In my last blog post, I discussed that the symptoms are not the disease, and how increased symptoms often are a great sign of healing. Today, we take that concept onto the battlefield.
Parkinson’s Disease does not care about you. It needs you for it to survive, but it does not care about you. It needs a body to live in, but it does not care about you. It needs a mind to live in, but it does not care about you. It needs a soul to try to permeate, but it does not care about you.
It does not care about your age or gender or color of your skin or country of your origin or religion into which you are born…as long as it can try to invade and pollute a soul and a mind and a body, it is happy. Parkinson’s fights you back when you wage your war against it, chipping away at it day-by-day by doing the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®. It is why you will have periods of time when you feel worse before you can finish getting better.
Think about this:
Ground troops (you) are on a mission to overtake the enemy’s command center (Parkinson’s).
When the troops are 200 miles away, what is the level of the enemy’s concern; how hard is the enemy fighting against the troops?
When the troops are 100 miles away, what is the level of the enemy’s concern; how hard is the enemy fighting against the troops?
When the troops are 50 miles away, what is the level of the enemy’s concern; how hard is the enemy fighting against the troops?
When the troops are 10 miles away, what is the level of the enemy’s concern; how hard is the enemy fighting against the troops?
When the troops are 1 mile away, what is the level of the enemy’s concern; how hard is the enemy fighting against the troops?
When the troops are 1000 feet away, what is the level of the enemy’s concern; how hard is the enemy fighting against the troops?
When the troops have arrived at the enemy’s command center walls and are breaking down the doors and climbing over the walls, what is the level of the enemy’s concern; how hard is the enemy fighting against the troops?
I think you will have to agree that at this point in time, doesn’t the enemy unleash whatever big guns it has left in order to defeat or discourage the troops so they will leave?
Do the troops get discouraged and leave or do they stay and fight the fight of their life to carry out the mission? Do you have the will and strength and faith to outlast Parkinson’s when it is unleashing the big guns? Or does fear grab you, Parkinson’s fear, and trick you into thinking that because you are feeling worse, you are getting worse? Parkinson’s is a crafty enemy.
Why do you think that while you are spending all of that time chipping away at the inside of that iceberg (Fighting Parkinson’s, and chipping away, day by day) that you generally see and feel little or no progress in how your external symptoms appear? Parkinson’s wants you to give up on your own.
Why do you think Parkinson’s fights you so hard when you have chipped away at the iceberg long enough that you are breaking through to the surface? Because Parkinson’s knows that for you to have stayed on the path long enough to break through to the surface, along the way you have gained self-confidence and an undying strength in your soul, mind, and body that screams at Parkinson’s, “I have the power to heal myself!”
At that juncture, there is nothing left for Parkinson’s to do but unleash whatever it has left in its arsenal to try to make you stop fighting. Parkinson’s realizes that it cannot win, so it tries to trick you into thinking that you cannot win.
But you are not fooled. No, you are not fooled. You are taking control. You have the Recipe, you have confidence in yourself, and you have faith in your Higher Power to help you and guide you and see you through to victory. You are taking control of your Parkinson’s and your Parkinson’s is experiencing fear. That’s right, your Parkinson’s is afraid of you!
You are recovering, chipping away day by day, and there is nothing…nothing that Parkinson’s can do to make you surrender. You are strong, you are Recipe warriors, you stay on your path, and you continue fighting until you win!
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Wow thank you Howard very encouraging, that explains it well. Fell of my bike this week, for 24hours with Gastro influenza, all I could managed that day was a brain chant,
at bed time. Back on my bike the next day very slowly and now going strong again. Thinking of you all fighting for that win just around the corner. Love to everyone 😀😀😀😅😀
Get a trike. You will never fall agin and it is pure bliss. I have an e-assist tera-trike. I ride every day. Have a great weekend. Karen from Wisconsin
Hi Karen,
Would you share the make model of your trike?
Thanks,
Dianne
This reminds me of the Swahili Warrior Song;
“Life has meaning only in the struggle. Triumph or defeat is in the hands of the Gods… So let us celebrate the struggle!”
