Inspirational

Attitudinal Healing

By Susie Trepagnier

My life changed forty years ago while teaching history in a middle school in Spring Branch. One day I received a message that one of my students, Leslie, had been diagnosed with cancer. At the time I was not thinking about illness or death, especially when it came to my 12- and 13-year-old students. Even though I was feeling helpless, I was determined to help her in some way, as well as the students in my class who were her peers and many of her close friends. 

Over the next few months, the students and I wrote notes to Leslie and visited her in the hospital. She had recently had her leg amputated because of cancer. One afternoon I organized a group of her friends to visit Leslie in the hospital. That visit was eye-opening. The students and I were unprepared emotionally to see Leslie in this state. Our stress was high entering the hospital. In fact, one student fainted in the elevator before we disembarked. Hospitals can be distressing for patients as well as visitors. Within 5 months of diagnosis Leslie died. In my mourning I knew I needed some help with my feelings surrounding her death. It was a wakeup call for me.

In answer to my call, I soon received life changing help from a lecturer and author who had come to Unity Church to talk about starting a Center for Attitudinal Healing in Houston. Dr. Jerry Jampolsky, a psychiatrist from California, had started some Centers for Attitudinal Healing whose purpose was to help families and friends deal with their feelings around illness and dying.  Reading his book, Love Is Letting Go of Fear, was my first step into looking at the world in a new way. 

The Principles of Attitudinal Healing spoke to me. From that point forward, I resolved to volunteer and attempt to integrate the principles into my life. This essay is about the principles that have influenced how I now think, and how they guide me in my daily life. To say I’ve mastered them would be hyperbole, but they have made my life more fulfilling and given me tools to deal with whatever life brings .

This following is an overview of the Principles of Attitudinal Healing. For me it was a new way of thinking. A way to concentrate on what is good in the world. A way to Love others without judgment. A way to support others who may be crying for help. A way to have more Peace in the World. 

May we all recognize that we are ONE.

Principles of Attitudinal Healing

The Essence of our Being is Love.

If we choose to see through the eyes of love, we will feel connected to all that is.

Love Is Letting Go of Fear.

Our fears often keep us separate from others and loving ourselves.

Now Is the Only Time There Is.

(The last two stress the importance of living Today in the Now.) 

Forgiveness Is The Key to Happiness.

Forgiveness of ourselves and others keeps us in the Now. 

I Can Choose To See Peace Rather Than Fear.

In a fear filled world seeing a more peaceful planet is a step toward unity.

Giving and Receiving Are The Same. 

All That I Give is Given To Myself.

The act of giving unconditionally is an act of love.

In my Defenselessness My Safety Lies.

Everyone has free choice. Forcing our ideas on others often leads to conflict. 

Everyone Exists with Me To Be Loved Not Judged.

We can always perceive others as extending love or giving a call for help.

I Am Never Upset for the Reason I Think.

Looking at our own anger may unveil more about ourselves than the other.

Susie Trepagnier is a retired teacher with 28 years of experience.  For most of her teaching career she taught history in Middle School. In the 1980’s she left teaching and worked for 6 years as the Director of Child and Family Services and the Executive Director at the Center for Attitudinal Healing in Houston. She traveled to the USSR in 1986 with Jerry Jampolsky on a mission called Children as Teachers of Peace . Their mission was to share the principles with the children in Russia.  This was the time in the 80’s and early 90’s of Perestroika or the reformation to restructure the Soviet Union. Ukraine actually gained its independence in August of 1991 and the Berlin Wall fell in November of 1989. If we could live the principles in our world  Imagine We Could Live as One. 

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