Day Two: A Book Can Change Your Life

Godmother Louise Hay

I remember sitting against pillows in my Grandparent’s spare bedroom when I was 16 reading “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise L Hay thinking I needed to get through it because my Reiki Master had recommended it was an important book for me. It took more than a decade for me to finally read the whole thing but it changed my life nonetheless.

The title got me half way to understanding the point of the whole book and I rolled with it.

I recommended that book to people all through University and beyond it, I just got more sensible about who I shared it with and when.

‘Healing yourself’ is a challenging concept until you’re ready to clear your mind and get back on your own path.

Esther ‘Abraham’ Hicks teaches that momentum subsides overnight so in the morning we have the perfect opportunity to reset and begin anew, refreshed and ready to redirect our focus and efforts.

I find it fascinating how the mere introduction to Louise Hay’s work at that point in my life, and those words, made a profound impact on the course and trajectory of my life. It was also poignant that I skipped over the exercises so that I could achieve my goal of finishing the book as quickly as possible, figuring I’ll go back to the exercises later but for the most part, the exercises in that book and many others remain untouched.

Yep, I’m just doing the best I can too.

I still consider that book a catalyst for my growth and evolution as a soulfull seeker.

The title captured it all for me because as an unpopular misfit with an eating disorder no one knew about, except the woman who lent me her copy of Louise’s book and my brother who heard me bringing up the junk food I’d binged on after school and vowed to tell if he ever caught me again, that one line told me I could change it all.

I knew my self-destructive patterns were just me getting in my way and yet it still took years for me to release my bulimic tendencies, and my willingness to ‘give it away’ so easily.

Low self-esteem was the cause of my self-destructive tendencies and that simple idea, that I had the power within myself to change things, was revolutionary in my world.

After meditating while washing the dishes this morning I realized it’s not about the book at all, but the introduction to a revolutionary leader of our time that changed everything for me. She demonstrated what is possible.

The late Louise L Hay is the grandmother of the self-help genre and her legacy is immense.

She founded Hay House Publishing Company to give more like minded authors and teachers a recognizable platform to get their message out there. She was connected to the best in the industry over the last 30 years and if she wasn’t, they wanted to be. She was a woman everyone wanted a piece of and she handled it all with grace.

Louise trusted in herself to move when she was called and she changed the lives of millions, if not billions through the reach of those who touch the lives of others because of it. Louise gave us all permission to say ‘yes I can!’ and made intentional and affirmative self-talk a popular practice.

We don’t actually need permission to express and experience more of our greatness in our everyday, but for some reason we feel better about it when we’ve been told it’s okay to be awesome without holding back. I learned a huge lesson about that from this very same Reiki Master and I’ll touch on that more another time…

You were born to be ‘Louise’ for someone but until you discover your own inherent greatness, they won’t know they can go for their desires because they haven’t’ seen the example yet; they are waiting for you. And no matter what you’ve been through, the only thing you can influence is the present moment, so just remember how your choices now are impacting your options in the future.

You can change anything as soon as you accept your own ability to do it.

I believe in you like Louise believed in the beauty of us all. Use that as fuel to go for what you really want.

Today, and all-ways.

Much love,

Laura JE Hamilton

PS. In University I took a Countercultures course and for my final report I chose the topic of Transcendentalism because of the “Heal Yourself Movement” that Louise brought into my awareness and helped to normalize culturally.

Normalization… we’ll talk about that sometime. With this 21 Days To Journey Through The Soul-F.U.L.L Warrior’s Quest writing series, I’m given a theme of the day each weekday so I don’t know if I’m going to write you tomorrow yet because we get the weekend off and I’m going to enjoy some time in nature, unplugged and detached from the pressure to perform. 

That won’t stop me from creating, writing, growing and connecting with other Heroes in Process like us, you just might not hear about it until Monday.

Breaks are important. Take them occasionally my friend, your health is worth it! <3

 

 

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