Congratulations — you are getting close to the last week of the November to Remember, No Excuses November, 30-day Challenge 2017 to do the scaled-down version of the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®. Also, here in the States, we are preparing for Thanksgiving on Thursday. For many, it will be a time for seeing relatives and friends. There is much for which to be thankful, and I feel we all know this. However, a big part of making this Thanksgiving holiday wonderful and memorable, is the addition of one ingredient that you do not eat…compassion…for others and for yourself.
Thanksgiving is a good time to give thanks and gratitude, but also, it is a good time to revisit kindness and compassion. I am re-posting here the critical information from former posts on kindness and compassion:
Prior to my recovery from Parkinson’s Disease, the only other person I had met who had Parkinson’s was my mother. She was one of the kindest, most giving people you ever would have had the pleasure of knowing…kind and giving to others…not herself. Over the last few years, I have met with, spoken to, Skyped and FaceTimed with, and exchanged emails with, hundreds of people with Parkinson’s. You are some of the kindest and most giving people I have met…kind and giving to others…not yourselves. I was the same way. Part of this recovery is learning to be kind to yourself.
You tend to put additional pressure on yourself to be better at everything than anybody else. It is that drive for the unattainable perfection that helped you bring your Parkinson’s symptoms to the surface in the first place…you are doing your absolute best, but you still feel it is not good enough. On the other hand, you are accepting, and kind, and giving to those around you who are doing their best and not being perfect. Something in your mind says, “It is okay for them to be less than perfect because I am going to be perfect enough for all of us.”
And, as a result of the expectation that you have to be perfect, you never stop thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking…your Adrenaline-mode mind does not stop. Because, to be perfect, you realize at some level that there are multiple exceptions that go to every rule, and there are multiple corollaries that go to every theorem, and there are multiple options that go with every choice…and you have to run them all down and solve them all, and they keep branching out into more exceptions and more corollaries and more options, and you can see where this cycle goes…it is endless.
For those of you without Parkinson’s, this scenario may seem strange and stressful. For those of you with Parkinson’s, I know many of you are reading this and thinking, “So, what’s your point. This is how things work, no big deal.” Here is my point: Thinking this way is a BIG DEAL! It cuts across all three causes of what brings Parkinson’s to the surface as diagnosable symptoms.
It causes anger, frustration, resentment, stress, and anxiety because you simply cannot solve every problem and every scenario. First, you get angry at the situation, and second, you get angry at yourself for being less than perfect and not “having all the answers.”
The anger, frustration, resentment, stress, and anxiety make it difficult to eat properly and you suffer from dietary disaster. Solving all these problems becomes more important than what or when or how you eat.
You burn the candle at both ends and in the middle and your mind never stops thinking, which completely wears it down and upsets our body’s natural rhythms.
So, how do you reverse this mess? Begin by being kind to yourself.
How to begin the process of being kind to yourself:
1. Look in the mirror and say, “I am not perfect.” For many of you, I know this will take some courage and resolve. The rest of us will patiently wait while you go take care of this. It is that important!
2. Go back to the mirror and say, “I do not have to be perfect.”
3. I know, lots of time in the mirror — Go back to the mirror and say, “When I am doing my best, it IS good enough.” This one seems logical, but it is not. Many of you have told me, “I am doing my best, but I do not think it is good enough.” Your best is your best; you cannot do any better than that. Be kind to yourself and accept that if you are doing your best, it is the best you can do, and it is good enough.
That is the formula to being kind to yourself. When somebody else falls short of an accomplishment, you offer them compassion and comfort and say, “That’s okay, you did your best, you have nothing to be ashamed of. It just wasn’t meant to happen.” Being kind to yourself means offering yourself the exact same compassion and comfort you offer others in the same circumstances.
These are critical lessons if you want to be successful with the Recipe and with your recovery. Here is why:
The Recipe is a soul, mind, and body recovery. If you do the body part (Qigong) and at the end, you say to yourself, “I did not do that Qigong perfectly or even good enough, so I probably will not recover,” you have moved backwards. Whatever benefit you have gained for the body is great, but your mind is in negative (self-beating) mode, and your soul is losing faith in recovery.
Be kind to yourself and turn this around:
At the conclusion of doing the Qigong, say to yourself, “In this moment of doing Qigong, I did the best possible Qigong that my Parkinson’s body would allow and I did great in moving forward with my recovery!” That attitude propels your mind with positive thinking, and it propels your soul with continuing faith and hope in your recovery.
