Shaman and spiritual teacher Nancy Lynne Harris states that we can heal ourselves from addiction and mental illness by practicing the art of Self-Love. She describes her own journey to this truth. Her father was an alcoholic. He took prescription barbiturates, believing that doctors would cure him. He was found dead at age 51. She lost two sons and an ex-spouse to drugs and alcohol. For eight years she suffered from depression, going to counselors who prescribed various drugs for palliation. Then she had a powerful vision of evil spirits taking possession of her mind. She realized that she could heal herself by taking charge of her mental state and overcoming such demonic entities with authoritative, disarming messages. She thus began the process of Self-Love, recognizing that even the word “love” has the power to drive negativity out of one’s life.

Harris offers ten steps for self-healing such as praise yourself, give yourself permission to change, and retrain your negative self-talk. Basing her ideas partly on Biblical teaching, she compares these steps to Jesus driving demons out of suffering people. She calls addicts “dysfunctional people” but eschews the term “abnormal.” She sees them rather as demon-possessed and urges them to take immediate steps to love themselves and drive out their own demons, which she says are actual translucent spirits that can control one’s innermost thoughts. She offers curative affirmations (e.g. “I am an entity worth loving”) for inner healing. A summation of her teaching is that “thinking ‘I love myself’ is the best medicine you can ever take.” Consisting of only 49 pages, Harris’ book may be too short to completely articulate a compelling message and provide a methodology sufficient to heal addiction, but it can be a starting place for the determined few.

Return to USR Home