and all of the emotions of the spectrum. We have come into this life to experience, love, hate, compassion, jealousy, giving, greed... Seeing a pattern here? We have to integrate, accept, and love all of who we are. If we don't we are fragmented little parts... all of our pieces feeling alone, isolated and afraid. Afraid to admit what is painful within us, what is real.

Now, some of you may wonder what repressing our thoughts and feelings have to do with being psychic? Well, what doesn't it have to do with it? When we learn not to express ourselves in a way that honors the truth, we lose our sense of self. We lose the ability to trust ourselves, our thoughts, our feelings, and yes, our intuition.

One of the biggest obstacles I find my students have when they are learning to enhance their own intuition is trusting themselves. The more we can heal... the more we can trust ourselves, the more we can experience the divine intuition that we have within each of us. The universe is calling to us to be whole, to be healed, to trust and to hear that which is our soul's guidance... our intuition.

Thank You For Reading The Articles Contained In The Holistic Wisdom Journal

...Namaste
(I honor Spirit within you,
as you honor Spirit within me)