I enjoy Jon Stewart’s witty way of making fun of the news. His observations are brilliant! A lot of people seem to assume that he’s simply a comedian with a liberal political stance, but usually people that make such assumptions don’t watch his show! Over the last few months, I’ve seen him (rightfully) criticize some of president Obama’s decisions. He also regularly makes fun of the ‘far-left wing’ of the democratic party.

Recently, while working with a very kind energy psychology practitioner, I realized that I had ‘buried’ a painful memory about my stay in the hospital after my accident. While I knew that my injury was severe, I did not know that I would never walk again. The person that delivered the news to me was a female doctor. Her bedside manners were not exactly compassionate. I clearly remember her telling me “you’re never going to walk again” in a very matter-of-fact tone of voice. As I began to cry, she simply looked away and left the room. It was as if I didn’t matter. I wasn’t expecting her to hold my hand and cry with me. A simple “I’m sorry” while making eye contact would have been greatly appreciated.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of showing compassion and empathy, especially in the medical community. We now know that how a patient perceives a situation has a direct effect on how the immune system responds and operates. We now know that the immune system is directly affected by our emotions. If this sounds too far-fetched, I recommend googling the word “biofeedback”.

Doctors and mental health professionals need to understand that the importance of a kind word should never be underestimated. I am in no way suggesting that doctors should lie to their patients in order to make them feel better. That would be unethical. It has nothing to do with lying; it’s all about compassion and empathy. It’s about putting themselves in the shoes of the patient, acknowledging their humanity and understanding their emotions.

I’m not suggesting that all, or even most, doctors are uncaring. I have met a lot of dedicated and caring doctors and nurses who go the extra mile for their patients. I honor their dedication.

I am a big believer in modern medicine and science, and I am very grateful for all the medical treatment that I have received, particularly after my accident. I don’t think I would have survived breaking my neck in a country that is not up-to-date with spinal cord related injuries. Therefore, I have a lot to be grateful for.

I have come to understand that most of the problems we face as adults, be it procrastination, phobias, bad habits, addictions, etc, are rooted in childhood traumas. It makes sense considering that the ‘programming’ that we receive as children determine the kind of adults we will become. For instance, a woman who as a child was frequently told that she couldn’t do anything right, will most likely grow up to be a procrastinator; a man who as a child was told that it was not ok for him to show emotion because it was not “manly”, will most likely grow up to be an angry adult who has a hard time showing emotion.

After each EFT session with Cara, I am becoming more and more convinced that most (if not all) of my current “issues” are deeply rooted in my childhood… It makes me sad to think how quick we are sometimes to judge children– ‘you’re lazy’, ‘you should be ashamed of yourself’, ‘boys don’t cry’, etc. I once read that it should be considered a crime to verbally abuse a child; I couldn’t agree more.

Over the last 2 years, I’ve been receiving emails from kind, well-meaning people who often encourage me to write a book to share my story. I have to confess that such a suggestion always makes me cringe… While I do give myself credit for overcoming chronic back pain and severe depression by applying EFT without any professional assistance, I always knew that I still had a long way to go– but I didn’t know how much emotional baggage I was still carrying until I began working with Cara. We’ve been working on several issues that I hadn’t been able to address on my own. I now understand how important it is to get professional help to deal with severe trauma. Having said that, I also understand that it’s an extra investment that some people simply cannot afford to make, and not everyone is going to be fortunate enough to find an angel like Cara who’s willing to donate her time to assist someone in desperate need of help.

The biggest difference I’ve noticed so far is that I no longer become overwhelmed when I’m faced with a challenging situation. I’ve had a couple of VERY challenging weeks, and I was surprised by how much better I have become at handling stressful situations. Of course I still get mad, frustrated, scared, etc, but again, it’s no longer overwhelming.

1)Prosperity: Being a quadriplegic on disability, I have to admit that I find it very hard to develop what the experts call “a prosperity consciousness”, especially considering that if I wanted to get a job (which I do!) I’m only allowed to work a certain amount of hours, and make a very limited amount of money; otherwise I would lose my benefits, and I would have to start paying my caretakers out of pocket. How can one feel “prosperous” under such conditions? I’m sure it’s possible, but it’s incredibly difficult. I would love to be as spiritually advanced as some of the people I admire so that I can answer my own questions…

2)Insomnia: When I was bedridden with chronic pain, I had no problems falling asleep. The combination of the pain medications and anti-depressants made me groggy, so I slept a lot (of course, it wasn’t good quality sleep, the pain used to wake me up several times each night). However, now that I am pain-free, sometimes I have a hard time falling and staying asleep! My friend Rose Mary says that the reason why I can’t fall asleep is because I pay too much attention to “the voice in my head”, she often suggests that I embrace my racing mind and simply observe it and release it instead of resisting it. And I say “yeah OK, Eckhart Tolle” All kidding aside, I know she’s right, but it’s one thing to know something on a cognitive level, and a completely different thing to experience it.

[Deep breath]

After several sleepless nights, I have come up with an idea to make a difference in other people’s lives (without negatively affecting mine in the process). As I’ve mentioned on my homepage, I have enormously benefited from an energy medicine technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). I probably would not have made it had I not come across EFT when I was about to throw in the towel. I was bedridden with chronic pain, deeply depressed and slipping into a semi-comatose state. EFT gave me back my life. Therefore, I think it’s my moral obligation to make it available to as many people as possible. I will not ask anyone to believe anything, I want them to try it for themselves. When I was first introduced to EFT, I actually thought that it sounded ridiculous, so who am I to tell people to believe in something that even I didn’t believe in at first? I just want people to try it and if it benefits them, I would like them to pass it on.

I strongly believe that there is a place for every form of healing. I am very grateful for both modern/traditional medicine and energy medicine.

This is what I will do: I am legally allowed to make up to 100 copies of each DVD bought at the EFT store. So, I have decided to create EFT Kits which will consist of the EFT Manual plus 2 or 3 DVDs to give them away for FREE to people in need. Since I don’t have the finances to create thousands of free EFT Kits to address every medical issue, I will start with Kits specifically designed to help people suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). It’s heart-breaking to see how many veterans are coming home from Iraq with such a debilitating condition…

How am I going to finance this little project? Well, I’ve managed to convince my mom to pay for all the material that I will be needing with proceeds from her small online business. If I see a growing need for more EFT Kits, I have no idea what I’ll do, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something. The ‘how’ will take care of itself.

I am confident that I will have this project up and running within the next two weeks.

While this is a truly historic moment for all of us, it is especially meaningful for African Americans. I was watching CNN a couple of days after the election, and I saw a young African American boy speaking about his hopes for the future. He was in awe, he truly believed that anything was indeed possible now. He couldn’t finish his sentence, it was as though that realization had just hit him at that very moment, and he began sobbing. I cried along with him.

I’ve been on this journey for almost two years now, and while I’ve made a lot of progress, I realize that I still have a long way to go. Some negative beliefs are easier to release than others; for instance I now find it amusing that I used to blame myself for what other people did (or didn’t do). I can hardly believe that I used to hold myself responsible for other people’s actions. That negative belief was relatively easy to deal with and get rid of. However, there are others that seem to be much harder to release. For instance I know on a conscious level that worrying is pretty much a prayer for what I don’t want, but I’m having a very hard time getting rid of this habit that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. My mother firmly believes that worrying is the “responsible” thing to do, so she instilled this belief in me from a very early age; and at the age of 37 I’m still struggling to free myself from it.