How Chronic Illness And Toxins Exacerbate Trauma

Introduction and Guest Background 0:00

I am so delighted you are here today. That you are here for you. You are here for your own self-healing, your own wisdom, your own growth, your own transcendence. And by choosing to join this time together and the community of people who is prioritizing those things. You're making a declaration saying, I'm here for me. I'm here for my own healing. I'm here for my own well-being. I'm putting in time, energy, attention to this part of my life, and I am committing to my own highest good. So you showing up here is powerful.

It's a statement of your commitment to your own transcendence. And I'm so grateful you are here. My guest today is Lorrie Rivers. She's the founder of the Heal Advanced Recovery Program. And you can find her at LorrieRiversholistic.com She has been an EFT tapping practitioner for over 20 years and is also certified in Trilogy coaching. Lorrie helps people to holistically and gently overcome chronic illness by addressing trauma, hidden infections, toxins and more. Again, her website is LorrieRivers holistic.com Lorrie, it is so good to have you here.

Thank you. Dawson, I am just so excited to be here with you. I was so moved to read your story of recovery from not one, but more than one long term chronic illnesses. And, I, you know, as I was talking to you before we we went live here. I was just struck by how much energy you have and how much vibrancy you have. And then the story about how you crashed is, is so powerful. And then losing that and then regaining that. Please do share that story with us. Sure. I'll go to the most, charged part of it, the most dramatic part of it, because there have been various iterations of it over the years.

So I actually, we were talking before the interview about being kind of born with fibromyalgia. so that was something that I experienced off and on throughout my whole life, but I just kind of took it as that's normal because nobody could figure out what what was wrong or,

Lorrie's Chronic Illness Recovery Story 2:50

you know, in and out of hospitals as, a child and doctors and all those things. But the, the thing that really hit me, kind of the crash that you're talking about there is that I developed right out of college. I developed severe what's called ME/CFS So if they're if you're in the US, you probably know it as chronic fatigue syndrome. If you're in Europe, you probably know it as myalgic encephalomyelitis. And what that did is that it took me from living a very active life. I was actually working on major film sets and pursuing a, you know, a career at that point and in film.

And it took me from doing things like that and running three miles several times a week to being bedbound, having to have my father feed me, having to have my boyfriend carry me to the bathroom, and, and I experienced that for a about ten years. And so that's how I spent my 20s. Now, I wasn't bedbound for that whole time, but it was off and on for for a good bit of that. And, you know, I'm I'm also very humbled in sharing that experience because I'm sure that some of you who have joined us here have had similar experiences or, you know, maybe even more difficult experiences.

So so when I share that with you, I certainly am not saying that, you know, my suffering is more than yours or anything like that, but I think it is a, beautiful learning place when we have these intense experiences. So for me, I did come out of that. I started coaching people with, chronic fatigue syndrome. Just a couple of years into that, I started doing tapping with them. That was one thing that I could do. It was on the phone at that point because the internet was just a baby, you know, and, and I found that I was getting some relief from using the EFT tapping or meridian tapping, and that and some of my clients had huge shifts, much bigger than than what I was experiencing.

So anyway, I did, you know, I worked with people over those years. And then after I got, well, I continued to coach people with the EFT tapping. But more and more people started coming to me with chronic illnesses. And then when when the pandemic hit, I actually developed long Covid and I went, all right, and, and early on, and it felt almost exactly. Well, it did feel exactly like the chronic fatigue syndrome, just with some different flavors. And so I went, all right, but my, my. Inclination is to go out and see if doctors who are familiar with chronic fatigue syndrome think that this is going to end up being a part of the pandemic.

And they did. And sure enough, more and more people started coming to me with long Covid. So I developed the HEAL program. what I found within that was that the EFT, you know, addressing trauma, addressing emotions is key. Nervous system. Right. All these things also addressing hidden infections. Every single person who comes to me with these chronic illnesses has hidden infections as well. Because the immune system is compromised. So whether it started with trauma compromising the immune system, which we'll probably talk about later or, or if it started with a pathogen or something else, these things all work together.

