WOW! Marie is three years symptom free. How inspiring is that! Three years ago, in the middle of my November to Remember, No Excuses November, 30-day challenge 2011, a comment was posted on the blog that Marie would not be accepting the 30-day challenge because she was fully recovered. Now, here we are, three years later from my November 11, 2011 post entitled, “Fighting Parkinson’s, and Marie is symptom free.” For the last three years, Marie has continued posting comments to inspire and encourage all of us.
I will begin with Marie’s comment announcing her recovery:
From my November 11, 2011 post, three years ago today, with what Marie had to say:
Marie says:
November 10, 2011 at 1:07 pm
“I accepted an internal 30-day challenge from myself when I discovered
fightingparkinsonsdrugfree almost a year ago. And that was just the beginning. I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever was necessary and change my life in whatever ways would support recovery, if it was really possible to have my condition improve rather than degenerate. As Howard so often says, ” What did I have to lose?” I trusted Howard as my guide, and the bearer of good news that penetrated the bleakness of my fear and despair . I put my faith in my power to heal myself. The Recipe for Recovery was my lifeline. AND it is why I can happily and gratefully report to you today that the reason I am not accepting this challenge now is that I am symptom free! YES! Symptom Free!!!
Cheering you all on as you courageously overcome the disease. I am a happy example of the success of the Recipe for Recovery.
With love to you all~ Marie”
Up until that time, I was the only one who had cured myself utilizing the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®, so Marie curing herself became proof of concept: Yes, the Recipe would work for others! This was big news as many people were greatly inspired to learn that the Recipe worked for Marie — it made them know it could work for them.
Here is an excerpt from a comment Marie wrote shortly after being cured of Parkinson’s:
Marie says:
November 19, 2011 at 10:35 pm
“I’ve just read both of the latest posts, and all of the comments. How exciting to feel all the faith, courage and support being shared here. We are a lucky bunch! It is wonderful to read the comments and see the shifts in awareness and the victories over the disease. I never took any meds and am in awe of each of you who is defying that medical model and choosing to take yourself off the drugs and fight Parkinson’s.
You are so brave, and from what I read in your posts, it is working. You are getting better.
Because it is such a powerful component in my own recovery, I offer this :
Fully acknowledge yourself and give yourself credit for what you are doing. Love yourself for how truly brave you are
and how dedicated you are to healing yourself. Thank yourself for this precious gift you are giving yourself. Sit in that feeling and give your brain a lovely dopamine bath.
Our gracious guide, Howard, always tells us that we are doing it for ourselves, and still, I think we tend to praise everyone else for the inspiration they are providing.
Be grateful to yourself, too, for having that opening that let the inspiration move you.
For me, this has been a good tool, and I hope it may be useful. I found it very hard to do ,at first. Kind of embarrassing. And actually, it is even a little hard to write about
now.
“What? She sits around loving herself????”
I’ll tell you, I do, every chance I get.”
Over the last three years, Marie has continued to support our recovery community with comments she has posted and by attending my Santa Fe, New Mexico workshop. Last year, at the Santa Fe workshop, I got to meet Marie. I can assure you, she is the luminous soul all of you presumed she would be from reading the comments she continues to post on this blog to support and inspire all of us.
Here is a picture from the following day, when I got to spend time with Marie at her home. This picture is in one of her beautiful gardens:
Even though we had met in person for the first time the day before, I felt that special connection, the one that feels like you have known somebody for decades, not a couple of days. Before I left, Marie shared with me something she had been told in a seminar many years ago. The instructor explained that fear is like a prayer. If you live in fear, it is like praying for everything you fear to come true.
Let’s live in faith. Then faith in recovery can be your prayer.
Most recently, last week, Marie posted a comment to help all of you as you forge ahead in this year’s November to Remember, No Excuses November, 30-day Challenge 2014. Here is what she had to say:
Marie says:
November 5, 2014 at 2:02 pm
“Dear Recovery Community,
It is so beautiful to read all of these posts. To those of you who have accepted the 30 Day Challenge, congratulations!! You are so fortunate to have found Howard and his amazing Recipe for Recovery! You are recovering from Parkinson’s!
