Xhosa Styles!: CAN CANNABIS CURE BITTERNESS?

The Risk of Bitterness…

We all know someone with a serious case of sour grapes, that person who just seems to be permanently miserable and bitter and sometimes it seems that their entire existence is a bitter pill to swallow…

As humans we only really have two main emotions from which all other emotions stem and these two are LOVE and FEAR. Fear is controlled by the EGO where love is guided from the INTUITION or SPIRIT so clearly you can see that one is negative and the other is positive.

From love flows joy, hope, happiness, bliss, wonderment, truth, enlightenment, peace, love, unity, understanding, respect, friendship, loyalty, brotherhood and sisterhood, harmony, creativity, self- confidence, positivity.

From fear we can expect hatred, jealousy, envy, resentment, self- hate, depression, anger, rage, regret, indignation, shame, humiliation, confusion, negativity, unfulfillment, revenge, blame and even bitterness

Are you born bitter? Never…Can you catch bitterness? Yes… Can you be allergic to bitterness? Yes…

The truth is that we all live in a seriously negative environment because the nature of this life is that there is plenty of injustice around the world and many people are not able to feel positive about their futures.

So in other words there seems to be no end to the amount of anger we can perpetrate against ourselves and these feelings of resentment eventually become internalized against the self because maintaining such a high level of negative emotions eventually takes a toll on physical, mental and spiritual health.

This internalization of negative emotions is what leads to the disease known as bitterness. So the person suffering with the bitterness is unable to let go of these negative emotions in order to get on with their lives. They constantly relive the injustice of what happened to them or their families and these feelings of anger and revenge are just as draining as the actual memories for the injustice. Worst case scenario bitterness turns to full blown hatred and even fanaticism especially when it comes to groups of people resenting other groups as we have seen around the world too often and indeed it is this simmering of resentment that gives rise to racial and religious hatred.

Bitterness and blame…

Researchers who have examined the relationship between failure, bitterness and quality of life found that blaming others can actually lead to physical disease. Physical disease in turn results in mental and spiritual illness as well.

Blame results in resistance and resistance results in locking the energy in place, trapped inside your body which leaves your body stuck with this negative energy so you end up giving your power away and the end result is “victim consciousness”.

Experience is the most real thing that there is in this life and you could say that it is the source of everything.

Whether we understand it or not we each have to accept that it is ourselves who create our own experiences and so in order to deal with these experiences we first have to take responsibility by accepting that we are the creators of our experiences both good and bad.

Blame always avoids responsibility…

So the first step to dealing with bitterness and blame is to begin with this idea of responsibility. We should not see this responsibility as a burden but always as an opportunity to open up a whole new world of possibilities.

When you step up and take responsibility for what you have created you are stepping up to source.

There is a universal law known as The Law of Least Resistance which states that what we resist will not only persist but also grow stronger, and dealing with our problems in life is no different. The more you focus on your problem the bigger it becomes … every single time.

But before you get excited ii must point out that this does mean that you should simply ignore your problems because in fact ignoring a problem is a form of resistance and rejection. “So what should I do?” ii hear you asking…

There are various forms of resistance which include avoidance, denial, trying to change, trying to get rid of, trying to control, using will power, being a positive thinker, learning to live with it, trying to solve it, ignoring it, distracting yourself, suppressing it and trying to cover it up with other behavior.

So if you have a persistent problem such as anger, fear or any other unwanted emotion, tension, headaches, bodily sensations, illness, unwanted thoughts, unwanted behavior and so on and you continue to resist it in any way, you will lock this energy in place and become stuck with it for as long as you resist it. This negative energy is what causes bitterness in your body to lead to physical illness.

What we need to do is to “let it be” which effectively means to observe it, stay in touch with it, but make no effort to actually change it…so this means that recreating an experience actually makes the experience disappear.

If we can allow ourselves to have a thorough experience with our persistent, recurring problem, it will then disappear. In order to do this, we need to re-create it, in other words, totally experience it, piece by piece. By observing it, witnessing it and being with it you are letting it be the way it is without trying to change it.

By doing this you are getting in touch with the body’s sensations and what they feel like and exactly where they are in the body. You are also getting in touch with the size, shape, weight and color of these sensations. We need to do the same thing with emotions because emotions also stem from inside ourselves. So you could look at bodily sensations and emotions as symptoms and these symptoms are all old energy stuck from the past coming up from suppression into activation for the purpose of being healed.

