2014…the year of faith. Let’s sit with this concept for a moment. 2014…the year of faith. Faith is very powerful. Faith is where you begin this journey to your cure, and faith is what carries you through the journey even on the hardest of days. The Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® is a proven cure to Parkinson’s. Faith in your Higher Power, faith in the Recipe, and faith in yourself are the three faith components you need in this journey to your cure.
Faith in your Higher Power. Close your eyes and reach down deep inside to that place that defies logic…to that non-explainable place within you where you have reached in the past and found the strength to do whatever it was you needed to do even though you could not explain from where the power came. Find this place again…NOW! You will need to nurture its seed and grow your faith in your Higher Power as you continue on this journey for your cure.
Faith in the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®. Howard…cured! Marie…cured! Pratima…cured! Betty…cured! Here are the statistics:
Number cured:
Recipe: 4. (In last 3 and 1/2 years).
Western Medicine: 0. (In last 197 years; considers Parkinson’s incurable).
Slowing, halting, reversing Parkinson’s:
Recipe: Hundreds. (In last 3 and 1/2 years).
Western Medicine: 0. “What we don’t have is a disease-modifying treatment, something that would actually halt or slow the progression of the disease.” See, https://www.michaeljfox.org/understanding-parkinsons/living-with-pd/topic.php?medication. (In last 197 years).
Faith in yourself. This faith is the biggest challenge for some. They have faith in their Higher Power and they have faith in the Recipe, but they lack faith in themselves to see it through to the end. As I have said in the past, “Faith without action is meaningless for Parkinson’s recovery.” You need to take action if you want to be cured from Parkinson’s.
What you need to ask yourself is, “What am I doing right here, right now, in this very moment?” That is what matters. Take your eyes and refocus them to what is happening NOW, in this very moment…THAT IS WHAT IS REAL! Staring into a fearful future of Parkinson’s debilitation does nothing to cure you, and it often paralyzes you from taking action NOW, the kind of action that will lead to your cure.
Build faith in yourself by staying in the present moment. Think about it: When you are engaged in joyful activities and they end, you say things like, “Time flies when you’re having fun” and “Where did the time go?” When you are engaged in activities that you do not like, five minutes seems like five hours…time just drags and drags and drags, and anger and frustration and stress and anxiety and fear just grow and grow and grow.
Did you ever stop and wonder why “time flies when you are having fun?” Because you are there, right there, in the moment of the activity. When you are opening your heart and engaged in joyful activity, you are not fearful of the future, and there are no negative thoughts. What I learned in my recovery is that being joyful in the moment or fearful of the future are choices.
I realized that to be cured from Parkinson’s, I needed to find joy in my heart, and that joy in my heart was a choice. I became grateful to be alive, even in a Parkinson’s body, and the more I realized what a gift this life is, the more my symptoms mattered less…and less…and less…and less. And, the more my faith in myself to stay in the moment each and every day doing the Recipe and living my life mattered more…and more…and more…and more.
Do not look into the future to determine if you have faith in yourself to reach the end of the journey, your cure. Find faith in yourself to choose to find joy in your heart, to do your best, and to stay in the moment. You do not control the future. You control what you are doing NOW! Open your heart to yourself and know you will be cured one day. That is faith.
2014…the year of faith. Choose it!
YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!
All my best,
Howard
Wow what great inspiring words Howard. It makes so much sense to me . Thank you
Every morning, when I do my standing exercise, I stand in front of my window, looking out to the scene in front of me…. It’s usually about 5:30 in the morning, so it’s dark at this time of the year and I’m blessed by the lights of my neighborhood, the quiet silhouette of the trees…and sometimes, if there is no mist shrouding her, the outline of my beloved Mount Tzouhelum in the distance. As I stand there softly attending throughout the 10 minutes it takes me to do the exercise, I repeat rhythmically to myself, “I am up on top of Mt. Tzouhelum.” This morning, I added, “2014 is the Year of Recovery.” Curiously, I hadn’t yet read Howard’s blog post… at least not this one, the first of the New Year. But I envisioned all of us as a living part of this Year of Recovery…all of us working together towards a common goal….Recovery!
For me, this journey is so much more than recovering from Parkinson’s Disease….it is about reclaiming my soul and it’s important and necessary work. It’s about trusting myself, attending to what I know to be true in this moment…it is about love….it is about compassion….it is about kindness. And it is about faith. And so, in this very sacred moment….as all moments are if I choose to truly rest in them, I choose faith.
I am so very grateful to be alive. Thank you Howard….thank you dear community… I wish us all abundant joy, life…and faith throughout 2014.
Yay to you Penny and all of us on this journey of light love and recovery
2014 is the year of Recovery!
Let 2014 be the year of recovery!
As I got out of bed this morning I said too myself, this is the new 2014 me……..I left the old me in 2013! This will be the year for recovery!!!!!!! For all of us! As I read your blog with great anticipation, and the part where you suggested that we reach down inside of ourselves for the place that surpasses all understanding, my faith soared and the words “faith without works is dead” echoed in my ears”. I have faith in myself, in the recipe and in my higher power and in my determination to hang in for the cure because I don’t like the alternative! Thank you Howard for your example, tireless support and faith in each one of us! Much love and gratitude to you and everyone as we forge onward in faith! Melanie
OMG, what gifts: 1st Howard — “NOW, in this very moment…THAT IS WHAT IS REAL!” Then Penny — “this journey is so much more than recovering from Parkinson’s Disease….it is about reclaiming my soul ” — yes, yes, yes!
God bless you Howard for helping me (us) so much.
I thought my recover year was 2013. It was not. Now I believe it will be 2014.
Perhaps I need to walk a longer road…
Blessings and Kisses
(My medication is still the same…)
Dear Howard,
I often read your blog posts to my husband who has Parkinson’s. It revives his spirits and gives him hope. Thank you for your good words.
Janet
P.S. I don’t have a website.
I LOVE what you’re saying, Howard. Hope is the best 4-letter word that our human spirits need in order to savor this life, this gift we have been temporarily given. Parkinson’s has also been a gift: A WAKEUP CALL TO CHANGE. Quote from Scripture, Matthew 17:20 “And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” (New American Standard) Howard, you are dispensing HOPE to a hurting group of us who have been literally scared to “SHAKING” when hearing the HOPELESS WORDS: “YOU HAVE A CHRONIC AND PROGRESSIVE DISEASE AND HERE IS YOUR NEW PRESCRIPTION FOR THE EXPENSIVE PILLS THAT WILL GIVE YOU STRESS, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, FATIGUE, CONSTIPATION….AND REMIND YOU THERE IS NO LIGHT AT THE END OF YOUR TUNNEL. WHEN WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR NEXT APPOINTMENT WITH US? OH, AND HAVE A GOOD DAY!”
Everything we need in order to become reacquainted with us, our wholeness, our personhood, is already built in and we just need to access it. God said…and I quote from Jeremiah 29:11 “FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU. PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU A HOPE AND A FUTURE.” God did NOT say….UNLESS I RUIN YOUR LIFE WITH PARKINSON’S! I agree that FAITH in God, FAITH is something outside of ourselves, that higher power. For me, it is complete Faith in God through my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His message works for me personally but I make no judgements on others who follow a different path. I am doing quite well these days. I am swallowing fewer drugs with NO adverse side effects and I credit Howard….whose site I discovered truly by faith. It makes no sense how I would stumble upon such a site….but I did. Alright…I’m on a roll so just one more goodie…from Psalm 37: “DELIGHT YOURSELF IN ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART.”
All is good. Thank you, Howard and may all who read my thoughts KNOW how we THINK matters. Blessings of everything GOOD to all.
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