Do not forget to take your two minutes out of the busy day to be thankful for all that you have had and think positive for all that you will have. Just breathe... Do not stress the things you cannot change, you should rather embrace them. The saying goes..."Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't...you're right!" You are your own limitation. Free yourself from bondage and appreciate all that you are. No one can love you unless you love yourself first. Take at least two minutes to free yourself. Only then will you realize how easy it is to be...happy.

Alana Goldstein for Newsweek

Author Kim Lute
MY TURN

The Picture of Health

Conventionally speaking, I'm unhealthy. But perhaps it's time we redefined the word.

By Kim Lute | NEWSWEEK

Published Nov 22, 2008

From the magazine issue dated Dec 1, 2008

 

 

 

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On a recent Monday morning, I underwent a routine liver biopsy. I changed into one of those awful hospital gowns, signed away a slew of legal rights should anything go amiss, withstood an IV-line placement and arranged myself into the proscribed position: lying on my back, my right arm high above my head.

Over the years, I've become inured to hospitals, needles, ambulance rides and promises of doom and gloom. Twenty years ago, when I was 15, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. At 22, I underwent a liver transplant. By 24 I had developed ulcerative colitis and two years later I had my large intestine removed. These two early diseases then begat a third: primary sclerosing cholangitis. PSC, a liver disease, prompted a second liver transplant when I was 28.

But I don't feel put upon or see myself as some sort of "other," representing all that can go wrong. In fact, I've come to think of myself as the picture of health. Is this delusional? Perhaps. But I don't believe I'm the sum total of every unfortunate medical crisis I've ever come up against. Yes, there have been diagnoses that have complicated my young life, but where there's been disease there has also been triumph.

When I explained this to the nurse assisting with the biopsy, after he referred to me as very unhealthy, he balked at the idea. I guess I could understand his hesitation. Maybe I'd had brief, healthy intervals, but did I really consider myself healthy? What healthy person knows to ask for a less painful butterfly needle, and instinctively knows that in order "to get a good vein" for a blood draw, it's best to dangle your arms over the side of the chair? Besides, if I were the picture of health, I wouldn't be on a first-name basis with many of the emergency-room valets. Yet, it's precisely because of my experiences and routines that I think I'm healthy.

It's too elemental to define being healthy as merely the absence of illness, frailties and failings, the chance to count yourself among those who have never been on the receiving end of a frightening diagnosis. Maybe a healthy person is someone who's in constant pursuit of it, someone who's lost it and fought hard to regain it, someone who appreciates that being healthy isn't merely an abstract state of being to which some are blessed and others are deprived. Under this premise I'm fit, hard fought and hard won.

I cannot help that doctors will always see me in terms relative to a set of finite radiology or pathology reports, or that neighbors will always refer to me as L.J. and Deborah's daughter, the wan one, or even that most others will see me in terms of where one surgical scar ends and another begins. This is not all that I am. I see a body that heals quickly after trauma, one that mercifully forgets the pain of biopsies, surgeries and colonoscopies, one that remembers its strengths. When I'm in the throes of a spinal tap, or when friends and family are present for the insertion of a second or third urine catheter, this confidence admittedly wanes. But it doesn't stay gone for long.

Perhaps it's time to redefine what it means to be healthy. In an era of great medical advances when doctors have the ability to diagnose once unidentifiable ailments and when genetic testing is becoming more acceptable, maybe the definition of what is and isn't healthy needs to be amended. Are you healthy if you can jog a mile? Are you considered well if your body has been put to some dire test from which you have emerged victorious? And how do you classify those of us who face numerous tests, but still jog two miles a day, work full time and lead otherwise "normal" lives?

I visit the doctor's office monthly, sometimes weekly. For me, annual doctor's exams are a quaint notion akin to 5 o'clock Sunday dinners. My health is monitored by a team of specialists always striving to improve upon the last set of results. Bone-density tests are scheduled between social events. Professional obligations yield to doctor's appointments, CT scans and X-rays. On any given day I can recite my most recent cholesterol, creatinine and potassium levels.

