Psychological Life Changes

This article is about psychological life changes. It's the first
necessary step before sustainable lifestyle changes. Life changes
refer to the psychological non-physical changes. Lifestyle changes
refer to the physical changes like changing diet, exercise, detox,
and all things related to the physical whole body. Real life
changes must happen first because without it, lifestyle changes
would be unsustainable, and just a mechanical exercise in coping.

Real life changes begin with honestly assessing your psychological
self. What is your attitude about your health? Do you look at your
PN as some punishment, some horrible disease to scorn? Or a disease
you can learn lessons? Do you want to optimize your health? Or do
you just want to do the minimum to get rid of PN symptoms? Do you
look at PN symptoms as warning signs you need to heed? Or do you
look at PN symptoms as something to suppress and forget? Do you
feel any responsibility for your PN? Or do you feel it happened for
no particular reason like it was just a spontaneous flare-up? Are
you glad you have warning symptoms that allow you a precious second
chance to make a difference? Or do you feel you have plenty more
chances to make a difference? If you decide to make some lifestyle
changes, do you TRULY AND WILLFULLY WANT to do it? Or will you do
it reluctantly and begrudgingly? Be honest with yourself because
your answers to these questions will give you an idea where you are
psychologically, and whether you are truly ready for lifestyle
changes.

All of us know there are some things we should do, need to do, and
or like to do. But some of us still don't do it. Some
procrastinate, or do it halfheartedly, without purpose or focus.
Why is that? It's because real life changes have not occurred, at
least not enough to change your psychology to the point where you
TRULY have the right attitude, the right belief, the commitment and
discipline necessary to sustain the lifestyle changes ahead.

How do you get to that point of real life changes with real
psychological transformation? I don't know what it will take for
you to make your psychological life changing transformation. But I
can tell you what it took for me to make the psychological life
changes, necessary to sustain my lifestyle changes.

My most important reason to make the psychological life changes was
I TRULY AND WILLFULLY WANTED to get well, so I got rid of any
excuses, useless laments, and rationalizations. Instead of looking
for reasons not to do something, I found important enough reasons to
do the things I needed to do consistently. My will to heal is the
difference.

If one is looking for reasons not to do something, one can fill in
the blank _________with almost any reason or rationalization to not
do something. However, if one is truly motivated to do something,
only one reason matters. I was fortunate to find more than one
reason to make meaningful life and lifestyle changes and I'm happy
to share it with you. May you find your reason(s) too!

I believe all of us have the ability to do the same things or
similar things I did, and continue to do. But not all of us have
the same will to truly heal. It's easy to say you really want to
get well. But do you really have the will to actually do it with
commitment and discipline? Your attitude and actions hereafter,
will answer that. These were the ten main points I felt at
different times in my healing journey. Some points were more
pivotal and important to help me make my psychological
transformation.

1) I was not afraid to fail since I knew failure is the mother of
success. My first choice was Allopathic medicine because I naively
assumed they had all the answers. I figured they must have a magic
pill or cream, a quick easy fix for me, and they would not require
too much out of me. What a big MISTAKE for me!! But, it was
nonetheless a very important lesson. I needed to try enough
Allopathic medicine, and fail, before I was satisfied that current
Allopathic medicine would not cure me. I needed to psychologically
let go of Allopathic medicine before I could fully embrace Non-
Allopathic medicine. The practical side in me guided me towards
Natural Healing because all I needed to ask myself was, "Do I have a
better option to deliver safer positive results?" My answer was and
is no, so there was nothing more to think about but to go forward
with my best option. That's simply practical.

2) I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I felt very
vulnerable because my doc or derm was controlling my health
decisions and I had no idea whether they knew what they were doing
or not. That's a very sad state of powerlessness. There was also a
point in my life when I considered suicide, and those thoughts
really scared me. I started thinking about my family, my friends,
and my employees who work in my companies. Suicide would be the
easy way out, but what a selfish thing to do since many of these
people depend on me. I knew I must snap out of it, if not for me,
then for the people in my life. I've always been successful in most
of the major things I've done in my life. Yet this challenge with
PN was very humbling. I could not think or control my way out of
PN, because it controlled me. At one point, I was even desperate
enough to consider some dangerous drugs like Thalidomide,
Prednisone, Protopic, Cyclosporine, etc. But after researching
these drugs and realizing how potentially dangerous it can be, I
knew if I took these drugs, it would be psychological suicide for me
because it meant I gave in to my desperation. For me, suicide is a
physical death and taking these dangerous drugs is a psychological
death. But there was a ray of hope.

You see, after experiencing these emotions, I never wanted to feel
so vulnerable, so powerless, so scared, and so desperate ever again.
Therefore, I decided to learn as much as I could about PN and
surround myself with knowledgeable and experienced people to help me
with research. Armed with research information, I felt empowered
with confidence to take control of my health and healing. Reading
and understand the research information was not enough. The
difference was actually using the information and taking action.
This challenge motivated me to make the psychological transformation
because I didn't want to return to this depressing state again.
Frankly, I don't think I could psychologically or physically survive
a return trip to this depressing state. The practical solution was
to use these negative emotions as motivation for positive change,
which is what I did.

3) I found more important reasons to get well other than just for
me. Parents will relate to this point. There are parents out there
who would do just about anything for the good of their children.
They would sooner do something for their children before they do it
for themselves. What are your important reasons that go beyond just
you? I challenge you to find these more important reasons because
it can help you to make psychological life changes so you can truly
have the right attitude, belief, commitment and discipline aplenty
to sustain the lifestyle changes ahead. Remember, your family share
in the morbidity of your PN. If you will not do it for yourself,
they do it for your family.

