I met my husband at a (wacky) spiritual retreat in Brazil, which involved about 10 days of drinking this nasty-tasting brown tea—a sacramental tea called daime.

Daime is actually part ayahuasca, which is an hallucinogenic tea used during healing ceremonies to usher forth rapid spiritual and physical healing.  (I know—I said it was wacky.)

This guy named John (who would later become my husband) went to Brazil seeking answers around his debilitating and tortuous run with Lyme disease.

Here was a guy that, pre-tick bite, would have resembled Paul Bunyan or some other strapping, strong and muscly, healthy young man. Now he was reduced to bones and dealing with the kind of pain that would drive most people to give up—permanently.

“The First Wealth is Health.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We both went to Brazil to get answers about what we saw as our “sickness.” What we both discovered is that what we perceived as sickness was really just a super-sized invitation to discover health on a whole new level.

And not just physical health, but health in regards to love, money and life overall.

Because isn’t that the gift that sickness, or any unwanted thing that comes along in our lives, can offer us? A chance to say, “Hell, no!” so that we can more clearly define our “Hell, yes!”?

Sometimes what we perceive to be a sickness—or any challenging experience in life—can be a massive spiritual two-by-four upside the head. When you’re staring at a life or death situation, it has a way of making the entire thing a bit more real and…urgent.

And while we may not be able to control everything that comes into our life, we do have a choice in how we react. We have a choice when it comes to how we feel about being sick, or broke, or alone. And this is the sweet spot where we can also create miracles—turn a bummer into a gift and change “reality” on a dime.

Being able to choose what we think and how we feel, no matter what shit storm comes our way, is how we can truly find freedom in life.

Changing the way we think, feel and react may seem simple on an intellectual level, but actually doing the work—in the moment, day to day—can be tricky.

If we want things to change, we have to change our feelings and our thoughts.

We have to choose to think healthy thoughts, to invite health—even in the face of illness.

We have to choose feelings that align with wealth in order to attract wealth—even when our checking accounts are sucky.

That is the subtle nuance of all this energy and vibration stuff, which really gets left out. And I think it’s why a lot of people think it just doesn’t work.

They ask, they think they are giving out good vibes, but the soulmate doesn’t show up, the stacks of gold don’t appear and the six-pack abs aren’t happening. Damn!

Because it really isn’t as simple as “ask and it’s given.” It’s really: ask, align your energy to match what it is you desire, be patient, super-consistent and non-attached to the outcome and then—maybe, just maybe—it will be given.

The win-win if you commit to mastering what you think and how you feel?

The most obvious is that you learn to feel better—no matter what you’re dealing with.

And if the theory about our energy attracting back similar energies is true, then you’ll be a magnet for more and more goodness!

But it starts with a commitment to learning to feel good (or a bit better) when you don’t. And flexing that muscle of you really being in the drivers seat with what you’re thinking and feeling—rather than just going on autopilot—and letting your automatic thoughts and feelings run the show.

You aren’t sick, broke and unhappy because God hates you and it’s a big cruel joke.

You aren’t sick, lonely and bored because of fate.

You may be sick, sad and broke (in part) because you have (unconsciously) chosen to think and feel in a way that holds you separate from what you want.

Does sickness exist?

Yes.

Poverty?

Oh yeah.

Widespread unhappiness?

Yep.

Can we control everything?

Nope.

But in order to transcend what we don’t want, we can learn to think and feel in a way that attracts experiences we do want. If we really desire a life where we are playing on a much larger scale, then we can’t afford to be defeated by “what is”. We must shift our focus to “what is desired”. (Unless, of course, our “what is” is exactly what we want—then all we need do is be grateful.)

Then, like a stubborn child who refuses to give in, we don’t give up on our vision.

We hold unwavering faith. Unwavering.

We choose health, wealth and happiness in the face of sickness, poverty or unhappiness.

Simply put, this is the gift—and power—of choice in our lives.

I believe we can choose health, joy and prosperity—just as we can choose the color of our socks, what kind of pizza we want, or where to go to college. So right here, right now, we can choose the good stuff. We can choose health, abundance, connection and happiness.

Amen to having choices. Let’s use them wisely.

Relephant Read:

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Author: Carrie Jolie Dale

Assistant Editor: Hilda Carroll / Editor: Renee Picard

Photo via Flickr