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Thought Medicine Healing Power of Inertia

A True Story about the Healing Power of Inertia

I’m 18 years old and it’s the day after I’ve had major surgery. If you’ve never had surgery it might surprise you to know that in most cases, they get patients up within 24 hours after an operation. People who get moving have fewer complications and get better faster. The only problem is, because I had to undergo several pre-op tests, I’ve had nothing to eat for at least 5 days. I’m in a lot of pain and I’m extremely weak.

Get up and walk? Are they serious? All I want to do is lie still and rest.

The nurse walks into my room, cranks up the back of my hospital bed and insists that I sit up.  I want to cooperate but my muscles don’t.  Even though I struggle with everything I’ve got, it seems like my back is super-glued to the sheet which is now soaked with the sweat of my exertion.

The nurse and I are both frustrated. But she is kind and finally gives me an assist, pulling me forward and helping me swing my legs over the side of the bed. She lifts me up onto my feet and…

I faint.

I’m not that big but 130 pounds of dead weight is more than she can handle. I’m vaguely aware as she collects my gangly arms and legs and dumps me back into bed.

Every 3-4 hours we try again. Every time I stand up, I faint. It doesn’t help that they give me a pain shot beforehand so I’ll be able to cope with the excruciating pain of my still-fresh incision. Each time we try I feel even weaker. Every fiber of my being just wants to stay horizontal.

By the next afternoon I still haven’t been able to pry my own back away from the hospital bed –  let alone take a walk down the hall, which is our ultimate goal. The nurse is afraid if she drops me I could get injured but she’s not a quitter. As she tucks my exhausted body back into bed she mutters, “I have an idea.”

Later that evening she waltzes into my room accompanied by her “idea” – a strapping young resident from another floor named Dr. Valentine. He’s about 6’5″ and looks more like an NFL linebacker than your stereotypical doctor. He’s kind but stern. There is no way I’m not getting out of that bed and taking a walk down the hall with him. He’s all business. His strength is comforting and a little bit scary.

Before I know it he lifts me up into a standing position. As usual the black snow fills my vision and I begin to faint. But Dr. Valentine doesn’t let go. He calmly holds me against his chest until I stabilize.  It takes a few minutes but finally my head clears. The next thing I know Dr. Valentine is puppet-walking me out the door and into the hall. I feel like Raggedy Ann but with his help I go through the motions. Then it’s back to bed. I’m exhausted – more weary than I’ve ever felt in my life.

Here’s the surprise: the next morning I’m able to get up on my own!

This time I can actually sit up and get out of bed. I don’t faint and and I’m able to walk down the hall on the arm of my very proud nurse. It still hurts, but each time it gets easier. By the next day, I’m able to get up and walk whenever I want… on my own. And I just kept walking back to a normal healthy life. (Thank you Dr. Valentine wherever you are!)

The Law of Inertia

Most people know that inertia is the force that keeps things stuck. As the law of physics states, “Inertia is the tendency for a body at rest to stay at rest.”

But that’s only half of the story.

The Law of Inertia actually says that things tend to keep doing what they are doing – unless some outside force intervenes. While it’s true that something that isn’t moving will tend to stay that way, that’s only half of the law.  The other half says, “A body in motion will tend to stay in motion.”

The Tipping Point

The moment an outside force changes non-movement to movement – or vice versa – is a “tipping point.” That day in the hospital, Dr. Valentine was my tipping point. He was the “outside force” that got me moving again.  From that point on it was easier because inertia now was working in my favor to help me keep moving.

How to Create a Tipping Point to Leverage the Power of Inertia

A few years ago I decided to start taking early morning hikes several days a week.  I had a lot of trouble getting out the door.  I was out of shape and as much as I focused on how good for my health daily walking and hiking would be, my attempts to get started were sporadic at best.

As a coach I know that it takes 21 days to “install” a habit. Finally I made a deal with myself to take a walk every day for a few weeks. Not Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Every day. To keep track I put a big “W” on my wall calendar each day I’ve kept that promise to myself.

