Do you often worry?  Have anxiety that keeps your knees bouncing while sitting or twirling your hair and biting your fingernails?

I’m going to share a story with you that is very personal to me.

This past month was a bit frightening as we watched our teenage daughter develop a strange and debilitating illness.  Over the years we took her to the doctors because her neck would swell up like a football player for no reason, intense black and blue marks would appear on her body that hurt her, and stomach pain with gagging reflexes at least once a month.

These symptoms were strange to us and each time we were told that it was due to stress so she was given little green pills and sent home to recover.  The odd part for us is that we saw her as a genuinely happy, open and laid back kid, so we didn’t see her as the doctors described.

She was scheduled to go to a training camp in Virginia for one week with the staff of her new summer employment, and she couldn’t wait.  The first morning there she went for an early morning run with the other staff members and sat down upon her return.  She described that moment as feeling such intense pain in her abdomen that she nearly passed out.  When she  tried to eat (this girl loves food) she would gag or vomit.  She said it felt as if there were shards of glass coming from her intestines up to her esophagus so she chose to stop eating for a while until whatever this was went away.  We had no idea the severity of what she was experiencing, nor did anyone at the camp.

By the time she got home several days later, she was very pale, had lost a significant amount of weight in her face and was in constant pain.

We found another doctor and insisted they run a series of tests including an x-ray of her abdomen.  Tests revealed a thickened mass attached to her breastbone so we ordered a CT scan.   Our daughter knows I’ve lost many family members to cancer so immediately she began to think the worst, and I hate to admit it, but so did we.

Ten days after this illness began it ended.  I wanted to share the ‘how’ with you because at any time any one can end up with a similar focus, and if you do, I want to help you know what to do.

She had lost over 6 pounds, had no energy and was still not eating.   A friend of mine, Kevin Rath, connected with me and reminded me that we had been focusing more on the “dis”-“ease”  rather than on her optimum health.  He was completely right!

He reminded me that joy of any kind is like good medicine to the spirit so we focused on laughter, we focused on the victory we have over illness all throughout the following days. We chose to speak only of health and healing and not of the illness. We gave her vitamins in liquid form and we remained grateful for every drop that stayed in her system. We sang, we prayed and we remained hopeful.

We still don’t know what actually happened to cause this intense pain, and the docs are still stumped, but 2 days later she was completely back to normal.  The CT scan was clean, and just last night she said, “Mom, I feel better than normal. I haven’t felt this good in months.”

She also realized that her fear (and ours because she could see and hear it in us) caused much of her subconscious poor health. It was amazing watching her connect to internal leadership abilities and take charge of her life again.

A simple shift in all of our focus manifested health and healing.  What would have happened if we had not shifted our focus?  We believe we would have eventually manifested the demise of our daughter.  Was it a miracle?  We choose to see it that way and are grateful to our very core to see her healed.

Some will say that this is hogwash

Some will say that thinking about what you don’t have in life is simply being ‘realistic’. But I say, if your focus were different you would see the world in a whole new way. Not “might see” but “would see”.

The subconscious cannot distinguish the difference between imagination and reality.  The front of your brain reasons everything out, while the subconscious mind is obedient to the act of whatever it is you are thinking about.

For instance, if you are watching violence on TV, then your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between you doing the violent acts or not.  This may explain why nightmares occur after watching a horror flick.  The same holds true for sexual content you might view.  The subconscious mind doesn’t distinguish if it’s you in the sexual act or someone else, hence the physical or sexual changes occur.

So if this is the first time you are hearing this information, and are discounting what I’m saying, then feel free to dispute it.  I doubted it at first too so I get where you are coming from.

The reason I’m telling you this is so you can decide what kind of “reality” you want in your mind. What do you want to connect to in your life?  This work I do – is the kind where I get to help people create internal leadership skills – and the miracles I get to witness are ….  well, there are no words to describe it really but I needed to find it for my own life first. The story is here if you are interested.

What if everyone you met exampled this…

“…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” Ph 4:8

Would you consider this a clear description of what we could choose to connect our focus on?  Imagine developing a character that is noble, just, pure and true?

Lets look at a few more examples:

When we’re focused on the negatives and the ‘not enough’s’ in life we relinquish our ability to handle situations.  When emotions go up – intelligence goes down.

NEGATIVES
No one understands me.
I’m living proof of Murphy’s Law.
I’m never going to do this right.
That’s just my luck.
I have to accept my limitations.
I can’t afford this.
It’s never going to work out.
Nothing good ever happens to me.

POSITIVES

I am accepted and loved.
I expect the best, and it shows!
I am making so much progress!
God has great plans for me!
I am unstoppable!
I’ll figure out how to earn it
I ask, and I receive
I take deliberate steps to achieve my goal

By consistently directing your thoughts towards greater opportunities in your life, you will learn to practice gratitude for what you already have; money, health, family, house, food, etc.  This doesn’t mean that if you merely think positive life will be a piece of cake. This means it will take consistent work on your part to bring your focus into a place that brings you internal joy. In doing so, you can train your subconscious to understand that you are already living in hope and abundance.

I recall another story of an elderly man who mentored a very angry young boy. He invited the boy to go up a mountain trail saying that when they got to their destination (not saying where that was specifically) they would find what they were looking for.

The hike took over the three hours but on the way up, the boy was saying how beautiful the views were, how pretty the day was, how good the sun felt on his back, how marvelous the skies looked, and how amazing the wild animals were. After the third hour of climbing, the man turned to the boy and said, “Okay we’re here.”

The boy looked around for a few moments, realizing they weren’t at the top yet. Expecting to see a much greater scenery or landscape, he looked around but saw nothing special in this spot.

The boy scowled and asked, “What were we suppose to find here? Did we climb all this way for nothing?!”

The old man smiled and softly replied, “When you expected to see something at the end of your journey, you felt disappointed because you couldn’t find it. While you were on the journey you saw things you couldn’t see before and yet you seemed to be very happy all along the trail. You see, all along the path of gratitude is where you will find your true happiness. It’s rarely at the end of any one’s journey.”

What you focus on expands.

So you want more love?  Practice blessing and loving other people. If you want to be wealthy, then focus on the journey the wealthy person traveled to get there – but remember that wealth isn’t just in the value of money. If you want healthier, happier, relationships then journey close to those that are sincerely filled with deep gratitude, not perfection.

There is one sure thing this world offers and that is that life will always be perfectly imperfect.  I’m okay with that.  How about you?

Hopefully you’ve found something new and relevant to your life in this post and if so, perhaps you would be interested in removing some of the limiting beliefs you have held in your life? I have a book you may be interested in if so HERE.

I do hope you share it by re-tweeting it or posting it to your facebook friends!

Abundant Blessings+

Kellie