We are on day 8 of my November to Remember, No Excuses November, 30-day challenge 2012. This morning, Sally reminded me of a passage from Suzuki’s Not Always So, “To be completely concentrated on what you do, that is simplicity. And the beauty of practice is that it can be extended endlessly. You cannot say our way is quite easy or that it is very difficult. It is not difficult at all. Everyone can do it, but to continue it is rather difficult. Don’t you think so?”
For those who have been doing the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery™ and for those who have just started by accepting the 30-day challenge 2012 with the scaled-down version of the Recipe, consistency and persistence are critical. If you did not have Parkinson’s, the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery™, in and of itself, is not too easy or too difficult. I understand this from both sides of the disease. But you do have Parkinson’s, and even though everyone can do the Recipe, I know that on a sliding scale of easy to difficult, the marker is much closer to difficult than it is to easy. However, as Suzuki points out, even though all of you can do the Recipe, your true difficulty will be in continuing to do it until you recover, and for some, continuing to do the scaled-down version for 30 days.
This is where faith has to be stronger than fear and FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real). This is where faith in yourself and your decisions and in your connection to your Higher Power, the Greater Consciousness, the Greater Healing Power, or simply the electro-magnetic waves inside and outside your body, have to be stronger than fear and FEAR. This is where faith that you are on the correct path has to be stronger than every other person’s opinion about how you should be treating your Parkinson’s. That right, your Parkinson’s.
When I say your Parkinson’s, it is because I feel that since we all experience the symptoms of the disease a little differently, each of us is the expert of our Parkinson’s…we are the ones living inside the Parkinson’s polluted body, thinking with the Parkinson’s polluted mind, and feeling with the Parkinson’s polluted spirit. No matter what anybody else thinks you should do for your Parkinson’s, they do not live in your body, and at the end of the day, they go home and you’re the one who has Parkinson’s, not them. So, what are you going to do about it? How about cleaning up the pollution one step at a time.
Body Pollution (Physical symptoms and Medications). The Qigong and Standing exercises help cleanse your body’s Parkinson’s pollution by helping your liver and other internal organs heal and function better.
Mind Pollution (fear and worry that I will end up with a walker or in a wheelchair). The chanting and visualizations help get your brain active with a healing “can do” attitude, which cleanses your mind pollution.
Spiritual Pollution (It seems hopeless, how do I know this will work). The meditations and prayers and affirmations help you connect your Inner Divine to a Greater Healing Power Divine outside of your body, which cleanses your spiritual pollution by replacing fear with hope and faith.
Parkinson’s can only live in a polluted environment. Clean up the pollution and Parkinson’s dissolves into nothing. That is why once I recovered, I did not need to continue doing the Recipe. As a result of eradicating all three levels of pollution, I removed the causes of Parkinson’s, and I knew they would not come back.
For those of you who have been doing the Recipe for a while, congratulations to you. You have been consistent and have persevered through difficulties, and you are not too far behind Marie, Pratima and me in your recovery.
For those of you who have just accepted the 30-day challenge 2012, you are 8 days into the challenge; congratulations to you. You are just a bit behind those already doing the full Recipe.
For those of you who are still thinking about accepting the 30-day challenge 2012, you can start today and still have 22 days left in the month. If you simply look at a recipe in a magazine and do not get the ingredients, and do not follow the instructions, you will not get the reward of enjoying the results of whatever recipe you are staring at. Please stop thinking and join us and DO! You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.
I will end where I started, “To be completely concentrated on what you do, that is simplicity. And the beauty of practice is that it can be extended endlessly. You cannot say our way is quite easy or that it is very difficult. It is not difficult at all. Everyone can do it, but to continue it is rather difficult. Don’t you think so?”
Take control of your Parkinson’s and DO something about it…step by step, day by day. Make your recovery your new habit.
Every day, instead of thinking about your recovery, be your recovery in everything you do. Designate your time to do the parts of the Recipe or scaled-down Recipe, and the rest of the day, live your life to the fullest.
Take control of your Parkinson’s and take control of your life.
I know you can do it!
YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!
All my best,
Howard
