We often have a strong feeling that we have had some former relationship with our patients. A few days ago, for example, a woman came to see us because of a dream. She dreamt that she came to our clinic and that we comforted her. The only thing which didn't make sense to her was that Judyth's hair was shorter than in the pictures she had seen of us. The moment she met us, she exclaimed, with relief, "You cut your hair! That explains it!" She felt very comfortable seeing us. She said she knew she was in the right place and trusted us from the start. We had a very powerful hypnosis session in which she realized that her cervical polyp was warning her that she had to nurture and love herself. She had dedicated her life to taking care of her husband and her children and others, asking little, if anything, for herself. The message that came through, loud and clear, in the hypnosis, was that her life literally depended on her learning to give to herself, otherwise she would die. How much better to find this out after being diagnosed with a condition as minor as a cervical polyp instead of cancer!

Underlying beliefs- We all hold powerful subconscious beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world. We have one friend, for example, who is convinced that everything in his life will go wrong. This script has made a strong impression on him since childhood. So, can you guess what his life is like? His life is a continual struggle. He never gets what he wants. He's always looking for a better job. His body doesn't function quite right. His life conforms to his underly-ing belief.

In the same way, many of us hold such beliefs about our own healing. We may believe, at a subconscious level, that we need to experience the same illnesses as our parents. Even though we may be vegetarian, get lots of exercise, and have relatively healthy relationships, we may program into our thinking that we will still get cancer, for example, at the same age they did.

We recently saw a woman whose mother died at 42 of kidney failure. Through hypnosis, this woman came to understand that her mother really died because she was exhausted. She raised five children, had no time to herself, and had no energy left to continue living. So, she found a way out. This patient had come in due to depression. She had just turned 40 and had two small children. She, also, was feeling that life was demanding too much of her energy. She realized now that, even though she felt much the same as her mother did, she didn't have to die to be healed.

It became clear that her depression was a danger signal to make the changes necessary to regain her vitality and happiness.

Another common belief is feeling unworthy of healing. Such a person may feel that others deserve healing more than they do. Or that they will never find a doctor who can really help them. Or that they should focus their attention on others rather than indulging their own health concerns. Or that illness and death is inevitable, so why should they expect help. Even though we may not express, or even have conscious awareness, of this subconscious programming, it may prevent us from receiving the healing we are seeking.

The magic of healing- In addition to all of the above, we believe that there is an unex-plainable, mysterious aspect of the healing process. This may play a part in what is commonly called "spontaneous remission" where one day someone has cancer and the next day it's gone. It's that special element which defies definition and scientific explanation. It's the miracle that many of us pray for and some of us receive. We wish you the best with your healing, whatever form it may take.