Fighting Parkinson’s, and being in the present moment NOW!, part 2

Last week, I discussed being in the present moment. It is what is real. Today, we will take the discussion a little deeper into how you can practice being in the present moment NOW!

On December 1st, I asked you to take a look at how you had done in November and utilize what you learned to build a stronger recovery in the moment NOW. Many people have told me that while doing the November Challenge, they felt very good because they had set aside the time to do the reduced version of the Recipe every day.

Okay. Now let’s build upon the lesson: “It is okay for me to set aside time to work on my recovery.” Next baby step: “It is okay for me to set aside time to do something nice for me.”

The something nice can be as simple as setting aside time to read a book or sitting with a cup of coffee or tea and doing nothing other than staring out the window into nature. These are the things that will help you calm down the adrenaline-driven mind that tells you that you always have to be doing something “productive.”

Guess what? If you are reading a book, that is productive — you are calming your mind and being fully engaged in the moment in reading. It allows for acceptance of you as you are, not just acceptance of you if you are achieving or performing something.

Drinking a cup of coffee or tea and doing nothing other than staring out the window into nature is being productive — you are relaxing and “doing nothing” while learning to feel okay about it. It allows for acceptance of you as you are, not just acceptance of you if you are achieving or performing something.

These are the mental and spiritual “lessons learned” from doing the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® that you carry into your everyday life to help you cure yourself from Parkinson’s and to help you live a healthy life after you are cured.

In the last post, I wrote: “When I became cured of Parkinson’s, I stopped doing the physical part of the Recipe because I no longer needed it. However, the mental and spiritual lessons I learned in my recovery have carried forward for the last nine and a half years as how I live my life…I live my cure in the way I live my life.”

Here is an example for you of how those lessons learned have carried forward in my life. On Wednesday morning, two days ago, I sat down at my computer to begin my day responding to emails. I have an Apple Mac laptop and I use Microsoft 365 Office for my office programs.

My email program Outlook did not open. The programs Excel and Word did not open. Although I thought I was going to be working on emails, the Universe had a different plan. Because of the lessons learned in my recovery, instead of being fearful of none of the programs opening and being angry and frustrated over the situation, I said, “Okay, what am I going to do about this?”

First, I re-started my computer…that did not work. Second, I went on the Internet to see if others were having this problem, and I found many very technical solutions that people were suggesting and opted not to do them. Third, I asked for help.

I went to Apple Support and clicked the link for an online chat. Here it is:

“Thanks for contacting Apple Support. My name is India. Please give me a moment to look over your information.

·          Good Morning! How are you?

·          Hi India. I am fine. How are you? I have Microsoft 365 from the App Store and this morning none of it will open, Outlook, Word, Excel. They stopped working. Please help. Thank you. Howard

·          Great to hear! I’m doing awesome today, thanks Howard.

·          Nice to hear 🙂

·          Ah we know how important it is to enjoy your Apple apps properly. We’ll totally guide you to a prompt resolution or pointed in the right direction for it. 🙂

·          Do you get any error messages or alerts and if so can you share it with us please?

·          Hi India. You must be an angel. I have not gotten any of it to open in the last half hour, and when I clicked to tell you if there is an error message, all of them opened. I am not computer illiterate and I know what I am doing, even though you might think I am having user error. So, have you seen this before and do you know if there is anything I can do to prevent it from happening again? Thanks. Howard

·          Aww thanks I really appreciate you and you made my day!! 🙂

·          Sure, if it happens again see if you get any error messages to provide and try restarting the Mac. 🙂

·          So glad they are opening now, woot!

·          Maybe I was just needing a message from the Universe that computers are not perfect and neither am I, and that it is okay to ask for help 🙂 As soon as I asked for help and you arrived, problems solved by themselves. Thank you for being my angel today. Have a great day!

·          Sounds good to me too and it was my pleasure Howard! 🙂 Thanks for being part of the Creative Apple Family and you have yourself a beautiful day. Happy Holidays! Thanks a bunch as well!

·          Happy Holidays to you as well, India! Good bye 🙂

·          Thank you. 🙂 Bye, bye.”

Prior to Parkinson’s, I felt I needed to have every answer to every question, every solution to every problem, and that asking for help was a failure, a sign of weakness. How foolish was I. This way of thinking helped me become ill.

In my recovery, I learned that being vulnerable is okay. I need to repeat this: BEING VULNERABLE IS OKAY! Actually, being vulnerable is not only okay, but it is necessary for being healthy. None of us is perfect and none of us should ever be afraid to ask for help.

And, none of us should be afraid to let somebody who helps us know that the person is an angel:

“Maybe I was just needing a message from the Universe that computers are not perfect and neither am I, and that it is okay to ask for help 🙂 As soon as I asked for help and you arrived, problems solved by themselves. Thank you for being my angel today. Have a great day!”

Lessons learned.

Have a beautiful weekend, baby step by baby step, moment by moment, in the moment NOW!

You are worth it!!!

All my best,

Howard