We found this lovely note on our website from a very addicted ex-smoker. As an ex-smoker myself, who found it incredibly difficult to quit but finally did, I was especially gratified to read it.  And it speaks well to the point of readiness – most of the time, you need to be ready psychologically and emotionally ready (or scared to death) in order to succeed at this.

Just as the person who wrote in, I have been a chronic fatigue sufferer for eight long and lonely years.  This is not only distressing due to the chronic pain, exhaustion and interference with the ability to function normally on a daily basis.  It is also distressing because people don’t believe there is anything wrong with you and get impatient and angry. For years I had judgmental doctors who hated seeing me in the waiting room because they knew they could not help me and therefore blamed me for being sick, just like you wrote. I was told I was stressed and depressed.  That was definitely true, but this was because of my CFS, not what started it!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This is a typical letter-to-the-editor that shows up in the Martha’s Vineyard newspaper every week.  Usually there are several of these, and it’s always lovely to read them and be reminded that people can really be kind, empathic and anonymous:

Dear Belleruth, Health Journeys and friends,

I am a post-menopausal, 57-year-old woman from Iowa who long ago gave up the battle to achieve slimness.  My husband and I have always liked my healthy, robust, well-larded, corn-fed look, but I recently started having problems with my knees and back. 
 

My wife suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, which has left her with a loss of confidence in herself and a hesitation to go out the way we used to.  Our son recommended she work with a local yoga therapist and Reiki expert.  We had not heard of these techniques, but they have made a difference.  She looks forward to the sessions and feels energized by them. 

I believe it is because of these treatments that we are starting to visit art museums and galleries again – our great love for nearly 45 years.  We move a lot slower and plan more carefully, but we get there.  We both are extremely pleased to be doing a normal, pleasurable activity again. 

I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in August of 2002. At that time, I walked away from the institution that handed me the diagnosis, and went off to cure my cancer with all "alternative" treatments.

I studied herbalism, and made my own medicines. I received acupucture, polarity, massage, huna, and other forms of treatments. I changed the way I was eating, thinking, and drinking, as well as living my life.

This man reminds us that you don’t necessarily need the actual recording if you’ve listened to some relaxing imagery and it’s running in your head all by itself.  We read this account on a blog a few weeks ago, from someone who had an abdominal resection surgery for colon cancer.  Because he listened to his imagery in advance, in a nice receptive, trancey, altered state, he “owns” the imagery and can call it up at will.  Here are his words: 

We loved reading this blog entry on how this sassy, resourceful woman got pregnant (with twins) after 3 years of struggle.  It’s filled with attitude, excellent advice and smart pointers, laced with a nice, realistic dollop of hopefulness.  And she used guided imagery!  And Monica Morell’s Fertility Yoga!  How smart was that??  Here it is, in her own words:

Sunday, October 5, 2008
How I Got Pregnant
Okay, perhaps the whole IVF thing is a bit obvious. I subjected myself to an experimental drug study and paid a lot of money to produce four of the cutest embryos I've ever seen. Then I had two of those embryos catapulted into my happily waiting uterus and the rest is history.

This was posted on the “Christian CD” thread from a survivor of childhood abuse. We’re putting it here because of the way the writer speaks to a very unique and powerful capability of guided imagery (hypnosis, too)  – the way it functions like a depth charge, dropped below conscious thinking (and under the pesky radar of resistance and ambivalence ) where it can reverberate again and again, catalyzing a deep and system-wide kind of healing. The messages are pinging and working, even while you’re sleeping, shooting the breeze with a friend, thinking analytically at work, driving the kids to soccer practice… this is the gift that keeps on giving.  The writer of this note phrased his comments in such a way that they perfectly reflect this wonderful capacity.  Here it is: