Viola Schöpe

The diagnosis of a symptom, particularly one that may be considered life threatening, can be a shock, with many strong emotions coming up for the person involved. Before any decisions are made in terms of how to proceed, the fist step should be an emotional acceptance that the symptom exists.

Acceptance is not defeatism. It is not to say that by accepting the fact that the symptom exists, you are accepting that it will continue to its apparent logical conclusion. Emotionally accepting that the symptom exists simply gives you a starting point, from which you can decide what you want to do about it. You thus begin in a clear space. The symptom exists. It has been diagnosed on the physical level, as the result of some kind of physical examination. That’s a fact.

If someone has been diagnosed with a condition described as terminal, they have been given a medical opinion based the result of some kind of medical physical examination. It is important to emotionally accept the medical diagnosis, which is the point of view of the medical establishment about the condition of the physical body at the moment it was examined. It is also important to understand that the prognosis, the prediction according to the medical point of view about where the symptom may be heading, is an opinion based on the diagnosis. Any doctor will agree that getting another opinion is not only reasonable, but recommended. You can then see if there are differing opinions, or an agreed-upon diagnosis and prognosis.

If there is an agreed-upon prognosis by the medical establishment, if a number of doctors agree that this is the prognosis, the perceived eventual conclusion of the symptom, the person involved needs eventually to be clear with it. The person needs to accept emotionally that what the doctors have predicted is a distinct possibility. It might happen, and from the doctors’ point of view, is very likely to happen. You do need to emotionally accept that as a possibility. Once that is accepted, you can then consider other possibilities.

An axiom among people working with their consciousness is that when you put certain pictures into your consciousness, you improve the probability of them happening. If you have a fear of something, you continually put into your consciousness a picture of that thing happening. You are saying, “I do not want that to happen.” The picture is clear. The fear of that happening is like glue attaching you to that picture.

If you have fear about the prognosis, you hold that picture in your consciousness, and according to the dynamics of consciousness, you increase the possibility of that happening. If you are afraid to hear the doctors’ opinion about what might in fact actually happen, you need to do something to release the fear, and thus dissolve the glue.
When you have emotionally accepted the possibility that what you have been afraid of might actually happen, you do dissolve the glue by releasing the fear, and you are then more easily able to hold your attention on what you want to happen, holding that picture in your consciousness, rather than what you have been afraid of happening. You get clear with the symptom, and the diagnosis.

What happens next is up to you, your decision.

You can decide to follow the traditional medical approach and work with medical advice and treatment. You can also decide to work with alternative or complementary approaches, and also with your consciousness. The methods do not have to be considered mutually exclusive. You can use whatever makes sense to you, whatever it is you feel good using, in order to do something about the symptom.

From the book "The Inner Cause" Martin Brofman Published by Inner Traditions USA