This is how we take responsibility for the negative experiences which we create.

According to Professor Carsten Wrosch of Montreal Concordia University’s department of Psychology and a member of the Centre for Research in Human Development:

“Persistent bitterness may result in global feelings of anger and hostility that, when strong enough, could affect people’s physical health.”

Bitterness is caused from a broken heart…

It is my personal belief that people who suffer from bitterness also suffer from broken hearts but not just the romantic type of broken heart. For example the heart that has suffered great disappointment, displeasure, distress, discontentment, dissatisfaction, disillusionment, regret and frustration to the point where it is broken for example the loss of a loved one or the loss of one’s source of income.

So ii believe that the broken heart then quite literally falls downwards into the liver region causing pressure on the liver, gall bladder and digestive tract. This in turn causes a reflux of various digestive acids which from my personal experience with bile reflux are all exceptionally bitter.

The heart is the part of the body associated with the human emotional centre and particularly the emotion of love. The heart is also the gateway to the soul and the seat of emotions. It is capable of producing deep love, joy and inner peace, but it can also be the source of great pain and emotional suffering.

Feeling loved and loving others is vitally important to maintaining a happy mental, spiritual and physical existence; we all need love, because a life without love is an empty and lonely existence. This includes self-love.

Emotions control our thoughts and our thoughts control our actions so when emotions become excessive or supressed (blocked up) then they can and often do become pathological and can cause disease in the body.

Is it my emotions or my organs that are out of balance?

The reasoning of ancient oriental medicine for example traditional Chinese medicine is that through balancing the organ associated with the emotion will naturally balance the emotion.

Sometimes the organ is out of balance and then produces the emotional imbalance and other times the emotional imbalance can produce the organ imbalance. Emotions that do not have outlets for expression and release can then create disease and disharmony in the body manifesting as physical symptoms.

If emotions are out of balance typically you will experience feelings of dwelling or focusing too long on a particular subject, excessive mental work, lack of enthusiasm and vitality, depression, insomnia, despair, confusion, anxiety and a lot of fidgeting.

Symptoms of organ imbalance will manifest in insomnia, heart palpitations, irregular heartbeat, excessive dreaming, poor memory and concentration, dizziness and spontaneous sweating.

Here is a list of emotions and the organs they typically affect when emotions are out of balance.

Worrying and overthinking…

These two emotions affect the spleen with symptoms of tiredness, loss of appetite, mucous discharge, poor digestion, abdominal distension, diarrhoea, weak muscles, pale lips, bruising, excess menstrual flow and other bleeding disorders.

Sadness…

Sadness affects the lungs and you will notice shortness of breath, fatigue, couching, catching colds easily, fever with chills, sore throat, runny nose, headaches, asthma, chest oppression, pale complexion and dry skin.

Fear…

Fear controls the kidneys and is manifested in panic attacks, frequent urination, incontinence, vertigo, night sweats, dry mouth, poor short term memory, lower back ache, painful or weak knees, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, premature greying of hair, hair loss, osteoporosis and decreased libido.

Bitterness, anger, frustration, irritability, moodiness, depression and resentment…

These emotions affect the liver and the symptoms manifest as chest distension, red face, bitter taste in the mouth, dizziness, tinnitus, nausea and vomiting, sighing, breast tenderness, swelling and itching of genitals, blurred vision, eye floaters and dry hair and skin.

Today far too many people are living lonely lives filled with painful despair which ii believe to be a seriously broken heart which has descended down upon the liver and this is how we create bitterness.

The cause of bitterness, loneliness and heartbreak can be traced back to a blocked heart chakra.

So just to recap from previous papers the chakra system is not a physical system but rather a system made up of aspects of consciousness. There are 7 chakras and they are naturally aligned to the 7 Endocrine glands which they control.

The energy of the heart chakra is depicted as a deep, emerald green colour that ties us to all living things around us. Green is the colour associated with new life and natural surroundings. It is tranquil, yet energized, soothing yet vibrant. The energy produced by the heart chakra allows us to have meaningful relationships and to feel empathy, compassion, passion, forgiveness and caring for other people.