I understand many will not see me as healthy, that they'll continue to punctuate every inquiry with condolences. I'm not even sure how best to redefine the concept of what is and isn't healthy, but I hope any such definition will underscore that the presence of illness isn't nearly as important as one's ability to overcome it.

Lute lives in Atlanta.

2008

 

Comments

 

Posted By: mlobrien18 @ 12/01/2008 5:01:55 PM

Comment: Kim--Your article could not have come at a better time. Having been diagnosed with auto-immune hepatitis in 1992, I was considered 'healthy' until I was diagnosed with auto-immune. I still FEEL healthy--my levels are great, I can still do everything that I want but have been label. I am now pregnant but doctors are worried about two ovarian cysts. Frustration and pregnancy hormones lead to an emotional eruption last week. You have reminded me that things will get better it you trust in the ones that you are comfortable wtih, as I am sure you are with your doctors. A healthy state of mind puts everything else into prospective!!!! Thank you for the reminder.

Posted By: Elder George @ 11/30/2008 9:58:53 PM

Comment: Hi Kim,

Your positive spirit in the midst of pain and hardship are admirable and inspirational.

It???s not easy to put a positive spin on a negative or at least un-natural situation; it requires tremendous courage and will.

I am making a suggestion you might try for further progress. Do not consider your ailments as permanent. Know that the physical world is a function of the unseen world, and that your mind has power over your body. Focus on the level of health that you desire, and the way to attain it will come to you. Be sure of it.

The help might come to you from areas you not only have never investigated but that you now do not even know the existence of.

Elder George

Posted By: LadyStardust89 @ 11/27/2008 12:22:52 PM

Comment: Dear Kim,
Words cannot express my gratitude for your article... These words mean too much for me. I have been chronically ill since birth. But despite knowing everyone in my hospital,the endless amount of painful medical procedures... and trying to battle the fight of mind vs body.. and despite being 19 I am unable to experience the same things people my age have. You have brought the views of millions with a chronic illness to the other millions who don't. Thank you so much for showing the world that we do consider ourselves "normal" we do not pity ourselves and live to the best of our ability, your put your story in an amazingly elegant way. Thank you once again!

Posted By: mroeb @ 11/27/2008 9:13:46 AM

Comment: Kim did a great job of putting into words the way I found myself reacting to my Stage 3 Cancer diagnosis and treatment nearly two years ago. I was ayoung woman and had been healthy my whole life but was shocked at how fast that health could fade away. Today I'm healed and extremely grateful for a resilient, healthy body. There are a lot of us out there who may be sick but won't be defined by our illnesses. And we'll recover, too!

Posted By: ebahne @ 11/26/2008 1:22:36 PM

Comment: Thank you for sharing your story. It resonated with me. I am home recovery this week from my second procedure for reconstruction related to a unilateral mastectomy from a breast cancer diagnosis last May. I am 33, cancer free, young, and I feel strong and healthy. I almost went surfing for the first time the week before my surgery before deciding better of it. I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be healthy this week as I fill out applications and feel defined by my diagnosis. I will never again be without medical insurance. I will always have "a preexisting condition". I will have to think twice before racing off to travel the world or leaving my job. However, I am more than my medical history. Thanks for giving a voice to those thoughts.

Posted By: ShanaCat @ 11/26/2008 11:49:55 AM

Comment: Thank you for sharing. Stories like yours highlight the life giving gift that almost any of us can give through donating blood, bone marrow, or our organs. It takes very very little to give someone a whole new chance at life.

Posted By: Ilyac @ 11/25/2008 12:09:16 AM

Comment: Thank you for sharing your life???s story. It is an inspiration. I know, I can relate. I have the same disease, but it unraveled in opposite order. First, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis at age 15, then at 35 I had colon cancer, then after successful surgery and only rectum left, I was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, PSC. Then year ego I had to remove rectum. In spite of all this or maybe because of all the strength I had to gather, I never stopped living, I was able to immigrate to United states, have family, children, job I like. And I never forget to be thankful for every day I am alive.