So that's that's my story. And did you then recover fully from long Covid? Yeah. Long Covid only took me eight months to fully recover from because I knew what to do. So I followed my own program. yeah. And and that's what I teach other people to do so that they don't have to take so long. They don't have to take the ten years that it took me to heal from the from the ME/CFS around. And then with a new person. How do you know whether it's trauma, whether it's that hidden infection? What is the way you are able to figure out what the origin is of the condition?

Yeah. And, you know, I would actually say that it's always a combination. So we just start from there, you know, we know that they're going to be doing more than tapping on trauma, even if it's little T trauma, it still builds up over time. And if it hasn't been properly processed then it's going to affect us physically. There are always pathogens that are in there. So we always address that. They're always toxins. Because if if somebody has chronic symptoms and then their body isn't able to properly take care of the pathogens, isn't properly able to take care of the toxins.

So yeah.

Trauma, Hidden Infections, and the HEAL Program 9:00

So that's just something that we know is happening. Yeah. You know. And I guess as you start to to look for it, you can see what that trauma is, how it shifts them. And then when people I'm just really curious about this because I've, I've wondered this myself. When they shift trauma, does that affect the pathogen. Because, their biochemistry is changing. And what I do know a lot about. So I don't know the answer to that question at all. Lorrie, what I do know, though, is when we tap and we shift our brain function, there are literally hundreds of downstream genes and hormones and enzymes that our bodies are shifting as we release those imprints, of trauma.

And so that's changing the biochemistry of the body, and I would assume making it less hospitable to pathogens. Absolutely. Let's can we talk about cell danger response here? Because I think this really put it, illustrated really well. So the work of Dr. Robert Naviaux, he coined the term cell danger response. what happens in a cell danger response is something that is actually a good thing. But for reasons that we'll talk about, it can get stuck so that our bodies are in the cell. Danger response pretty much all the time.

so let's talk about the mitochondria in the body first. You probably learned in school, as I did, that the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cells and of our bodies, right? Yeah. Yeah, ATP and the whole energy cycle. Yeah. Right. Absolutely. What we weren't taught and what we now know happens is that when the cell danger response is triggered and this can happen from trauma, it can happen from just stress in general. It can happen from pathogens, from toxins, from all these things that we know are negatively affecting us.

Right? But especially if we are not well equipped to deal with stress, then it sets off all these things, shut off the cell. Dangerous response. So in an ideal situation, maybe we're exposed to a virus or something like that. And so the cell danger response starts. Here's what happens on a cellular level. When that happens, the mitochondria actually leave the cell. They stop producing energy. Their new job now is to signal the body's signal. The immune system that it needs to fight something. So we don't have the mitochondria producing energy.

So, you know, you might think about when when we are dealing with a virus or something like that, we get super fatigued. Right? That's a big part of the reason. And typically what happens is there are several phases in the cell danger response and the body is able to go through all these phases in order to move to the next phase. The the the body has to know that certain things are being taken care of. Right? So in an ideal situation, it completes all those phases. It comes back to a normal healthy cell and the mitochondria comes back home and starts producing energy again, where we get into chronic illness states is if the body enters cell danger response for whatever reason and gets stuck in one of those phases.

And that's what happens in chronic illness. So the mitochondria are still out here signaling the body. we need to fight something. We need to take care of something. And they're not able to provide that energy. And then there are other other things involved in this getting stuck in inflammation and things like that. So when someone has not fully processed trauma and the nervous system is ramped up or in freeze state, a good bit of the time, then the body doesn't. The cells don't get that signal from the body that, oh, okay, it's okay to move on to the next phase of the cell danger response.

So we just get stuck in there. so that's one of the, one of the things that happens in the body when trauma or pathogen or whatever happens. So we, you know, in in my heal program, we use the meridian tapping to resolve the trauma and to get the nervous system back into that rest, digest, heal state. And we also gently address hidden pathogens. We support the body with with different supplements. And we get rid of the toxins. So again, it all works together there. And even it works together. And I know that personally I believe in using all of those ways of healing.

So the supplements, superfoods, diet, exercise, all of the above. And that's when you really are giving yourself the most possible support. But I'm just curious if you've ever had a client who, when you just solve the trauma piece with tapping that that produced an immediate shift in their biological state? Yeah, I know that that has happened before, and I've had it happen with not not an immediate shift, though. I've never seen that happen with the majority of the chronic. so, so most of the people that I work with have long Covid have me CFS.

