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The idea that our emotional, mental and spiritual state has an affect on our physical health is now widely accepted. Since Louise Hay’s Heal your Body, many books have been written relating dis-ease to disease, but what has not been examined to date, is the relationship between our habits and our general well-being.

We all have habits of one sort or another, (even if we aren’t always aware of them,) from common habits, like nail-biting, coffee consumption and procrastination, to lesser known ones, such as self-harming. When we find ourselves in stressful situations, we are inclined to perform our negative habits more often. That is understandable, but the question I asked myself when writing Healing Habits, is why do different people manifest their stress in different habits?

By understanding the answers to this question, we have the opportunity of gaining insight into our emotional issues that often, through the nature of the negative ego, remain elusive. Here is a guide then that in its repetition, is a constant tap from the subconscious to remind us where we have become stuck or what we need to let go of. Let’s take a brief look at insomnia, a habit most of us have suffered from at one time or another.
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Insomnia

When we sleep we loose control of our conscious actions and surrender to the subconscious. In this relaxed state, we ideally allow all aspects of ourselves to be rejuvenated and recover from the stresses we may have experienced during the day. However, what happens when we are not able to fall asleep? When we lie awake for lonely hours at night only to nod off as its time to wake up?

For those of us who find life threatening – full of potentially fearful situations and issues to worry about, surrendering our conscious control to the subconscious may be hard. If we loose vigilance for too long, some unexpected and scary situation may occur. So like soldiers on duty, we remain awake to keep our demons at bay. Sometimes the loss of control we experience in our dreams can be very threatening for those who perceive themselves in a certain manner – the very shy and inhibited person who dreams of running stark naked through a large crowd of onlookers, so we may attempt to control our dreams by unconsciously sabotaging our sleep. Because we are short of sleep we lack energy to confront and combat our fears and so it is easy for the negative self to assume control. Turning our negative thinking around requires effort which we don’t have and general pessimism may become depression. In order to suppress our fears during the daytime and evening, we may drink loads of coffee to stimulate our adrenalin to enhance our “fight or flight” abilities. As the effect of each cup wears off we reach for another, which means by the time it comes to sleep we are OD-ing on caffeine.

We may also attempt to deaden our fears by drinking several glasses of our favourite plonk,which certainly may lesson our concerns short term, but frequently will have us waking in the early hours of the morning, with our ability to overcome our fears more depleted. Pills are another way we attempt to escape from reality of our concerns as opposed to confronting them.

Restless leg syndrome is a common secondary cause of insomnia. Unlike the insomniac who is afraid of life in general, the Restless Leg sufferer is afraid of making a shift or change in their lives. The desire to move forward and the fear of doing so sets up a tension which is expressed in the legs. Other causes of insomnia as a result of a specific health problem, such as arthritis, backaches etc. are termed secondary insomnia. To understand this type of insomnia, we would also need to look at each physical problem.

As we get older the occurrence of insomnia increases. Physically this may be because we tend to sleep less deeply, but also because we feel more vulnerable and consequently fearful of the future.
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Healing

Obviously getting some form of exercise during the day, relaxing before sleep with a bath, music, meditation, visualization, massage, Reiki etc. and avoiding caffeine, alcohol and tobacco will all go a long way to assist in de-stressing you. However, curing insomnia may require you to confront your demons. Allowing yourself a specific short period of time to acknowledge all your fears instead of trying to suppress them, can be helpful in releasing them. Realize that insomnia has to do with fear and fear is opposite if faith and trust. So you will need to look at finding ways to improve your trust, both yourself and the Divine

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The Girl who bit her Nails and the Man who was always Late by Ann Gadd

‘The Girl who bit her Nails and the Man who was always Late,’ offers insights into the reasons behind the way we behave. Habits are a great way of understanding how we are limiting ourselves; and, here, the author shows us ways to change and release the issues causing our habitual behaviours.[su_nt_button type=”secondary” size=”small” url=”https://www.anngadd.co.za/portfolio/the-girl-who-bit-her-nails-and-the-man-who-was-always-late/”]Read More[/su_nt_button]

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