It was a beautiful Spring morning a few short years ago when a new patient visited me for a consultation. She was an outstanding example of a woman who seemingly had everything that dreams are made of. Married to a handsome attorney, mother of a precious young daughter, and living in a luxurious home in a prestigious suburb known as the Beverly Hills of the East.
Let's call her Terry... with the physical attributes mirroring the glamour of Hollywood's Bo Derek, or Linda Evans. And yet, there she was sobbing almost uncontrollably because of what she perceived to be a threatening personal life tragedy.
Terry seemed beyond consolation. She had lost all perspective of what was really vital in her world... or how she would ever find peace again. I quietly asked her what the most important thing in her life was. She mumbled some expected answers.
"No Terry, it's not your husband, or daughter, or your home or family, in fact, it's not even your health." She became sufficiently intrigued to give me her full attention.
I went to where she was sitting and asked if she would place her hand over her mouth.
Then I firmly placed my hand over hers, and also gently pinched her nos-trils closed.
Though she trusted me, after a few seconds she turned her eyes upward questioningly as the restricted passageways were beginning to cause her obvious discomfort. When she started to anxiously squirm through lack of oxygen, I casually asked again, "what is the most important thing in your life?"
As I released our hands from her face she gasped for air and blurted out, "my breath?"
"Yes Terry, your next breath without which nothing else in the world matters." By the time the session ended, Terry learned that the priorities of life begin with life itself.
As long as you're alive, you can survive!
Through the rest of the session she began to realize that fear is the same as a negative prayer. Yet it's gripping power can be redirected by absolute trust in positive expectations.
Terry understood that each breath is a gift of Life. It's like a refreshing Spring morning that invites us to advance forward by using our energized minds to gratefully seek and receive the ever-ready remedy for whatever problems we may face.
I recommended that she try a simple, effective breathing exercise... preferably while lying on her back...
- Take in a deep breath through your nose imagining it to fill the lungs fully from the bottom up during a four second count...
- Then hold it for seven seconds... and
- Then exhale through the mouth for eight seconds, all the while visualizing pleasant scenes of your life being as perfect as your wishes.
Repeat this breathing five times. As you become comfortable with the calming process, you will enjoy the blissful peace and inspired thoughts that will fulfill you. This exercise can be done whenever the need arises, and is particularly relaxing when you are in bed retiring for the evening.
I was comfortable in knowing that we made great strides forward when she smiled with a look of relief and gratitude for revelations that would surely restore her lifestyle from that day on.
I hugged Terry goodbye (as I do all my conferees), and was pleased when she joyously contacted me three weeks later to report that her problem was resolved, and surprisingly in a manner she could never have imagined. Her call further affirmed my own invincible trust in the Spirit that always grants an abundance of perfect resolutions when we remember to breathe easy with great expectations.
I'm sharing this true story with you because in our new world of hedonistic humanism, moral muddling and plundering politics, you may welcome a nudge of encouragement to accept that you possess the peaceful power of surmounting even the most difficult of challenges. It's the Law of God-intended Consequences.
Empower yourself with the absolute affirmation of your successful survival. Thrill at the prospect of it in the prayerful silence of your next breath.
And, oh yes, consider yourself hugged.
