I have posted in the past that when I had Parkinson’s and people asked me how I was doing, I would smile and say, “I am doing great!” Sally was listening to a Carole King song a couple of days ago and played a part for me while pointing out that it was sharing the exact same sentiment. How about that!
As I have explained, I was feeling love and joy in my heart, and the truthful answer was that I was feeling great. Also, it was the compassionate thing to do for me and for the others. I did not define me by my symptoms. I was me, my heart and soul. And, I was great!
Here is the part of the song:
“You’ve got to get up every morning
With a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You’re gonna find, yes you will
That you’re beautiful as you feel”
Carole King is correct. When you feel the love in your heart and you express it with the smile on your face, not only will people treat you better, but you will learn something else that is absolutely magnificent: “That you’re beautiful as you feel.” Thank you, Carole King.
And, here is the entire song…enjoy:
Please know that you are not your Parkinson’s symptoms. You are so much more than that. People will treat you, in what they say and how they act, in the exact same way you treat yourself when you see them. You need to realize that you are beautiful and special just in the fact that you exist.
When deciding how you feel, do not examine your symptoms. When deciding how you feel, look deep inside and find the love and joy and compassion and gratitude in your heart. It feels great…and then you feel great…and then that great feeling turns into a smile.
Find the love in your heart, and show it to the world with the smile on your face. And, know this: “That you’re beautiful as you feel.”
You can do this.
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Hi Howard, what a lovely way to start the weekend. 🙂
Big love to all my beautiful fellow warriors, male and female, old and young. 🙂
Karen xx
Thank you Karen xx Big hello to you too.
I struggled so when people asked me how I felt. I could see their hope for me colliding with the truth of what I was experiencing. In truth, Parkinson’s disease feels awful.
But sharing that truth made it feel even worse. Thank you for shifting my perspective. How much better it is to focus on the love that we feel and to watch that expand.
Hi Eleni, nice to see a new beautiful happy face. Welcome to our community.
Karen xx
Hi Eleni welcome xx
Lovely Howard. You are a beautiful person, thank you. x
This is so very true! Last Thursday I woke up feeling almost completely normal! I flew down the steps put on the radio and did a little dancing I was telling myself over and over i feel great, there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m loose, I’m free! the more i said this and focus on it the better i felt! I WAS JUMPING UP AND DOWN MY ARMS IN THE AIR STRONG AND FREE! that feeling lasted for many hours until my nervous mind began to ease its way back in. I was very pleased to know that if my brain cells were degenerating and dying how could i have done all of that jumping up and down dancing etc? For me its not only telling others you feel great its telling yourself you feel great all day long non stop this helped my body because my thoughts were telling my body it was perfectly normal.I was saying to myself Howard was right! Thank you Howard for showing us that we can be cured!
Hi Tony, what a joyous feeling that must have been Tony. Thrilled for you! 🙂
Karen xx
Yay Tony
Dear all,
Keep those beautiful encouraging posts coming. They mean all the difference when the spirit is low!
Thanks Howard for this reminds me it costs the same to be sad or glad.
A big hello to Howard and all the rest of you beautiful people. Thanks for sharing the song Howard. I love to sing positive songs to myself during the day. It makes me feel beautiful. This song will be my next one to learn.
Here’s what else Howard said that I loved and so believe to be true. “When deciding how you feel, do not examine your symptoms. When deciding how you feel, look deep inside and find the love and joy and compassion and gratitude in your heart. It feels great…and then you feel great…and then that great feeling turns into a smile.”
Here are some of my favorite quotes that go right along with the song and Howard’s Message. Hope they will help some of you as much as they help me 🙂
1. Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the Soul.
St. Aurelius Augustine
2. For as He thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7
3. Where there is the greatest love, there is always miracles. Willa Cather
4. We accept the love we think we deserve. Stephen Chbosky
5. I wish to live a life that causes my soul to dance inside my body. Dele Olanubi
6. Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never be any higher than you think. Insight of the Day.
7. Interesting fact: The heart generates the largest electromagnetic field in the body. The electrical field as measured in an electrocardiogram (ECG) is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the brain waves recorded in an electroencephalogram. (EEG) Institute of HeartMath
I choose to believe that no matter what my circumstances I can do this last one.
8. In all of living have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured. Gordon B Hinkley
THANKS FOR BEING SUCH BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE AND FOR SHARING YOUR JOURNEYS WITH ME !!!!
Have a great week
Love and blessings
Debbie
Stunning List Debbie, bless you for sharing! 🙂
Karen xx
PS I just read another perfect quote so had to share 🙂
“Don’t be gloomy. Do not dwell on unkind things. Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. Even if you are not happy, put a smile on your face. ‘Accentuate the positive.’ Look a little deeper for the good. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life.” – Gordon B. Hinckley
Thanks for letting me share
Love and Blessings
Debbie
Thank you Debbie dancing in my soul xx
Hi Helen
I also “wish to live a life that causes my soul to dance inside my body.” I just love that thought. How good it feels when this happens. It makes me smile big. I will try hard this week to keep mine dancing. Have a great day and know that our souls and dancing together 🙂
Love and Blessings
Debbie
Beautiful! Thanks, Howard and Sally, for using such an enjoyable way of reminding us of that important message. Learning to smile and be positive rather than be embarrassed when PD symptoms are obvious has made so much difference to my life. I went to the hairdressers this afternoon and when it came to paying I’d just got as far as getting a pile of money into my hand (they don’t take card payments) when the tremors in my hands became so severe that I couldn’t sort it out. A few months ago I’d have found this really difficult to deal with but it’s now becoming natural to follow Howard’s guidance. So I just smiled at the hairdresser and asked her if she could sort it out for me. She smiled back, said “of course”, took all the money from me, showed me what she was taking and returned the rest to me. We smiled another warm smile at each other and said good-bye. No embarrassment on anyone’s part and just a nice warm exchange between 2 human beings…
And welcome, Eleni…
And thank you for all the inspiring quotations, Debbie…
And thank you to all of you for being there – you make so much difference to my life…
What a beautiful story Anita I could feel the love!
