Fighting Parkinson’s, and acceptance, surrender, technology, and OKAY!

EVEN IF YOU ALREADY HAVE READ THIS POST, PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE END FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. HOWARD

OKAY! We are nearly two weeks into my 30-day November to Remember Challenge 2015. I have received excellent feedback, and I have received many questions about the Recipe and the challenge. This is great! A technology issue has arisen, and it is providing me an opportunity to discuss acceptance, surrender, and OKAY!

Today, I will begin at the end with something important that all of you need to know:

Late yesterday afternoon, I learned that beginning early Wednesday morning, none of my sent emails have been delivered. None. Not my responses to your questions, not my email follow ups to coaching calls…none. Apparently there is a problem with the email server, and yesterday evening I sent my server company a support ticket. I am imagining that the issue will be resolved today. So, if you have sent me an email in the last two days (Wednesday, Thursday), and you have not received a response, it was not from lack of trying on my part. I have responded to you. My Outlook says my email was sent. You simply have not received it through no fault of yours or mine.

In my Parkinson’s recovery, I learned acceptance. For those of you who are new, I called it my “okay” attitude. “Okay” simply meant “I acknowledge the reality of what is happening in the moment.” In the 30-day challenge, this would be the mind and soul recovery parts. “Okay” blocks negative emotions. It looks like this, “Okay. I do not like what happened. What am I going to do about it?” Okay, and solutions…no room for negative emotions.

In my Parkinson’s recovery, I learned surrender. I learned that I needed to surrender to my Higher Power that there were some things in life over which I had no control, and I needed to accept that they were happening without having a negative response to them. This is absolute vulnerability — no control over the event or the outcome of the event, and even if I did not like the outcome when it occurred, acceptance of it nonetheless with the understanding that there was nothing I could do to change it. And, the further surrender that whatever was the outcome, it was necessary in the grander scheme of the Universe, and nobody owed me an explanation.

So, let’s take a look at yesterday. During the day, I received an email from a person who had asked me some questions…this email was asking me if I had received the email with the questions. I responded that yes I had and I would resend my response. A couple of hours later, the same person emailed me and asked if something was wrong, if I was okay, because I am usually very responsive to emails and the person had not heard back from me.

Since it is a person I am coaching and we use Skype, I went on Skype and sent a Skype message that maybe the person was having email issues, and I copied and pasted my responses to the two previous emails.

Several hours later, I received a Skype message from a different person asking me about a rescheduling of a coaching Skype. I had been asked this by the person in an email and I went to my sent mail and looked at my response. It was then that I realized that the email issue probably was on my end, not the other end. “Okay. I do not like what happened. What am I going to do about it?” I copied and pasted the rescheduling information and told the person that it looked like my emails were not being delivered.

“Okay. I do not like what happened. What am I going to do about it?” Get some verification. I sent an email to my personal email and it did not get delivered. “Okay. I do not like what happened. What am I going to do about it?” I sent my sister a text and asked her if she had received my email response to her from the day before discussing Thanksgiving. She texted me back, no. “Okay. I do not like what happened. What am I going to do about it?”

I sent a support ticket to the server company…and here is the critical component…I surrendered…I let go…I became detached from the events because I had done everything in my power to learn what had happened, to accept what had happened, and to put in place a solution. That was my best, and my best is good enough…I surrender. Click here for more information on your best is good enough.

So, here I sit on Friday morning, and the email issue has yet to be resolved. Since I accept that everything happening in my life is happening for a reason, maybe the reason this is happening is so that I would write this blog post about acceptance and surrender. That is as good a reason as any for me. And, I also sit here smiling over the fact that if the blog post email notifications go through the same system as my emails that have not been delivered, then the only one who will be reading this post will be me. And, to that I say, “OKAY!”

For each of you, please accept yourself for the beautiful person who you are. Please know that when you look deep inside yourself and nurture the seed of your essence, that your radiance will blossom and push away the toxicity of the Parkinson’s. Please accept your life, “OKAY,” and please follow that with your solution, rebalancing the imbalances of your soul, mind, and body as you work toward your recovery from Parkinson’s. Please surrender…surrender that your best is good enough. And smile.

A couple of days ago, I saw this quote: “Do not dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.”

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!!!”

Yes you are. Each and every one of you is WORTH IT!!!

All my best,

Howard

PLEASE READ THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW

Here is an update of what occurred. Somebody hijacked my email address and sent out spam that looked like it came from me, so my email was blacklisted. This meant that I could not send emails from my own email program or from the website program to those of you who subscribe to the blog post update notifications. I worked with my server company on Friday and through the weekend to get things resolved. During this time, my website was up and down, and my ability to receive email was up and down. If you sent me an email on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, there is a substantial likelihood that I did not receive it. Please re-send your email to me.

In light of this, please have patience with me in responding to many days of emails that will now be coming to my Inbox all at once. I will respond to all of you, so I ask that you have patience awaiting my response.

