Fighting Parkinson’s, and relying on yourself

In Parkinson’s recovery, we must learn to rely on ourselves. Why? Because conventional wisdom says that we cannot recover…that’s right, that you cannot recover. Parkinson’s is defined as an incurable progressively degenerative neurological disease. And, not only is there no cure, but you cannot get better, only worse. And, to top that off, the medications do not help you recover because recovery is not possible, but instead, they help you feel a little better while you get worse until the side effects kick in and then you only feel worse. So, if you want to recover, who do you rely on? Do you rely on those who believe that recovery is impossible or do you rely on yourself for your recovery because you believe recovery is possible?

I know from the calls and Skypes and emails, we are not used to relying on ourselves. I was trying to think of a way to express my feelings on this issue, and I remembered a post I did last year when recommending that a good place to start self-reliance for recovery would be to repeat the phrase, “I have the power to heal myself.”

Here is an excerpt of what I wrote about Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz:

“I believe when we are confronted with disease, we are scared and we feel lost, much like how Dorothy felt when she landed in Oz. Disease is a strange territory outside our comfort zone and we lose confidence in who we are and what we should do. So, what do we do?

We are not certain what to do, so, like Dorothy, we follow a path with the hope of finding the answers from somebody at the end of the path. Along the way, Dorothy asks a scarecrow with no brain what he thinks she should do, and Dorothy asks a tin man with no heart how she should feel, and Dorothy asks a lion with no courage how she should be brave on her journey. Clearly, she has lost confidence in herself…truly she is lost. She is so lost that she is willing to take a ride from a complete stranger who is supposed to fly her back to twister-ridden Kansas using a hot air balloon.

Finally Glenda tells Dorothy that she had the power to go home the entire time. Dorothy had the power to heal herself. My best guess is that if you go to the store and buy some ruby slippers, click your heels three times and say, “I don’t want Parkinson’s, I don’t want Parkinson’s, I don’t want Parkinson’s,” you still will have Parkinson’s.”

However, what if you say to yourself, “I have the power to heal myself.” “I have the power to heal myself.” “I have the power to heal myself.” And then you do something about it…you rely on yourself. You pick your path, you get on your path, and you do not leave your path until you have recovered from Parkinson’s Disease.

Along the way many people will have an opinion about what you should do, and they all mean well. However, as one person put it to me, “My naturopath recommended what I should do, my yoga instructor recommended what I should do, my Qigong instructor recommended what I should do, and none of the recommendations were the same. It occurred to me that end the end of the day, I was the only one of the four of us who was going home with Parkinson’s Disease, so I might as well rely on myself for what I should do.”

Years ago I saw an ad for a motivational seminar, and the catch-phrase is applicable here. It said:

“There are three kinds of people in life:
Those who make things happen.
Those who watch things happen.
And those who say, ‘What just happened?’
Which one are you???”

All of you know which one you need to be if you want to recover from Parkinson’s. WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? How about taking a dose of confidence and self-reliance and heading down your path to recovery. You deserve it! Don’t you agree?

All my best,

Howard