It has come to me that the cigarettes didn’t kill my parents. It was the Stuff that they didn’t deal with – what they pushed down inside themselves instead of getting out. Whatever that they were dealing with didn’t get out, because they didn’t do the work necessary to process it.

A healthy life isn’t about avoiding bad things. It is about learning from them, and letting them shape you into a stronger person. It is about becoming resilient and flexible to events, and letting them go through you.

The message that I’m getting is that diseases are the result of unresolved trauma – not bad lifestyle choices. It is tied together however.
A difficult event happens.
It needs to be dealt with.
You don’t know how, so you reach for a substance – cigarettes, food, alcohol, drugs.
The disease (dis-ease, a sense of not being at ease) is the manifestation of the unresolved trauma – not the result of the substance abuse, however.

There are examples of people who exercise, eat right, meditate and STILL get cancer, heart disease, or other chronic illnesses.
There are examples of people who smoke and drink every day and they live to be very old with no ill effects.

Jesus said to his disciples that if they were acting in accord with the will of God, they could handle snakes and drink poison and they would not be harmed. Now, the mountain folk who take that seriously and test it out in their worship services are of the opinion that if you die, you are making life easier – why live if you are not living for God?

This is a work in progress – a different way of viewing things. I don’t have all the information yet. But I know there is something here, because this message keeps coming to me. Please think about it. I will add more when it comes. If you have any input into this, please feel free to add a comment.