Without HOPE you don't have anything.

To feel better and endure the trials and tribulations of autoimmune disease it is essential to find and hold onto hope. Hope is feeling like:

• "There is a light at the end of the tunnel."
• "Good will come. Things will change."
• "Nothing stays the same."
• "If you are at the 'bottom' there is no way but 'up' to go."
• "I can do this."
• "I deserve to heal--I am worth it."
• "When one door closes another opens."
• "I may not have found what I need in this moment...but when it arrives I will know, AND IT WILL ARRIVE."

If you don't have hope then despair and low self-worth are easy to succumb to and it can feel like there is no other choice but to give-up.

How one regains or finds hope is an individual process--It can represent many forms:

• reading an inspirational message
• hearing about or watching someone overcome tragedy
• accomplishing something you never thought possible
• surviving a flare-up and realizing you are stronger than you imagined because you are still here
• having a healer or physician see you for who you really are and take time to listen and understand
• hearing about a new treatment that has success for patients in similar situations
• feeling invigorated participating in your passion (ballroom dance, art, cooking, etc)
• helping someone else who is struggling and being their inspiration
• giving someone else hope
• changing your thoughts and beliefs to embody how you want life to be
• surrounding yourself with supportive and loving people
• Spiritual and religious practices
• Any way that makes you feel grounded and supported

How did I find my hope?

After years and years of illness and devastating medical mishaps, by the time I was a teenager I didn't feel hopeful. I didn't know how to regain hope, nor that it was important. I just knew that it was gone and the feeling of hopelessness was miserable and sad. When hope returned to me it was very clear. I felt invigorated and like I had what I needed to move forward and heal. These new feelings associated with hope became a reference point for me in my life--they were a compass for what hope felt like to me.

____

So what exactly gave me back my hope? It started with one healer who from the moment I walked into the door sat down with me, looked at me with attentive and empathic eyes, and asked me

Casey, "what do you think is making you sick?"

"What do you need from me so you can begin to get well?"

Then they promised to go down a road with me and help me get there... and they delivered. This showed me what it meant to trust someone and to depend on them. It showed me that when I didn't have my own hope, they held hope for me. I was "somebody" rather than "some-body."

This became a model from which I followed every day since then...because it worked to help my symptoms improve.

And from this point on--one healer who could hold hope for me and help me grow it within myself became two-three-ten-and through the years an entire team of physicians, healers, therapists, body and energy workers, and friends...

Eventually, "I" became the foundation of this team--It was possible for "ME" to generate my own hope from within because I had enough positive experiences with healers and relationships in my life to learn and understand how to LIGHT MY OWN SPARKLE.