What Happens When Your Heart Chakra is blocked?

There is probably no one alive who hasn’t suffered heartache or heartbreak or indeed the ecstasy of love. If you look back at your past, you will realize that the most difficult times came about as a result of a closed heart chakra.

Bitterness and all its relatives like fear, hatred, sadness, jealousy, anger, confusion, resentment and self-doubt are all symptoms of a closed heart chakra. Even the feeling that you can’t find love or experience a healthy relationship, or that there is no one out there for you, are symptoms of a closed heart chakra. Relationship difficulties, infidelity, divorce and family troubles arise when wrongdoings or misunderstandings remain unresolved and un-forgiven. These are also as a result of the heart chakra being blocked.

It is our inability to forgive and our determination to hold on to grudges which actually makes for the majority of our strained relations and the majority of our heartache.

Forgiveness = Fortune…

If you have a problem then you have something to forgive. Anyone who experiences pain has a need to forgive. If you find yourself in an unpleasant situation you have a need to forgive. Where there is suffering, unhappiness, lack, confusion or misery of any sort, there is a need to forgive.

Bitterness, condemnation, anger, the desire to ‘get even’ or to see someone punished or hurt, are things that rot your soul and tear down your health. It is the same with foodstuffs that when they start to taste or even smell bitter this is a sign that it is about to rot. So truly bitterness can actually lead to death.

Forgiveness is not inherited it must be learned and we must learn to forgive the injuries and hurts of the past and the present, not so much for the other person’s sake but for our own sake.

Hurt or hate of any kind will scar the soul and work an illness in the flesh and this illness will not be fully healed while we continue to remain unforgiving.

To forgive means to ‘give for’ to ‘replace’ the ill feelings, to gain a sense of peace and harmony again. To forgive literally means to ‘give up’ that which you should not have held onto in the first place.

Forgiveness begins with the person who recognises the offence. If only one person will dare to forgive then the problem can be solved, regardless of who else is involved, and whether anyone else wants to forgive. The person who dares to forgive automatically gains control of the situation. The person who forgives will find a divine solution appearing.

My father’s alcoholism led to my youth being spent in constant abuse and so in order to save myself when he was on his death bed ii spent two weeks at his side forgiving him and ii tried to explain to him that ii was doing this not only for myself but to ensure that his spirit would be freed in his next life thus breaking this cycle of abuse in our family. As he lay there dying ii could feel that he was overcome with joy and ii felt nothing but love.

So if you wish to be permanently healed you must forgive. Good health cannot be accepted by a body that is filled with the poisons generated by unforgiveness. You could literally say that our salvation lies in forgiveness.

A lot of people decide to shut down and build those proverbial walls around their hearts so that they can never be hurt again. The problem with doing this is that the love that they wish to give can’t get out, in the exact same way as the love they want to receive cannot get in.

The heart can literally hurt when you are suffering from emotional wounds. Physical manifestations of problems associated with a closed heart chakra include heart disease, allergies, high blood pressure, breast cancer, asthma and immune disorders.

Healing the Heart Chakra…

The very best way to heal the heart chakra is to appreciate the beauty of the world around you and to spend more time in nature. The energy of the heart chakra is nurturing so spending time with plants and animals and even volunteering your time to help those less fortunate than you are highly beneficial ways to start healing the heart chakra. As ii mentioned earlier green is the colour of the heart chakra and when ii have clients with blocked heart chakras ii always encourage them to wear more green in their outfits especially around the heart region for example a green blouse, scarf or pendant with a green stone and this has proven to be most helpful to a lot of people. Eating lots of green leafy vegetables and incorporating the colour green into your home and work environment also helps to open up the heart chakra.

Meditation helps to raise your levels of self-control and helps you to master your thoughts and this then leads to the positive choice of giving unconditional love. True love is a selfless act and is unlimited in its potential for growth and expansion. So the more love you can give out the more love you will receive.

Nourish yourself by doing the things you love; and make a point to give more than you expect to receive. This is how the universal Law of Abundance works. It is important to know that you are whole just as you are and that you do not need others to complete you. Just by doing these small things will help you to endure the emotional waves caused by the comings and goings of the people in your life.

