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.
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.
SOURCES:
Bob Frissell – Nothing in this book is true but it is the
way things are
Bob Frissell – Something in this book is true
Naturalnews.com
Professor Carsten
Wrosch - Self-Regulation of Bitterness across
the Lifespan
