Remarkable Surprises

“I can’t change the direction of the wind,

but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

-Jimmy Dean

Have you ever had an experience, which defied belief and yet you knew it was true? We are so tied to what we can see with our eyes and feel with our hands that we often discount all the things that are not so physically tangible.  March is often like that. One day it is windy and sunny, and the next day it rains with double rainbows, and the next day it snows, and the next day there isn’t a trace of snow to be found.

How do those changes happen, and so quickly? What unseen forces are out there affecting our outside environment?

We often choose to disbelieve whatever opposes our belief systems. As a doctor I have had those experiences. One time I was working with a patient who came in to see me complaining of severe back pain down into the outside of her hip, and it wouldn’t go away. She was scared and had never experienced such pain; except maybe in child birth. As I worked with her I found her kidney energy to be very weak through muscle testing and reading her pulses, and as I palpated her musculature, it was clear the area around her mid-low back was in spasm. This is the area of the spine that gives life to the kidneys.

I adjusted the areas through chiropractic manipulation and did some acupuncture to support her kidneys. I also did some deep muscle work around where her kidneys live. As she was leaving she did momentarily feel better. I suggested she take some asparagus pills or eat lots of asparagus and drink lots of water, and eliminate all other drinks; especially tea, coffee, soda and beer. I also told her if the pain gets worse to go to the ER as they may be able to give her pain medication or laser treatment to help her pass the kidney stone I believed she was trying to pass.

She ended up going to the ER and told them her symptoms. They had an x-ray taken to see if they could see the shadow of a stone. Because she no longer had the usual signs and symptoms they are used to seeing with kidney stones as a result of my work with her, when they examined her x-ray, they discounted what they saw. There was a shadow of a stone, and they said that must be a mistake, and threw the x-ray away. At least they did give her pain medication until she was able to pass her stone.

This is kind of a funny story, and yet, we all do this; discount what we don’t believe. When we discount what we know is true, but it defies our belief system, we discount a viable part of ourselves. How often do we do this? We do this so often with our families; and the truth is, these belief systems are often so much a part of us; it takes us awhile to separate us from the beliefs.  When we do, we can step into more and more of our own diverse, vibrant and whole selves.

Shift Your Story: A Guided Visualization/Meditation

Beliefs; they are very powerful. They color and shape our world and our lives. I have a great exercise I use to help others separate from particular beliefs.

Take out a sheet of paper and make two columns. In the first column write the beliefs that you have been taught and what has been handed down in the family. An example might be something like this: men matter and women don’t. Another might be, in order to be successful you have to be single. See what comes up for you.

In the second column write out whether or not that belief matches you and what you truly believe. Put the two together and read them out loud. This gives you the conscious awareness of who you are separate from your family and still always connected to them.

I find this an empowering exercise to know myself better and to recognize the power of belief over my life.