The first step to undoing pain or illness is to identify the perceived source of your suffering or loss. This takes extreme honesty, since most people believe that stuff just happens to them from external sources and forces more powerful than they are. Germs jump on you from doorknobs, the flu is “going around,” Mercury is in retrograde, Leos are lost without an audience, the wealthy 1 percent is ripping off the disenfranchised 99 percent, karma from a past life has come around to batter you, core programming from dysfunctional parents keeps you downtrodden, or you just plain have bad luck.

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A Course in Miracles would say that all of these “causes” are not causes at all. Mind is the only cause, and body is the effect. “I am affected only by my thoughts” (W, Lesson 338).

Let’s consider some common colloquial expressions that indicate that someone or something outside you is causing your pain, disease, or loss:

·    “You make me sick.”
·    “You’ll be the death of me.”
·    “My kid is a pain in the neck.”
·    “My boss is a pain in the butt.”
·    “My ex-wife is a ballbuster.”
·    “This project is a real headache.”
·    “I can’t stomach that co-worker.”
·    “My boyfriend broke my heart.”
·    “My mother’s demands are suffocating me.”
·    “My kid’s college education cost me an arm and a leg.”
·    “The other team kicked our ass.”
·    “The economy is crippling me.”
·    “I’m sweating out this exam.”
·    “That movie is a real tearjerker.”
·    “I’m tired of your lies.”
·    “My statistics professor puts me to sleep.”
·    “She’ll talk you deaf, dumb, and blind.”
·    “Getting laid off was a real slap in the face.”
 ·    “The way he looks at me makes my skin crawl.”
·    “I’m itching to get out of this house.”
·    “Betraying my confidence was a stab in the back.”
·    “What do you want—blood?!”

While we might not think too hard about these expressions when we utter them, or argue that they are just “figures of speech,” they demonstrate how we use our bodily experience to play out the guilt and blame we project onto others and ourselves.

In the brilliant parable Jonathan Livingston Seagull, author Richard Bach states that your body is your thoughts in a form you can see. A healthy body mirrors thoughts of wellness. A sick body “outpictures” thoughts of illness.

If you believe others can hurt you, or you perceive value in touting your wounds, your broken body will tell that story. By contrast, if you understand that your happiness is independent of the actions of others, your body will express vitality.

Your body speaks in physical condition what your mouth is not saying with words. My friend Carl was unhappily living with a woman on the East Coast. He wanted to get out of the relationship, but he kept putting off making the break. At the completion of a business trip to California, Carl’s friend was driving him to the airport to return home. Suddenly Carl had pains in his chest and he felt faint, to the point that his friend had to stop the car to let Carl get out and lie down on a grassy area beside the road.

His body was speaking the unspoken statement, “I don’t want to go back there. Too much heartache.” That episode got Carl’s attention, and he ended the relationship.

Through bodily expression we give ourselves the messages we need to hear, and we communicate to others the messages we want them to hear. If instead we communicate directly and take the actions prompted by our inner guidance, we won’t need the body to express the words or actions our soul is calling us to speak and do.
 
Who’s the Matter with You?

Now we’re ready for an inquiry that will begin to undo your suffering:

Describe a pain, ailment, or illness you have now or have had, and then describe who or what is responsible for causing you that trouble.

Examples:
·    Backache: I have to work terribly hard to support my family.
·    Headache: The kids were nuts today.
·    Arthritis: My husband is keeping me in a box. I can’t move.
·    Urinary issues: My partner pisses me off.
·    Ulcer: Competition in my field could put me out of business if I don’t hustle.

Your turn:
What is your illness, pain or loss? _________________________

Person or situation responsible    _________________________

In all these cases, someone or something “out there” has cast your trouble upon you, and your ailment is the cross you bear as a consequence. The source of your difficulty might be a person, company, institution, economy, bacteria, religious faction, political party, government, or stellar alignment. Or the demon might be a more nebulous entity, such as neighbors in general, time, humanity, the world, or God. Yet the dynamic is always the same: Someone outside you, more powerful than you, has caused you to lose. ACIM tells us that even the slightest sigh is an expression of a belief in victimhood (W-167.2:6).

The Way Out

First, recognize that no person, group, situation, or condition has the power to take away your happiness. No one. No thing. Never. The experience of joy is your God-given right, a sovereign domain you alone command. “I have a kingdom I must rule” (W-236.1:1). People can try to remove your happiness. They can threaten you; criticize you; insult you; tell lies about you; try to frighten, intim­idate, or punish you; and do bad things to your body. But they cannot remove your peace unless you give them that power. Your wellness is God’s factory-installed gift to you, your inalienable birthright. If anyone seems to have stolen your peace, it is because you have allowed them into your sacred sanctuary and let them plunder your treasure. “. . . it does not seem I am [my kingdom’s] king at all. It seems to triumph over me, and tell me what to think, and what to do and feel” (W-236.1:2–3).