There is nothing wrong with being kind to yourself. In fact, being kind to yourself will liberate you as you move forward on your path toward recovery.
So, while you are continuing to be kind to others, keep the happiness and joy and compassion alive by being kind to yourself.
When others ask to assist you with preparing your Thanksgiving holiday, be compassionate to them, smile a big smile, and say “Yes, I would love your help.” By doing this, you allow them to feel good about being able to do something for you. However, prior to doing this, you need to find compassion for yourself and your situation with Parkinson’s. Otherwise, you either do not accept the help you need or the person feels badly in helping you because you are feeling badly about yourself…and it shows.
So, please feel compassion for yourself and graciously accept whatever assistance you are being offered. Oh, yes, that feeling you get inside when you do this is your heart opening and your Dopamine flowing. That is why it feels so good.
Finally, please remember this critically important point: If you are doing the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®, then you are doing great! When somebody asks you, “How are you doing?” please do not run down a mental evaluation of your symptoms that day to determine how to answer the question and then give them a rundown of how badly your symptoms are that day. You are not your symptoms. This probably needs repeating: YOU ARE NOT YOUR SYMPTOMS! Instead, if you are doing the Recipe and you are asked, “How are you doing?” you should put a huge smile on your face and say, “I am doing great!”
Find kindness and compassion for yourself, and make this your best Thanksgiving ever!!!
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 slowing, halting, and reversing the progression of my Parkinson’s.
I am extraordinary.
I am recovery.
I am doing great!
AND, I AM WORTH IT!!!”
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
All my best,
Howard
NOTE: Thank you to all of you who have ordered my book Fighting Parkinson’s…and Winning. As a reminder, Amazon ranks books based upon purchases and reviews. Once you have read the book, I would ask that you go to the Amazon page that contains my book, rate the book and give it a review. Also, this will assist others in deciding whether or not they wish to order a book. Thank you. Also, Amazon takes a few days after a book is released in the States to get the converted pricing correct in Canada. That correction has taken place, so if you live in Canada and wish to have a book, it now is priced correctly.
Compassion, compassion, compassion…
Thank you for the reminders Howard! Happy Thanksgiving to you, Sally and fam, and my fellow travelers in this road to recovery!
Thank you so much, Howard, for your encouraging words.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your familiy.
I’ll definitely read your book!
Love, Christiane
Dear Howard, Sally and family,
Happy Thanksgiving!
We don’t have it in Switzerland but were once guests in California with friends, wonderful celebration, mmmhhh and the meals…👍
We thank you for your reminder, we need it!! You always write the right things at the right time!!!!
The book is ordered, we can’t wait…!
Everyone needs compassion 🙂
Always believe something wonderful is about to happen!
Love and blessings to all
Happy Thanksgiving to Howard, Sally and family!
Thanks Howard for the reminder. It gives me more confidence. You always write the right things at the right time!
GRACIAS HOWARD
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Beth
Thank you Howard for a lovely post
Happy thanksgiving to all my American warriors!
Big love
Karen xx
I am so grateful to have all of you and Howard in my life.xx
Even though Tanksgiving Day is not celebrated in Australia I think we need to be thankful every day of the year. No day is lost on which some Spiritual Truth becomes clearer. So I hope you all had an enlightening day in your country. The Recovery recipe includes our soul so it is a good chance to work on our spiritual needs. It is said thankfulness is the completion of prayer. Thank you Howard at this special time for your dedication to the welfare of others. May you be blessed a thousand fold.
Love and blessings
Veronica 🌱🌺
Dear Howard,
I am Reading your book for the last few days and you make me happy and gratefull.
Thank you!
Hans-The Hague-Holland
Hi, I hope everyone, everywhere had/ is having a great Thanksgiving Day whether it was USA style or simply being thankful for what we have in life. I am now off to have a chat with the mirror!
Bernadette your post made me giggle. 🙂 xx
Thanks, Howard. I admit that I need to do more to protect myself from a difficult person who in my environment and who is currently unavoidable. Standing there in silence and taking it like a stone statue is not adequate. My insides are reacting and it is the wrong thing for me to do. I know what to do but I don’t always remember at the exact time that I have the power in real time.