Just like a factory leaking chemicals into the river, judging yourself or others can be extremely toxic to your health.
Judgements are thoughts, which quickly translate into feelings.
“He shouldn’t have done that to me”, might translate into frustration or anger.
“If only I’d set off earlier we wouldn’t have had that accident”, might translate into sadness or guilt.
Once initiated, we replay these judgemental thoughts over and over. If, as often happens the thought was initiated way back in childhood, we’ve probably replayed it millions of times!
And each time the thought is re-triggered we experience the negative emotion.
Often the emotion arises so quickly we lose track of the thought that started it in the first place.
Eventually the emotion may manifest in the body, for example frustration and anger might emerge, as it did with a client of mine, as pain in the joints. By the time these symptoms manifest we’ve often no idea what’s causing the pain. It’s as if the chemicals have gone so far down the river, there’s no way of knowing where they came from.
How to get rid of the pollution in your river?
1. Clean up your river
There are many approaches to dealing with negative thoughts and emotions. I’m going to focus on the EFT approach, which my clients are finding particularly beneficial.
If you’re new to EFT, see my Quick Start to EFT.
It’s very easy: simply use the following Setup Sentences before you start a tapping round for a particular health problem.
Even though I <<insert problem>>, I forgive myself for any ways I may have contributed.
Even though I <<insert problem>>, I forgive all others for any ways they may have contributed.
These Setups work whether or not you’re conscious of any need to forgive. There’s no need to investigate, or re-experience old, painful events. However using these Setups, often gives people an unexpected insight into the origin of their health problem.
Give them a try!
If you’re not into EFT, use another way to forgive yourself and others for any contributions they may have made to your health problem.
2. Avoid polluting your river
Of course, it would be best not to pollute your river in the first place. Here’s a ‘preventative’ measure you can take to help ensure your future health.
Whenever you feel you’re starting to become judgemental of yourself or another person, bless them!
Pierre Pradervand points out that:
“It is impossible to bless and judge at the same time.”
The Gentle Art of Blessing, 2005
So by blessing someone you can move from a potentially negative thought and its consequences, to a positive thought and its consequent positive emotion.
When someone sneezes, we sometimes say “Bless you!” to “invoke divine care for them”. Most of the time it’s enough to say ‘Bless you’ quietly in your head. And do remember to bless yourself!
Jane Young was inspired by Pierre Pradervand’s book to make the following video: http://www.joy-tothe-world.com/Gentle_Art_of_Blessing_Movi.html
The Delicious Nugget: Judgements about ourselves and others, which may be entirely unconscious, can get locked into the body as physical symptoms. Forgiving is one way to resolve these judgements, while blessing helps prevents judgements from arising in the first place.
