Last week when I wrote Fighting Parkinson’s, and being your real self, I did not anticipate a part 2. However, on a Monday morning coaching call, we delved deeper into the shining silver teapot/purified soul issue, and here is where it went.
I have written before that Dr. Sha says: First you heal the soul, and the mind and the body will follow.
Healing the soul. I see this primarily as a four-step process:
1. Learning to love yourself.
2. Practicing Forgiveness.
3. Closing the door to the past.
4. Protecting your soul going forward.
(I am using the term soul. Please feel free to substitute for “soul” “your essence,” “your spot of grace” or whatever you call the “something” inside you that powers the rest of you and makes you uniquely you).
1. Learning to love yourself. Click the links below for a refresher:
Fighting Parkinson’s, and learning to love…yourself, part 1.
Fighting Parkinson’s, and learning to love…yourself, part 2.
Fighting Parkinson’s, and learning to love…yourself, part 3.
Fighting Parkinson’s, and learning to love…yourself, part 4.
2. Practicing forgiveness. Please click the links below for a refresher:
Fighting Parkinson’s, and practicing forgiveness.
Fighting Parkinson’s, and practicing forgiveness, part 2.
3. Closing the door to the past. Once you have worked out the earlier life issues and learned to love yourself, and then you have forgiven everybody, including yourself, there is one more critical step to moving forward in a healthy manner — closing the door to the past. Here is a way. It is a level of acceptance that goes like this:
“I accept that everything that has happened in my life right up until now has had to happen exactly how it happened for me to be where I am right now.”
To assist you with achieving this level of acceptance, think of someone or something that exists right now for which you are grateful. If there are things in the past that you do not wish to accept had to happen exactly how they happened, how do you know that the changing of one thing to negate these things would not have had the result of setting off a course of action that the “someone or something for which you are grateful” ceases to exist in your life right now.
So, let’s do this again:
“I accept that everything that has happened in my life right up until now has had to happen exactly how it happened for me to be where I am right now.”
Okay! With learning to love yourself, practicing forgiveness, and this new level of acceptance, you have closed the door to the past. That’s it! Closed the door to the past — no would have, should have, wish I had, no self-criticisms, no judgment of yourself and others…the door to the past is closed. Now, you look forward only, and you say, “Where do I go from here?”
4. Protecting your soul going forward. After you close the door to the past and realize that your soul is just as pure as the day you were born, your shining teapot from “Fighting Parkinson’s and being your real self,” don’t you want to work extra hard to keep the toxins away and not have tarnish cover up your beautiful soul again? Of course you do! Here’s how:
Get control of your mind so you can stay in your heart. This would cause you to not worry or be fearful, to not have stress or anxiety, to not have things anger or frustrate you…why? Because you want to proceed forward in your life through your heart and soul, and these are toxins that tarnish your soul. First heal the soul this way, and your mind and body will have no choice but to follow.
This will free your mind: The mind says, “worry.” You say to yourself, “Worrying is a toxic thought about the future that may not ever take place and it tarnishes my beautiful soul and hurts my recovery in the present moment. I need to decide not to worry. If the thing I was going to worry about ever actually occurs, I will deal with it in the moment when it occurs. I choose to not worry.”
This will free your mind: The mind says, “That person insulted you, you need to be angry and ‘let him have it.'” You say to yourself, “This anger is a habitual reaction to life’s events and it fills me with toxins that tarnish my beautiful soul and hurt my recovery. I will view the other person from my heart and realize that somebody who would utter such insults must be suffering, and suffering beings need my compassion, not my anger. My anger hurts both of us, and my compassion is healthy for both of us. I choose compassion.”
As you can see, negative emotions surface as part of life, but you can choose to transform them into something positive. It takes a constant conversation with yourself to undo old habits and old ways of thinking and responding to life. This is what protects your soul from getting covered by all of the toxins and tarnish of life. Over time, this gets control of your mind, which is why, First you heal your soul, and the mind and the body will follow.
Once you reach the point where your mind is following your heart and soul, your mind does not interfere with your body…your mind is so under control that it stops telling your body, “you are not getting better, Parkinson’s is not curable, more tremors is a sign you are getting worse and not a sign you are getting better from increased energy, etc.” And, with your mind not being so negative to your body, your body says, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, for removing all of that negative chatter from my recovery, I can finish recovering now.” First you heal the soul, and the mind and the body will follow.
The Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® is your road map for your soul, mind, and body recovery.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
I say, “Close the door to the past, treat your soul as pure, and protect your soul from toxins and tarnish going forward so you can be the recovery now you wish to see in the future.”
1. Learn to love yourself.
2. Practice Forgiveness.
3. Close the door to the past.
4. Protect your soul going forward.
You can do it!
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Thank you! You inspire me!
Beautifully said and so true!
Thank you, Howard…so very clear and helpful!
Very powerful words, indeed! We ALL can do this! Thank you Howard.
As usual Howard you always seem to know where I am at. Your blogs each week are such a life line, as are the comments written by others. I am struggling hugely at the moment, my physical tremor unravels me, in my arm, especially at night. I tend to sift through the Archives looking for the post I need. The other night I found a beautiful poem written by Joseph McEleavy in 2012. His struggle was so like my own, so not feeling so “alone” in the overwhelming times, gives great comfort to me. The same night I found the post, that ironically, you have mentioned today, loving the self 1-4. Your share of childhood made me cry and brought to the surface, memories that I had not realised were relevant. I’ve said it before Howard, you are God in motion.