I have been working on the concept that what we visualize or think about most, is often what is fulfilled in our lives. I always look to verify the principles which Howard gives to us, and so often find the same message expressed in other words. My morning devotional yesterday said this (from God Calling):
“Live in My secret place, and there the feeling is one of full satisfaction. Feel like there is an abundance. The storehouses of God are full to overflowing, BUT YOU MUST SEE THIS IN YOUR MIND. YOU MUST BE SURE OF THIS BEFORE YOU CAN REALIZE IT IN A MATERIAL WAY. Think thoughts of abundance. See yourselves as daughters/sons of the King. I have told you this. Desire abundance for yourselves and for everyone you care about and want to help.”
(emphasis mine)
Then yesterday, as I was grappling with my faith in the mantra “I have the power to heal myself”, I asked the Lord to show me if this statement is true. This morning I read:
“Yes! Praise. The moment you praise, even during your most difficult times, your sorrow is turned to joy, your worry to praise, your outward circumstances are changed from disorder to order. From chaos to calm.
All reform must begin within you. No matter how limited your situation, or how modest your means, you can always look within yourselves. When you see something that is not in order there, work on making that right.
As all reform is from the inside out, you will always find that the outside has improved, too. TO EFFECT CHANGE BY STARTING WITHIN YOU IS TO RELEASE THE IMPRISONED GOD-POWER WITHIN YOU.
That power, once working, will immediately perform miracles. Then, indeed, your mourning shall be turned into joy.”
Thank you Howard for the Carole King song. I was a big fan in the 70s and had all her albums (vinyl). So the lyrics were like an old friend and I’m sure the song will be playing in my mind tonight when I go to sleep.
Thank you Anita for sharing the anecdote at the hairdresser’s. I so can relate to the challenges of making people wait while I fumble. You handled it so beautifully.
And Debbie you’re such a good encourager and I always am enriched by what you share. Karen’s name for you, Little Miss Sunshine, is perfect.
Love to all of you beautiful people in this community!
I do believe my mind is slowly but surely being renewed. Not only will I get up in the morning with a smile on my face, but I will go to bed smiling also. ?
Love to you too Pat.
Powerful stuff Pat, just what I needed this morning, Bless You!
Karen xx
Ps. I copied and pasted the answer to your question, love it! xx
Thanks for sharing such uplifting ideas Pat. I feel happier and better all over, simply by wearing a big smile on my face. It keeps my thoughts in fine tip-top shape.
“”My mind is a garden, my thoughts are the seeds. I can grow flowers or I can grow weeds.” Author unknown.
Flowers make my brain happy and allows it to produce Dopamine.
Have a great day 🙂
Debbie
On turning it around:
This morning I called the busdriver to the senior center I go to to come and pick me up.
He said would, and then he repeated 2 x “and I will be there at 9 am!!!
I thought to myself:”What a grouchy man!!” I proceeded to think about what I was going to say to him when I got on the bus like…….don’t treat me like a child! Treat me with respect.’ etc.
Then I thought:’What good is that going to do?!’ Give him a compliment instead.
So, when I stepped on the bus I smiled and said to him:”Hello handsome!’ He grinned from ear to ear, and a few minutes later he waved to a child crossing the street with his mom.
I thought, mission accomplished!!
I had a very good day!!
Love and blessings, Eva Gabrielle
Good for you, Eva!
Well Done Eva, made me laugh! 🙂
Karen xx
Thank you Howard and Sally, I love this song. Yes giving and sharing a smile makes everyone happier. Thank you all for your sharing and caring. The heart is home. Love Helen
Once again Howard, thank you for this post. And thank you to all my beautiful fellow warriors who are on ‘this least trodden path’. Like Pat, I believe my mind is slowly but surely being renewed. Anita’s experience with the hairdresser reminded me that I had to ask the optician for a hand out of the chair, something I would never have done some months back! I am learning to accept help or ask if I need it rather than try and battle it out and get more stressed. It makes life much easier and I have found people are very kind and helpful – a smile and lightness in the spirit goes a long way. I bought a scarf with butterflies on it which I spotted – I call it my ‘statement scarf’. If I’m not wearing it I’ve got it hung up where I can see it to remind me that I will emerge from the chrysalis as a beautiful butterfly. Meanwhile I keep chipping at my iceberg! X
Yes Cynthia I feel the same, accepting help is a big breakthrough and people enjoy helping, it’s freeing to accept where I am at, at this stage. People are so very kind. I sold my car as I don’t feel up to driving, and was given a motorised scooter. It seems whatever I want, it just turns up, gifts from heaven. I want to recover so very much, physically and all ways. Cheers Helen
What a joyful beginning to my day…thank you Howard and Sally and thank you beautiful PD community for your wonderful uplifting sharings…I feel so very blessed!
Thank you Howard and all you lovely people