​ 
Jill Bolte Taylor, in her book a stroke of insight, says all it takes is 90 seconds for the body to process the hormonal and neurotransmitter reactions associated with negative emotions such as fear, worry, frustration, or sorrow… if you turn those emotions into stories, though, they may last forever. All we need to do is simply acknowledge them until they go away – just 90 seconds. Do not turn them into stories, do not feed the anger, fuel the pain, or pump up the fear; do not hold on to them but also do not push them under the carpet hoping no one will notice – they will still be there for you to clean up later on, this time with much more damage involved.
 
The stories our fears are feeding fall into two categories: worry and grief.
Worry is when we project our fears onto the future and grief is when we drag our past stories along into our present and allow them to shape our life and ache our heart and soul.
 
In his book, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, Robert M. Sapolsky says that zebras do experience life trauma. Attacked by a lion or seeing a tiger devouring their cub, they experience fear, pain, and grief but they do not attach any stories to the feelings, they fully experience the event with all what it triggers from hormones and neurotransmitters, then they flip the page and change the scene…
 
Some people have this amazing gift of ‘flipping the page’, you see them cheerful, happy, and bouncing soon after a life trauma hits them… sometimes, it is really a gift, they do live in the moment, fill their heart with peace, faith, and trust and let life flow and unfold as they go… yet, in many cases, the page flipping is just a denial mechanism or a mask they wear hiding their true unbearable pain even from their own selves… they still write the stories in their subconscious mind and shove it under a pile of fake laughter and joy. This is not a healthy way of experiencing emotions. They might get by for a while, but these stories will one day resurface from the shadow and haunt them. Their stories may start as subtle Body Whispers®, but soon, the screams will force them to wake up and really face their fears.
 
Facing our fears starts with the inner work. It starts with true belief that we live in a purposeful world, that God is wise, merciful, and just and that every event, challenge, or ordeal carries a valuable lesson and meaning that might or might not reveal itself with time. Yes, we might never understand ‘why.’ Deep in our hearts we need to believe that there is a valuable reason… when we reach this stage of faith, belief, trust, and surrender, we will finally be ready to let go of the fear.
 
It might take weeks, months, or even years.  You can’t rush it… “You can’t make a rosebud open by hitting it with a hammer” as R. N. Ramen says… Let the process unfold, be gentle with yourself, be compassionate towards your vulnerability… just keep doing the inner work one baby step at a time: Breathing, praying, meditating, reading, learning, getting therapy, hiring a life coach… whatever it takes, just keep it up and running.

2017 was a huge learning curve for me. Besides my Master's studies I read tons of books. And, as many of  you requested, here is my list of the best 15 books I read in 2017 (in no specific order): 
​

​1. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction- by Gabor Mate.
This is the best book I’ve read describing addiction, and the meaning, implications and approaches to healing. Yet, don’t be fooled by the name, this book showed me how, in a way, we’re all addicts. We’re all trying to fill this emptiness inside us and everyone has his/her personal way of doing that.

​2. Cultivating Wholeness: A Guide to Care and Counselling in Faith Communities by Margaret Kornfeld. 
Although written for Christian faith communities, it is still extremely valuable for all communities. This book is a valuable asset for spiritual leaders and community builders.

3. Collective Narrative Practice: Responding to individuals, groups, and communities who have experienced trauma - by David Denborough. 

This book shows how our stories can heal us. It is about finding meaning in our challenges, a meaning that can not only help us but also extend beyond that to help the world at large. If you are a care provider, community leader or therapist who work in group coaching and counselling, this book is a great tool to add to your practice.

4. Love & Happiness: A collection of personal reflections and quotes by Yasmin Mogahed. 

Easy read, poetic, very deep and wise thoughts, as expected! I absolutely love it! It is an everyday companion in an ever challenging world.

5. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and Memory Problems by Daniel G. Amen.

​The book offers new holistic approach to Mental Illness. Although the author advocates brain scanning so much (which I am not really sure about), yet the book still holds valuable information about how brain works, what goes wrong and how to fix it in a holistic approach. One of the best I have seen especially that it comes from a well-known psychiatrist. 

