Written by: Christine Lutley, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Chronic pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia affect all aspects of our lives, but the most obvious effects are on the physical body.
Our physical bodies contain our lives and hold the memories and sensations of every joy, every bit of learning and wisdom, every skill, triumph, and experience. They also hold the memories, sensations, and feelings of every injury, wound, trauma, and abuse that ever happened to us. There is a lot held.
Chronic pain is a cry for help, and chronic fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout are signs of lost or stuck energy that need to be called back, unstuck, rebuilt, or replaced. Medication cannot fix these problems; but can only hide them, making it easier to ignore them and cause them to remain unresolved. If, and when, wounds and trauma pile up unresolved, we have failed to answer the cries for help because of not recognizing them, or of hiding them. Our pain and illness do not go away; instead, they get louder.
Invisible, Not Understood, No Test, Diagnosis by Elimination, Incurable
Many, if not most, of us with chronic pain and fatigue, be it from fibromyalgia or some other not-well-understood condition, pushed through repeating pain and illness for years, or decades, before it all became too much to bear, demanding our attention. Doctors test, one test at a time, and if nothing else tested positive in the process, when pain is the predominant symptom, they diagnose fibromyalgia (FM). If fatigue is the primary symptom, they diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). That is when most of us were told our condition is Medically incurable. When a medical doctor says it is incurable, that means it is medically incurable because medicine is their expertise.
There is no reliable test for it, no known cause, and no universal set of guidelines to diagnose or treat it, so diagnosing and treating it vary by country and often by whether medical insurance is private or public. Those with private insurance often have more treatment options. The pharmaceutical industry had some serious side effects with some medications, particularly pain killers, resulting in deaths and huge settlements and changes to what doctors may prescribe. Painkillers went to the streets and the War on Drugs got bigger with more people dying.
Curing versus healing
A cure is an external solution, in the case of health often surgery, medication, or physical therapy.
When working on our inner aspects, with or without the guidance of another, that is called healing. The healing happens from the inside out.
Our bodies’ chronic cries for help are not for medication or some external cure, but for changes that only we can make. But, we have been conditioned into believing that there is a pill for everything.
Only we can make the changes to our daily habits to cause our wellness and our transformation.
Only we can change our nutrition and hydration habits.
Only we can get the right amount of exercise to lift our mood, do our cardio, keep our muscles strong and flexible, and make us feel good, without overdoing it.
Only we can change our self-talk to keep it loving, respectful, and helpful, not harmful.
Only we can heal our inner wounds.
Only we can identify our limiting beliefs and change them.
Only we can identify and release energy that isn’t ours, protect our energy from being drained, prevent ourselves from giving away or otherwise wasting our energy, call back our energy, and rebuild our energy.
Only we can ensure we get enough sleep, in an environment that is comfortable for sleeping, without distractions and blue light from electronic devices.
New Results Require New Actions
New results require new actions. If we keep doing as we have been doing, we will inevitably keep getting the same results. If we want different results, we need to make changes. If we want transformational change to create a healthy new us who can live the life we want, we need to change our daily routines and habits.
We must create healthy habits, heal our old wounds and coping patterns, correct thinking errors, and reframe our limiting beliefs so they become true, our own, and helpful, and we need to accept, forgive, and love all aspects of ourselves.
There are among us, those who have found a way to live well after fibromyalgia because we have healed ourselves. A holistic and spiritual approach is needed. There is truth to it. And there is a science to it, too. Changes to our habits build new neural pathways, physical structures in the brain, that get stronger with repetition. Following new habits become automatic and easy.
What catalysts do you need?
About 25 years after I collapsed with what was later diagnosed as fibromyalgia, I returned home and witnessed my mother’s suffering and death in severe pain and with dementia. Having just turned sixty-five, it became clear to me that I must create a new life for myself. That firm choice and a vision for the future, were the catalysts I needed to put all the pieces together and heal. Having been work-disabled since 1996, and seeing myself as statistically the next family member to die, it was time for me to get back on track to a good life. My Mom had grieved Dad’s death and she did well on her own, selling the family house and moving into an apartment she could manage on her own, after nearly 60 years of marriage. She inspired me to prove I could take care of myself, too.
I had managed to pick myself up and create a new life before. In fact, my move to Hawaii came after leaving an abusive husband. I remembered the assistance of Bob Proctor in that success, and I started to study coaching. Before long, my energy was up and I spent long hours learning to coach. Actively doing something I loved, focused on creating a new life, was very healing and I decided I’d like to help other women like me, women with fibromyalgia. Before long, I was feeling little pain.
A Spiritual Healing Approach
My first introduction to truly holistic healing (healing for us on all levels) was in Hawaii ‒ a spiritual approach to healing our four bodies: physical, mental, emotional, and energetic. Meditation was key component. Healers worked on others with touch healing, sharing love. Love is the energy of God and unconditional love is very healing. While I did not heal quickly or completely from that early learning, it got me on my healing journey, studying and learning different approaches to healing and to spirituality.
After I studied coaching, I decided I’d like to help women like me, with fibromyalgia and with a history of trauma and abuse. I created a spiritual, 4-body program to do that and decided to teach it to women to heal themselves. The healing process grew into a formula which I called “Fibro Freedom Formula”. The formula is:
4AAB = (PB + MB + EmB + EnB)S = ∞
In words, that means 4 awakened and aligned bodies, the physical, mental, emotional, and energetic bodies, to the power of
Spirit equals Infinity or Limitless Potential.
I knew I wanted to teach others to learn to do this healing to and for themselves and so the delivery method became “You Healing YOU”. The full program name because Fibro Freedom Formula: You Healing You. It is a hybrid program with recorded lessons, weekly coaching sessions with healing modalities, demonstrated Live, on Zoom, and with a private community of participants on the learning platform.
Doing this work, I have continued to heal myself and have had the opportunity to help others on their healing journey. It has been a blessing.
Recently, I became certified in a conscious education program becoming a Magnetic Mind Certified Coach to help others become conscious creators of their health and lives and I look forward to adding that to the live component of the work. I’ve learned about business and marketing by doing it. Zoom and tech became obvious ways to learn and to work during the pandemic, and now, I find myself seventy and active and healthy, working again, post-disability and post-retirement aged, and delighted to help many others do the same far more quickly and affordably than I did.
I encourage you not to accept the limits that others place on you, not for another minute. You deserve better. If I can do it, so can you. I love to help.
Christine Lutley, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
The doctors diagnosed Christine with incurable fibromyalgia. Accepting that & their medications, she was work-disabled for 20 years. She became interested in spirituality & healing. 20 years later, on her 65th birthday, having witnessed her mother’s suffering & death with dementia, she decided she must create a new life while she still could. She focused on what she most wanted & used a spiritual 4-body healing approach. She not only healed herself but created a repeatable process to help others heal themselves, called Fibro Freedom Formula: You Healing You. Get supportive advice and learn from one who has walked in your shoes, so you can learn and be coached in peace, without any anyone telling you that you are making this up, or that fibromyalgia is incurable. The last thing you need is to be misunderstood because of this invisible illness.
