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We are taught that colds are caused by viruses and that you will catch a cold when your immune system is not strong. Some classic recommendation to boost your immune system is vitamin C, vitamin D3, and echinacea. Yet, why is our immune system sometimes strong enough, and other times not, despite following all the rules of getting enough sleep and maintaining healthy nutrition to keep up our immune system? Every physical issue has an emotional and mental component left out of the equation in the explanation above.
It is not a coincidence that you get sick with a cold. The common cold is linked to a conflict in our life, a situation of overwhelm or stress. Your mind might literally be speaking through your body by saying, “This situation stinks! I’ve had enough!” A cold can tell us that we are stressed out and need time off, or it can be connected to emotional issues.
Louise Hay points out that upper respiratory illnesses are related to “too much going on at once, mental confusion, disorder, small hurts” (L. Hay, Heal Your Body, 25). Sinus problems are an “irritation to one person, someone close” (L. Hay, Heal Your Body, 63). When I have a sinus problem I am usually annoyed with or angry at somebody else – or at myself. I need to acknowledge my anger and release it. A sore throat can be connected to “Holding in angry words, feeling unable to express the self” (L. Hay, Heal Your Body, 64).
Deb Shapiro explains that “colds, runny nose, and tears are all related—mucus and tears are both ways of releasing repressed or pent-up emotions. You may feel the same helplessness and despair, the same need for comfort. So, if you have a bad cold, you may want to see if there is some crying or grieving you are repressing, some deep feeling that has been pushed aside.” (Shapiro, Your Body Speaks Your Mind, 184) Some questions she suggests to ask yourself are: Do you need some time to yourself to adjust to something? Is this a cry for attention because everyone seems to take you for granted? Do you need to get ill to be taken care of?
Louise Bourbeau clarifies that “a cold will often manifest as a result of congestion on a mental level, especially when there’s so much going on in your head that you don’t know which way to turn.” (Bourbeau, Your Body’s Telling You: Love Yourself, 149) Our body can be quite literal. When we are “stuffed up,” our emotional “stuff” comes up. Key questions to explore the situation further are: What is this cold preventing me from doing or having? What is it allowing me to do or have? What am I experiencing, and how do I feel about it?
The phase of the cold when we have the symptoms is already the healing phase. Preceding that phase in which we are sneezing, and coughing is the conflict phase. This conflict can be an event in our life. Sometimes it is a major event like losing our job, the break-up of a relationship, or our pet dying, sometimes an event like a fight with our partner or being stressed about a situation at work. During this conflict, we are in fight or flight mode.
After the conflict is resolved, our body goes into recovery mode. The body needs to heal, and the symptoms of the healing are a runny nose, a headache, a sore throat, a cough etc. If the conflict is not resolved, we might find ourselves in phase two, having the cold symptoms as well, because we get so exhausted from the conflict that our body is forcing us to rest. However, if the original conflict or issue is not resolved, the cycle repeats, and we will get sick again soon. Repeating cycles of this kind can manifest in serious illnesses.
Another mental factor in getting a cold is our belief system regarding illnesses. Beliefs like “I always get a cold in February” or “I get three colds every winter” affect us as much as a positive beliefs like “My immune system is strong. I hardly ever get sick”.
Illnesses will never be completely extinguished, no matter how much scientific research we invest into finding cures, because it is the natural way of our body to communicate with us. To be healthier, we must listen to our mind speak through our body and respond to the messages. There is an amazing intelligence in this mind-body system which has the purpose of keeping us emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually well.
Are you curious to find out what your body is telling you through physical issues and how you can respond to those messages?
Book a session with
Angelika, 905-286-9466, greendoorrelaxation@yahoo.ca
You can buy Louise Hay’s book “Heal Your Body” from Amazon here.
Deb Shapiro’s book “Your Body Speaks Your Mind” is available from Amazon here.
Louise Bourbeau’s book “Your Body’s Telling You: Love Yourself” is available here.
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The best explanation! I have been into Louise Hay book “you can heal yourself” for many years but I will add this to my library of information. My niece has so much going on in her life. She is in High School. She had most of the symptoms last night. I let her read this. I love the part about the healing stage is when a body begins to show the symptoms. Love this! Thank you for sharing it to the world! I was going to inquiring about a job at the hospital but requirement was to get the following vaccinations, OMG! flu vaccine, MMR, etc. I have never taken any vaccine lately and never will. Thank God for people like you putting the real facts about colds, out there!👍 One pharmacy even offered “frequent flyer miles” if you get the flu shot. Now what does that say? Lol!
Reblogged this on Andrea Cullen and commented:
a wonderful piece about why we may fall ill to coughs and colds. Many speak a strong truth that I urge you to consider. x Andrea
This makes so much sense! I noticed the water element/emotional healing in my sudden development of runny nose, as I was/am at the same time ‘running’ a lot of water from my bladder. And I keep crying for no reason, whenever I read or watch something emotional.
This was truly insightful, thank you.
Thank you, Alicia. I am glad the article provided some insights. 🙂
Hi Angelika,
I’ve just written my own post on what I believe are the spiritual causes of the common cold and then did a quick Google to see if any others had already done something similar and your article came up. Your work on emotional release and need for self-care resonated with me and so I wanted to share my perspective with you, it’s possible that through a holistic, spiritual and synergistic understanding that this illness will one day disappear, whilst not actually being cured as it exists outside of this paradigm.
The link to my own short article is below, please feel free to incorporate anything into your own understanding.
Best wishes,
David
http://www.psychospiritualsupport.org/spiritual-causes-of-the-common-cold/
Hi David,
Thank you for linking to my article at the bottom of yours. I have read your article with great interest. Our views are certainly complementary. Thank you for reaching out.
Love & Light,
Angelika
Your mind might literally be speaking through your body by saying “This situation stinks! I’ve had enough!”
‘Stink conflict’ it’s called in ‘German New Medicine (GNM). Coincidence or are you familiar with this controversial dis-ease theory?
Here’s a link to a website where you can read up on it:
http://www.newmedicine.ca/german-new-medicine.php
As a site note, I’m sure that ‘beliefs’ and (resulting) expectations are always at work too – placebo/nocebo effect are just the tip of the iceberg. For this reason alone it’s worth it to change the ‘victim paradigm’ to an empowering paradigm (something modern medicine and ‘big pharma’, which are the same, really, are trying very hard to stop you from doing!). Besides that, it’s time to go from ‘fighting symptoms to real healing…
Cheers!
Thank you, Ronald, for your detailed response to my post. I hadn’t heard of the term “stink conflict” and appreciate you providing it.
All symptoms are messages for us and healing does not lie in suppressing the symptoms but in understanding them and responding with a whole body-mind approach.
Cheers, Angelika
Thank you! Much appreciated 💗🙏 I’m having a cold and this have helped me greatly in understanding my body.
I am glad to hear that. 🙂