Magic of Believing

Living With Chronic Pain

Imagine the worst headache imaginable…..and it won’t go away.  Ever.  Oh sure, maybe you take some aspirin, or Tylenol, but it never really gets any better.  Now imagine that same headache is still there tomorrow when you wake up.  And the next day, and the next.  Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and months into years.  That’s crazy you say.  Go to a doctor for heaven’s sake!

It’s plainly obvious something is wrong, so you do go see a doctor.  That is, assuming you are one of the lucky few that are still employed and can still afford health insurance.  You go to a doctor and they run their tests.   The result?    ………….. You have a growth in your brain.  It’s not life threatening, but it’s also not operable.  It’s yours and you are stuck with it ………… forever.

Now what………….

Be Careful of Your Thoughts

On October 6, 2008 I wrote this article called Be Careful of Your Thoughts.  The article explains the Nocebo Effect, which is an effect similar to the Placebo Effect, but instead of having the power to heal, a Nocebo can use that same power to harm.

On November 7, I received the following comment on that article from a person who calls themselves KJ:

Then how come I wake up every day? I tell myself ever night that I’ll die in my sleep of a heart attack or a brain aneurysm, and yet, I wake up every day. What am I doing wrong?

At first I honestly thought it was a practical joke,  I mean why on earth would someone wish to die in their sleep? As it turns out, the headache example I used above was not just a hypothetical scenario.  This was KJ’s real life story.  And as KJ said , “you’d be surprised what intense, non-stop pain will cause one to think at times”.

Emotional Freedom Technique

KJ and I soon began a correspondence, exchanging ideas, comments, and emails.  We explored alternatives to typical Westernized Medicine.  And we finally ended with EFT.  There is a wonderful documentary on the Emotional Freedom Technique here.

EFT was developed by Gary Craig in the mid 1990’s, and is basically a “psychological acupressure. It uses the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat emotional and physical ailments — only without the needles.  With this method, you tap with your fingers.  And you can learn to do it yourself.

Tapping with your fingertips on specific meridian points on your head and chest, along with voicing positive affirmations, helps to clear out emotional blockages from your system, restoring your mind and body’s balance. Many people still do not realize that emotional health is absolutely essential to your physical health and healing — the two are very much inseparably linked.

Now at this point, KJ could have taken one look af EFT and said, “I’m not trying that, that’s crazy looking!”, or “I’m not into any of that New Age Mind/Body psycho babble”, and any number of negative things.  But they didn’t.  They instead found a local EFT practitioner and made an appoinment.  As KJ later told me in an email, “…..when one is in true pain, nothing is too outlandish to try”.

The Miracle Healing

What follows next is nothing short of a miracle.   On November 21, just 2 weeks after our first exchange, KJ wrote this comment:

Saturday was the EFT visit. When I got home I did the basic recipe several times throughout the rest of Saturday and several times Sunday, specific to the pain I felt. On both Saturday and Sunday I have to say I didn’t notice a whole lot of difference. On Monday however, I woke up with substantially less pain! I couldn’t hardly believe it. I did EFT several times that day too, trying to get rid of the remainder of the pain. Though I still have pain, it is substantially better than before!! I went for a walk several times this week, did my usual chores and such, and felt pretty darned good, all things considered. I’ve even scheduled my regular tennis game for this coming Monday (after a 7 week absence). The pain is creeping back, but again, I’m so much better than before, even still.

And the following day I received this in my email box:

Good day to you sir!!  I’m actually wiping tears as I write this.  I’m even tons more better today than yesterday!  It feels SO good to feel good again.  I’m going to start using EFT for everything I can.  Right now, I’m a believer, even though I can’t even begin to explain any of it.

