Louise L. Hayis a metaphysical teacher and the best-selling author of You Can Heal Your Life, The Power Is Within You and Meditations to Heal Your Life . Louise's work has been translated into 23 different languages in 30 countries around the world. Currently, Louise is speaking around the United States at Empowering Women conferences. Her new book, Empowering Women is available everywhere.

Dear Louise,

I am a woman who has been sober for 15 years, a nonsmoker for 12, and I've tried to do all the life-affirming things that you talked about in You Can Heal Your Life. Yet my fears of illness and death have rendered me almost insane. In the past nine months, I have had skin cancer, unknown viruses, a broken ankle, an ovarian cyst, my gall bladder removed, numbness in my hands and feet, and now another breast cyst. The terror seems to envelop me, and I don't know how to walk through all this and heal. Please help me. I so much want to live!

B.M., Portland, OR

Dear B.M.,

It seems as though you have locked yourself into old belief systems. Where did you learn to be so fearful of your body? You are using your own thoughts to terrorize yourself. Please stop that. How much are you willing to love yourself as you are? Are you fulfilling a family prediction or punishing a family member by having so many health problems? If you truly want to heal, you need to forgive the past and really love yourself as you are now. I would suggest you get a copy of the tape/book Why People Don't Heal and How They Can, by Caroline Myss. Also use the affirmation: I AM AT PEACE IN MY BODY.

Dear Louise,

After a seven-year journey in Southeast Asia, where I became a yoga teacher, I finished schooling at the university here with a master’s in engineering, and now I’m going for my Ph.D., as well as for my certification as a Feldenkrais teacher. I realize that what I’m actually doing is escaping from earning money. I keep taking courses and going to school, but I never actually work at anything (I still have a little money left over from an inheritance). I’m a 39-year-old man and am living with a woman I’d like to have children with, but I don’t know how I’m going to support a family or earn a living. The prospects of getting a good job as an engineer in Austria at my age are more or less zero, and being a yoga teacher will not bring me the kind of money I need. Can you "see" what hinders me from getting in touch with the abundance and richness of this universe?

G.W., Austria

Dear G.W.,

What a wonderful opportunity the universe has given you to study all these subjects and to deepen your knowledge of life. Please rejoice. This is not a time to beat yourself up, but to increase your consciousness of good and abundance. Nothing is hindering you except your own belief that prosperity can only come to you through certain jobs or channels. Affirm: I OPEN THE DOORS TO THE TOTALITY OF POSSIBILITIES FOR PROSPERITY IN MY LIFE. I know that the abundance and richness of the universe are already demonstrating in your life. Allow it to continue.

Dear Louise,

My 49-year-old stepson is manic-depressive, negative, self-involved, a compulsive talker with no friends, and has a childlike dependency on his father (my husband). Although my stepson lives in another town, he calls his father constantly for reassurance and visits frequently. My husband will not ask him to curb the visits, which are usually tension-filled nightmares in spite of my attempts to be positive and compassionate. This has been going on for years. Any advice?

M.L., San Diego, CA

Dear M.L.,

What a blessing that your stepson lives in another town. He is what he is. You did not create his problems, and you cannot change them. You can work on your own consciousness and what you attract into your life. I wonder if this is the only problem in your marriage. Did your parents have an annoying problem in theirs? Perhaps this is a continuation of what you, as a child, saw as the reality of love and marriage. There are several ways you can handle this issue. You could go away for a few days when your stepson visits. You could also work on forgiving your parents for having a less-than-ideal marriage. Or, you could do an affirmation every time you think of your stepson or hear his voice, such as: MY STEPSON (call him by name) LIVES A PEACEFUL, DEEPLY FULFILLING LIFE. Or: I FIND MY STEPSON TO BE A JOY AND A DELIGHT TO BE AROUND. Remember that it is your consciousness we are talking about and your relationship to life. Two or three months of positive affirmations can do wonders for even the most "stuck" relationships. Have fun with this process.