Since I recovered , I don’t do the Recipe for Recovery anymore, but when I committed to following the Recipe, it totally changed my life. From the Recipe, I learned how to live a happier, less stressful life and learned the importance of savoring what is good in each day, and practicing,Gratitude.
Howard once told me that for some people who find the website….and I paraphrase here, since I do not remember the exact words….a block to recovery is thinking that Howard is so amazing ….so committed, so full of Faith…that,in some way he is “better” and that is why the Recipe worked for him. Maybe you do not believe that you could do the Recipe ” as well” as Howard did it. Maybe you don’t feel 100% faith in your recovery and you think that will keep you from recovering.
As he does for many of you, Howard holds a very special place in my heart, my mind and my spirit. I love and admire him. He is a truly rare and awesome being!!!!!
To each of you I want to say that you can most certainly do the Recipe for Recovery as well as I did, and I recovered. I committed myself to doing the Recipe,even when I was not sure that I believed it. The commitment was rock solid. Faith was a little more difficult. When I didn’t feel
like doing the Recipe, I did it anyway. When I did not have Faith in my recovery, I did not let that derail me; seeing how easy it would be to let lack of faith get in my way , I “acted as if” I had faith, until my faith caught up with me again.
Whatever obstacles you find, you can also find your way to sidestep them. Don’t let ANYTHING stop you.
Love and best wishes, Marie”
So, my dear friend, Marie, here we are three years after you becoming cured from Parkinson’s. Absolutely amazing! Your recovery…and you…absolutely amazing! You could have given your gratitude and walked away. You could have said, “I am better, good luck to the rest of you.” But no, here you are, still opening your heart to all of us, still being such an active part of our recovery community with this latest comment posted last week. I want everybody to know that I never have asked you to post a single comment since your recovery, but instead, that you have continued to give of yourself from your heart. I am grateful for you, Marie. With gratitude, blessings, and love, Howard.
CONGRATULATIONS, MARIE!!! THREE YEARS SYMPTOM FREE FULL RECOVERY, CURED FROM PARKINSON’S!!!
Who’s next? What are you waiting for?
Make the commitment to cure yourself from Parkinson’s!
Okay, everybody, put big smiles on your faces and chant together so the whole world can hear:
“Parkinson’s is curable.
I am my own Parkinson’s cure.
I am halting, slowing, and reversing the progression of my Parkinson’s.
I am extraordinary.
I am recovery.
I am doing great!
AND, I AM WORTH IT!!!”
All my best,
Howard
thank-you, Marie, for your courage, loving heart, transparency, strength to go on when you weren’t full of faith: reinforcement that I am normal!….faith-building….uplifting…..thank-you!…..judy
Congratulations on three years symptom free, Marie. It means a great deal to this community to see your recovery and inspirational for us all that you remain in touch.
Hi Everyone,
Every time I read a new post I find myself saying, “This is the best post ever”. Today is no exception to this. “This is the best post ever”. Congratulations to Marie and thank you for taking time to share you with us. It was so fun for me to see the picture of you and Howard! What amazing people. The first thing that I loved about this post, other than the fact that both you and Howard are Parkinsons Free, is what you had to say about this…”Fully acknowledge yourself and give yourself credit for what you are doing. Love yourself for how truly brave you are and how dedicated you are to healing yourself. Thank yourself for this precious gift you are giving yourself. Sit in that feeling and give your brain a lovely dopamine bath”. This is something that I had never thought of doing before but I am looking forward to take a lovely dopamine bath this morning.
As I continued reading this post I found that I loved all of it. I am grateful for the post and I am also grateful that I do not need to feel the least bit embarrassed telling all of you that I am loving myself today . I know that I am among friends who want the best for me. Hope you all have an amazing day and enjoy your baths.
Debbie
Congratulations and so well done Marie! It is so encouraging to read what you say and how you persevered through it all. I am new to all of this and very much ‘feeling my way’ learning to deal with things I never knew anything about and doing exercises which are very different from anything I’ve experienced before. I’m just learning about loving myself and try to remember to talk to myself more! You and Howard are an inspiration to all of us and give us the hope we need, thank you for sharing. God bless you x
Thank you Howard….thank you Marie…I’m so very grateful for the inspiration and support your messages bring….How very wonderful and liberating it must be to really KNOW that in loving yourself, you are encouraging and supporting others…
Hi to all. Bless you Marie, your words touched my soul more than you realise today. I know because I am struggling so much right now that I am doubting my faith. It is so helpful to know that you had doubts too, but like you, I keep going anyway.
