Book review: How to Say Yes When Your Body Says No by Dr. Lee Jampolsky
Ten years ago, I purchased this book thinking that some day when I get older it would come in handy. Good thinking! I am sure many of you have had health scares, chronic illnesses, or have not reacted well when the body showed signs of aging. During those times, this book, “How to Say Yes When the Body Says No”, by Dr Lee. Jampolsky can be very helpful.
Often when my body has not cooperated with my plans for my life, I would get worried, anxious and even catastrophize about it. At those times I would just open to any page, read a few paragraphs and immediately the author’s sage words calmed me down and got me out of my funk.
The author, who is a psychologist, experienced health challenges including severe hearing loss that led to his healing journey and writing this book through which he shares all that he learned along the way. Dr. Lee Jampolsky states, “This book has one primary purpose: to help you find freedom, health, growth, and spiritual solidity during even the most challenging physical condition by helping you become aware of your inner teacher, our undisturbed core and depth that is always available to us and is the source of true well-being, when we learn to listen to and trust it. I call coming to that awareness saying yes to Life.”
Dr. Lee Jampolsky goes on, “Saying ‘Yes’ to life does not mean “positive thinking” or New Age Healing but is based on research in the field of Health Psychology and specifically how emotional and cognitive factors contribute to health and prevention of illness. The first step was to ask what I was telling myself and believing about my health challenge, and what my thinking and beliefs meant about how I would live each day. My second step was to make room for my emotional reactions without overanalyzing them, which meant I needed to let myself be a mess sometimes.”
Saying yes to life is about moving from thinking your situation is horrible to seeing if there is something you can learn from it and allow it to be an opportunity for growth. There are many empowering exercises and meditations in this book to help you get to that place.
For example, there are 15 principles for saying yes to life which I found useful to contemplate. He suggests working with them one a day or one at a time. One of the most helpful to me was, “Your health challenge is not the source of your upset; your thoughts and beliefs about it are.” Personally, I accept that we can do something about thoughts and beliefs. Right?
Dr. Jampolsky goes on to describe all the emotional permutations of fear, anger, blame, and self-judgment we go through when given a difficult and challenging diagnosis. He also points out that most doctors are too busy or unskilled to be emotionally supportive, and how we can comfort our inner critic even as we experience painful emotional reactions, anxiety and fear. In addition, we can extend kindness to the doctors and technicians who are helping us, and other patients who are sick, which gets our minds off ourselves and our pain.
“The earlier we begin to realize our inner peace has nothing to do with outer circumstances, the sooner we will begin healing instead of suffering.” - Dr. Lee Jampolsky
Dr. Jampolsky encourages us to find meaning and purpose in whatever is happening and to give ourselves permission to be with all the emotions that come up instead of telling ourselves that we should or should not feel this or that. He writes that, “The earlier we begin to realize our inner peace has nothing to do with outer circumstances, the sooner we will begin healing instead of suffering.” Reducing our resistance to what is, reduces suffering. He encourages mindfulness of what is going on with our thoughts and emotions because any experience of suffering is the mind ceasing to remain in the present moment.
This book is full of gems. For example, he writes about how not to be a victim and how to shift into being a learner regarding your health. He also goes into explaining what are “health enhancing” and “health inhibiting” beliefs, how to develop positive presence despite having an illness and how not to be preoccupied with the body and what is fear-based thinking versus life-centered thinking.
I cannot say enough to recommend this book. It has been a great source of learning and comfort to me. May this book help you in your healing journey.
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