The Most Deadly Disease of All: Denial

No matter what the statistics show about Heart Disease or Cancer, or any other disease, the disease of DENIAL kills more people every year than any other disease. It isn’t just that it kills more people every year; it also maims, cripples, disables, and incapacitates more people and those close to them, than anything else.

Denial is the greatest stumbling block anyone can have. Denying that anything is wrong, making excuses, being a victim, and accepting the status quo will never move us towards a better life. We are either moving forwards or sliding backwards, there is no middle ground. Denial will always cause us to slide backwards and create a downward spiral.
To get beyond denial, it is required that you conduct an honest evaluation of where you are and how you got there. If you want to know what your choices have been, concerning life up to this point, take a good look at where you are at today. Your life is the result of all of the decisions that you have made up to this point of your life.

If you are overweight, don’t blame it on your thyroid – blame it on your lack of making a decision about not doing anything about your thyroid. If you have adult onset diabetes – you may want to take a hard look at your diet and how much exercise you get. If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, or a fungus under your toenail – well you’re getting the picture – what choices did YOU make that brought on the condition?

Developing awareness of your situation is the first step. Taking responsibility for the condition you have is the second step in getting beyond denial. Once you own the problem, then you can do something about it. If you give control to others, or to the environment, or anything outside of yourself, it becomes impossible to better the situation. It is only when you are making decisions about your life, making the choices that allow change to take place that your life can begin to change. It is only with change that your lifestyle will begin to improve. (This is not to say that you shouldn’t collect data and evaluate the information before you make any decisions. Intelligent decisions are arrived at only after collecting as much information as one can assimilate.)

The third step towards improving your life is moving into action. You can change the mind to change the body. Everyone operates from a belief of some sort. Too often a belief is labeled with a tag of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but in reality, a belief is only enabling or disabling. Enabling beliefs assist in moving us towards what could be called a positive direction – to a better position is life, better health, more abundance in our lives, and more faith in a Higher Power. A disabling belief might be considered to bring chaos or dysfunction into our lives, to take us in a negative direction, so to speak.

People practice simple disciplines or they practice slight errors in judgments on a daily basis. Are the choices you make constructive or destructive, are they enabling or disabling? Once you recognize and realize that the choices you make are just choices, (nothing more, and nothing less, only choices!) then you can start asking yourself: Are these choices mine? When you take responsibility for your choices, then you can start asking yourself: Will this choice I make put me in a better place or take me further into my affliction? No matter what you decide, at least you will know that you are making a conscious decision and not leaving it to the subconscious or the automatic pilot inside you.

A second way to approach action is to realize that we can change the body to change the mind. It is said that what is in the subconscious is scattered throughout the musculature. In other words, our posture is determined by our disposition and our attitude. By physically standing up straighter and adopting a different posture than you are accustomed to, will force a change in the attitude and affect your belief.
Whether you decide to change the mind or change the body, understand that the task that you are undertaking, while simple in concept, may be difficult to implement. Old habits die hard. We must continue to impress our new desires upon our bodies and minds to develop those new beliefs and habits.

There are two definitions of denial that I know of:

1. Refusing to believe, accept or acknowledge is the first.

2. The second is a river in Egypt – De-Nile

Feel free to chose the definition that works best for you. Acknowledge what’s going on in your life or continue to float down that river in Egypt – the choice is yours.
May you have tremendous success as you trudge the road to happy destiny. Some days it’s going to rain and some days you’ll have more sunshine than you can ever want, whatever the day is like. I urge you to stay on the path and find the real you. The YOU that you truly desire!

Michael McCright is a Holistic Health Practitioner, educator, coach, and motivational speaker. His website: http://www.bodymindconnection.com covers a variety of health concerns. Michael is co-producer of an informative and educational DVD: “TMJ Relief”. For information and holistic solutions regarding TMJ disorder, go to: http://www.holisticspecifics.com
© 2005 Michael McCright – Reprints allowed as long as copy is complete with last paragraph and copyright information.

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