I know it sounds silly but after a few days I didn’t want to break the zig-zag chain of W’s on my calendar. Even if I got busy and hadn’t yet walked, I’d sneak in a quick 5-minute stroll in the evening so I could earn my W and not break the chain. I liked watching the pattern grow.

My tipping point was a seemingly silly compulsion to keep the WWWWW chain unbroken!

After about 3 weeks I didn’t have to use the calendar trick any more. Soon I wasn’t just walking, I was hiking nearly every day. The Power of Inertia had taken over and movement was now my new pattern.  The calendar trick helped tip the Law of Inertia to my side. Those 5 minute evening walks helped too. Why? Because if something is moving, it will tend to keep moving.

Behold the Power of Inertia!

If you want to change something in your life, and it feels overwhelming, it helps to remember that a tipping point can be a very small change. You can leverage the Power of Inertia if you are willing to go through a small bit of discomfort. Then it will get easier.

How can you leverage the Power of Inertia in your own life?  What small force of change can you bring into play as your tipping point between being stuck and movement forward?
Please comment below.

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How to Deal with Disturbing News Deepak Chopra

“When we turn a tragedy into an opportunity to contribute something positive to the world, we begin to offset the pain and start the healing process.”

Almost every day we are exposed to disturbing headlines. Many of the stories are gratuitous in nature – more gossip than “news.”

But in our post 9-11 world there are truly disturbing current events that can deeply impact our sense of inner peace and well-being.

I happened to see Dr. Deepak Chopra today on MSNBC addressing the terrible shooting in Tucson that resulted in a catastrophic injury to Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the deaths of several people including an innocent child.

I’d like to give you a link to the video of Dr. Chopra’s remarks but there doesn’t seem to be one available.  Instead I’ll summarize what I remember and add my own thoughts:

1. Become a neutral observer of your feelings…

Dr. Chopra says the highest level of human consciousness is the ability to witness oneself. Observe your fear, anger, or sadness.  Simply notice what you are feeling without trying to change it. This ability to take a step back in one’s own consciousness and observing your own feelings is the key to experiencing what Eckhart Tolle calls “the pain body” as separate from your core identity.  Yes, you have painful feelings, but your feelings are not who you are.  You are the field within which the feelings are arising. It also helps to “breathe through” the feelings.

2.  Remember a time you felt better…

Once you have allowed your negative feelings to just be there, gently turn your mind to a time when you felt a strong feeling of peace and well-being. It doesn’t have to be an important memory.  It could be as simple as thinking about how much you like the beach, or that certain Beatles song, or ice cream. Focus on feeling that good feeling as you connect to the memory.

Chopra says this human ability to remember and choose to connect to a different feeling is the second highest level of human consciousness. In my experience this is the most difficult part of the equation, but it is possible. The point isn’t to repress your bad feelings. It’s about allowing them to flow so that a better feeling can arise in the present moment. Small children are great at this – able to giggle after scraping a knee, even while their cheeks are damp with tears shed a moment before.  If you can manage to lift your own spirits, even for a moment,  you will create a cascade of brain chemicals that will not only make you feel better, it will create a state in which you will be able to think in much more constructive ways.

3. Try to find something positive in the negative situation…

Once you have calmed your mind and body by re-experiencing a more positive state, try to find something positive you can learn from the negative situation, no matter how small. Can you reframe the bad news as an example of “what-not-to-do?” Perhaps you can identify an opportunity for deeper understanding or forgiveness. Sometimes finding something positive within a tragedy is challenging, but do your best. At the very least, tragic news can help us remember to appreciate what’s really important in life.

4. Take positive action…

If the bad news is personal, positive action may involve making changes in your daily life or relationships. In the case of a community or national tragedy, you may feel called to serve in some way. When we turn a tragedy into an opportunity to contribute something positive to the world, we begin to offset the pain and start the healing process.

What are your thoughts?

After going through these four points Dr. Chopra pointed out that they are fundamentally about Being, Feeling, Thinking and Acting  – and in that order. Dr. Chopra also suggested filling cyberspace with peace by tweeting and posting messages of peace on Facebook as one kind of positive action. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but hearing him say that in his Indian accent made me want to roll my eyes. It seemed like frivolous New Age babble, especially in the shadow of people dying needlessly. Then I remembered my mission.