But I do remember there was but I also work with with other types of illnesses, too. There was one woman who came to me, and this was very early on when I was in my tapping coaching journey, and she had severe ADHD and OCD, and to the point where she had been on medication for most of her life. And we went through, I think she was she was with me for about four weeks, and she came back to me in week five and she said, my doctor is taking me titrating me off of my medications for the first time in my life.

And I, you know, as a I think I was probably about four years into coaching, tapping. And I was like, this is magic. So it really it depends on the chronic illness, the the the things like fibromyalgia and and chronic fatigue syndrome and things like that. They're usually other aspects that we do need to address. But hey, I am not opposed to a miracle, you know, the other two are miracle. And, you know, the 12 piece also is is easy to solve. Like, I know I have several friends with chronic illnesses and, thinking of one in particular, and she has just been dealing with this for like, 35 years.

And, she's tried all kinds of different things and they've worked a little bit. I mean, she's reasonably functional, but it's just this constant, like, energy drain on her life to be dealing with, with this. And so, she's looking for all of the,

Cell Danger Response and Mitochondrial Dysfunction 17:20

different kinds of exposure she's had throughout her life. And then the emotional piece can be shifted so quickly. And just even seeing people with, with severe trauma, people with complex PTSD and of course, with the training we're able to, to do, to work effectively, even complex PTSD is not easy. I mean, it's not like this is a, a one session or five session cure, but, even even complex PTSD, the research shows usually with tapping takes under ten sessions. And so then you've got that trauma piece handled.

Then you can focus on all the other biological pieces that been. Yeah. And what I will say, Dawson, is that I have worked with people who we address all the other things, but then I find out later on in the program that they have not been doing their tapping, that they haven't been addressing their trauma. You know, we we do that in our live sessions as well. But but that they haven't been consistent with it so much. And then they do start doing it. And then that's when the shift happens. You know, I've, I think I've had that happen about three, about three times with, with different people.

So they're like, okay, we we believe you now with the, with the tapping. We get it. Yeah. I've been tapping for more than 25 years. And in my meditation this morning, I was tapping. I tap almost every every morning. I tap something during the day as well. And it is so powerful to shift your mind, shift your body, shift your attitude, and it's just so, so quick, so easy, so simple to release any lingering subconscious stuff you have going on there. So, it's great to clear all the old trauma, but, I find that just tapping every day for just for balance and release of any subconscious stuff I might have going on is still very useful.

Absolutely. And you know, one of my favorite things to share with people about the tapping is because a lot of most of the people who come to me, they're nervous system is so ramped up. Right. And I, I mean, this this was my experience as well because when so I, I personally dealt with a lot of trauma, recurring trauma in my childhood. And I didn't realize until way far into my journey how, how, how significant it was and how much it had contributed to my own experiences with illness and what I, what I find with these people is that and with myself.

Was that to be in that fight, flight, freeze, space most of the time for your body, you know, it wears it down. Absolutely. But the mind is also trained by that point to stay in that space of fight, flight, freeze. And so what part of the reason that it's so important to do it consistently, when you are working to recover from a chronic illness, is to change that pattern. So I know you're familiar with the study, but there was a study done with Meridian tapping, EFT tapping, using an MRI before and after.

And you probably know the specifics a lot better than I do, but it showed the part of the brain that triggers the fight flight, freeze response. The amygdala, and it showed before and after tapping. So before the tapping, the amygdala was lit up like a Christmas tree. And then after however many minutes of tapping and again, I know you, you might know how many minutes, but afterwards it was quiet. I don't think there were any lit up spots of the amygdala, so that's how powerful it is. But we do have to retrain those neural pathways to not automatically jump to fight flight, freeze when it's when it's not needed.

You know, I mean, if you're driving on the road and somebody slams on the brakes in front of you, we want that fight. Flight response, you know. But but otherwise, just in our regular everyday lives, we want to be mostly and the rest digest, heal state. So that's what happens over time. You know, let's take a little bit of a, exercise break here so we actually can operationalize this in our lives. So grab your journals, reflect on what Lorrie is sharing with us here, and then ask yourself some probing questions.