Healing the heart chakra also involves the ability to love oneself unconditionally. Truly you can only love others unconditionally if you love yourself the same way so it is important to do what is nurturing to you for example pursuing hobbies and taking on activities that you intuitively know are good for you. Try to see yourself as a unique and extraordinary individual with the capacity for great love.

Letting go of bitterness…

Part of healing and loving yourself is letting go of bitterness, guilt and regret, in other words, learning to forgive. Forgiveness doesn’t mean tolerating or excusing someone’s negative actions or your own for that matter. It means that you choose to stop carrying that anger, hurt and other negativity around with you. You cannot and never will be able to control other peoples’ actions, but you can control your own understanding and reaction, and choose to either carry or release the emotional burden as you move on with your own life.

Healing the heart chakra does require dedication but it’s definitely worth it. Living a life with an open heart chakra is based on mutually nourishing family bonds, colourful friendships, deep romantic love and healthy self-love. People with a strong fourth chakra can move beyond feelings of vulnerability or regret (self- blame) and recognize that they deserve to experience love in all its forms. Enhancing your heart’s natural vitality will improve your ability to give and receive love.

The impact of bitterness…

The biggest side effect of bitterness is the physical toll it takes on the body.

‘When harbored for a long time,’ says Professor Wrosch, ‘bitterness may forecast patterns of biological dysregulation (a physiological impairment that can affect metabolism, immune response or organ function) and physical disease.’

Many medical professionals now believe that bitterness which is the opposite of belief is actually a medical disorder and might well be described as “Post traumatic embitterment disorder (PTED)”.

How Cannabis can cure bitterness?

Cannabis is a known mood enhancer and also has the ability to reduce verbal and internal hostility towards other people. The reason for this is that Cannabis has the ability to relax people and a relaxed person is automatically in a better mood and less likely to become angry, irritable or anxious. So basically Cannabis ‘chills’ people out.

Cannabis is known to help people with sleep disorders and this in itself goes a long way to improving the mood.

Cannabis makes you laugh because it encourages your pineal gland to produce serotonin, your feel good hormone. Cannabis makes you sleep so well because it stimulates the pineal gland to produce melatonin the hormone responsible for regulating our sleep and wake patterns by communicating information about environmental lighting to various parts of the body.

Through the consciousness of the Cannabis plant we expand our own consciousness!

When we consume Cannabis, there is a strong tendency for the chakras to open wider to accommodate the increased flow of energy created by the high vibration of the plant and the frequency vibration of the Cannabis plant is very much part of its own consciousness.

Quite literally Cannabis improves the psychic connection from one person to another. So Cannabis opens the chakras and raises our vibration to increase psychic power and connectivity.

There is a definite relationship between Cannabis and spirituality since the plant allows us to open our minds to the understanding of the universe and everything.

Chronic stress reduces production of Endocannabinoids…

Cannabis has the ability to alter human behaviour, mood perception and consciousness and often promotes the meditation of sharing, humour and creativity, and feelings of euphoria or positive vibrations.

Researchers have discovered that chronic stress in fact reduces the production of Endocannabinoids and so stress therefore makes you Cannabinoid deficient. Cannabis peels back layers upon layers of stress and social conditioning.

We now know that the Endocannabinoid system (EC system) is responsible for the well-being of the Endocrine system so in fact Cannabis is responsible for promoting homeostasis at every level of biological life, right from the sub-cellular, to the organism, and clearly even to the community and beyond.

It is no coincidence that the 7 spiritual chakras are directly aligned to the 7 Endocrine glands which they affect.

So the position of the EC system as being an important regulatory system in the function of brain, endocrine and immune tissues, quite literally makes the EC System a bridge between body and mind and by gaining an understanding of this system, we are beginning to see a physiological engine which can go a long way to explaining how our positive state of consciousness can promote our physical and mental health in the same way as a negative state of consciousness can destroy our health.

The universal Law of Acceptance…

Acceptance of things not going your way becomes tolerance and non-acceptance becomes anger. Acceptance of uncertainties becomes adventure and non-acceptance becomes fear.

Acceptance of somebody’s achievement or stand becomes inspiration and non-acceptance becomes jealousy. Acceptance of somebody hurting you becomes forgiveness and non-acceptance becomes hatred. Therefore, something when not accepted becomes a negative emotion and something handled with acceptance becomes a positive emotion.