My daddy taught me many things. One: “No one ever said life was going to be fair.”, and Two: The power of positive thinking. I didn’t know the extent of the latter until after he passed away in 2006. A few years before that, he had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed on one side of his body. He spent time in rehab to relearn the things we all take for granted. When he came home, his face still drooped. He had many deficits. He also had extreme determination.
On the mirror in his bathroom, he placed a picture of himself flanked by two physical therapists from rehab. It was the day he left, a crooked smile on his face. Next to the picture, he posted a handwritten note that read, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” I loved that quote and read it each time I visited. It wasn’t until this year that I researched it. A French pharmacist turned psychologist coined the phrase in the early 1900s. As a pharmacist, Émile Coué understood the placebo effect. He knew praising a medicine’s effectiveness improved a patient’s chances of recovery. He sold his pharmacy and channeled that power of positive thinking into psychology. His patients repeated affirmations, at least 20 times a day, starting in the morning and ending at night. Coué believed his patients could cure themselves more efficiently replacing their “thoughts of illness” with a new “thought of a cure”.
Coué was a hundred years ahead of his time. Today we understand the elasticity of the brain. “Use it or lose it” is true. Neuroscientists know that an impoverished brain that isn’t learning new things shrinks, a well-fed brain that learns grows. This field of science leads the fight against Alzheimer’s and dementia. It’s called neuroplasticity. The brain’s ability to grow also allows it to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts using Coué method. The brain can realign itself! My dad was doing it. “Every day, in every way, he was getting better and better.”
My dad believed he was going to get better and set out to do it. Armed with his mantra and his home rehab exercises, he faithfully did his regime. He worked his facial muscles, walked the mall, had lunch with his friends, and attended church every Sunday He kept his faith quiet and never spoke of the note on his mirror. I bet that those last two had more of an impact than the physical routines. My daddy fought the good fight. 2 Timothy 4: 7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” The man who told me that life wasn’t fair, found a way to level the playing field by changing his thinking.
What thinking do you need to change? Which thoughts fill your head that need to be realigned? Most all of the things we tell ourselves are lies. You can tell yourself the truth. You can know who you really are.
Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better. Ephesians 4:23
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,” Psalm 139:13-14
“So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.” Genesis 1:27
“We know that God has chosen you, dear brothers, much beloved of God.”
1Thessalonians 1:4
God created you and loves you! No matter where you stand on the issue of religion, the Creator of all loves you. It doesn’t get any better than that. Think of one thing that you want to tell yourself. Maybe it’s that you are ENOUGH. You are! You are made in the image and likeness of God. Today start telling yourself over and over, “I am enough.” Get up in the morning and say it. Say it all day. Say it when something makes you feel like you are not. Say it when you hit the sack. Perhaps you feel sick all the time, instead of saying “I feel bad.”, replace it by “I feel healthy and energetic.” Try it for 3 months. Trust God to help you. See if “Every day, in every way, you are getting better and better.”
IT'S A HARnDen LIFE... 