One of those is where are there recurring patterns of a stress response in your life? Maybe you're doing okay in many different areas of your life, but there's some part of your life where there's a recurring stress response here. You find that, there's a person at work maybe who really triggers you. Maybe there's something that your partner says, your child says, your parents says, someone around you in your family or environment says that that triggers you and that you then ruminate to. That's a good test for whether you can release it or not, because we either live in the present moment and that's the mid prefrontal cortex part of the brain.

Or if we're obsessed by past wounds or future worries, the mid prefrontal cortex is highly focused then on the past and future. So are you at the present moment or are you not? And what is it that pulls you out and that can drag you into that state of rumination about usually a past wound or, past slight something somebody said to you. So just make a note in your journal. Now, you can explore it later on, but for the moment just write down if it's a little movie, write down the movie title. When my neighbor, lets his dog poop on my lawn, which my my neighbor actually does do.

And I just laugh because it's not no big deal. But, every once in a while, my neighbor walks by and the dog poops on my rose garden. So, And as you can tell, I've done enough traffic to where I'm not totally traumatized about that. But, what is it in you? Is there something that somebody says? Is there a topic that comes up that will really get you? So make a note of them that in your journal, where is that that topic that is guaranteed to result in that amygdala activation that Lorrie is referring to here.

And then later on you can reflect on that, do some tapping on it and see about shifting those patterns, because Lorrie and I are both sure you you can shift them. We've seen people shift and we've seen them shift even lifetime patterns of traumatic stress. So, the research is clear. the 200 clinical trials of EFT, and we've seen it work in huge numbers of populations, different kinds of people, and even after years of the stress response, you can learn to defuze that powder keg of negative emotion inside of you with tapping.

So make your notes and then we'll pick them up later on. And you can do some tapping with some meditation, do some breathing and see if you can let them go. Lorrie, thanks. That really clear and beautiful example. And it is wonderful to to see people who have struggled with this for a long time be able to let all of that triggering go. Yeah. And, you know, all of my students who do the tapping consistently, which I think all of them that I have that I'm working with right now do. So I'll I'll give you an example.

There's a lovely woman that, that I'm working with right now. Who?

Tapping, Nervous System Regulation, and Client Shifts 25:40

She's in her 20s, and she's just, you know, bedbound a good bit of the time and really just not able to function. And I, of course, understand that from from my own experience and how difficult that is. And she just has so much potential. And when she first came to me, you can just tell when you're talking to someone and they're nervous. System is super worked up, right? That you can tell that they're anxious. and her body was reactive to everything. She was able to eat three foods at that point and not react negatively to them.

And even those. I don't know that the her body was okay with them, but over time and we actually with her now that I'm thinking about it, because we weren't able to do any supplementation because her body was so reactive, we weren't able to do that for many, many, many, many months because we found out later that she was living in mold. so that was stopping everything. That's a whole other subject. But by doing the tapping, she, you know, now when we interact, she's more at peace, she's calm, and she, she can recognize it.

She says, I just my nervous system is so much better. And she's able to eat, like 14, 15 foods. Now. So you know that now that also is combined with a particular food eating plan that that she was on and things like that. But but no supplements there yet, you know. So that really is from the tapping and the, the eating plan. And and then another student that I currently have, same kind of thing. When we first started working together, I think her shoulders were up here. and, and, and I would frequently ask her to bring her energy down to her, you know, just below her belly button and inside her body so that we could come back down.

And she's been great about doing the tapping, and she just it's it's amazing to watch the progress that people have from the tapping and with their nervous system. She said. You know, I don't, my, my adrenaline doesn't go up when things happen where normally in the past it would just shoot up and I would be super stressed out about things. I just don't get stressed about things as much anymore. I have another client who has, an autistic child and, you know, when she's chronically ill as well, that's or I mean, that's a lot to deal with.

And she said, you know, I, I do still get stressed out, but it's so much less. And I'm more able to address what needs to be addressed. So, you know, like you were saying, I think earlier, even aside from past trauma, that definitely we want to process. But even just the stressors of now, today to be able to shift the nervous system there over time. And then, of course, if you shift the nervous system today and tomorrow and the next day, it may take a while for it to calm down. The way you're describing these clients.

