The Inner War
The post might also have been titled "When Your Body is at War With Itself".
Have you ever had the experience of picking up a book and thinking,"not much here," only to return to it later and find all sorts of valuable ideas. That’s the case for me with When The Body Says No.
Recently my coach suggested that I might find some value in When The Body Says No as another of his clients had found it immensely. I thought, why not? Funny the title didn’t even ring a bell. It was only when it arrived at my branch library that I realized I’d leafed through it before.
Today, I finally had a chance to read a bit. I gravitated to Chapter 13, "Self and Non-Self: The Immune System Confused", as I knew FMS was sometims considered an auto-immune disorder.
It was like reading about myself — except in multisyllable, medical language. The case studies were mirrors of my life: childhood abuse, perfectionism, repression of anger, role reversal (where we become the parent to the parent), and hyperindependence.
In this chapter Mate explores how these characteristics result in the immune system turning on the body — "they will attack the body tissues they were meant to guard. Allergic reactions or autoimmune diseases may result." [Mate]
The result: we get sick, sicker, more and more pained until we pay attention. And, do something about it.
One of the simplest things we can do is to simply do something for ourselves. This may be one of those simple things that is hard to do, by the way.
But, do something for yourself.
It doesn’t have to be big. But, it does have to be just for you.
