After a remarkable 35-year track record of complete healing from a number of auto-immune and immune-deficiency conditions, I’m asked over and over who my doctor was. Not a surprising question. People generally seek other people’s guidance and often complete direction in areas where they don’t feel they have expertise: legal issues, health issues, repairing their automobile and plumbing – just to name a few that routinely challenge. My answer was not the typical response, it was simply, “I didn’t have one particular physician, in fact I didn’t use any conventional medical doctors for anything except the original diagnosis”.
Although initially I tried conventional medicine for my first auto-immune disease, rheumatoid arthritis, it only took 18-months of prescriptions on top of prescriptions to realize this system of care had no cure for a chronic condition; they’ll just medicate us for the rest of our lives. So, when I developed psoriasis, hyperthyroidism, leukemia (twice) and then neutropenia, I looked elsewhere. Those conditions were either chronic or their treatments were so drastic they, alone, could kill me. I went the natural route.
This was my strategy. My body had veto power over anything I tried and if my body responded positively, I continued with the supplements or crazy alternative therapies but if my body reacted negatively, I stopped whatever it was. I was always led to answers – I didn’t do extensive research about anything. Everything I used was natural, harmless and many eventually worked. Over time I was drawn to a number of books that guided my health and healing efforts or at least pointed me in the right direction. Today, they are considered classics.
So, if you are curious about how I got to where I am today – here’s the list of my favorite books with a brief description of why I chose each. With the exception of the first book, all were published decades ago but are still relevant and are a must for any healing library.
GET WELL – EVEN WHEN YOU’VE BEEN TOLD YOU CAN’T. OK, I wrote this one myself and still I have referred to it over and over since its initial publication in 2008. This is the first holistic handbook and may be the only one ever written. It manages expectations for anyone attempting a holistic healing journey (finding answers to whatever ails them – without drugs or conventional medical intervention). The book is process oriented not prescriptive so you won’t be told to eat broccoli, take a particular supplement or walk 3-miles a day.
YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE – Louise L. Hay. This book is the bible for those who believe there are emotional root causes for all illness, as I do. This book helps one learn more about healing on the emotional level, so the healing effort sticks. It lists countless conditions and provides a menu of negative emotions any one of which might be the core culprit. I never followed the affirmations it lists and found awareness was enough but many people do adopt those positive statements. I still use this book routinely for the conditions I haven’t memorized!
CANCER AND VITAMIN C – Ewan Cameron and Linus Pauling. Originally written in 1979 and updated (and watered down) several times, this book opens our eyes to the miraculous way Vitamin C helps people heal from cancer. This book introduced me to this incredible antioxidant, which I used to completely recover from leukemia, twice and which others I’ve known and loved have used successfully. This was a gateway book and I used dosages prescribed later by alternative physicians.
LOVE, MEDICINE AND MIRACLES – Bernie S. Siegel, M.D. The power of love and healing. A wonderful book to teach you to love yourself enough to make good choices regarding your health and healing. Siegel is insightful and delightful to read.
HEALING WORDS – Larry Dossey, M.D. The power of prayer and the practice of medicine. This book will help us all reconnect with the Divine and remind us how prayer works and how antirecessionary prayer creates miracles. Larry Dossey has written dozens more books, all of which are valuable.
GETTING WELL AGAIN – O. Carl Simonton, M.D., Stephanie Matthews-Simonton and James L.Creighton. This book ties everything together in the field of mind-body-spirit medicine from self-fulfilling prophecies, stress and negative energy affect illness to how visualization and affirmations can help – plus a dozen factors in between. Simply a great book.
SPONTANEOUS HEALING – Andrew Weil, M.D. which includes Weil’s list of what conventional medicine does well and what it does not. This book was a real eye-opener to me and Dr. Weil gave me permission to reproduce his list in my book.
CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD – AN UNCOMMON DIALOGUE. BOOK 1 – Neale Donald Walsch. His first book and the one book that helped me reconnect with God in a human and relaxed way. This book was not about healing; it was about spirituality (mind-body-spirit). I think this was Walsch’s most pure work. One cannot read this book without learning to turn over stresses in our lives and realize there is something much greater than we are.
SIMPLE ABUNDANCE – A DAYBOOK OF COMFORT AND JOY. Sarah Ban Breathnach. Daily meditations that teach us simplicity, gratitude and how to live a more rewarding life. This book is a real stress reducer and I have re-read it several times over a 4-year period.
There are so many author’s works I’d love to recognize but there isn’t space. So, I’ve listed author’s names in the next paragraph. Meanwhile, even though the books I did list are not current, they are classics and cannot be ignored. If one of the names below call out to you, that’s probably the author you should check-out on Amazon. When a person is drawn to a title or author or both, over others, those are the books that will help them. With the author’s below – their earlier works are the most breakthrough for people beginning this journey
Any of Edgar Cayce remedies published; Deepak Chopra, M.D.; Lendon Smith, M.D.; Caroline Myss, PhD; Christiane Northrup, M.D.; Judith Orloff, M.D.; Gladys T. McGarey, M.D.; Brian L. Weiss, M.D.; Inna Segal; Laura Alden Kamm and any encyclopedia for natural healing or home remedies.
We are led to answers to bring us perfect health and a much more perfect life.
I hope some of these suggestions will resonate with you. Happy Healing.
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