No one knows the exact cause of vitiligo, and there are many theories as to why it manifests. We can all agree that who ever gets vitiligo has a particular gene which predisposes them to it, but is the catalyst simply the predisposition, a chemical reaction, or is there an emotional connection? Perhaps it is any of the 3, or a combination, depending on the individual.

Let’s look at the emotional connection. This one is pretty easy to determine whether or not it applies to you. Did your vitiligo manifest after a stressful event, either physical or emotional? Or perhaps you led an emotionally stressful life and then one day you began noticing the white patches?

If you answered yes to either of those, maybe the cure for your vitiligo lies in simply forgiving either yourself or others for events that caused you stress.

Personally, there are many situations that have occurred throughout my life that I need to forgive myself  for how i responded to the situation. Nothing illegal, mind you, it’s just that in many situations I did not stand up for myself, and i still hold a bit of shame and anger. You know, the old “why didn’t I say this” or “why didn’t I just do that”, self punishment.

Forgiveness. It’s much simpler to forgive someone else than it is to forgive ourselves. I don’t hold grudges towards the people involved in situations that still anger me. So why do I keep a grudge against myself? Why can’t 40 year-old Nathalie forgive 16 year-old Nathalie for not sticking up for herself? After all, what I knew about life at 16, is nothing compared to what I know now. It’s time to forgive myself.

I found a great set of tools to help in this quest while listening to a podcast in which self forgiveness was the topic. The guest was Carl Tipping and he talked about his workshop and discussed methods to forgive. What I liked most about his methods is that you don’t have to conjure up and relive every stressful event that is still bothering you. Here is a link to his site where you can find all of the tools.

Hey, and even if it doesn’t cure your vitiligo, you’ll at least lead a happier life

The Can forgiveness cure vitiligo? by Nathalie Pelletier, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.