Fighting Parkinson’s, and growing acceptance into gratitude, part 1

In my last six posts, I have focused on all of you knowing that there is nothing wrong with you in your essence, your soul, and how your viewpoint of reality helps determine how great your future will be. Today, our discussion focuses on acceptance of the reality occurring right in front of your eyes, and subsequent posts will assist you in growing that acceptance into gratitude.

Seven years ago I wrote a post about acceptance at a level I called my “okay” attitude. It assisted me in learning acceptance and in releasing habitual negative triggers in my emotions. I will begin today with excerpts from that post and we will grow acceptance from there.

“Okay” is the word I have come to use to denote acceptance followed by dealing with the issue and working toward a solution. There is a certain emotional detachment that comes with “okay,” but that type of clear-headed emotional detachment is what you need to beat this disease. However, I have to admit that it was Sally who first used the “okay” strategy when we realized I had Parkinson’s.

When I first realized I had Parkinson’s and Sally and I discussed it and then cried together, she settled down and said, “Okay, we need to put a plan together and figure out what we are going to do about this.” Looking back, I know this was the most loving thing she could have done because I had to put my “poor me” away and start to work on a solution. As I went through my recovery, I learned that “okay” meant acceptance. Remember, please, that acceptance does not mean acquiescence.

For me, “okay” came to mean, “I accept the situation as it is, right here, right now. What is my solution? What am I going to do about it, right here, right now?”

I have tremors all the time…”okay.”
My legs hurt…”okay.”
My back hurts…”okay.”
I am constipated…”okay.”
I have to hold on to the railing when walking up the stairs…”okay.”
I can’t get my utensil to my mouth…”okay.”
(I think you get the point)

Each “okay” meant this: “‘Okay,’ this is what is happening right here, right now, what am I going to do about it.” As you can see, this is quite different from, “My legs hurt, this means my Parkinson’s is worsening, soon I won’t be able to walk without a walker, soon after that I will be in a wheelchair.”

“Okay” is a call to action. It identifies an issue and works toward a solution. The other response is emotions. It is fear and worry and anger about the future. It causes paralysis of the spirit, which causes paralysis of the mind, which causes paralysis of the body. This is the one situation where your fear of the walker and wheelchair, and doing nothing about, will provide you the paralysis you need to end up with the walker and wheelchair…you will get what we fear. Why not try, “okay,” and then do something to provide a solution to the problem.

What if you could say, “I have Parkinson’s and this is my Parkinson’s body…’okay.’ What am I going to do about it?”

Accepting your Parkinson’s and your Parkinson’s body, with all of your newly discovered physical limitations and pains, is part of the process of recovery. After Sally said let’s put a plan together, I read the book, What your doctor may NOT tell you about Parkinson’s Disease, by Dr. Jill Marjama-Lyons. It covered the medication and alternative approaches to dealing with the disease.

The thing is, I did not want to “deal” with the disease and I did not want to “maintain” the best possible life with the disease. Simply put, I did not want to have the disease, which is something I had been told was impossible. However, recovering from Parkinson’s without medications was the only alternative for me. Faced with what I felt was the only alternative for me, I got on the path toward recovery and I never got off.

From what I had learned in Dr. Marjama-Lyons’ book, it seemed to me that Parkinson’s sufferers had been medicated for such a long time that experiencing the disease from a non-medicated body would be the way for me to best understand what was going on. I decided that if I experienced Parkinson’s as it was with no medications and no supplements and no pain killers, then I would understand Parkinson’s as it was…raw and unaltered…from inside a Parkinson’s body, and that would provide me the best opportunity to solve it and recover.

As it worked out, it was a good thing that I saw this as my only alternative because it was not easy. It forced me to accept things far worse than I ever anticipated I would have to accept…”I am curled up on the floor in excruciating pain, ‘okay.’ What is my solution?” I then would meditate and pray to bring my mind and spirit to a more peaceful place while my body endured the pain of recovery.

You need a lot of faith to take an “okay” attitude toward your Parkinson’s. It is the type of faith that says, “I know I will recover and I am getting on my path and I am not getting off until I recover.”

So, you have Parkinson’s…”okay!” What are you going to do about it, right here, right now? Why not say, “okay,” get on your path to recovery doing the soul, mind, and body parts of the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®, and stay on your path to recovery until you fully recover.

You are so much more than your Parkinson’s symptoms! Do not live your Parkinson’s symptoms. Nothing good comes from that. Live your life. Do not just be alive, but actually live your life and find joy in your heart.

Find compassion and happiness and love and peace and contentment in your heart. Find forgiveness in your heart…for others…and for yourself. You did not do anything wrong to get Parkinson’s, so forgive yourself! That’s right, open your heart and find the forgiveness you need to realize that Parkinson’s is providing you the opportunity to heal yourself — your soul and your mind and your body.

Seize the opportunity. Do the Recipe and seize the opportunity to recover!

So, you have Parkinson’s…okay! What are you going to do about it, right here, right now? Why not say, “okay,” get on your path to recovery with the Recipe, and stay on your path to recovery until you fully recover.

Okay? Yes! Okay, okay, okay!!!

You are worth it!!!

All my best,

Howard