You Are Not Your Illness: Seven Principles for Meeting the Challenge

by Linda Noble Topf

While serious illness, injury, or disability can physically alter the course of your life, it can also cause great emotional upheaval. It is not uncommon to feel anger, frustration, grief, fear, and denial as you try to accept a new way of living. As you lose your ability to do things you once considered routine, you may even feel that you are losing your self-worth, that your physical condition is threatening your identity. Through a step-by-step process designed to show that real healing has little to do with the state of the physical body, Noble Topf offers a compassionate and inspirational message to anyone whose sense of self is threatened by physical limitations.

Genres: Psychology

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 1995

About the author

An MS patient since 1981 and an advocate for disability rights, Linda Noble Topf has been an ordained minister since 1984, a spiritual and wellness coach, professional speaker, design and marketing entrepreneur, wife of 35 years, and a published author. She is dedicated to assisting others in seeing that chronic illness, debilitating injury, or any kind of adversity in any stage of life, can be viewed as a spiritual awakening, and an opportunity for personal growth.

Linda has lived with illness for over 30 years, but her intrinsic inner health has taught her that dealing with illness means more than getting rid of it. Linda has a natural inclination toward growth; so rather than forcing transformation to happen because of her physical challenges, she created ideal conditions for natural transformation to thrive. She identified key qualities she could focus on and strengthen/cultivate within herself, and used these core strengths to bring forth for herself a new transformational, creative experience of self-expression.

Reviews

[Holly Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile guide to coping with chronic illness. Other reviewers complain they have read it all before. Frankly, I think those of us struggling with chronic illness need frequent reminders that we are not the illness that affects us. I for one am constantly fighting my illness, when acceptance is what is needed. Yes, Linda Topf's book is repetitive, but I needed the repetition. Yes, the book is a slow go, but I needed time to absorb the content and was happy to spend a couple of months with it. Topf, a multiple sclerosis patient, encourages us to accept what is, appreciate ourselves, and care for ourselves. She gets it and gave me coping mechanisms, one of which is a great quote from Walter Cronkite,
"And that's the way it is."

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit repetitive, but many good points made.

[Rosalía · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very much like many of the "positive attitude" books that got popular in the late eighties. It had some good tidbits and quotes but I felt that I had read a dozen of these books before. If you are unfamiliar with the Eckart Tolle/Jack Canfield/Tony Robbins stuff, you may not find your mind turning to boredom. It was okay. I just feel I've seen it all before.