God be with you
Awesome chant!
Much needed advice right now. Thank you dear Howard. 8 months and 3 weeks on my journey to recovery and the last few days have been the hardest as my pains, tremors and stiffness have suddenly gone up a new level. My troops must be storming the battlements. No pasaran! Blessings to all.
Oh what a wonderful post, now we finally have to believe that we can win!!! Thank you dear Howard!!
Parkinsons is cunning. It saw my wife getting sick this past week and pounced. Sending me into a tailspin of despair, gleefully prying me away from the Recipe for the very first time. Parkinson reveling in all I could not do for her. So as I reached back up to climb back on the wellness horse, accepting she was sick, and by the day and a good diet, she got better, I thought about what Howard would say (much of which is in this blog) and once again Parkinson is running scared!
That is perfect Howard!
Exactly what this present experience feels like.
Your presence is a gift.
W’Ren
Nanaimo BC
Very encouraging post, thank you Howard. I like the concept of Parkinson’s being scared and running for the hills. I will keep a mental image of that ♥️♥️
Lots of love, strength, and courage to my fellow warriors to get that scaredy-cat running away!
Dear Howard. How right on you are. The past couple of days, I have spent having medical tests on brain and heart. I kept remembering your advice to view it as checking to see if anything is out of balance
Then there was Parkinson’s whispering “see me, see me”. I literally talked to it refusing to allow it to undermine my recovery. Thank you Howard. The power of the mind is incredible.
Fabulous blog post, Howard. Just what I and, I’m sure many others, need. I feel quite enlivened by it!
And thanks for your posts, Rick. They are very encouraging.
💎💙💎
I know my troops are storming the castle soon. They are unstoppable. Thanks Howard and everybody else for this supportive community.
Thank you, Howard, for the encouragement!
A zillion years ago my eighth grade teacher, Mr. Beaky, had the class memorize this — and it still inspires:
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you want to win but you think you can’t, it is almost certain you won’t.
Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can!
Hi Howard. Interesting but i just found myself reading a few days ago about someone named Dr Constantine Hering , after observations came up with its called the Hering’s LAW OF CURE. It states that what follows after initial improvement looks like a return of the disease with worsening symptoms is because of a detoxification occurring which may last a few ddays, weeks or longer. In other words, healing is occurring at a deeper level. Hoping this is the case for those of us experiencing this. Thanks again for explaining it so well.
Thank you 😊
Wow, and so it is!!
I am conflicted where Parkinson’s is concerned because sometimes I am treating it like the enemy and sometimes I am trying to befriend it. The conflict arises because of the idea that Parkinson’s is a gift that is providing us with an opportunity to recalibrate our lives. I have thanked Parkinson’s for coming, for that reason. Equally, I have cursed and berated it for ruining my life.
If there is any value in confusing the enemy, my Parkinson’s is regularly wrong-footed!
I am familiar with Hering’s Law of Cure, which Dora mentions. Basically, it means that things have to get worse before they get better. This crops up in all sorts of healing stories, not just Parkinson’s. Indeed, Howard’s own book describes Parkinson’s last hurrah before it retreated for good, so it’s true that an ostensible worsening of the condition isn’t necessarily a bad sign. It just feels like it!
We all believe in our cure; otherwise, we wouldn’t be doing the Recipe. But we are fighting on so many levels – body, soul and mind – and if we leave one component out, we won’t have our full recovery.
Anyone who is new to Howard’s blog might like to look in the archive for November 2020 and read about Marie’s story of recovery.
A key passage for me was:
‘I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever was necessary and change my life in whatever ways would support recovery, if it was really possible to have my condition improve rather than degenerate.’
She was prepared to change, which I admit I have been obdurate about doing.
She also said don’t be too embarrassed to love yourself.
Very encouraging post for fighting the battle with Parkinson’s. When there is a recipe, the battle can be won.
Thank you Howard for the support.
Thankyou Howard and also my fellow travellers who are brave and encouraging, blessings from Jan