Subscribe to Our Newsletter

First Name Last Name Email Please Retype Email

To View Newsletters
Click HERE

Understanding the Roots of Disease - Are You Living a Life of Delusion?

Are you overwhelmed these days? Do you generally feel exhausted and anxious? Do you think that you need to "multi-task" in order to get through the multiple pressures of the day? Do you feel like a slave to the infamous "things to do" list? You often wish you could just stop time- just so you can catch up? Living life in this way means running at a frenetic pace. Forget the concept of the "human being"; this lifestyle turns people into "human doings".

Most people would agree that life is moving at a much faster pace than it did ten or twenty years ago. With the advent of computers, electronic and other breakthrough technologies individuals actually have more to do, more responsibilities, more expectations with less support, less time and less money. These days, it is "normal" to see employees single-handedly performing the duties of 2-3 employees. It seems that every last drop of the lemon juice is being squeezed right out of the lemon. Then, once the employee is squeezed dry or burned out, they are replaced by another fresher and willing employee. This corporate system encourages professional burnout and is responsible for the increase in all stress-related physical and mental health problems that our society witnesses today.

The individual is left feeling depressed, exhausted, confused, inadequate, insecure and betrayed. Due to the chronic state of internal depletion, more than ever, people are indulging in "over-escapist" behaviors (e.g. over-eating, over-spending, over-sleeping, over-drinking, over-playing, over tv-watching) in order to have a distraction and give themselves the illusion of satiating themselves. Evidently, this is a vicious spiral, as these addictive behaviors only serve to increase an individual’s stress by adding guilt, shame and negative self-thinking patterns.

Furthermore, our performance-oriented rat-race culture has not only had the power to make people feel guilty and inadequate for taking a day off work, it has literally brainwashed individuals to "dis-connect" from their own basic needs, body signals, personal values, priorities, family, community, spirit and soul purpose.

This "dis-connection" is what causes "dis-ease" and "dis-orders" of all types. The following tells the story of an individual whom, in the process of trying to accomplish and please his family, sacrificed himself and ended up nearly losing everything.

Josh had been working 55 hour weeks for well over 9 months. He often worked through his lunch hour, and prided himself in being the first one to arrive at the office in the morning and the last one to leave in the evening. He was praised by his superiors and was promised a raise if he could increase his department’s productivity by yet another 20%. Josh stopped responding to e-mails from friends and calls from his relatives, as he didn’t have time to see them anyways. He slept a bare 4 hours a night as he thought, "sleep is a waste of time". He continued to eat quickly and whatever foods were "conveniently prepared". He became annoyed at his wife who begged him to spend more time with her. Couldn’t she understand that he was working so hard to keep her happy? It was only temporary anyways, or so he convinced himself. Often he felt so alone, and unappreciated and not supported by others.

When his 16 year old daughter was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, Josh couldn’t deal with that. What a bad time for a family crisis he thought. In order to cope with the stress, he started gambling. With time, he discovered that his wife was having a long standing affair. Josh started to get pains that did not go away. After postponing a visit to the doctor for several months, he finally found the time to go for his check up only to find out that he had a permanent health condition which required him to be monitored carefully and take medication. His health would never be the same, he was informed. It was only when he was forced by his physician to take a medical leave of absence that Josh took the time to contemplate his life.

He realized that he had fooled himself into believing that money would make everything ok in his life. His chase for the dollar and his "disease to please" caused him to disconnect with his wife, daughter, family, friends. He had denied himself to the point that his body experienced irreparable damage. He had completely forgotten about his life values and principles, and discovered that he had no life purpose. He now understood that he was on the verge of losing the things that were truly important to him. He understood that his multiple disconnections were directly responsible for his daughter’s anorexia, his wife’s affair, his multiple health problems, his financial strain and his current state of despair.

All too often, people change paths and life habits only once they notice that they have either lost or are about to lose something dear to them. It is only when they start the grieving process that personal growth can really occur. It is only in that state of "enlightened awareness" that an individual may begin to re-connect with him or herself, with his soul. This is why many people after receiving a serious medical diagnosis, or experiences a major life trauma will begin searching for meaning. They will seek to connect with their reason for being alive, their life purpose. They often turn to religion or spirituality to guide them to find these answers.

Following the principles of spiritual psychotherapy, it is believed that throughout a lifetime, the soul -that vital living spirit that travels in the physical body- seeks to direct its power on the individual carrier. Unfortunately, due to one’s busy-ness, and the loud voice of societal conditioning, this gentler inner voice is not heard or ignored. The soul often will give the person some messages that at increasingly louder and louder in order to get the person’s attention. The message being sent is usually about guiding the person back to a state of balance or back on track with its life purpose. Much too often, the gentler messages are not heeded, and that opens up the manifestation of dis-ease.

The disease process is often the only way to stop an individual when they are on the treadmill of life. It is this place where the individual can seize the opportunity to start questioning the path that he/she had been following blindly. When the individual realizes that he has been essentially deluded by society and his past conditioning, this can create the opening for real change and growth.

It is amazing to hear people who have been diagnosed with life threatening diseases say, "thanks to my cancer, I have a better life today." Even more alarming is that people who are on the treadmill of life will actually say, "I know I have to stop and make changes in my life, but I don’t have time right now." What will it take for you to make changes in your life? Do you deserve a life of freedom and happiness? If you answer yes, then what are you waiting for? What are you afraid of?

Be daring and come out of the delusion. Begin the path of living authentically. NOW!

© Stephane Bensoussan, M.A., Holistic Psychologist, 2007

Back

Now Available