Within reason, we're able to complain to others about how we feel, or put on a brave face, enduring pain (but also making certain that everyone knows that we're a martyr to our pain and we don't want to ruin everyone else's good time). Either way, our illness is making us center of attention, and this makes deposits in our Validation Accounts. Granted, deposits are very small, and cost is extremely high, but for many of us, this is only way we believe that we can receive validation and attention from others.

Healing means that we will have to give up our "special" status. We will no longer be entitled to be center of attention at all times. We will no longer be able to demand that other people notice us and pay us special attention. We will be expected to do things that we may not particularly enjoy, in order to meet our personal and social obligations to others.

If our illness is a chronic disability, healing means that we will once again have to work to earn a living. If we believe that only way that we can earn a living is doing work that we find repugnant and draining, where is incentive to heal? And, could this belief be one of primary reasons we created our disability in first place?

Sometimes it's more important to keep our handicapped parking privileges than it is to heal and have to (or even be _able_ to) walk an extra block to supermarket.

Please know that there is nothing at all wrong with that choice. We are free to choose to keep our illnesses and our dis-eases. These conditions meet very important needs for us, albeit at a considerable cost. We may not really want to heal, and that's a perfectly acceptable choice.

Of course, once we accept responsibility for having created our illness, and become completely aware of costs and benefits, we may realize that we can, in fact, meet those needs more effectively in other ways. When we realize this, we are truly ready to heal.

THE COURAGE TO HEAL

Healing is a very threatening process because it requires that we make significant, often dramatic changes in our lives, and change is always threatening. On most fundamental level, safe equals familiar. When our most basic, physiological needs are being met, we're often able to overcome minor concerns about unknown and embrace change without feeling threatened. When we're in pain because of dis-ease, however, our most basic needs are _not_ being met.

When our Physiological Need account is overdrawn, all of our need accounts are put on red alert. When we're in pain, we're most definitely not feeling safe, and _any_ change will be a threat. To make matters worse, behaviors that we will have to change-often eating, drinking, and/or smoking-seem to be few reliable ways that we can make deposits in our Safety Accounts.

On an intellectual level, we may understand that only way to truly heal and be free of pain of our dis-ease is to alter our behavior. However, when our safety needs aren't being met, we act on instinct. The very thought that we have to give up few things that give us pleasure makes us feel even _less_ safe.

What happens next is that we often retreat into victim consciousness. We long for magic wand that will miraculously make pain go away and let us continue with our lives exactly as they are, because that's only option we can imagine that lets us feel reasonably safe. When we escape into fantasy, of course, we avoid any personal responsibility. We also give up all personal power, and lose ability to heal.

In order to truly heal, we must accept each healing crisis as a call to awareness. When we're in pain, all we can do is find some way to alleviate pain. This is an essential first step. Healing requires that we address our safety needs, and we can't do this until our physiological needs are being met. Healing isn't about stopping pain; healing is about what we choose to do once pain has stopped.

Healing is not about pain management; it's about safety management. In order to change our behaviors and allow our bodies to heal, we must learn how to manage our Safety Accounts.

For example, we might have an emotional attachment to sugar. Anytime we feel stressed, unhappy, or otherwise unsafe, we can always rely on a candy bar or some ice cream to make us feel a little better. If we are at risk for diabetes, however, eating sugar poses serious health risks. Of course, thought of having to give up sugar makes us feel unsafe, and in order to replenish balance in our Safety Account, we dive into a pound of Godiva chocolates.

The only way to break this pattern is to learn to manage our Safety Account. We must discover other behaviors that help us to feel safe that do not involve eating sugar. We can use "Present Moment Awareness Safety Exercise" (see "The Relationship Handbook" page 48) to manage our general stress levels so that we're less likely to give in to our cravings. We experience truth that we can meet our needs in many different ways, and so we do not feel threatened and unsafe by thought of limiting or excluding sugar from our diet. And, of course, we apply AWARENESS, OWNERSHIP and CHOICE to create new behaviors that support our health.

Now, anyone who has struggled with attachments or addictions will tell you that while theory is very simple, simple isn't same thing as easy! Throughout process, we also have to be careful not to trigger our egos (as we covered in Part 1). We must take small steps, validating and rewarding ourselves for each elegant choice, no matter how small, and avoid punishing ourselves for not being able to change our behavior patterns instantly.

We did not create our dis-eases overnight, and we won't be able to heal them overnight, either. We must accept that healing is a gradual process, and in this acceptance is one of keys to healing. We generally do not need to make drastic, immediate changes in order to heal. We can make gradual changes in our behavior and our beliefs, and more gentle we are with ourselves during process, more successful it will be.

Healing does not have to be difficult. It's just that for most of us, as soon as we stop hurting, we lose interest in actually healing.

At present, motorized scooters wheelchairs can be seen in action in many places as people use them to take care of business. One of most common places to see scooters is at various stores that provide them for their customers who have a hard time making it through aisle after aisle without aid. These scooters let individuals take care of their shopping needs as comfortably as possible.

A number of people are buying these scooters because they need help from time to time and can easily get in and out of them. They are becoming increasingly well-liked as people see advantages of using a scooter in a complicated lifestyle. If considering purchase of a wheelchair for light use, a scooter may be way to travel.

Motorized Scooter wheelchairs are great for both transportation and assistance. If you are planning to purchase a regular wheelchair, think it over many times because you might not find vital assistance that you most need.