PLANNING A HEALING STRATEGY
Daphne Grobicki gives some guidelines, many of which she learned from her own experience

It is very important to analyse where one is in terms of wellness, to learn to accept the situation and then to ask what opportunities it has presented. Taking responsibility for one's own health, developing a healing strategy which one believes in, and then being prepared to make the huge effort that this requires gives one a tremendous sense of empowerment, which in turn overcomes fear. This is a major part of getting well, and staying so. The list below will help you get started on your quest for wellness. But remember - it is your responsibility to choose your own healing way.

1. Commit yourself to healing - preferably in writing.
2. Do everything in your power to achieve this. Make decisions and believe in them and in your ability to make the right choices. Trust yourself.
3. Gather all the information you can – consult medical specialists, seek out others who have been healed, read all the literature you can, find out about complementary therapies, go through every open door (there will be many if you look).
4. Prioritise and make a beginning.
5. Choose medical help you have faith in.
6. Do positive visualisations as often as possible every day. (If you don't know how to start, consult someone who does or find out about courses etc.)
7. Practise relaxation. Listen to tapes.
8. Repeat affirmations (positive phrases) wherever you are, whenever you can. These positive thoughts will help to set a new pattern for the immune system.
9. Meditate.
10. Be prepared to make lifestyle changes.
11. Seek your spiritual pathway.
12. Watch what you put into your mouth - a mostly raw diet with no preservatives, additives etc, organically grown where possible, will help your body cope with toxins and improve well-being, increasing your ability to withstand chemo and other treatments.
13. To this add whatever extra vitamins, tonics, remedies you believe in.
14. Exercise to whatever level you are able.
15. Sleep as much as you can.
16. Laugh, laugh and laugh.
17. Find joy in your day, your life, your family, your friends (Bernie Segal's most important ingredient for survival). Be happy.
18. Let your heart sing, dance, listen to beautiful music.
19. Pursue your hobbies and interests - art, nature etc. Express your creativity. Learn whatever it is you have always wanted to. Take time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.
20. Seek inspiration and set goals. Read or make copies of inspirational verse/quotations.
21. Follow your dreams.
22. Take time to appreciate every day, be grateful for the smallest things. Count your blessings. Seek your own peace.
23. Look at your relationships, anxieties, fears, frustrations, angers, guilt. Seek help if you choose, or make a point of writing down your feelings whenever you can. This helps to release them. Forgive.
24. Have no regrets.
25. Love, unconditionally. Be loved. Love life, family, people, yourself.
26. Accept all the help you want.
27. Keep adding to your list. There is always more.

15% OFF ALL BOOKS
When you buy from Facts & Fiction, Balfour Park
EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR WELLNESS SUPPORT PROGRAMME MEMBERS
When next you shop for paperbacks, hardbacks or other books at the Balfour Park branch of Facts & Fiction (on the upper level, next to the movie complex), have your WSP membership number handy (you'll find it on the front of this newsletter) and ask for Tina, who will ensure that you receive your special
15% WSP DISCOUNT!
Already well known for its excellent prices and exciting range, Facts & Fiction Balfour Park will surely entrench itself once and for all as the bookseller of choice for the Wellness Support Programme, thanks to this generous offer.

AMAZON BOOKS ON LINE
Have you checked our website at www.wellness.org.za recently? We now have a link with Amazon Books - probably the largest bookstore on the web and from which you can order books on any subject, as well as videos and CDs. If you order from them via our site, the WSP will benefit from each sale. You'll often find that the prices you can buy books for this way are far less than the prices you would be charged by book stores here - even allowing for our lousy exchange rate and postage costs. What is great about Amazon is that you can call up reviews on any titles you like before you decide whether to buy or not.

RESOURCE CENTRE NOW UP AND RUNNING
Over the past months an archivist has tackled the boxes of books, articles and other resource materials that we have been gathering to form the basis of the WSP resource centre. These have now been properly indexed and filed, and are ready for your use. The selection covers various topics dealing with cancers. treatments, nutrition, PNI and how it works, and other relevant subjects, but there is scope for much, much more. If you have read any books or come across any articles that you think should be included in this resource centre, please let us know about them. We have some funds available to expand the collection and a personal recommendation is always appreciated.

