Daniel Isle Sky

(The following is an excerpt from my book, Healthy Living Spaces: Top 10 Hazards Affecting Your Health)

TOXIC STRESS 

Between my careers as an engineer and an indoor environmental consultant, before I leaned how to write hit songs, I was a handyman. I would do just about any type of work, not realizing the potential harm I was doing to myself. 

One time I found myself fatigued, sick and tired. And that was not my normal state, In fact, people hire me because of all my energy. That by itself was not unexpected. I had been working a lot of hours, from early morning until late at night. But I had blood in my stool and was so tired I just wanted to lie on the couch all day. 

During the previous days I had been cutting railroad ties with a gas-powered chain saw to build a retaining wall. Railroad ties contain creosote, a toxic wood preservative known as coal tar. It’s these chemicals that make railroad ties last forever and not grow mold. God knows what I was breathing in the big cloud of smoke that surrounded me as the chain saw struggled to cut through the wood, burning it. 

My doctor took blood tests and diagnosed me with anemia, one of the main symptoms of creosote poisoning. Even then, I suspected there’s an emotional aspect to every disease. I could just feel it. 

My doctor told me I had low blood counts and needed iron shots. My gut told me it was emotional. Were it not for what was going on in my heart and in my head at the time, I know I could have sustained the abuse I was giving my body. 

I took the iron shots. I ate a diet rich in foods high in vitamin B and iron and took supplements to help my body grow more blood cells. But I knew that until I addressed the emotional aspect of the illness I might not get better, or at least not be fully back to the strength and stamina I had before.

Louise Hay, a well-know author of self-help books, has a list of physical aliments and what she believes are the emotional issues associated with them. Reading the list is like a horoscope: for any given ailment, there’s an emotional issue that applies to your life in some way. Of anemia, it states. “A yes-but attitude, fear of life, and not feeing good enough.” Of fatigue it says, “what one does.”

To me this seemed true. I was unfulfilled working as a handyman. It was not my bliss and I was wondering what to do next. I was also in an unhappy relationship. When I addressed these issues I got better, my anemia went away, and I was able to go hiking again without feeling fatigued. 

It was after this I climbed a lot of mountains that had never been climbed before. It was the combination of removing myself from further exposure to toxins, taking the stuff my doctor gave me to boost my immune system, and embracing the new that healed me. 

GET RID OF IT 

You may not be able to change what’s going on around you but you can choose how you react. Don’t worry about things you can’t control. Don’t sweat the small stuff. 

Language is the most important factor.  Listen to what you are saying to yourself. Your subconscious is powerful. Whatever you tell yourself you are programming yourself into believing. What if you are wrong? 

When you catch yourself thinking about something that doesn’t feel good, stop. Say, “Cancel, clear, delete,” and choose a new thought. No matter what is going on around you, you always have the power to choose your own thoughts. 

Excepted from: NLP: Transforming Your Life Through Language by Gary De Rodriguez.

Tips for Being Free

• Imagine how someone you look up to, perhaps a favorite movie star, would handle him or herself in the same situation. How would they talk? How would they act? Imagine yourself with these qualities. 
• Visualize a color that will transform the current situation into what you desire. Feel the color penetrating every cell in your body. 
• When you are feeling stressed take a break and go for a walk. A short morning walk before the office helps put the mind and body at ease. 
• Boost your immune system and level of tolerance to stress by taking care of yourself, eating right, resting, and getting some exercise. 
• Avoid socializing with people who talk negatively. You get more of what ever you focus your attention on. Stop thinking about what you don’t want. Think about what you do want. 

Most people, if you ask them, cannot tell you what it is they do want. What is it that you want? Consider what the world will look like and how it will feel when you have it. What will be different? What will be the same? What is stopping you from having what you want? 

Don’t answer these questions until you have fully considered them. 

Now ask yourself, how do you know?