As we head into the end of the year and the joyous holiday season, I want to provide you with more tools for repairing your Parkinson’s, which I see as a symptom of a life out of balance…physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Today, I am re-posting my explanation of how Parkinson’s is a symptom of a life out of balance, and the subsequent posts until the end of the year will provide additional tools to enhance the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® as it leads you on your journey of recovery…from your Parkinson’s and in your life.
From Fighting Parkinson’s, and tremors three years ago (originally posted on September 21, 2012):
“Three years ago today {September 21, 2009}, I got my final wake up call, my body’s final notification to make me sit up and take notice that there was something dreadfully wrong with me…tremors. As I pointed out recently, for the previous 7 or 8 months, I had received polite, and not-so-polite, notifications that my physical body was falling into disrepair. I chose to ignore these. Tremors got my attention. I have discussed that the symptoms are not the problem, but instead, they are the messages that there is a problem, so we have to look behind them as to why we have them. This morning I realized that Parkinson’s is a symptom…a message that says, “your life is out of balance.”
Parkinson’s…the symptom reflecting a life out of balance. Physically, you are off balance. You move slowly and cautiously, often looking down instead of forward. What does that do? It puts your body in a posture that makes it virtually impossible to walk balanced. Your neck is bent, your spine is bent, the fluid in your semicircular canals is moved, and your visual frame of reference (important for balance) is your legs or the floor, and you acquire what is often referred to as a Parkinson’s gait. Mentally, you then become off balance because you are afraid of falling or freezing, and you are afraid of the future with Parkinson’s. This is right where Parkinson’s wants you…not living in the moment, but instead living in the past (getting Parkinson’s) and being fearful of the future (life with long-term Parkinson’s). Spiritually, you give up hope that you ever will get better. At that point Parkinson’s is winning.
Essentially, when you stare at your legs and feel unbalanced, you are looking at the past. When you feel unbalanced, you fear the future. How can you move forward in life in a balanced manner if you are staring backwards and it makes you fearful of where you are going? Faith.
Faith in yourself that you are the cure to Parkinson’s, and that you can see your recovery through to the end. Yes, that carries a lot of responsibility, but you have help. You have the Recipe for Recovery. The Recipe for Recovery is your road map to bring your soul, mind, and body back into balance.
Over time in my recovery, I came to see Parkinson’s as a grand opportunity to fix the things in my life that had gone out of balance. The Recipe provided me with the physical tools to re-balance my body, the mental tools to calm my mind and re-balance my emotions, and the spiritual tools to re-balance my soul and find again the essence of who I am.
Am I grateful for having had Parkinson’s? Yes. Through that bump in the road in a life already out of balance, Parkinson’s stood as a bump at a fork in the road leaving me two choices: 1. Fix the imbalances in my life and it would go away; and 2. Do not fix the imbalances in my life and it would stay with me forever. I chose the road less traveled, I had no plan B, and every day I did the Recipe for Recovery to find balance in my life. And every day that I awoke with Parkinson’s still there, it was a reminder I still had more work to do.
However, in the end, when I awoke on June 12, 2010 with no Parkinson’s, I knew it was not coming back — I had re-balanced my soul, mind, and body, and I no longer needed the message or symptoms known as Parkinson’s as a reminder that I had more work to do.
I was finished with that part of my life, and I am grateful for that as well.”
Here we are, over twelve years since those tremors appeared, and eleven and a half years since my symptoms left and the realization of being cured came to fruition. Thank you, God. I am grateful!
You can do this, too. I know you can. Grab onto the Recipe with a full faith and confidence, and fearlessly continue down this path to your cure.
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Thanks Howard , I’m still fighting the fight doing the full
recipe and I won’t stop until I’m symptom free
Love to everyone 😊😊😀😀
With you every step of the way Rick. We can do it. All my love to you, Howard and fellow warriors.
Ray
Thank you Howard!!!! With your support and example, we all will be free of Parkinson’s symptoms very soon…no doubt!!!!!! Streaming of blessings wrapped with love and gratitude!!!
No way was your book going to be called ‘Fighting Parkinson’s … and Parkinson’s Winning’.
