Taurus: Think it, Be it

Are you ready to get healthy?

More than any other month of the year, Taurus grants us a greater ability to heal ourselves. In order to access this energy we first have to know with certainty that we have the ability to heal — physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I find myself surprised at how much resistance people have to the idea that we have the power to heal ourselves. ‘Surgery heals, medicine heals, I can’t heal myself.’ Certainly, doctors can help in the healing process, but what happens when you break a bone or pull a muscle? The doctor sends you home with the advice to rest it and let it heal. Your body (you) is mending your broken bones and eradicating viruses from your system, not the doctors.

The only perfect healer is yourself. Still don’t believe me? What do you believe in? Do you believe in hospitals? Suffering? Chaos?

Not me!

A study conducted in a suburban Pennsylvania hospital determined that post-operative patients with a hospital room view of trees and grass had shorter recovery stays and fewer complications than patients whose windows faced a brick wall. Other studies indicate that people with deeply held religious beliefs had better prognoses than their less devout peers. If something as simple as seeing a nature setting can enhance the healing process, why is it so difficult to believe that we do in fact have a great deal of control over our health and healing?

The way we think about our health affects our health. The old adage ‘worried sick’ is a very real thing that we all do to ourselves. Herbert Benson, a Harvard Professor & the President of the Mind Body Institute in Boston reports that surgeons are wary of people who are convinced they will die. Further, pre-surgical surveys reveal that close to 100% of the people who report wanting to die in order to reconnect with a loved one in the afterlife die in surgery. 10 years ago researchers stumbled on a striking find. Through surveys, they found that women who believed they were prone to heart disease were nearly 4 times more likely to die of heart disease than women with similar risk factors who didn’t hold such fatalistic views.

In other words, it had nothing to do with the usual heart disease indicators, such as age, cholesterol or obesity. It came down to their belief. Think sick, be sick.

Conversely, when you believe in your ability to be healthy and also your ability to heal yourself in the event of trauma or illness, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. In 1954, researcher Julian Rotter developed the concept of locus of control. (Locus means location.) This phrase refers to a person’s belief in whether they control their lives (internal locus) or if they believe that events and life outcomes are largely beyond their control (external locus).

Patients who were identified as having an internal locus of control (believing that they largely controlled their destiny) showed improved physical and mental health and a generally higher quality of life over those patients identified as having an external locus of control (believing that events outside their control were the overriding factor for how their lives unfolded). Internal locus of control patients suffering from HIV, migraines, diabetes, kidney disease and epilepsy fared better and maintained a higher quality of life than their external counterparts. Have certainty in your ability to heal yourself and think healthy to be healthy.

Healing is one of the great gifts of the month of Taurus because kabbalistically, Taurus is a month containing the duality of judgment and mercy. Taurus is ruled by Venus, the only inner planet with a clockwise rotation. Spiritually this represents moving from an energy of judgment to one of mercy. Judgment often manifests as illness in the physical world, whereas mercy aids in healing.

For those of you born under this sign, you tend not to be overly emotional or too sensitive. You value physical beauty and seek to surround yourself with comfortable, elegant furnishings. In love you are steadfast and loyal, if also stubborn. You have the innate ability to see the good in just about everything, as such you are not usually motivated to work on your tikkune or do spiritual work. After all, if it’s not broken, why fix it? The ultimate creatures of comfort, Taureans do not like to leave the safe bubbles they’ve created for themselves. Yet, another gift and opportunity of this month is to get uncomfortable and face our least desirable aspects in order to transform them.

The best tool we have for breaking out of our comfort zone is to share. Give of your time, money and love, but give until it is uncomfortable. Rav Berg often said, “The Light is your shadow.” Meaning, the way we behave is what the Light mimics. If you go against your nature, share ridiculously with others, then the Light will mimic your actions, making miracles of seemingly impossible situations.

THOUGHT INTO ACTION
Give, give & give some more.