 

I went back to the EFT person today, for a follow up and to get some questions answered.  I told the EFT person about “how we met”, and we both shed a tear thinking about what a one in a billion-trillion chance it was that I found your web site.  If only I could convey the weight of what you’ve done for me, your kindness and wanting to help…

I wanted to apologize for my initial comment, as it was not in the spirit of your web site.  I was just not doing well at that moment, and couldn’t help myself as that was how I truly felt, and hoped you could help me.  Only, you helped in a way I hadn’t anticipated.  You helped me heal, thus live.  And a story to share.  Funny how sometimes good things can come from less than ideal circumstances.

The Power to Heal

I have been blogging off and on for years.  I created this blog in September.  And never, in all my time on the Internet, have I felt like I made an personal impact on another human being.  The feeling is incredible. Thank YOU KJ for your inspiration.  Thank you for your willingness to try something new.  And thank you for sharing this with me.

Now I’m not trying to discredit traditional Western Medicine in this article.  But sometimes, we run out of options.  The point I’m trying to make is this:  There are alternatives.  And as KJ has proven, they work.

Suspend your disbelief.  Give it a try.  Believe it will work - And it will.  When we cut our finger, it grows back together.  When we get an infection, our immune system goes to work fighting it off.  Our body’s were designed to heal themselves.  And they will - if we only let them.

I love a good rags to riches story, and the story of JK Rowling is probably one of the best.  For those of you who do not get out much (like at ALL!),  JK Rowling is the best selling author of the Harry Potter books.  Not just a best selling author though, oh no,  according to Forbes, Rowling is the first person to become a billionaire from writing books.    Say it with me - Bill…ion…aire ………nice huh?  Kinda rolls right off the tongue doesn’t it?  Anyway - I digress….

Jo Rowling had loved writing fantasy stories, even as a small child, and on one particular trip from Manchester to London in 1990, she got the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry.  She said the idea “came fully formed” into her mind.

“I really don’t know where the idea came from.  It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head.”

“The idea that we could have a child who escapes from the confines of the adult world and goes somewhere where he has power, both literally and metaphorically, really appealed to me”

Sadly enough the project was put on hold as her mother

The Inspiration of Lou Holtz

Just imagine.  You’re 28 yrs old.  You’ve just spent every penny you own on a new house.  You have absolutely nothing left in the bank.  And your wife is pregnant with your 3rd child………. and then you lose your job.

What do you do?

1. Panic

2. Whine

3. Complain

4. Get angry

5. Sit down and write out 107 goals for your life.

If you’re Coach Lou Holtz, you picked #5.  The story goes like this:

One day in 1966, one month after having been just hired as an assistant coach to Marvin Bass at the University of South Carolina, Lou Holtz found himself unemployed and questioning whether he was in the right profession after Bass resigned as head coach. Holtz’s wife, Beth, was eight months pregnant with the couple’s third child and Holtz had just spent virtually every penny he had in the bank to make a down payment on a house.

His wife gave him the book The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz in an effort to lift his spirits. The book suggested that you write down all the goals you want to achieve before you die. Holtz sat down at the dining room table and let his imagination go. Before he knew it, he had listed 107 goals he wanted to achieve in his life.  His wife suggested #108 - get a job! 

__________________________

Who Writes Goals?

We all have goals.  We call them wish lists, or maybe to do lists, and every New Year’s they’re called resolutions, but they’re still goals.  But do we write them down? Probably not.  Statistically, only 3% of the population has written goals.

In a book titled “Look within or Do without” by Tom Bay, he states that the Harvard Business School did a study on the financial status of its students 10 years after graduation and found that:

• As many as 27% of them needed financial assistance.

• A whopping 60% of them were living paycheck to paycheck.

• A mere 10% of them were living comfortably.

• And only 3% of them were financially independent.

The study also looked at goal setting and found these interesting correlations.

• The 27% that needed financial assistance had absolutely no goal setting process in their lives.

• The 60% that were living paycheck to paycheck had basic survival goals;such as managing to live paycheck to paycheck.

• The 10% that were living comfortably had general goals. They thought they knew where they were going to be in the next five years.

