You Are Not Your Illness

Book excerpt: The author, who has lived with multiple sclerosis most of her adult life, delves deeply into her own experience to reveal the keys to regaining emotional and spiritual wholeness when a serious illness or injury threatens to destroy one's sense of self. While serious illness, injury, or disability can physically alter the course of your life, it can also cause great emotional upheaval. It is not uncommon to feel anger, frustration, grief, fear, and denial as you try to accept a new way of living. As you lose your ability to do things you once considered routine, you may even feel that you are losing your self-worth, that your physical condition is threatening your identity. Through a step-by-step process designed to show that real healing has little to do with the state of the physical body, Noble Topf offers a compassionate and inspirational message to anyone whose sense of self is threatened by physical limitations.