Labels Are Just Labels.

Labels, labels, labels. They are all over the place. I hear them on t.v., I see them in magazines, I hear them come out of strangers and loved ones mouth's, I read them in the newspaper, I see them on the internet, etc.  "The flu is going around." "This new diet really works!" "If you do this, this will happen." "If you don't do this, this will happen." To me, labels are like soup can labels...they wrap me up and tell me what I will get once I've opened my mind up to them, but why do I have to get what the labels tell me? Don't I have a choice? Yes! I do!

Just yesterday, I learned that I have an infection that I need get to take an antibiotic for over the next ten days (I am blessed, blessed, blessed to have the antibiotic readily available to me AND to have insurance that covers it). When I picked up the prescription, there were four pages of possible side effects (labels galore). I read them all, but as I read them, I started getting a little scared, okay, really scared about what the pages were saying. I let the labels get to me. I got so scared, that I didn't take my antibiotic last night. I didn't want to experience this, and experience that, like the pages said I would. For some reason, I allowed the side effects to pour into my head and take over me.

I started thinking about why I had this infection and what it was going to teach me. I knew I was pretty good at not letting labels get to me (or so I thought), so I didn't think that was my lesson. Maybe the infection was teaching me to listen to my body more...maybe it was teaching me to speak up when I questioned something. Thinking more, I realized that there were many lessons for me to learn and that labels was definitely one of them. How could I say that I was good at not letting labels get to me, when I was freaking out about the side effects?

I took my first dose this morning. As I swallowed the pill, I thought to myself, "I am not subject to the side effects of this antibiotic. This antibiotic will help me." I made it through the day without labeling the side effect I was scared of the most...almost as if I erased the actual side effect from my mind. I just took my second dose a few minutes ago and I said my favorite, favorite, favorite saying from Dr. Hawkins..."I cancel any belief in (side effects from my antibiotic). I'm subject only to that which I hold in mind. I am an infinite being, and in truth, I am not subject to that. And that is a fact."

That saying has helped me out a lot!! I actually wrote it on paper, framed it, and hung it up in my bathroom. I have it well memorized now, but seeing it hanging on the wall helps remind me to be conscious and aware of those labels bouncing around in the Universe, as well as, helps me focus on the present. I have lessons to learn from this experience. Some, I have already learned, but there are still others, I'm sure. I am present. I am listening. I am ready.