A woman, a Son-Rise Program mom, joined us this morning in the Summit House at the Option Institute with other moms, dads and professionals from Australia, Sweden, Canada, UK, Denmark, India, Texas, Georgia, California et al. She took copious notes as the class progressed. Although our native languages were quite varied and we came from differing heritages, all of us in the room shared one huge dedication in common: The Son-Rise Program for autism and a deep commitment to help all the children with autism and other challenges. As I turned the flame up higher and higher in class, these awesome folks started to climb their own personal mountains...they seemed to get it: attitude first, attitude always. Change your beliefs and you change your thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
And then that Son-Rise Program mom who seemed very present with the class and the process blew our socks off. She added into the mix a key principle we teach: change your beliefs and you change your biology. She had had a brain tumor; it was growing larger. Then, she attended the Son-Rise Program Start-Up seminar to find a way to help her son. During that program, she made life-changing decisions about herself and how she lived in the world (she would no longer suppress herself and her emotions). The impact went beyond what a reasonable person might have anticipated. Her tumor started to shrink and when she returned for Maximum Impact, she reported that the brain tumor is now smaller. She attributed what she learned attitudinally and her commitment to no longer suppress her thoughts and feelings to reversing a potential lethal biological process.
Are you suppressing yourself (a metaphor for "killing yourself)?" New beliefs creates new biology (new physiology). When we hold ourselves back, when we lock up our distressing thoughts and uncomfortable feelings somewhere in our bodies (we each have different "storage areas), we begin the process of socially-acceptable suicide. Strong language. You bet!
What if we decided everything is changeable (the universe celebrates itself through change)? What if we imagined (made believe) that we could (and do) impact our health and disease process by how we think? What if we considered that we could learn to think differently if we wanted?
Consider two roads -- one goes to heaven (another metaphor) and the other leads to hell (yet another metaphor). One improves our health; the other fuels dis-ease. That Son-Rise Program mom this morning inspired us all (because in learning how to help her child with Autism, she learned key attitudinal principles taught at the Option Institute). When we learn to be happier (more self-accepting and less judgmental), we take a giant step toward self improvement, personal growth as well as greater health and wellness (in effect, a key component within any concept of health strategies). Perhaps, in addition to whatever medical help we seek, changing our beliefs and attitude is the most important part of improving health and creating our own healing journey.
With awe and excitement and love, Bears
I am certain that my beliefs affect my biology. I had confirmation of this when I returned from Option a couple of years ago. I have had a weight issue most of my life, despite having been a champion swimmer working out 3 hours a day, despite diets I did, etc. I once fasted for two weeks and didn't lose a pound. I often worked out for hours every day at the gym and had no change in my weight. All of this was motivated by a feeling of dissatisfaction with myself. But somehow, when I came back from Option, I was truly happy and felt good about myself for the first time ever, and suddenly, I started "miraculously" dropping weight, even though I hadn't changed anything about my eating habits or exercise regime. In fact, I had let go of trying so hard to lose weight. I couldn't attribute it to anything except my attitude and belief shift. I lost around 20 pounds over 2-3 months. Then, I had a sudden severe medical issue that I allowed to jolt me out of my happiness (As if my body rebelled against this new health- I have been examining this event to uncover the ways in which I may have subconsciously sabotaged my happiness at that time). I immediately started putting weight back on (again, without changing my eating habits or exercise patterns), and have had a lot of difficulty finding my way back into that "serenity" zone immediately following my week at Option. I am completely convinced now that my metabolism and weight is completely attached to my beliefs and not so much my exercise and eating habits. Knowing that, I'm now really trying to reconnect through reading and using other tools, to the feeling I had at Option. My difficulty is that while I can still connect *conceptually* to these lessons, and I can go through my mental corrections of unhelpful beliefs, I somehow haven't (yet) found my way back to the way it *felt* to be happy. I just haven't clicked back into that joyful feeling I had, despite my stimulus-belief-response inner dialogues, my decisions to change beliefs, etc. But I know if I find my way back to that *feeling*, it will positively affect my health.
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