SLOW DANCE
Have you ever watched kids
on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain
slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Do you run through each day on the fly
When you ask "How are you?"
do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,
do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
'Cause you never had time
to call and say "Hi"?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....

Thrown away...
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

DRAWING A CROWD IN DURBS
On the evening of Wednesday 14 October Dr Ian Weinberg and Connie Bertsch gave a talk on PNI and its application to a group of some 120 people at the Durban Holiday Inn. The visitors had come from as far afield as Howick, north of Pietermaritzburg, and Stanger, up the north coast, and as always, the question-and-answer time after the initial presentation was lively and interesting. As a result of the contacts we made that evening, several KwaZulu-Natal folk came up to Johannesburg on 14 November to attend Ian's course, and a large number of others put their names down to be contacted for future WSP activity in Durban and surrounds. Part of our plan for '99 is to ensure that the Wellness Support Programme establishes itself properly in Durban, as well as Cape Town.

Thanks again to Karen Read of Wise Woman who served as our ‘anchor person' in organising the talk (you can call Karen on (031) 202-9191 for info or visit her health shop at 190 Brand Road, Glenwood), and thanks, too, to Southern Sun for the stylish venue. Finally, thanks to Lindsay Ord at the Daily News, Omar Essack at East Coast Radio, Steven Coan at the Natal Witness and everyone else who helped make this event such a success.

BRING US YOUR BOUNTY!
In the last newsletter we mentioned that should any of you be emigrating, sizing down, moving or spring cleaning, and not know what to do with your throw-outs, the Wellness Support Programme would be glad to take them off your hands. Re-selling unwanted goods at the Bounty Hunters store in Melville is an important part of our fundraising, and in November alone we made more than R3 000 from what many people might think of as junk.

You cannot believe what we have had donated to us - everything from clothes, books, cutlery and crockery, to old radios, a soap dispenser for an industrial dishwasher, suitcases, a juice machine, Land Rover parts, LPs, glasses, plates, kids' toys, jigsaw puzzles… even a lounge suite!

If you feel inspired and want to help the WSP, either take your discarded treasures directly to Bounty Hunters (cnr 2nd Ave & 7th Street Melville – tel: 482 6094) and tell Gail that these are for the WSP, or call us on
(011) 728-5678 and we will gladly collect. And if you are looking for treasures or reading matter for yourself, pop into the shop and you may be pleasantly surprised at what you will find.

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS
During September, Connie Bertsch launched Finding your way back to Wellness - a half-day course in which she shares her own practical experience of how you can revitalise your immune system with the help of your mind. Aimed primarily at the diagnosed patient (as opposed to people simply interested in the PNI concept), the programme gives an easy-to-follow explanation of the scientific aspects of PNI, and covers a number of specific issues: dealing with the diagnosis, exploring underlying causes that may have precipitated the disease condition, finding solutions to help to reverse the damage, continuing to grow and enrich your life despite your diagnosis… these and other issues covered in the workshop are of tremendous importance to the patients. Participation from delegates adds further substance and value.

For those interested in attending a Finding your way back to Wellness workshop, see the Diary of Events for dates and details.

FEEDBACK ON TISSUE SALTS WORKSHOP
The WSP Options session on Tissue Salts (or mineral replacement) on 19 September was a full morning workshop given by Baroness Alice Konstanze Johanna von Prevenheuber. In what turned out to be very much a hands-on workshop, Alice covered the theory supporting the use of biochemical tissue salts, the recent (this century) rediscovery of this ancient knowledge and its practical application. Her own life experiences (recovering from major medical mishaps, and treating others while within the medical profession and, more recently, in her own practice) have made Alice an expert in this field.
As participants, we learnt how - through ‘facial analysis' - to diagnose mineral deficiencies in the body and determine which of the 12 major tissue salts were in need of replacement in order to heal the body. As a natural healing method, the use of tissue salts allows the body to heal itself from within. I found the knowledge of this gentle process and practical use of it enlightening, and certainly an option to pursue further.
Melyssa van Ryneveld