​6. Expert Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Finding Your Message, Building a Tribe, and Changing the World by Russell Brunson.

​Great information for those of you who want to build an online community and market your online courses in a non-salesy way.

​7. How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist by Andrew Newberg and‎ Mark Robert Waldman.

The authors show how the brain actually changes when we experience the Divine or the transcendent reality. The authors give scientifically proven tools to broaden this awareness and live in a more connected way.

​8. Revive Your Heart: Putting Life in Perspective by Nouman Ali Khan.

​Amazing lessons from the Qur’an written in Nouman Ali Khan's captivating interesting way. 

​9. Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity, and Human Nature by Daniel Nettle.

This is a fairly old book, yet it offers radical view to mental illness, truly fascinating.

​10. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety by Sarah Wilson.

The best book I have ever read about anxiety, depression, and OCD, a captivating memoire that highlights the struggle and the way to thrive with a ‘beast’ that the author finally decided to stop fighting and make it beautiful instead

11. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt.

​Haidt compares the human mind to a rider (conscious, analytical mind) on the back of an elephant (subconscious beliefs, drives, and perceptions). Regardless of how much will power the rider has, he cannot move the elephant against its will. We need to learn how to “tame the elephant” which what the book is all about.

12. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath.

​Beautifully written book, good read for anyone who wants to make change whether on the personal, professional, or community levels.

​13. Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients into Foods and Remedies That Heal by Rosalee de la Foret.

I love Rosalee’s teaching, her approach to herbs is so natural showing how to integrate them in everyday life and how to choose the ones that suits your body  need and your temperament.

​14. Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers.

​Best business book ever!  Feels like Sivers wrote it especially for an introvert like myself who find it very hard to embrace all the ‘have-to’ stated by modern-day business gurus. Derek’s rule is simple: Do anything you want!

​15. And, of course, I can’t end the list without my own book in its newly designed cover: Body Whispers: Unraveling the Emotional & Spiritual Root of Illness and Restoring Energy & Vitality. 

​If you did not get it yet, check out what it is all about here. The information in there are truly life changing... 

​Years ago, I read a play called The Fate of a Cockroach by a famous Egyptian writer, Al Hakim. It is the story of a wife who woke up one morning to find a cockroach in her bathtub. The woman panicked and screamed waking up her husband who volunteered to kill the beast. The wife closed the bathroom door and waited outside for her husband to come out victorious. She waited and waited...
 
Starting to worry, she cautiously opened the bathroom door and peeked inside to see her husband sitting in front of the bathtub looking at the little beast in admiration.

• “What the heck are you doing?” Asked the wife in astonishment.
• “Shhh!” replied the man,  “Come and look at this amazing creature. What a tremendous perseverance and patience it has!”

The wife came closer, still very cautiously. She saw the cockroach as it was trying to escape by climbing the slippery walls of the tub and sliding off again and again before even reaching half way out. Still, it kept trying … tens and even hundreds of times non-stop.
The wife, failing to see any meaning in what this ‘stupid’ insect is doing screamed at her husband: “Are you crazy? What are you waiting for? Just kill it!!!”
 
The husband totally ignored her and kept looking at the cockroach in admiration.
Desperate, the wife reached out to her neighbors for help. The couple came quickly and the man head straight to the bathroom to help get rid of the cockroach.
 
Again, time went by with no news. The two women went into the bathroom; they saw their husbands leaning on the bathtub with their eyes wide-open and big smiles on their faces. They were happily following the little insect’s trips up and down the tub wall with tremendous admiration for its perseverance, determination, and forbearance.
Soon, a fight started between the two couples. The men on one side tried to explain the reason for their amazement and the women on the other just asked for the death sentence of this horrible beast. The argument suddenly came to an end when they smelled a strange odor. Running into the bathroom, they saw the maid standing victoriously with an insecticide bottle in her hand and the cockroach lying on its back in defeat.
 