Hi Val I wanted to apologise for not replying to your comment but my best friend died that weekend. I am still in shock as I had no idea. She hid behind Covid as to why she could not see me. She was only diagnosed a year ago but it was aggressive, so opposite to the gentle woman she was.. her husband told me that she felt that I had enough to deal with and didn’t want to add to my own challenge. Some tears will never dry. 😞xx
On a brighter note your comment touched my heart and made me laugh”
Here’s your bit about me. :-
“A good example of this was when Karen pointed out that she and I were only six minutes apart in sending you our Thanksgiving Day wishes. I think I was sitting up quite late and when I realised that Karen was too, and sharing the same thought, I felt simpatico. All the moment lacked was a table and two ciders between us! Also, Karen, I have you to thank for making me stick to my resolution to do 10 repetitions of the MQFTL twice a day because when I was flagging I thought about you saying it was a very impressive target and I couldn’t face coming back to the blog and admitting I’d flunked”
Firstly I too feel a sense of connection when I see the “time” when other warriors post and it’s near the time I have posted. It gives you a sense of focus on the days we struggle as we know we are not alone. That’s what I love and value, that Howard has created a community of amazing people dealing with the same symptoms and challenges we all face day to day. ❤️
I laughed at you saying that all we needed was a table and two ciders haha. I haven’t drank cider since my 20’s . I would be a red wine girl these days but never touch a drop as it’s tough enough to walk without adding to shakey legs, my poor brain is challenged enough. Please God one day we will meet and I will joyfully share a glass of cider with you and we will toast our recovery.
Lastly I really grinned when you said that because I mentioned that I was impressed with your challenge to yourself for November, that became your motivation! Bless your Cotten little socks. Lol. I would never set a challenge to anyone with this disease, as it’s a bloody awful condition, all on its own.
Awesome that you did it! You’re an inspiration. You Rock my friend. 😊
Keep on posting Val, I truly love and enjoy your posts. I don’t think you realise how funny you are. I loved your analogy to Rick about your comparison to him putting in the new engine in his boat. Oh what joy to be strong again!
Big Love to all.
Karen xx💕
I did not understand how unbalanced my life was until the evil Mister Parkinson came knocking at my soul’s door. Am I glad I ‘got’ Parkinsons? Not yet. But I can imagine the joy and wonder of my of being able to look back at the time when I “had” pd and how grateful I am that he is gone.
I can imagine that gratitude and joy.
Love to all of you!
Roger
Hi Howard. I agree with a lot of things you say in this post about life being out of balance, but there are exceptions for everything. I wonder a lot of times about why did I get Parkinson when I was doing a lot of things right such as positive outlook, putting things in perspective, practicing, compassion, gratitude, prayers, devotion, surrender to the higher power, at least twice a day meditation, practicing mindfulness, humor, love for my family and everyone around, feeling joy and pride in everyone’s joy and the like for twenty years at least, I still got Parkinson. But now I will work on the same things more intensely and more deeply than ever before!
Hi Vijai. I hope you don’t think me presumptuous, but I read your comment yesterday and woke up today thinking about what you’d written, so I thought perhaps I was meant to share what came to me, which is this: Rather than work on the same things more intensely, stop working on them and just be; let go and let God, or how ever you conceive of your higher power. After all, how can one work on surrender? Surrender, by it’s very nature, is about yielding.
One of the things that resonated with me about Howard’s story was how perfectionism promotes dis-ease. My favourite affirmation from him is: ‘I accept myself unconditionally right now.’ As Howard keeps telling us, we are worthy, we are worth it. We don’t need to be perfect. You already sound like a lovely person, so perhaps the universe means you to stop giving and allow yourself to receive (I don’t mean to sound didactic, and forgive me if I do. I have a lot to learn).
This is a quote from Howard’s blog of September 18, 2020, written in response to one of the warriors: ‘It is knowing that the ability to be cured already is inside you, and then staying on the recovery path long enough to clean the physical, mental, and spiritual toxins to allow your cure to rise up and greet you.’
Hi Val
So Sorry I had gone AWOL and just looked at your comment. Thank you so much for WAKING me up! It makes a great deal of sense to me. It’s if no avail to do more of the same thing. You are very perceptive and very caring!
God bless you
Vijai
Hi Vijai
Thinking of you. May peace and ballance be with you!
Dear kind, inspiring Howard,
God bless you for your continued commitment to all of us ever seeking to rebalance our lives. To my fellow warriors I bow with respect and gratitude for your sharings and encouragement.
Love to all,
Dianna from Wyoming
Thanks Howard for your never ending guidance.
With having PD, I realise that I am not the goody goody I thought I was. Still have a
Lot of work to do………inner work.
I hope everyone of us will reach recovery soon!
Love to all
Yes, we can do this, even if it is already a long way for us….but we don’t stop.
We found a new style of life to reward ourselves after the Recipe and the other exercises we do daily. So we have a goal and the joy is wonderful. Also some progresses have happened. Thank you very much, dear Howard, for your steady encouragement we appreciate so much!!!
Thank you Howard for the continuing support and encouragement for our recovery from the unbalanced body of Parkinson’s. I will continue doing the recovery exercises to be free from Parkinson’s symptoms and live a normal life.
Love to all