4) What we believe is very important psychologically. There are
plenty of studies about the positive belief from the placebo
effect. In an ICU, when a person truly believes they will recover,
they have a better chance of recovering because their belief is not
only psychological, but biological too. When they don't believe,
they lose a very important tool in their healing in terms of the
placebo effect.

5) Closely related to belief is your attitude. I realized that
having the right attitude is my MOST IMPORTANT psychological tool.
Your attitude shapes your beliefs, which determines your actions,
which leads to your results. Start off with the wrong attitude and
it will cascade you towards the wrong results, just like starting
off with the wrong question will lead you towards the wrong answer.
Regardless of our circumstances, we all have control of two things,
our attitude and actions. You choose what attitude and actions, and
your results will follow. If you look at the people who have made
significant improvements, unquestionably, their attitude and actions
played a very important role!

6) I also found strong enough reasons WHY to make these lifestyle
changes. Call it a promise to myself. I promised myself that if I
could get back my health, I would never take it for granted ever
again. I would seize my precious second chance no matter how much
work and effort it took to maintain it. My WHY was just simply
keeping my promise!

7) Sometimes in life, we look for guarantees, or an assurance that
the work, the effort, and our commitment will pay off. Some people
want 20/20 hindsight so they could know the outcome before they
decide whether they will do something or not. Perhaps you can say I
took my first step towards Natural Healing only by faith, since I
did not know I would be where I am today. But don't you realize we
all live by faith every single day of our life. When you get into
your car to start it in the morning, how do you know it will start
for sure? When you drive on that road, that freeway, that bridge,
how do you know it's safe and will not collapse? The answer is we
don't know. During a typical day, there are plenty of examples of
things we do, where we don't know exactly what the outcome will be,
but we do it anyway. Since you demonstrate you can have faith
everyday of your life with your daily activities, then just extend
that faith towards your health and healing.

8) I also changed my perspective to focus on whole body healing,
instead of just the PN symptoms. Since you are what you focus on
most frequently, I didn't want it to be just about PN symptoms
anymore. My perspective needed to expand, since my previous narrow
focus on just PN symptoms with Allopathic medicine failed me.

A man complains about not have shoes, until he meets the man who
does not have feet. I'm not saying that you should find joy
comparing yourself to someone less fortunate than you. But, the man
was able to change his perspective once he changed his focus.

I think about all those people who died of heart attacks, and other
diseases with little or no symptoms, and wonder how many of them
would have gladly welcomed some warning symptoms to give them a
precious second chance to make meaningful changes? One man's curse
is another man's blessing. The difference is their relative
perspective. Once we can step back and expand our perspective on
our disease, it's amazing how many more things we can see
differently, and in many cases, more clearly.

My perspective also changed because I realized the paradox, where
Allopathic medicine was still treating PN like an external skin
rash, when all along, it originated internally. Dr. Wayne Dyer
clearly illustrated this paradox with a funny story. During a power
outage, a man lost his keys inside his home. He tried to find his
keys but the darkness inside his home made it difficult. Later, he
saw one streetlight still on across the street. He decided to go
outside, across the street, to search for his keys. He thought it
would be easier to find his keys under the streetlight. A person
with common sense would realize this paradox and ask, "Why would he
search outside under the streetlight, when he lost his keys inside
his home?" Isn't this paradox similar to what some people are
trying to do with Allopathic medicine, by searching for an external
solution to a problem that started internally? Once I saw the
paradox, changing my perspective was the common sense thing to do.
Remember, you cannot solve a problem if you don't even see the
problem.

9) I also needed to develop enough patience to do Natural Healing.
When we grow up with microwaves, drive thru restaurants, ATM, etc.,
many of us just don't have much patience. One reason Allopathic
medicine is a preferred first choice for many people is because it
appeals to their impatience. It's attractive and appeasing for some
to think there must be a magic pill that allows us to take a short
cut and provide a quick fix. Some people think why bother to work
so hard to heal diseased organs when you could have a quick fix with
surgery to remove the organ? And why bother to address the root
causes of a disease when you could pop a pill to suppress symptoms?

We really cannot put all the blame on Allopathic medicine because in
many cases, they're just giving the patients what they want. I have
enough common sense to realize that I got myself into this PN mess
with years and years of unhealthy lifestyle habits. It's
unrealistic for me to expect to heal overnight, or in a relatively
short period of time compared to the amount of time it took to
create this problem. Therefore, I knew I needed to have enough
patience if I wanted to successfully do this safely, properly, and
comprehensively. Alkalizing, Detoxing, Balancing, Optimizing all
takes time. Just like one cannot hurry love, one cannot hurry
healing. All of us have our own unique healing timetable. Once I
psychologically prepared myself to be more patient, and had a more
realistic expectation for my healing timetable, I had more enjoyment
with my healing journey.

10) My last point is purely practical. After the Allopathic
failures, I needed to find healing methods I could use safely and
sustain indefinitely. With Allopathic medicine, there was always
this lingering question about safety, about the advisability for
long term uses, about dangerous side effects, etc. I didn't want
the next method to carry such lingering questions, so it was just a
practical decision for me to choose Natural Healing.

I cannot say that if you do what I did and continue to do, that you
will have the same results. You have enough common sense to know
that we are all different people, with different associated health
problems, different healing responses and different healing
timetable. I made a practical decision to go with my best option.

The remainder of my website have many articles covering lifestyle
changes in details. When you are ready, these articles will give
you the guidance you need to continue your healing journey. Good
Luck! I hope you read, understand, and apply the lessons I shared
here to your own situation, so you too, may experience your
psychological transformation, necessary to sustain the lifestyle
changes ahead.