But if you just consistently practice that day after day after day, gradually you reset to that new normal. And so you may find yourself in that high trauma response. Reset yourself through tapping. Tomorrow you're back of the high trauma response, and 3 or 4 days later you you start going there, but then you're correcting. And so now your body is realizing, oh, there's another possibility, yes. And it feels better. It feels better. Feels way better. Yes. Yeah. They can get that used to. That is a new normal.

Now, I'm curious about long Covid. I'm just first of all, curious about when you realized you had long Covid. Was that a big emotional blow? I will tell you something, Dawson. I because I knew what what it was because I knew that it was me. CFS I spiraled for sure for for about three days. But what was really cool was that about a day and a half into it. And let me just tell you the thoughts that were going on. I can't go through this again. I would rather die than go through this again. I don't know what to do.

I can't believe this is happening to me. And then other expletives that I will not say right now, because I don't know if it's for on. But but what happened about a day and a half into it is all the the work that I've done over the years, the tapping work, the meditation, the the, the consciousness, the ability to step back and be the observer rather than getting caught up in the story that kicked in. So the thoughts were still there, but I was able to just watch them and say, okay, make sense that you're having these thoughts, you know?

Yep. I hear your mind. And then once that shifted, what started to gradually come in, you know, maybe later on in that day, on the third day was, hey, you know what? I know what to do. And I don't know how long I'm going to be sick like this. But even if even if it's for the rest of my life, that's okay, because I know how to be unconditionally happy. Not 100% of the time. But. But I know that I will be able to still live a full life even, you know, even if I'm dealing with that. And it felt it, it was it was so interesting that part of the journey, because while I was dealing with the long Covid, it felt like I had an old friend staying over that I didn't really want to be a friend anymore.

Right? But but I knew what was going on. Whereas other people with long Covid, it's a you know, when I first got me CFS because of that, again, they're they're both post-viral syndromes. They're they're the same. They're one in the same. When I first got the the McPherson develop that it was terrifying because I had no clue what was going on. The doctors didn't have any clue what was going on. And for for years and years and years and years, no clue what was going on. Then I got on with long Covid.

I was like, all right, don't really want you staying here with me in my house, but you're here, so let's make the best of it. Yeah. Those two responses are characteristic of what happens when we have resilience, when we don't. So the second time around, you had resilience. You had experience, and you could take that witness perspective. I'm going to ask us all now to do a bit more journaling and ask yourself this question in which of the difficult areas of my life right now? Am I caught up in my story?

Where in your life can you not take the witness perspective? Where in your life do you think this suffering person is me? So Lori could, after that first day and a half, could take the witness perspective and see the suffering person and that suffering person, maybe, who'd be suffering that way the rest of her life. And because she knew it wasn't me, wasn't her, she could come to terms with that. So ask yourself that question in which part of your life are you still caught up in? The assumption that the suffering person is me?

And what part of your life are you still caught up in? The assumption that the suffering person is me? just make a note of that again. You can explore that later in your journal, but just in 2 or 3 words. What is that? That part of your life? And then the next question to explore later on is what would it take to shift my identity into that witness perspective? What would it take to shift my identity, my experience of who I am and to the witness perspective? So I am seeing this person who has a chronic illness.

I'm seeing this person who is suffering. I'm seeing this person who's an accident, a misfortune, who has been traumatized, who's had maybe terrible

Witness Perspective and Identity Shifts 35:40

violence done to them or has done terrible violence to somebody else. So where? Where in my life am I there, and what would it take to shift me to that witness perspective? And again, this is a highly personal answer for you. And we've been given a lot of tools and ideas and techniques and recommendations here. Tapping meditation, time in nature, grounding, breathing. There are so many things you can do that engage the body's ability to restore itself. Of course, there are all the other kinds of approaches that Lorrie says are essential in diet, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and so on.

So what will it take you to shift? What's your next step in shifting yourself into that? With this perspective, we aren't all caught up in that suffering self, that suffering story. Because I tell you, without even knowing you, that you are far more than your story. Life sees you as far more than your story. The universe sees you as far more than your story. The infinite sees you as being fellow infinite. So how do you move to the perspective on you that the universe has on you? Seeing yourself as that being from that witness perspective?