JOIN OUR FREE SATURDAY AFTERNOON SUPPORT GROUP
Concerned about your chemotherapy or radiation? Wondering whether to have the recommended operation or not? Keen to share the load with others in a similar situation? Why not come along and join the small Saturday afternoon support group that meets from 3-5pm each week at the WSP offices at 37 Davidson Street, Fellside (off Louis Botha Ave in the Norwood/ Orange Grove area.) There is no charge, and parking is safe. You're welcome, too, to bring along a partner or other family members.
If this venue is out of range for you, there are similar groups meeting at other times in other areas. Call Shay at the WSP office (011-728 5678) and she'll give you the contact numbers, as well as directions to 37 Davidson Street.

20 % DISCOUNT OFF
LOUISE HAY WORKSHOPS
FOR WSP MEMBERS
PLUS YOU GET 20% OFF
Louise Hay books and tapes,
published by Paradigm Press

* YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE (R76.99)
* THE POWER IS WITHIN YOU (R76.99)
* HEAL YOUR BODY (R43.99)
* LIFE - REFLECTIONS (R76.99)
* AUDIO CASSETTE - MEDITATION :
YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE (R59.99)
(Fee to be added for packing & post)
Orders:
call Paradigm Press (011) 728-2126
WSP members booking for Louise Hay
workshops receive a 20% discount off
the regular price of R650
(you pay just R520!)
The next workshops
in Johannesburg are on
23 & 24 Jan. and 27 & 28 Feb. '99
To book, call Annette on
(011) 728 2126 or
 

I find Caroline Myss fairly compulsive reading, and this book is no exception. I had been to her workshop in Johannesburg at the beginning of August and was keen to see and hear the developments in her teaching after Anatomy of the Spirit.
She summarises some of her earlier work on the Chakra system and represents it, as she did in the workshop, in a graphic form, which I found easier to understand. She is also more explicit in her discussion of the ‘woundology' and how people become fixated or stuck in going over and over particular traumas in their lives so that they are unable to integrate the experience and move on.
Caroline Myss is never a person to mince her words and she exposes quite clearly the most prevalent myths about healing in Western culture and how our acceptance of them at an unconscious level keeps us trapped in the time-frame of healing that our culture finds acceptable. Miracle cures are generally viewed with grave suspicion. She is also quite emphatic that two of the myths about healing which are Aquarian are both misleading and harmful to us; illness cannot be healed by the power of the mind alone.
She offers direct help for finding your way through the chaos of conflicting and contradictory paths to healing, and is quite adamant in her belief that body, mind and spirit must be engaged in order to heal. She also deals with the very thorny questions of what is going on when people who do all these things remain ill.
Igniting the healing fire within is Myss's method of dealing with many health issues, and she provides specific tasks, exercises and meditations to help you on each step of the healing journey. The process is stimulation and calls for a much reflection but also some positive action on your part to keep the healing on track. Passivity will not do it for you.
Finally, there is a chapter for bridging the Chakra system and the sacramental system in the Christian tradition for those who wish to explore that dimension as well. Her emphasis on the symbolic and symbolic sight allows us to look at illness in a much less personal way and as a process for forcing us to get in touch with the spiritual dimension of our being. Myss will, undoubtedly, expand on the symbolic and archetypal dimensions in a new book, and for my part these areas need to be explained in much more depth.
This book is a MUST for anyone who likes straight talk and a no-nonsense approach to the unconventional. It is a practical book about areas of our awareness, and is neither couched in language which is confusing nor riddled with jargon. It gets to the point without your having to wade through a whole esoteric discourse to find the meaning.

10% OFF ALL
P U R C H A S E S
SPECIAL OFFER FOR WSP MEMBERS
Sole importers of excellent vitamin and nutrient products is offering
a special 10% discount to all paid-up members of the
Wellness Support Programme!
Lower Level (Pick 'n Pay) Hyde Park Shopping Centre
Tel (011) 325-5168 : Ask for Linda
QUOTE YOUR WSP MEMBER NUMBER TO QUALIFY

TAMOXIFEN RISK DISK
Derived from an article by TIME health columnist Christine Gorman