Posted By: neelma @ 11/23/2008 3:38:31 AM

Comment: Extremely well-written, and spot on. The last paragraph reminded me of my own mother, who has miraculously survived a Whipple procedure for pancreatic cancer. Her robust recovery is a testament to her faith and my dad's faith in the doctors and their services, as well as taking things in stride, one day at a time. It pays to be an educated patient. Not only does it make medical ordeals less traumatic, it ensures a healthier approach to life afterwards.

 

100 Quotes from The Secret

 

    1. We all work with one infinite power

    2. The Secret is the Law of Attraction (LOA)

    3. Whatever is going on in your mind is what you are attracting

    4. We are like magnets - like attract like. You become AND attract what you think

    5. Every thought has a frequency. Thoughts send out a magnetic energy

    6. People think about what they don't want and attract more of the same

    7. Thought = creation. If these thoughts are attached to powerful emotions (good or bad) that speeds the creation

    8. You attract your dominant thoughts

    9. Those who speak most of illness have illness, those who speak most of prosperity have it..etc..

    10. It's not "wishful" thinking.

    11. You can't have a universe without the mind entering into it

    12. Choose your thoughts carefully .. you are a masterpiece of your life

    13. It's OK that thoughts don't manifest into reality immediately (if we saw a picture of an elephant and it instantly appeared, that would be too soon)

    14. EVERYTHING in your life you have attracted .. accept that fact .. it's true.

    15. Your thoughts cause your feelings

    16. We don't need to complicate all the "reasons" behind our emotions. It's much simpler than that. Two categories .. good feelings, bad feelings.

    17. Thoughts that bring about good feelings mean you are on the right track. Thoughts that bring about bad feelings means you are not on the right track.

    18. Whatever it is you are feeling is a perfect reflection of what is in the process of becoming

    19. You get exactly what you are FEELING

    20. Happy feelings will attract more happy circumstances

    21. You can begin feeling whatever you want (even if it's not there).. the universe will correspond to the nature of your song

    22. What you focus on with your thought and feeling is what you attract into your experience

    23. What you think and what you feel and what actually manifests is ALWAYS a match - no exception

    24. Shift your awareness

    25. "You create your own universe as you go along" Winston Churchill

    26. It's important to feel good

    27. You can change your emotion immediately .. by thinking of something joyful, or singing a song, or remembering a happy experience

    28. When you get the hang of this, before you know it you will KNOW you are the creator

    29. Life can and should be phenomenal .. and it will be when you consciously apply the Law of Attraction

    30. Universe will re-arrange itself accordingly

    31. Start by using this sentence for all of your wants: "I'm so happy and grateful now that.... "

    32. You don't need to know HOW the universe is going to rearrange itself

    33. LOA is simply figuring out for yourself what will generate the positive feelings of having it NOW

    34. You might get an inspired thought or idea to help you move towards what you want faster

    35. The universe likes SPEED. Don't delay, don't second-guess, don't doubt..

    36. When the opportunity or impulse is there .. ACT

    37. You will attract everything you require - money, people, connections.. PAY ATTENTION to what's being set in front of you

    38. You can start with nothing .. and out of nothing or no way - a WAY will be provided.

    39. HOW LONG??? No rules on time .. the more aligned you are with positive feelings the quicker things happen

    40. Size is nothing to the universe (unlimited abundance if that's what you wish) We make the rules on size and time

    41. No rules according to the universe .. you provide the feelings of having it now and the universe will respond

    42. Most people offer the majority of their thought in response to what they are observing (bills in the mail, being late, having bad
luck...etc..)

    43. You have to find a different approach to what is through a different vantage point

    44. "All that we are is a result of what we have thought" - Buddha

    45. What can you do right now to turn your life around?? Gratitude

    46. Gratitude will bring more into our lives immediately

    47. What we think about and THANK about is what we bring about

    48. What are the things you are grateful for?? Feel the gratitude.. focus on what you have right now that you are grateful for

    49. Play the picture in your mind - focus on the end result

    50. VISUALIZE!!! Rehearse your future

    51. VISUALIZE!!! See it, feel it! This is where action begins

    52. Feel the joy .. feel the happiness

    53. An affirmative thought is 100 times more powerful than a negative one

    54. "What this power is, I cannot say. All I know is that it exists." Alexander Graham Bell