Well worth considering that particular way out. Dawson, that is so powerful. such great questions. I'm going to I'm going to have my people do that to share. You know, we do that in different ways. But you put it very succinctly. So that was beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we do all the stories at times it's necessary to let them go to heal. So have you found their clients who just cling to the old story? Who who won't let go? I'm thinking of one guy in my men's group. I've known him for a few years, and he.

He's just so stuck in his story. Lorrie, he is never going to go anywhere else as far as I can tell. So have you had people like that? I have, I have I'm there's there's one particularly right now that I'm thinking of. But you know, I think that, so they experienced consistent trauma with a big T during childhood for years and I think for their whole childhood. And I think that makes it a lot harder to let go of that story. And, and I think that they're also can be this thing of this thing of I think it's a part of the process, this thing of needing to own that and making it a part of their identity.

As as a part of the process. So what I find when someone like that comes to me is that tapping is is the way through that, and that at first it feels offensive even to suggest that it's a story because because of how intense what they experienced was. And I totally get that. I remember, oh my gosh, so funny. My first coach, I think, When I, when I was so sick, she said, so, Lorrie, why do you think you're creating this in in your life? And I didn't know anything about Law of Attraction or anything, anything like that at that point.

And I went, you're fired. It's like, I didn't stink and create this. Why would I do that? And so now that's a whole other thing. And I don't want for anybody to feel like I'm saying that, that you consciously created this in your life or that, you know, any of that stuff. So but there is a space where. When we've done the tapping and when we have processed the old trauma, especially that recurring trauma where we can take that step back and it's such a relief. It's such a relief to be able to say that that's not who I am.

And it's such a relief to the body. Yeah. To to realize that. Yeah. I did a series of, sessions with a lot of my myalgia patients at one point in my career, and, I yeah, that that question you definitely would not want to ask somebody, especially near that near the beginning of any kind of coaching or healing relationship. But what I found them telling me was how fibromyalgia carry some kind of hidden benefit for them, like one of them, had a really, had had a very, very close family. And then her brother had married somebody in their town, and this woman didn't like her.

And so she had this, this poor relationship with her sister in law. And, it really was, a source of grief to her. And there are a lot of family gatherings, this very small town they all lived in. And so she had to be there with her sister in law and, and, suffer through her sister in laws behavior toward her. And when she got five myalgia, she said, you know. So I asked her, when, when do you have the most flare ups? When your symptoms get the worse? And she said, no. I come to think of it just before family gatherings.

And if I'm laid out like a can't go. So she came to realize that there was some benefit to her in maintaining that condition. So, that's another thing to ask ourselves is how is this helping me? And you, you may look at some part of your life and saying, I hate this. It's not helping me at all. I didn't cause this. I don't want this. I want this to be gone. I want to be rid of this problem. And it's nevertheless worth asking you yourself, how is this some hidden way, some subconscious way in which this is benefiting me?

And maybe obvious, maybe not. And again, sometimes there isn't. Sometimes it's just a random thing that that happens. So you may be digging a dry well and find no big insight there. But with all those fibromyalgia patients, I was so struck, Lorrie, by that the in the EFT call that secondary gain. There is some kind of secondary gain going on there, and every single one of them would eventually tell me about some secondary benefit they add to this disease. Absolutely. And I'm so glad that you brought that up, because we do address that in the program.

And, you know, one of I mentioned earlier a couple of students who hadn't been doing it consistently and and they just weren't fully healing. And one of them actually realized when we started talking about secondary gains and when she actually started doing the tapping, she had grown up in an environment where her mother had been verbally and emotionally abusive to her,

Secondary Gain, Self-Care, and Closing Advice 43:40

but she realized when she was very young that when she was sick, her mother was a lot easier on her and in fact would be kind to her and take care of her. And so what we realized was that she had brought that into her current life, and she was in her 30s or 40s, I think, when we were working together. So she addressed all that trauma from the past and what she experienced there and that secondary gain and very, very gradually that did start to shift because, you know, when we're when we're kids and we're being hurt and we find something unconsciously, subconsciously that works to make that better, then that gets stuck in there, you know, so so it becomes it's not safe for me to be, well, becomes that belief that's in there.