I need your assistance going forward, please. If you no longer wish to receive the blog post notification emails, please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom left of the email notification. If you receive an email that looks like it is from me and it contains spam, do not hit the reply, but instead, please forward it to me so I may submit it to my server company. We need to help each other so we can continue to smoothly communicate with each other. Thank you.

And, yes, I probably said “Okay” one thousand times over this last weekend, all the while knowing that my best was good enough.

We all are worth it!

With gratitude,

Howard

 

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16 Responses to Fighting Parkinson’s, and acceptance, surrender, technology, and OKAY!

  1. Anita in England says:

    Hi Howard,
    I’ve just stumbled across this post by accident after having re-read all the comments on your last post and responding to several people. Had I realised sooner that you’d done a new post, I wouldn’t have revisited the last one and made all those responses. I’m very pleased that I did make those responses!
    Thanks for being such a good example to us,
    Anita

  2. Pat in Florida says:

    I just did the same thing Anita did! I read through the comments yesterday and felt compelled to respond to a couple of them this morning. So I found out Howard posted a new message the same way!
    I love how often I find there are many people here who feel the same way I do and who think the same way I do. I grew up feeling isolated from the groups around me, like I was different. Never really belonged. I think that false notion is finally being healed. Another reason to be thankful for this Parkinson’s path, and another step towards recovery.
    Howard I agree that the email trouble is OK, because it is so helpful to have examples of how to see the good from a potentially frustrating situation. Experience is a great teacher. So as you live out what you teach, we learn.
    I love us all! (actually I was saying “God bless us all”, but I like the translation, too!)

  3. Karen in Ireland says:

    Hi Howard, loved this post, made me smile.
    Thankyou to Anita as she left a message on the last post telling everyone about this post and how to access it. ” good on you” Anita, as we say in Ireland. I love the ” okay” attitude it really helps. I was only reading a post you did about it in my favourite folder of your posts, last weekend. I love the next bit after “okay…..apparently I am supposed to be …….. It takes the frustration clean away. Good on you Howard, you’re doing great! You ROCK at the helm of this ship and all the crew love you dearly. 🙂
    Karen xx

  4. Helen Gill says:

    Hi I also went back to re-read the old post, and found Howard’s new one. Acceptance is a great message, thank you Howard for reminding us. big love and acceptance to everyone and myself. Its a beautiful day here.

  5. Debbie says:

    Hi Everyone,
    I too think that the OKAY principle is such a great one. Thanks so much to Howard for demonstrated first hand, how to practice it. I know that I have plenty to work on while I trust this principle. Howard teaches well . I will move forward doing my best until I cross the finish line.
    Howard is aware of this computer situation and is doing just like he taught us. He is doing all he can to correct it, and then leaving it to a Higher Power, knowing that all will work out the way that it should.
    In the mean time it is great to hear from those of you that found this new post. I too have benefited from going back and reading old posts. Pat you definitely do belong ! Your comments have made my road easier to travel. Thank you
    Have a great Monday
    Debbie

  6. Angela says:

    I am here digging up in faith what I planted in faith…..

    Thank you for this post….and reminders of how to be the truth of who we are….
    Bless you Howard
    And each and every one of us

  7. Anita in England says:

    Welcome back, Howard. And thank you for all your hard work in rectifying the situation. It’s been very strange to have times when the site was down, but a very good opportunity to practice “okay” and to reflect upon a range of acceptance issues. I feel I’ve made a bit more progress.
    Anita

  8. Karen in Ireland says:

    Welcome back Howard. Everything happens for a reason. I feel it is a call to each warrior to APPRECIATE and give GRATITUDE to you for how much you give of yourself here to us each week, we truly would be like a boat without a paddle, without the gift of you and your love and your wisdom each week. Thank you God for the gift of Howard Shifke and his Recipe for Recovery. You ROCK my friend.
    Karen xx

  9. ken says:

    Good post Howard. I need to be reminded to just say OKAY when I
    have done my best and not to get angry and frustrated when I can’t
    make everything perfect.

  10. cathy says:

    Thank you Howard

    I am an artist with Parkinsons. Tremor dominant right handed artist. Check out my artwork.

    http://www.artistexposedstudio.com

    http://www.catherineannwhite.com.

  11. Helen says:

    Ok Beautiful Howard and thank you for your sharing once again. My best is good enough. I am ok I accept. Thank you. Love Helen

  12. Helen says:

    Fully agree with what you expressed Karen. X

  13. Klein Angelika says:

    Hi everyone,
    I´m from Germany and I have been diagnosed Parkinson´s a bit over 3 years ago. I´ve been working with an Akupuncturist, my Tai Chi teacher, and a Russian doctor, who said first thing: you have been poisoned, mind and body. (Glycosphat I suppose). And the support of friends, family and you and your community. Today i saw my Neurologist, and he said slight improvements -no mediication necessary, keep it up!
    Isn´t that great? Thanks Angelika

  14. Anita in England says:

    Hi Angelika,
    That’s really encouraging. Thanks for letting us all know and keep up the good work!
    Anita

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