Chapter 70. Going out of my mind with a positive diagnosis.
September 14, 2014
“The most terrible things in my life never actually happened.” ~Oscar Wilde
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The English language not only fascinates me, it confuses the hell out of me. Anyone who has read my posts can attest to that. After all, my command of our language, along with its rules, is absolutely horrendous.
However, as my interest in writing has grown, I’ve discovered I’m studying the subtleties of words with increasing scrutiny, to help ensure I am continuing to fashion the best run-on sentences possible.
The result is, there are a host of words and phrases we use to mean one thing, yet, when looked at closely, they have little relevancy to their intended purpose at all. Or better yet, could take on much greater significance if we were simply open to changing our interpretation of them.
Take for example, the phrase of someone being, “Out of their mind”.
The observation came to me as I began reading Eckhart Tolle’s, The Power of Now—A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.
Being one who is deeply interested in the power of positive thinking as well as spirituality, I found The Power of Now to be quite thought-provoking.
In his book, quite ironically, Tolle outlines that one of the greatest obstacles we all face to experiencing enlightenment or achieving tranquility in our lives, is our inability to dis-identify with our own minds. We are all afflicted with compulsive thinking, creating never-ending mental noise, but we believe it to be normal because almost everybody suffers from it. And it is this constant noise that prevents us from obtaining inner peace.
He goes on to say that, Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering and of continuous conflict within and without, but also the end of the dreadful enslavement to incessant thinking. That we all basically have multiple voices that we listen to from within. The first being the voice (or voices) in our head that conduct continuous monologues or dialogues that comment, speculate, judge, compare, complain, express likes and dislikes, and so on, and usually do so by reviving the past or rehearsing or imaging possible future situations. And it is here we often imagine things going wrong and dream up negative outcomes for ourselves.
The second voice we hear is the voice that speaks to us from our spirit, our soul, our heart, the voice of our true essence. How often have you ever heard your self say, I don’t like the person I’ve become? That is the perfect example of the two voices, the two dimensions of your very being. It is your spirit not attaining its true essence due to the fact that the easy path is one of listening to the fears and worries created by the thoughts of your mind. We listen to the wrong voice.
The goal according to Tolle is to be able to rise above the restricting thoughts of your mind and learn to allow your spirit to be an observer of your thoughts. Do not judge or condemn the thoughts that you hear that come from the voice of your mind, but rather simply observe them, listen to them, acknowledge them, and then let them go. When you can achieve that level of consciousness, it is then you will be able to let thoughts go that hold you back and you will be able to move forward in a sense of stillness and peace.
In essence, Eckhart Tolle appears to be suggesting that for one to truly achieve enlightenment, tranquility and peace, one needs to be, Out of their mind.
A second word perplexity came to me after thinking about the fact I had received a positive diagnosis for Parkinson’s disease. For me, it truly has been just that; a positive, life-changing diagnosis. The words that for so many others have represented the negative, I am turning around and redefining for myself to represent exactly what the words say, and exactly what it will be. A positive diagnosis.
But to do so has required a continuous effort on my part to listen to my heart, stay true to my spirit, always choose happiness and stay above the thoughts in my mind that can imagine the worst. The thoughts I do let dominate my mind now are much more focused and productive and far less cluttered with a dialogue of worry or fear about tomorrow. That has given me a much greater sense of peace with Parkinson’s and with life.
The vast majority of pain and discomfort we all experience in our lives stems from some form of nonacceptance or resistance towards accepting what is. The greater the pain—the greater ones level of resistance. For me, I truly accepted my positive diagnosis as a “It is what it is" event in my life. There was no resistance or nonacceptance on my part and as a result, fear never took hold. My thoughts immediately became focused on what can I do? How can I get involved? How can I make a difference for myself and for others?
From the very beginning I was lucky.
I was out of my mind.
But here’s the crazy part…
It works!
More to come.
To read the entire story from the beginning you can now buy the book at www.tremorsintheuniverse.com
Tremors in the Universe Copyright © 2014 by Robert Baittie
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