Intentions

[babs609]

Each month-I participate in running a brain injury/stroke support group. It's very fulfilling and I get such a level of satisfaction by helping these folks get together once a month to support each other, much like we do here. To some of them-this is their only social outing and they look forward to it. I learn so much from them; it's a very humbling experience.

Anyway....the point of this post is--tonight we have a guest speaker. A Neurologist. She's talking about non-conventional treatment for recovery from stroke. One is mediation, which I love. The other is intention therapy...which involves the brain telling the body part to move. Takes a long time. Baby steps. Maybe you can't get the whole arm to move but perhaps start with the thumb. Studies show it works. I believe it.

When I was 5 I had severe internal rotation of my feet. In laymans terms i was pigeon- toed. (For years i thought i was related to pigeons) I was teased horribly at school so my mom took me to the foot doctor. The remedy back then? Big huge ugly red shoes. I was teased by my peers even worse! I refused to wear those shoes after 1 day and decided I was going to learn to walk correctly on my own. I was determined. So for the next 2 weeks, I walked up and down my living room forcing my feet to walk straight. I practiced every day and I was always acutely aware of my gait and walked with intention. Guess what? I did it.

 

That got me thinking about the quit. NOPE, smoking is not an option, one day at a time, there is no such thing as one cigarette, I am a non smoker, non smokers don't smoke, non smokers have stress too.

All these sayings are done with intention. Way before you really even truly believe it. You just repeat , repeat, repeat until your brain finally catches on and it becomes automatic. The brain is a phenomenal organ. Used wisely--you really can accomplish anything.

 

So....Listen...repeat it...believe it.

 

:)

[...]

The mind is an amazing thing......

 

Did you know that if you smile (fake or not) that it stimulates certain triggers in your brain that will turn your mood around to being more cheerful and happy.  I'm not talking about jumping up and down happy, but just a serene happiness.  And the smile doesn't even have to be real.  The brain has no clue it's a fake smile.  It just has a job to do and it does it based on what you tell it to do. 

 

Also if you are petting your cat or dog, it lowers your blood pressure.  I think that's pretty cool too. 

 

I dont' think it works on hamsters though.

[Trish]

That's a great post Barb...thanks for sharing.  

[Lynn]

Babs, it is interesting that you post this.  My mother had a stroke after an open heart surgery when she was 35 years old. She was left with her right side paralyzed and unable to talk.  Through therapy she learned to somewhat walk again and talk again with some issues.  But, only because she worked at it and struggled daily is why she has made so much progress.  She does not have full use of her right hand now, but make due.  She looks at her hand as if telling her hand to do something, then her hand does it. It is like her mind is telling her hand what to do.  We do it so naturally and she works so hard at it.  

 

  I can see how that relates to not smoking.  You have to tell yourself you are not smoking today and that you are letting it go and moving on.

[MarylandQuitter]

All these sayings are done with intention. Way before you really even truly believe it. You just repeat , repeat, repeat until your brain finally catches on and it becomes automatic. The brain is a phenomenal organ. Used wisely--you really can accomplish anything.

 

So....Listen...repeat it...believe it.

 

:)

 

Agree 100,000,000 x 50.  Our mind is so powerful. 

[SueBeDoo]

Awh Barb thats soo sad about the little brats picking on you in school but well done for persevering and succeeding, power of the mind is a wonderful thing for sure x

[BAT]

Great post Barb.  :)

[Soozie]

thanks Barb, great post ... 

[Melody]

Love this and can be applied to so much in our lives. Thanks Babs!

[El Bandito]

Barb, Babs, Dave.....whatever your name is :P

 

Fantastic post - absolutely nailed it.

[babs609]

bumping

 

:)

[Humbled]

Great Post - the mind is the most amazing thing we have, it is a shame that most people only use the smallest fraction of it to get by in life.

Congrats on your childhood victory btw! 

[MarylandQuitter]

This is definitely a good one.

 

We rationalized smoking so well didn't we?  We knew it was ruining our health, would cripple and eventually kill us, yet we puffed away.  Gotta die from something right?  Yeah, right.  Although this is true, we're all going to die and we'll die from something but does it have to be 20-30 years early?

 

Rationalize your quit until you know the truth about smoking.  If we rationalized years of smoking knowing the how bad it was for us, why not rationalize quitting knowing how much good it's doing for us?

 

One thing we're all very good at is lying to ourselves.  It's innate and there is nothing we can do to change it.  We believe we're good drivers when we could be horrible drivers.  We think we have a really good sense of humor when in fact we may not (shut up, Ava :)), think we're good cooks and the list can go on and on.  My point is that we can do anything that we put our minds to and are capable of convincing ourselves of just about anything.  We convinced ourselves that smoking benefited us in some way when in fact it did not.  

 

Use those veteran rationalization skills that you've honed over most likely several years or decades and rationalize your quit and never take another puff.