Young Louise was born into a poor family in Los Angeles. Before she was two years old, her parents divorced, and after trying unsuccessfully to have young Louise taken in by others, her mother took her back and was forced to manage as a single parent. Soon, Louise's mother married again, to a rough and violent German immigrant. Her young life was difficult, and it didn’t help that the country was in the midst of backbreaking economic times.
At
the age of five years old, Louise was sexually attacked by a neighbor. Even
worse, her parents said it was her own fault. The man was tried in court and
convicted, but even so, Louise grew up believing she was responsible. On top of
this, her stepfather was both physically aggressive and sexually abusive. Unable
to stop him or protect herself, she finally ran away from home at age fifteen.
Louise
worked a series of menial jobs in Chicago, during which time she helped get her
mother away from her violent stepfather. Finally, in need of new perspective,
she left for New York. Arriving there,
she was fortunate in being able to get work as a fashion model. Being accustomed to mistreatment and abuse,
she had little belief in her own beauty or worth, but she preferred the
modeling work to waiting tables. She
also met and married a wealthy, educated Englishman, with whom she traveled the
world, met royalty, and even dined at the White House. However, after fourteen years, he left her
for another woman.
At
this time, the principles behind what we now think of as self-help and
self-improvement were very new, and still unknown to most people. Louise had
spent nearly her whole life living with feelings of worthlessness and
reinforcing them with negative expectations, so it was a huge leap when she was
introduced to the transformative power of thoughts. She had never heard of such notions as, “If
you’re willing to change your thinking, you can change your life,” and when she
did, her jaw dropped. She had never been much of a reader, but she now became a
dedicated student of these ideas.
Louise
learned how positive thinking could change people’s material circumstances, and
even heal the body. She also studied
meditation, and soon became a popular workshop leader, guiding people in the
use of spoken “affirmations” meant to cure their illnesses and transform their
lives. Within a few years, she had
assembled her own guide to self-healing using the power of thought, which
included a chart of different ailments and their probable causes.
The
following year, Louise was diagnosed with cervical cancer. At first, she
panicked. But because she truly believed that mental healing worked, she
recognized that she was being given a chance to prove it to herself. She was
also certain that her own refusal to face and let go of all the anger and
resentment from her childhood was a major factor in causing her illness.
Refusing
surgery or medical treatment of any kind, Louise got to work. She read
everything she could on cancer. She
found a nutritionist to help her cleanse and detoxify her body from all the
junk foods she’d eaten over the years. She also met with a therapist to express
and release all of her bottled-up anger.
At first, she found it difficult to do something as simple as stand in
front of a mirror and say, “Louise, I love you.” But as she persisted, she was
able to stop blaming her parents and others for the horrific experiences of her
early life. And of course, she practiced
the “affirmations” she taught others, expressing nothing but positivity and
hope toward her recovery.
Six
months after her diagnosis, the doctors confirmed what Louise was already
certain of: she no longer had even a
trace of cancer.
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