Deep in the Heart of Dixie
2002 Boaz Rauchwerger
I'm very lucky in the fact that I get to conduct seminars with incredible people who find my events to be, in many cases, life changing. Dixie and Robert turned the tables on me the other day. They touched my heart in a most magical way.
Many of my audience members experience life from a certain vantage point and, when I point them in a different direction, they suddenly see how miraculous positive changes can occur in an instant.
Here's where Dixie comes in. She, and her husband Robert, both in their 70's, attended one of my recent seminars. Robert had built a successful business, which he ran for many years. Now in retirement, he was told he was suffering from dementia following a brain aneurysm. He had undergone surgery and was having some challenges with his memory.
We have to be careful in life when people put labels on certain medical conditions. The trap lies in the fact that we can take that label to an extreme and look for evidence that justifies the condition. A little bit of evidence grows into a mountain of evidence and we get worse much quicker.
Dixie, while making every loving effort to help her husband, had reached a point of mental exhaustion and was physically feeling ill for a number of months. When I asked her at the seminar how she felt, her answer was simple: "I don't feel good every day."
I asked her, as I always do when people declare something that creates a roadblock in their own way, "Is that what you want?" She said, "Of course, not." So, I suggested she turn that thought around and declare what she really wanted. The new thought was, "I feel good every day." I had her say that phrase out loud in front of everyone. At first she was very timid when she said it.
I asked her to say it again, with more conviction. She did. And then it happened. The next declaration came right out of her heart, through her soul and out into the universe. With great conviction, and a whole new excited look on her face, Dixie declared BOLDLY, "I FEEL GOOD EVERY DAY."
The entire audience was stunned. It was as if we had seen an instant transformation. A timid, tired woman suddenly turned into a bright, cheerful, outgoing, confident woman. A slight turnaround in words had turned a major corner for Dixie.
Now it was Robert's turn. He wanted to improve his self-esteem because he was having problems remembering things. I decided to treat him as if he were perfectly normal. There was no dementia present for me. He was just a nice gentleman with a warm smile. I told him that he had a great memory and I was going to prove it to him.
Using a process of mental pictures, I painted the following scenario for Robert. I asked him to pretend that I was going to coach him for the next five mornings by calling him at precisely 6:19 each morning. He and I were going to speak for one hour and four minutes. We would get off the phone at precisely 7:23. We would discuss only 3 issues each day. I am known, to many people, as an agent for change, with the code name 007.
I gave all this information to Robert and asked him to repeat the key numbers several times. I asked, "What time am I waking you up? We will talk until what time? We will discuss how many items? What is my agent for change code number?" With just a little hesitation, Robert answered the questions several times correctly.
He proved to everyone present that he still has a good memory. Within minutes he had memorized my phone number -- 619-723-3007. The entire audience burst into applause. Dixie later told me that, in the span of a few minutes, I had made more progress with Robert than his neurologists had been able to accomplish in a long time.
Dixie re-declared that she felt good every day. This time with more conviction, more determination and more pride than I can even explain. Apparently it was always there - deep in the heart of Dixie. I imagine that no one who was present will ever forget the experience.
Dixie's Affirmation
Since the body reacts to thoughts, be careful how you think and talk about your health. I suggest you read Dixie's affirmation the first thing each morning and the last thing each night.
I feel good every day.
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