With Love and Gratitude.
Karen xx
My family and many friends keep asking me, what are you going to do when….and the following is a number of things that follow that statement including but not limited to…you can’t drive anymore…you can’t cook anymore…you can’t dress yourself to name a few. My answer which frustrates them , however it is always the same answer…
WHAT ARE you going to do when none of those things happen to me!
Enjoy the day,
sherry
dear sherry
what a wonderful comment! thankyou so very much.
and howard, as usual, a wise and soulful post
bless you again and again
lindax
Love your answer, Sherry!
Thank you everyone for your comments.
Howard, Once again your clarification of this topic was so timely! Thankyou! As I continue to struggle with worsening balance and tremors I kept repeating your quote “Heal the soul and the mind and body will follow”, all the while trying to better understand exactly what it means and how to do it! Thankyou for the most timely and welcomed explanation! What a Godsend you are and such a literal lifeline! Much love and gratitude. Melanie
I am making it my priority to retrain my mind to be governed by my heart. There is gold in this post! Left to itself, my mind is a roadblock to my recovery. You give me the keys to removing the roadblock: “It takes a constant conversation with yourself to undo old habits and old ways of thinking and responding to life.” The symptoms which hinder so much of what I am able to do, are actually a blessing, simplifying my life and allowing me to work on my cure.
I press on toward the goal – reaching the point where my mind is following my heart and soul (with love and compassion), so it does not interfere with my body.
I purpose to continue this, with God’s help, for as long as it takes.
So grateful for you, Howard!
Luminous! Thank you. Love and blessings on us all.
La percepción pura de nuestra alma o espiritu puede curarnos. Si enseñamos a nuestra mente
a aceptar los problemas como algo positivo, hasta los problemas más graves
pueden convertirse en una fuente de alegría en lugar de una fuente de
sufrimiento…..Deberíamos recordar que bajo las tormentas de nuestras preocupaciones
superficiales se encuentra la paz.
Lo más importante es la actitud de la mente.
Incluso para los que todavía no nos hemos realizado espiritualmente, cuanto
más podamos relajarnos, menos grave nos parecerá nuestra enfermedad….
Puede que parezca extraño, pero en realidad podemos alegrarnos de la
enfermedad cuando se presenta. Según los sabios espirituales, la enfermedad es como una escoba que barre las acumulaciones de actitudes y emociones negativas. Para quemar el karma negativo no hay mejor combustible que la enfermedad……
la enfermedad puede brindar
una oportunidad para aminorar la marcha, reposar y apreciar la vida incluso en
medio del sufrimiento
Howard sabiamente nos ha insistido en no identificarnos con nuestros sintomas, ni odiarlos , ni odiarnos a nosotros mismos debido a esas sensaciones en nuestro cuerpo, nosotros no somos los sintomas ……..los sintomas en realidad son los mensajeros de nuestra concienccia, que nos estan indicando que algo en nuestro interior debemos cambiar … por lo tanto demosle las gracias por traernos ese maravilloso mensaje , demos la bienvenida a ellos y aceptemos como parte de nuestrro viaje a la recuperacion. ….. nuestra escencia o nuestro espiritu es pura e inmaculada, aunque algunos problemas o emociones destructivas lo empañen siempre sera iluminado al igual que cuando una tormenta agita
las aguas
se producen olas, pero el fondo del océano continúa en calma asi es nuestro espiritu…….. por eso fijemos en nuestra mente que nada es permanente, incluida la enfermedad, aunque te parezca que vayas a
encontrarte mal eternamente. Recuerda que, tarde o temprano, el malestar
desaparecerá.
dios bendiga a todos y gracias por tu amoroso apoyo Howard.
Translation:
Pure perception of our soul or spirit can heal. If we teach our minds to accept the problems as something positive, even the most serious problems might become a source of joy rather than a source of suffering ….. should remember that under the storms of our concerns is the surface peace.
The most important thing is the attitude of mind.
Even for those not yet spiritual, the more we can relax, our will seem less serious disease ….
It may seem strange, but in fact we can be glad of the disease when it occurs. According to the sages, the disease is like a broom sweeping accumulations of negative attitudes and emotions. To burn the negative karma there is no better fuel than the disease ……disease may provide an opportunity to slow down, rest and appreciate life even in the midst of suffering. Howard wisely insisted us not identify with our symptoms, or hate, or hate ourselves because of those feelings in our body, we are not the symptoms…….. actually are the messengers of our conscience, who is telling us that something must change within ourselves … so let’s give thanks for bringing us this wonderful message, please welcome it and accept as part of our journey to recovery. Our spirit or essence is pure and immaculate, although some problems fogging or destructive emotions will always look like when a storm stirred the waters waves occur, but the ocean is so calm continues our spirit …….. while we set in our minds that nothing is permanent, including disease, even if you think you’re going to feel sick forever. Remember that, sooner or later, the discomfort disappears.
God bless you all and thank you for your loving support Howard.
This seems to be in keeping with a quote I’ve heard most of my life: “Feelings follow actions”!…Thank-you, Howard, and all of you who commented….