• And the 3% that were financially independent - had written out their goals and the steps required to reach them.

___________________________

You have to write them down.  Think of a goal as a map to where you want to go.  If you are sailing a ship to some far off destination, you may have in mind where you want to go, but without a clearly labeled map - chances are you’ll never get there.

There’s just something magical about taking a thought or an idea, and putting it down on paper.  When it’s in your head - it’s just a thought.  When you write it down - it becomes real.  It’s almost as if putting it on paper sparks some invisible force that immediately begins to manipulate the natural laws of the universe to make it a reality.

In 1926, RH Jarett published a small pamphlet simply called, “It Works”.  The book is small, but very concise.  Write it down - don’t talk about it - and give thanks.  Sounds almost too easy right?  Here is an excerpt from a review on Amazon.Com.

My annual income is now 35 times greater than it was the day I first read this little book. I have gained houses, cars, boats, businesses, friends, a family, and numerous creative and prospering ideas using the principles set forth in this book.   In the last 25 years I have spent thousands of hours teaching these ideas to other people. I’ve seen many people use the ideas in this book to create something new in their life, and I have seen others who are not so successful with it. I want you to be one of the successful ones.

Write It Down !

Henriette Anne Klauser published a book in 2001 titled, “Write It Down, Make It Happen”. It’s all about setting goals, and writing them down.  Some more Amazon.Com reviews:

This book helped me totally change my life. If you apply what is written you will see a huge difference in your life as well. The power of pen to paper is amazing and this book will help you realize that you too have the power…just at the tip of your fingers.

I got this book about two years ago, read it through, and started a goals journal and a tidbit notebook. So far I’ve done 53 things on my list of goals

Write It Down !

____________________________

So how did Coach Holtz do?

I know you're asking this question.  Well, not surprisingly, out of his 107 goals, he has accomplished 102 of them to date.  `

And these weren’t just run of the mill “I want some more money” goals.  They were very specific, and - for an out of work, 28yr old man - seemingly impossible.

“Having dinner at the White House”, “Appearing on the Tonight Show”, “Meeting the Pope”, “Becoming head coach of Notre Dame”, “Winning a national championship”, “Becoming coach of the year”.

Out of 107 of these lofty goals, broke and out of work, Lou Holtz went on to accomplish 102 of them.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Lou Holtz….

• In 1986, Holtz left the University of Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program.  He took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record, and has referred to Notre Dame football as the “Michelangelo” of the NCAA.

• Coach Holtz has become the only Coach in NCAA history to ever lead six different programs to bowl games and likewise has become the only coach to ever guide four different programs to final top 20 rankings.

• Coach Holtz is the third winningest active head coach with 228 victories and 11th all-time, while his 11 bowl game victories rank fifth on the all-time list.

• The man has taken four different programs to top 20 finishes, won a national championship and National coach of the year honors, and guided teams to 22 postseason bowl games.

• On May 1, 2008, Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

If you`re bored with life - you don`t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don`t have enough goals.  -  Lou Holtz

So the message is this.  Set goals - and set some that are so high you’ll truly be amazed when they come true.  Write them down.  Create the map to take you where you want to be.  And then sit back and watch the magic happen.

As Coach Holtz says, “Ya Gotta Believe”

“My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.“  Wilma Rudolph. 

I had never heard of her before today.  Her story is one we should not forget.

She was born in 1940, in the back woods of Tennessee,  in a shack to her very poor parents.  She was the 20th child out of 22.   When she was four years old, she discovered she had polio, and that her left leg was paralyzed and useless.  As a result, she had to wear an iron brace and was told by a doctor that she would never walk normally.  Fortunately for little Wilma, she had a mother who told her otherwise, but she had to have faith and believe.

When she was nine, Wilma took away the brace and learned to walk again.  In four years time, she had developed a stride.  The doctors were amazed.  Then, Wilma got the notion - this impossible notion - that she would like to be