When Louise Hay published her book, “You Can Heal Your Life,” in 1984, little did she know that she would go on to become one of the best-selling non-fiction authors of all time.
Her book became such a worldwide sensation that it has sold over 50 million copies, and translated in more than 25 languages worldwide.
In addition to all the records it broke, there is this one unusual record it happened to create. Nearly after two decades since the book’s launch, Louise Hay appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s show for an interview to discuss on the benefits of affirmations.
That was it.
Following her interview on Oprah’s show, Hay’s book landed on the New York Times bestseller list right away, and remained on the list for 13 consecutive weeks—the first time it has ever happened in the publication history.
So, what’s with this book? Why is this such a phenomenal hit? Well, you may find out the answers for those questions by the end of this article.
On that note, here’s a personal testimony I would like to add: It’s been nearly five years since I went to a hospital. And I credit that completely to this book. Out of all the self-improvement books I read in my lifetime, this is the greatest book ever..
Be Kind to The Child Within
Louise Hay’s core concept of the book is very simple. Our fears, worries and depressions reflect on our bodies as health-related issues—both physical and mental. She says that while we may grow old, there is a child inside all of us.
That child reacts to our negative self-talk, worries, fears and depressions, just like the same way how a normal child would react when she sees her parents fighting, or if someone is shouting at her loudly.
There’s no big difference between the two.
And when we do the negative self-talk, we scare the child within us. And consequently, this translates into negative signals in our body and causes health problems like cramps, allergies, boils, fever, cancer, and cysts, among others.
After all, what that quaking inner child needs is pampering and constant reassurance— the reassurance that everything will be alright very soon, and to not worry about things.
Louise Hay calls this reassurance to that child within as affirmations. In other words, she asks us to be as kind to that child as possible.
On an equal note, she also asks us to let go of the past bitter memories, guilt feelings, resentments and grudges we hold against people and forgive ourselves and them. Those bitter feelings, she says, could negatively impact our mental and physical health, and also the lives of people around us.
For each health issue that arises in human body, Louise Hay suggests a particular affirmation as cure. Some of them are as follows.
Fever
Probable cause: Anger burning up.
Affirmation for healing: I am the calm and cool expression of life.
Cramps
Probable cause: Tension. Fear. Gripping. Holding on.
Affirmation for healing: I relax and allow my mind to be peaceful.
Depression
Probable cause: Anger you feel you do not have a right to have. Hopelessness.
Affirmation for healing: I now go beyond other people’s fears and limitations. I create my life.
Demonstration of Love
Soon after Louise Hay’s first book—You can heal your body— was published in 1976, it received a deluge of flak from various science communities for the concept of mind and body connection she based the book upon.
However, those controversies came to a halt when Louise Hay demonstrated the preaching on herself.
Yes, just a year after publishing her book, Hay was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Rather than seeing it as a challenge, Hay considered it as a huge opportunity to show the world that she meant what she had written in the book.
And the result? She put her preaching into practise and healed completely from cancer within six months, without any drug or surgery—with the help of just affirmations, psychotherapy, nutritional cleansing and visualization. Hay stated that the reason she was diagnosed with cancer was because of her resentment towards the childhood abuse.
The Way Hay’s Affirmation Helped Me
As I mentioned before, it was in 2017 that I happened to stumble upon this book on Kindle. As someone who reads quite a lot of self-improvement books back then, I thought this book would be no different other than a typical self-help book.
But the kind of impact this book had on my life was so much so that not even a day passes by without me saying Hay’s affirmations. Her affirmations have been shaping each and every single aspect of my life since then. I can’t put into words on how much I owe Hay in my life.
This book is something that everybody should definitely give a shot.
It changed my life completely, and I firmly believe, it will definitely change others’ lives too…
And finally, I would like to add this beautiful quote from Hay’s book, “You can heal your life.” It goes like this:
“The love within you is more than enough to heal the entire planet.”