I loved the way each character in the story dealt with the ordeal. They symbolized the three different way of approaching a problem. One person can take some time to admire the meanings and learn useful lessons (the two men in the play); another can just deal with the problem any way he/she can and get it over and done with while failing to perceive any hidden wisdom (the maid in the play). And still, a third can just panic and run around asking for help taking no action and blaming others for his/her failure (the wives in the play).
Setting aside the sexist orientation of the writer, I love the wisdom in his story: Don’t kill the beast… it is here to teach you something!
​
One of my favourite books about anxiety and mental illness is Sarah Wilson’s First We Make The Beast Beautiful. Sarah wrote about her life long struggle with anxiety and OCD and how she finally managed to get her life on track by admiring the uniqueness of her own mind and digging into the wisdom of her challenge. Instead of fighting and drugging ‘the beast’, she shifted her efforts into ‘making the beast beautiful’… It is not easy… In fact it is much easier to drug the life out of our beasts… but it is much more rewarding to learn and grow with them.
 
We all have challenges, pains and struggles… we all have ‘beasts’ that keep us awake at night and bring tears to our eyes… they are here for a reason… they are here to teach us something, to help us grow… Don’t kill the beast… you’ll find a way to make it beautiful… 

​What is missing in your life? Why are you unhappy, stressed or tired? Which areas of your life need your attention?
 
I saw women staying years on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication trying to cope with their stressful reality, life demands, and loneliness…
 
I saw women going ballistic every ‘time’ of the month and others suffering form hot flashes and menopausal symptoms just trying to survive because they had no idea what their body was trying to tell them… they did not know what those Body Whispers® meant and how to heal them...

This is why I developed the Body Whispers® system after years of studying, teaching and working with my clients. The purpose of The Body Whispers® System is to help you quickly identify which areas in your life need your attention so that you can experience getting your life back on track.

• Backache, fatigue and depression start when you have issues with safety, security and belonging.
• Bones, joints & knee pain are related to feeling out of place, or stuck… feeling that you don't belong here. Traditional systems say that the knees store your fears… and pain in the hip, legs and feet indicates your reluctance to move forward in life.
• Kidneys & bladder malfunctions are your body’s way of telling you that you’re 'pissed off', you need to let go… let go of fears, worries and frustrations
• Sex organs & female hormonal imbalance - things like PMS, hot flashes, uterine fibroids, PCOS, and ovarian cysts – are trying to tell you that you are missing joy, excitement & creativity in your life.
• Colon problems like IBS, Crohn’s, colitis, hemorrhoids, bloating, or chronic constipation are signs that you are holding on to the past, and you are unable or unwilling to let go of what no longer serve you.
• Liver & gall bladder issues are related to Anger & toxic emotions.
• Pancreas problems are related to power struggle especially in cases of pancreatic inflammation or cancer. And, if you lack sweetness in life, pancreatic problems could surface in form of lower secretions like diabetes and poor digestive flow.
• Stomach issues are about losing strength, feeling victim & helpless or unable to ‘digest’ your current situation and reality.
• Lungs and respiratory issues are related to grief and the need to make room to breathe & take life in again.
• Heart problems like arrhythmia and palpitation show issues with self-love, care & forgiveness.
• Blood & circulation problems are telling you that life is not flowing smoothly and that you need more joy, smoothness, and harmony.
• Breast cancer in women is always related to self-care & self-nurture issues… women who have been giving, giving and giving so much and neglect their own needs for care and love.
• Throat & thyroid whispers want to tell you that you need to be heard; you need to reclaim your authentic voice. This area is also related to issues with surrender and learning to align our will to the Divine will without compromising or giving up on your dream nor ignoring your authentic voice.
• Nerves and Nervous system complaints show you that you need to stop and reflect on the lessons, the meanings and the wisdom behind what is happening in your life.
• Head & brain issues like headaches, migraine, memory problems indicate resistance to life flow, over-thinking, and inflexibility in your approach to life stresses and challenges.

 
 
Now, it is your turn to take some time and reflect on each area… Listen to you Body Whispers® before they turn into screams!