I think it a testament to your character and heart that you have stayed part of this community. A great soldier never leaves a comarard behind. Bless you. I love the joyous picture of you and our coach. Howard is always breaking words into sentences, so I thought of a break down of a special name.
Howard Shifke. “He Offers Wisdom And Real Direction” “Spiritual, Heartfelt Information For Kindred-souls Everywhere”. 🙂
With Love
Karen xx
Hi Karen,
I think that when you write a word or a phrase for each letter in a persons name it is called an Acrostic Poem. That is really a beautiful one that you wrote for Howard. I will second everything that you said. Thanks for sharing. Hope the Recipe is still going strong for you.
Have a happy day,
Debbie
Congratulations Marie. What a woman! Such a loveing joyous photo of Howard and you. Thank you for sharing your self your recovery. I looked at myself in the mirror a few days ago, not at my skin or hair,but deep into my eyes. I found someone there I respect, admire for her courage, strength and love.i felt compassion for myself and all I have experienced in life.i saw a shy,hurt, self as well. I kept looking at her and gave her love. I now am feeling a relationship and soul love for myself. I am going to keep doing this mirror looking till I am healed. Falling in love with my depth my individuality, my soul. People have been telling me how well I look. The thing is I am feeling that. No meds still although the specialist encourages that. Healthier, more content freer me. Thank you to divine grace , Howard’s inspiration and all those and there are many who help me in this journey of life. Whew! Xx love to all.
When I said I get a lot of help, I live on my own, what I meant was life itself, a dog wagging it’s tail at me, a friend’s visit, a movie. A song, nature. A phone call, the list goes on. I am truly grateful for this existence and for starting the day with meditation finding the inner peace. Then the exercises. Love again Helen G.
Hi Debbie, thank you for your knowledge ” Acrostic Poem” I like that. 😉
I shall have to do one for you Debbie when I get to know you better. Be a challenge as there is no J or P in your name. You are always so Joyous and Positive. 😉
Helen G, love the idea of your mirror work. I might give it a go. 😉
Love to you all. Thanks again Debbie. 😉
Karen xx
How about for Marie “Make another really intense effort”
Nice work Joseph. I love it 🙂
Howard: The posts from the community are becoming as inspiring as yours!!
Keep the Faith good people! Speaking of Faith (Find another inspiration that Heals)!!
I just got up went to the mirror, looked into my Soul’s Windows and said out loud “I Love Who I am and I Love Who I am Becoming” 10X. Whew what a relief it is! I believe that a big part of our RECOVERY is intensity of Faith. By that I mean Howard’s Faith in his Recovery never faltered, I know that I stumble sometimes, but he is always here to pick me up…And for that I thank you!
God Bless you all and keep the FAITH!!
THREE YEARS!!!! I am so grateful.
Thank you, my dear friend, Howard! Thank you so much.
And thank you to all of you for your comments!
WOW…………..A huge congrats to you Marie………….Three years symptom free! I can only imagine how liberated you must feel! That you have conquered something thought to be impossible by the majority and have beaten the odds! Thank you for giving us all a boost of courage to follow suit! Thank you Howard for being the great fearless leader that you are, and thank you God for giving me this group of people for my lifeline!
My cat likes to sit at my feet as I do my morning RECIPE and watch over me to make sure I do it with the right intensity and intention. Therefore I renamed HER: Howard the Fearless. She’s not sure yet if she liketh the name, but I do.
A little poem(?)
Howard says If I can do it anyone can!
Marie says If Howard can do it I can
I say if Marie can do it I can
And I say I can do it, you and anyone can too
Have a great day!
Lovely Joseph.
Lovely Marie and Howard
Lovely all.
Xxx
Dear community,
I am so glad I found you. I am doing the recipe , or the parts I can do, as often as possible. I turn to you many times for inspiration. Godbless all!
Welcome welcome Hans.
So lovely to see your picture Marie with Howard as I already felt so much in common, with you regards past relationship with my mother, and now it looks like we also both work on garden projects too!! So beautiful and inspiring to see your picture.
Xxx