When you have been on this healthy wagon for a while (picture me, with a piece of straw in my mouth, being carted off to pick apples! ) you probably have come across suggestions that every disease or condition has an emotional link and that we need to work on clearing those emotional triggers and pains in our body to truly release the disease we are experiencing.
To be honest, when I first heard this it made me feel very upset. It made me feel powerless and attacked. I mean, who are these people to say that my issues are worse than theirs? Surely, we all have “stuff” from our past that influences our present life and why did my “stuff” have to supposedly present itself in the form of Endometriosis. Right? Besides, hasn’t Endometriosis been directly linked to Dioxins found in pesticides and fungicides which we have been spraying on our foods for years?
The funny thing was that the more I got told that my Endometriosis and my struggles with it were somehow linked to my emotions, the more it seemed to get my back up and make me angry. I think the reason it made me so angry was that I felt like people didn’t understand how much I had already been through with the condition and suggesting that I had created it seemed somehow daft and unfair. I especially hated suggestions that my Endometriosis was linked to a feeling of low self-worth. This one really got to me because surely we have all felt this on some level before and yet, we don’t all have Endometriosis.
One night I got really angry with a friend of mine who suggested that perhaps there was actually some truth to these statements I kept reading about. She suggested that I should allow it to be considered as an option because she knew a way I could clear that emotional feeling from my body which wouldn’t hurt or be horrible. She simply said, I should listen to my body and thoughts that come up when those kind of statements come up.
This is what came up for me:
- I felt powerless
- I felt like I was a victim of my own thoughts
- It made me feel guilty
- It made me hate myself and my body
- It made me feel weak and pathetic
- I felt like I could never get rid of it
- It felt bigger than me and out of control
Wow! Those were scary thoughts and feelings and I could see why I had resisted ever considering that my emotional pain would have anything to do with my Endometriosis being there or playing a part in it getting worse.
Emotional connections with endometriosis
I think many of us with Endometriosis get upset and angry when others suggest that we could be making Endometriosis by our own thoughts and emotional connections – our “stuff”. We already feel like a victim for having Endometriosis and the thought or possibility that it could actually be something we are doing to ourselves, is horrible. It is so much easier to focus on changing our diet, doing Yoga and getting that sense of control you get when you get to choose what you put in your mouth. With thoughts, they feel uncontrollable and so linked to our past. It is like our emotional stuff comes up when it feels like it and dominates us, without us having a say in it.
I recognised a few key things with my personal emotional connection and Endometriosis:
- Statements like “I am not enough” and “I am not worth it” created a feeling of pain in my body. Not specifically Endometriosis pain but when I heard those statements, I felt they were true on some level and made me feel sad.
- When I felt really stressed and that “I can’t do this” stuff came up, my Endometriosis definitely flared up.
- During extremely low points in my life, where I felt unsure and unhappy with myself, my Endometriosis got worse.
I also did an exercise where I looked at my past and when the Endometriosis developed and it was during one of the hardest times of my life. My father was shot and I had lost a relationship I was deeply committed to at a very young age – 19 years old.
The thing is, we will never really know how much Endometriosis and our emotions are linked. I believe they are and have found it interesting how much I hear stories which tie in with Endometriosis.
As much as I never wanted to admit or confront these emotions and feelings…. I eventually did and when I free’d them, it was amazing how much my Endometriosis pain and symptoms magically disappeared.
There is truth to this stuff. We just have to be willing to confront it.
Because of my experience, I have gone on to develop a program which fully supports women with Endometriosis and releasing their emotional pain from the body.
Do you believe there is an emotional connection with Endometriosis? Do these kinds of statements and suggestions get your back up? Feel free to share your thoughts.
Melissa
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