Even though I’m a strong advocate for the power of thought, like many people I’m easily seduced by the idea that negativity is more “realistic” than a positive thought about peace. But what if that’s the biggest lie of all?

What if Deepak Chopra’s invitation isn’t silly? What if you focusing your mind on peace – especially during stressful times – might be a powerful antidote to all the negative media messages you are exposed to everyday?

Behind every action, every feeling, and every word, there is a thought. What if millions of people focused their thoughts and words on peace, if only for a few minutes?  How powerful might that be?

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Barrie Davenport is a writer, mom, and career and life transition coach. She’s the author of The Bold Living Guide: 7 Key Ingredients for a Meaningful Life available through her blog, Live Bold and Bloom, and co-author of the Amazon bestseller Declutter Your Mind, How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking

Thought Medicine: Passion is a word that means different things to different people. What’s your personal working definition of “passion”?

Barrie: Passion is the place where one’s values, interests, skills, and joys intersect. Passion isn’t something that you discover “out there” somewhere. Discovering your passion involves thorough self-discovery of who you are and what motivates you, as well profound mind shifts. This work must be followed by specific actions to ignite and flame your passions. You might be passionate about writing for example, but if you aren’t regularly doing the work of writing, you aren’t living a passionate life.

Thought Medicine: How has passion made a difference in your life personally?

Barrie: It has changed me entirely. Doing what I love has profoundly impacted how I feel about myself and how I view the world. When you feel like your life is missing something and that you aren’t doing anything meaningful or fulfilling, everything is shaded with dull grey. Life feels like an endless series of tasks rather than a daring adventure. When you have energy, passion, and enthusiasm behind any aspect of your life, everything feels more vibrant and exciting. You wake up ready to seize the day rather than slog through it.

Thought Medicine: What are some of the methods you use to help your clients discover their own passion?

Barrie:  I ask the client to do a lot of self-discovery and clean-up work before they begin taking real steps toward their passion. Before we can discover and act upon what we are passionate about, we must really know ourselves. We need to know what motivates and inspires us, as well as what is limiting us and preventing growth.

I take the client through a process of learning about their personality type, their skills, values, joys and interests. They also begin to focus on a life purpose with some specific exercises for clarifying that, and they will create a vision and mission for their lives. A challenging part of the process is digging into limiting beliefs, blocks, and unresolved issues so that one can have a clean slate before launching on this exciting new life. I help the client synthesize all of this information so they can begin the action steps both for the “clean up” process and the passion discovery. This helps them create weekly actions for a full year. If they do the work, next year should look pretty bright!

“I ask the client to do a lot of self-discovery and clean-up work before they begin taking real steps toward their passion.”

Thought Medicine: Even when we are following our passion, we can hit a plateau. How do you keep motivated over time and deal with “burn out” if it should occur?

Barrie: Passions can evolve and change over time. Sometimes we have more than one passion, or we might feel really passionate about something for a time and then move on to something else. That’s why it’s useful to reevaluate where you are in life and how you can focus in on new or shifting areas of growth and interest.  Any time you begin to feel that restless, dissatisfied, or empty feeling about some aspect of your life, that is a signal to begin this work again.

Thought Medicine: How does changing the way they think support people in the process of finding and living their passion?

Barrie: As we both know, and I’m sure your readers know from the articles on your blog, the brain can be “trained” to support positive feeling. The more you practice positive thinking, gratitude, and affirmations, the more you are reinforcing a sense of well-being and happiness. (Read The Brain That Changes Itself  by Norman Doidge, MD for more info on the science behind this.) When you are actively focused first on seeking what you love and feel passionate about, and then taking real actions toward your passion, you are soaking your brain in “feel good” thoughts and actions. That’s why it is so important to resist limiting beliefs and negative thinking when you are doing this work. You are fighting against yourself when you do that.

Declutter Your Mind Barrie Davenport Steve S.J. Scott

Visit Barrie Davenport’s blog Live Bold and Bloom.

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