The cure for the common cold or flu?

Thanksgiving Gripes… Love, Peace and Light Meditation

The cure for the common cold or flu?

Downside of having a cold/the flu/whatever other bug: Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, all that other really nasty stuff…

Upside… Warm soup, someone taking care of you, an excuse to do nothing, cuddly warm blankets, hopefully an extra hug or two.

A few months back, I caught some nasty bug that swept throughout my family in a matter of days. It wasn’t pretty, you probably know the type. I don’t want it ever again. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies (I don’t have any worst enemies, but the phrase conveys the point! Lol)

I mean, truly, awful 24 hours, I’ll skip the details for your sake.

But… the warm soup was nice…sitting on the couch watching TV knowing there wasn’t anything else I “should” be doing was nice….asking my wife Brenna for every little thing I needed (foot rubs included, gosh do they help) was nice…

And as I started to feel better, you know that moment when it’s passing and you are SO grateful for ordinary being without the pain and discomfort, I said to Brenna, “I’m actually feeling a lot better. The nausea has gone away and I’m getting some food down, but can you still take care of me a while longer?”

She laughed at my honesty and said, “Of course!” and we actually had a great discussion about how neither of us needed to feel awful to ask the other person for help, or to be nurtured a little bit extra.

It was a wonderful moment of clear communication, and also of acknowledgement of our needs, of what’s stressing us out, of what’s contributing to our physical state.

I’ve had several experiences of working with people who had colds/flus/ and so on; in fact, my first experience working with my sister Jessica was around a sore throat and sinus headache. She thought I was nuts telling her to tap all over her body to help with her symptoms (and part of her thought it was a practical joke as well…I’ve got a little history of that…).

But when we drilled down to what was really going on in her life, the stress she was experiencing, her throat stopped hurting and her sinuses cleared in a matter of minutes! (I detail the whole story and wider implications for it in my book here)

Now, I don’t think tapping magically kills cold viruses. I don’t think tapping can stop a 24 hour stomach bug in its tracks. But I do believe that being aware of the stress in our lives, of our emotional needs, and tapping on them, can keep the immune system strong and healthy and able to fight these bugs off in the first place. The connection has been studied and clearly established: Stress, of virtually any sort, depresses our immune system.

So when we acknowledge what we need, when we have that warm soup or extra hug without being sick, when we tap on our stress, overwhelm, anxiety, whatever is going on, our immune system can stay strong and resilient. And if we do happen to catch that bug, tapping can be extremely helpful on the symptoms, on the nausea, the pain, and so forth.

So take a moment to acknowledge what you might be stressed out about, and take just 5 minutes to clear even a little piece of it. Feel how when you let it go, your immune system strengthens, your body relaxes, you feel at peace.

Well, this email has taken a fair bit of energy to write, so I’m going to go see if I can get a foot rub from Brenna…or at the very least an extra hug…or that incredible chicken soup she makes…