And most of the time we don't know that it's there. But she tapped on that and sure enough, that's when things shifted for her. Now, she'd done a lot of other work. She'd address hidden infections and all that good stuff beforehand. But that was the the final key for her. And then even begun, began to find healthy ways of getting your needs met that don't rely on hurting yourself, getting sick, self-injury, debilitating, and all of those negative consequences. And you just find healthy ways of, of of supporting yourself.

So this is our last journaling exercise before we end today. And I want you to ask yourself, think about some situation in your life that's unsatisfactory, that's been causing you unhappiness or pain could be a mental issue. It could be a physical issue, could be chronic, could be acute. And ask yourself, is there a possibility that there is a hidden subconscious way? In which this is serving me? Is there some hidden subconscious way in which this problem is actually helping me, contributing to my life in some way?

So write that down and think about it. Doesn't hurt to ask the question. The answer might be no. It could be, you know, just a strongly genetically encoded disease. For example, that has no link to anything else. But we find, for example, that even strongly encoded genetic diseases are often influenced by stress. Stress exacerbates them. So, we find that they can be triggered by, by stress. So it's worth asking yourself this, the steep question. So I'm just curious as we wrap up, Lorrie, what does your personal self-care routine look like each day?

Each week? mine's a bit extensive, Dawson. So I love waking up super early in the morning. I, I kind of naturally get up around 3:30 or 4 a.m., and I do, some meditation. I do my tapping, I do some rebounding. If you're familiar with, little trampolines and, what else do I do? I take a whole bunch of supplements. Still. I do that for sure. I start my water distiller because that's an important part of keeping ourselves healthy. And these days. And, and then I do my exercise. Sometimes I walk first, and sometimes I do my, high intensity workouts first.

But I make sure that I get outside. Oh, and I also do a red light in the morning. And then I also make sure that I get some vitamin D during the day. So I lie in the sun and just soak in the rays. That's the abridged version. That's so wonderful. Yeah. And I want people to know, too, that you don't have to do as extensive, you know, ritual as far as what I do, that's just what what feeds me personally. Yeah. And we all figure out what works for our bodies and adapt. But, you're making time for self-care on a daily basis, and it's so powerful to do that.

And so I think I'm gonna throw in one more self-reflection exercise here, and I'm gonna ask you, in what way are you neglecting self-care? So you know, already and again, this is between you and your journal. It's confidential, but in what way are you neglecting self-care? And that might be emotional. You might be hanging out with people who you know are not a good influence on you. Don't make it feel good. It might be a physical source of of support you're neglecting. Maybe you aren't getting enough exercise, maybe you to be outdoors enough.

Maybe you're, not giving your body something. You know it needs movement, flexibility. So what is the part of your life in which you know you are neglecting self-care? And then just reflect on that and consider what you might do to shift that. And Lorrie, what what would you recommend is like the minimum people do initially to shift a pattern like that. If they don't have a lot of time, money, resources, what how can they? What's this? What's the smallest thing they can do to shift an area where they are not giving themselves the self-care they deserve?

Having shopping. Spree. It's so easy to do. There are tons of videos online. I do have a tapping course for chronic illnesses as well that you can, that you can purchase. But, you know, if you if you don't have the money, then just take a again, take a look online. There's some great tapping videos out there. And and any time you notice that you're not feeling great, just I mean, I do it when I'm walking around and do it when I'm in the car. I do it all the time. That's the that's the easiest place to start.

Yeah. It's been funny for me to walk around and see people tapping in their cars once in a while. you'll see other people tapping sometimes as well. So it's it's it's catchy. And Lorrie, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your high energy, your solutions. And you're really multifaceted approach to healing is powerful and a great reminder that we are multifaceted beings emotional, physical, spiritual, mental. And it's worth taking care of every part, every dimension of who we are. So thank you so much again.

Thank you. Dawson. It's been an honor. and till next time, just keep reflecting on those journaling questions. I'll see you again in the next episode. Till then, fill your life and your mind and your heart with love.