    55. Our job is not to worry about the "How". The "How" will show up out of the commitment and belief in the "what"

    56. The How's are the domain of the universe. It always knows the quickest, fastest, most harmonious way between you and your dream

    57. If you turn it over to the universe, you will be surprised and dazzled by what is delivered .. this is where magic and miracles happen

    58. Turn it over to the universe daily.. but it should never be a chore.

    59. Feel exhilarated by the whole process .. high, happy, in tune

    60. The only difference between people who are really living this way is they have habituated ways of being.

    61. They remember to do it all the time

    62. Create a Vision Board .. pictures of what you want to attract ..

every day look at it and get into the feeling state of already having acquired these wants

    63. "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions." Albert Einstein

    64. Decide what you want .. believe you can have it, believe you deserve it, believe it's possible for you

    65. Close your eyes and visualize having what you already want - and the feeling of having it already.

    66. Focus on being grateful for what you have already .. enjoy it!!
Then release into the universe. The universe will manifest it.

    67. "Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve" W.
Clement Stone

    68. Set a goal so big that if you achieved it, it would blow your mind.

    69. When you have an inspired thought, you must trust it and act on it.

    70. How can you become more prosperous?? INTEND IT!!

    71. 'Checks are coming in the mail regularly'... or change your bank statement to whatever balance you want in there... and get behind the feeling of having it.

    72. Life is meant to be abundant in ALL areas...

    73. Go for the sense of inner joy and peace then all outside things appear

    74. We are the creators of our universe

    75. Relationships: Treat yourself the way you want to be treated by others .. love yourself and you will be loved

    76. Healthy respect for yourself

    77. For those you work with or interact with regularly .. get a notebook and write down positive aspects of each of those people.

    78. Write down the things you like most about them (don't expect change from them). Law of attraction will not put you in the same space together if you frequencies don't match

    79. When you realize your potential to feel good, you will ask no one to be different in order for you to feel good.

    80. You will free yourself from the cumbersome impossibilities of needing to control the world, your friends, your mate, your children....

    81. You are the only one that creates your reality

    82. No one else can think or feel for you .. its YOU .. ONLY YOU.

    83. Health: thank the universe for your own healing. Laugh, stress free happiness will keep you healthy.

    84. Immune system will heal itself

    85. Parts of our bodies are replace every day, every week..etc...Within a few years we have a brand new body

    86. See yourself living in a new body. Hopeful = recovery. Happy = happier biochemistry. Stress degrades the body.

    87. Remove stress from the body and the body regenerates itself. You can heal yourself

    88. Learn to become still .. and take your attention away from what you don't want, and place your attention on what you wish to experience

    89. When the voice and vision on the inside become more profound and clear than the opinions on the outside, then you have mastered your life

    90. You are not here to try to get the world to be just as you want it. You are here to create the world around you that you choose.

    91. And allow the world as others choose to see it, exist as well

    92. People think that if everyone knows the power of the LOA there won't be enough to go around .. This is a lie that's been ingrained in us and makes so many greedy.

    93. The truth is there is more than enough love, creative ideas, power, joy, happiness to go around.

    94. All of this abundance begins to shine through a mind that is aware of it's own infinite nature. There's enough for everyone. See it. Believe it. it will show up for you.

    95. So let the variety of your reality thrill you as you choose all the things you want.. get behind the good feelings of all your wants.

    96. Write your script. When you see things you don't want, don't think about them, write about them, talk about them, push against them, or join groups that focus on the don't wants... remove your attention from don't wants.. and place them on do wants

    97. We are mass energy. Everything is energy. EVERYTHING.

    98. Don't define yourself by your body .. it's the infinite being that's connected to everything in the universe.

    99. One energy field. Our bodies have distracted us from our energy. We are the infinite field of unfolding possibilities. The creative force.

    100. Are your thoughts worthy of you? If not - NOW is the time to change them. You can begin right were you are right now. Nothing matters but this moment and what you are focusing your attention on.