Many years ago I shared a weekend retreat with Dr. Bernie Siegel, a cancer surgeon who has pioneered the understanding of the mind/body connection in medicine. It was a very special weekend with a small group of us experiencing amazing personal growth in a loving environment. Bernie Siegel introduced me to the idea that healing a life is more important than curing a disease. He spoke of cancer patients who held the space for broken families to come together and heal their wounds around the person who was sick. After the healing, the person might or might not be cured of their disease. Sometimes it was a couple who had grown angry with each other who found healing when they focused their attention on working together to combat the illness, drawing them into a shared battle that resulted in a new closeness. Sometimes it was siblings who were divided over their parents’ estates and money who found that the sibling love-bond was more important when one of them faced a life-threatening illness.
Bernie had us draw pictures and then helped us to interpret them. He said that, before he did cancer surgery or put a patient into treatment, he would have them draw a picture. If the picture showed a lot of anger or fear, he chose to postpone the surgery until the person worked through that to become accepting of the treatment. He told the story of a patient who was a Quaker who struggled with all the war-talk about treating his cancer: killing cancer cells, the war on cancer, etc. Bernie invited him to re-imagine the chemo treatment in a way that was comfortable to him. The patient drew a picture of helpers gently carrying away the cancer cells and leaving his healthy cells behind. The chemo was very successful after that.
Our minds have the power to change our lives. The man above still had a disease to deal with, but his perspective shifted away from the battle for the cure and onto the path for the healing. The chemo and treatment stayed the same. All that shifted was how he viewed this and how his doctor talked with him about it. Mind talk and outer language.
When I learned the power of mind talk and outer language I became an avid student of Neuro-Linguistic Programming [NLP] and Hypnosis. How powerful these tools are in helping people!
And so, as you might know, we recently faced the possibility of losing our house in Colorado Springs to the Waldo Canyon Wildfire. The fire raged and then swept over a ridge toward our house. The entire area had been evacuated in anticipation of the danger but we were already staying with our daughter 2000 miles away, awaiting the sale of that same house. We watched in horror as we saw flames engulfing the hill upon which our house stood, not knowing what would be the outcome.
Many people supported us with their good thoughts and prayers. Some said, ‘We pray that your house is still standing after this.’ But we were praying for something different. We prayed that whatever happened would be in our highest good. We knew that, whether the house stood or did not withstand the flames, there is a plan and the plan is working out as it should. We knew, too, that we would learn and grow from whatever that experience proved to be.
I won’t lie and say that this has not been an emotional time, but, in the midst of the distress, we let go of the personal items that were in the house, possibly burned. We let go of our attachment to that beautiful house and accepted its fate, whatever that was. Most of our distress was in the ‘not knowing’ and in the worry over the other residents and the firefighters who were valiantly attempting to save our house and others.
The house is fine. It stands intact. Our friend was able to inspect it for us and to report that it is ‘as if nothing happened.’ Our entire block is still standing, with the loss of 1 deck the only damage that we know of on the block. Others very nearby were not so fortunate.
We are now planning to rent our furnished house to neighbors who need to rebuild after their house was destroyed by the fire. It is an amazing consciousness to realize that perhaps our house had not sold yet so that it could be standing and available as housing for others. No one was hurt in it or saving it from the flames.
If we had prayed for the house to withstand the fire, we would have been praying for the cure. Instead, we focused on accepting whatever the outcome might be, so that we might grow through the experience. We prayed for healing.
We have grown. And we now have the opportunity to use the house that still stands to assist another family through their healing.
Which will you seek in the situations of your life? Healing or Curing the Disease?
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Mystic Messages 
Exploration: “You Have Been Brainwashed!”
December 12, 2012 — RosemaryI have a confession. I, too, have been brainwashed, and it’s not by some evil cult leader – it’s ME!!!
Each of us repeats our thoughts over and over and we accept them as valid. But they are based on beliefs that we have held or that someone else programs us to believe and the validity might not be proven.
In my trainings to become a Master Hypnotherapist, I learned a lot about hypnotic technique and how it can be used to help someone change their thinking to improve their life. I found hypnosis such a powerful counseling tool that I studied and became a trainer of hypnotherapy. I also learned that some people try to use these principles to change another person’s reality. That’s what we call ‘brainwashing’ and there are a whole host of reasons why that is not a good thing.
Last year, Richard & I walked out of a 4-day seminar on the first day when the seminar leader explained that he was going to brainwash us but only put in good things. Sorry, chum, but you don’t get to do that to me even if I did pay for your seminar! I’m very careful about what goes into my brain! At least he was being honest. [Side note: My angels were with me that day. I went to sit down after a break and felt pushed out of my seat and onto the floor. I turned around expecting that my husband had bumped me and he was not even looking my way. A sign that I was protected! We left at the next break.]
Now here’s the truth about hypnosis. You can’t make someone do something they don’t, at some level, really want to do. If I could, with all my training, don’t you think I’d be working in prisons and rehab centers hypnotizing people to get them to quit crime and drugs? No, hypnosis can’t even get someone to put their hand into an imaginary aquarium holding an imaginary snake unless they really love reptiles! The person on the stage who struts around like a chicken for the stage hypnotist is the same one who, at a party after a few drinks, might put the lampshade on their head and lead karaoke. Some part of them wants to be the center of attention.
But the kind of brainwashing that’s done insidiously brings harm to those who unwittingly believe what they are told, especially when the same language is used over and over and over again so that their brain accepts the repetition as the truth. This is the purpose of so-called ‘talking points’ – say the same words repeatedly and with conviction and the unsuspecting populace will believe it. It bothers me that this modus operandi is being used in the world today and it’s masquerading as ‘news reporting’ and ‘politics.’
But the most insidious brainwashing is that which we are doing to ourselves. We keep telling our story to ourselves over and over and over again as if it is the only reality. In one situation or relationship, we focus on the negative or what’s missing or what we don’t want, and then we keep our attention focused on that by speaking about it.
‘My job sucks.’
‘He is a jerk.’
‘I can’t make any money.’
‘I can’t afford that.’
‘I don’t know how to _______.’
‘She doesn’t understand me.’
‘Nobody pays any attention to me.’
And so on.
We are actually brainwashing ourselves every time we think these thoughts.
STOP IT!!!! Catch yourself repeating a thought and ask yourself, ‘Is this true?’
Think ahead of time what your story is and what you would like to tell yourself instead. Picture what you DO WANT. Then, every time you catch yourself repeating the language about what you don’t want, tell yourself to, ‘STOP IT!!!’ and replace your thought language with the language about what you do want instead.
A little practice and you’ll be de-programmed from the cult of 1!
And ask for help in this if you need it. There’s no shame in needing de-programming after you’ve been brainwashed, even if you’re the only member of the cult.
Now you know.
PS: Please join us today at noon Eastern time as we meditate and activate the energy through this special day and time: Wednesday, 12/12/12 at 12:00. There is no registration for this, just dial in and be there with us!
The number to call is: 1-218-862-1300, and the code to enter is: 143201