I have a confession to make: For a long time after getting ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I believed that regaining my happiness and health was impossible.
This suddenly changed, almost to the day three years ago. To inspire you to make 2013 the year in which you regain your happiness, and much of your health, I want to share with you what this pivotal moment was like.
As a 21-year-old, disabled man on January 1st in 2009, I was still desperately sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME). There were many things I couldn’t do because of CFS. For example, I couldn’t exercise because exercising exacerbated my fatigue and exhaustion and I was unable to work because working worsened my physical symptoms.
To make matters worse, my mind was as devastated as my body. All I could think about was I was sick. My mind was occupied with thoughts about my digestion, my body, and even my thoughts not working. In short, I felt ill inside and out.
At the beginning of 2009, I tried a video-based DVD program called the Advanced Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Recovery Program by Ashok Gupta. At the time I was very skeptical of mind/body approaches for improving Chronic Fatigue Syndrome—after all it is a physical condition.
My skepticism got dented, however, by a first-hand experience report about the CFS and Fibromyalgia Recovery Program written by Cort Johnson, a trusted reporter in the CFS community. Still, I believed so little in mind/body approaches that the only reason I bought the program was a 100% money-back guarantee. It stated that I would get my money back if I tried the program for six months and wasn’t satisfied with my results. What did I have to lose!
How did the CFS Recovery Program make a difference?
In the first session of the twelve-session DVD program, Ashok asked me to make a one-hundred percent commitment to practicing the exercises in the program for at least six months. I was happy to commit because I knew that my health and happiness, if not my life, depended on it. I committed to the program like I had never committed myself to anything before. I followed the instructions just as Ashok, creator of the program, had asked me to do.
Surprisingly, it worked!
A few days after starting the CFS Recovery Program, I had just gone upstairs to rest after a harmonious dinner with my family. It was while lying on my bed that it came over me; a tingly feeling sneaked up on me. It came through the crack under the door, mixed in with the voices of my family whom I love so much.
One of my visualizations while engaging in the Recovery Program, feeling light, healthy, and energized.
This was the moment happiness returned into my life. Not just a “my-life-is-bearable- this-way” happiness—no!—real happiness. It came about me lightly and effortlessly. The kind of happiness that I had longed for for so long; no-worries-life-is-beautiful happiness.
It felt like the energy of the cells in my body had shifted. I’m usually not an esoteric person, but I don’t have better words to describe it.
All of the negativity, brought into my life through Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, was cleared out by engaging in the exercises of the Advanced CFS and Fibromyalgia Recovery Program. It got cleared out like pouring the sand out of a piano that had been clogged, and was now empty again, a beautiful spacious sounding body, ready to resonate, reflect, and amplify the vibrations of happiness that had been around me all along.
And how I resonated! All it took was hearing some good news about someone in my family. This good news was like somebody playing the piano, and my body, clear and spacious, resonated and amplified what was beautiful about it. Happiness resounded in every cell of my body. In this moment, for the first time in years, I was happiness!
Aside from all its other benefits, this happiness also provided the foundation for my physical healing journey. With these good vibes, I entered what I now to refer to as the healing zone, a state of relaxed, stress-free well-being which allowed me to improve my overall level of health slowly but dramatically over time.
Today, I’m well. In fact, I feel generally healthier, happier, and more energized, than I did before I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Will you regain your happiness (and possibly your health) in 2013?
As with everything I write, sharing my recovery journey has a specific purpose. I want to inspire you to try the Advanced CFS and Fibromyalgia Recovery Program. I believe the program would be worth a try (remember the money back guarantee) even if it only helped you to take an initial step toward recovery. I recommend the program from the bottom of my heart. You can get the first three sessions FREE by following this link.
Since my recovery, I’ve become a professionally trained Life Coach Fatigue Therapist and am affiliated with the Amygdala Retraining Program, which I use with most of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome clients. My being affiliated means that I might be biased toward the program. I promise, however, that I’ve written this blog post how I would have talked to my younger brother or any other family member about the program–with complete honesty and a deep desire to help.
Is the amygdala retraining program for CFS available in written form? I have cognitive problems sitting by the computer or listening to audiobooks/mp3s and reading would be better for me.
Except for one chapter, yes. The DVD program comes together with a book that presents the same content that is presented on the DVD. The only exception is chapter four, which comes in DVD format only, as it gives visual guidance on how to practice the main technique of the program.
Hope this helps, Emma. Good luck!
That’s amazing Johannes…a moment of realization like that…..I think the ‘no worries’ aspect is crucial and the ability to enter into a kind of healing zone….I don’t know why we respond so poorly to stress or are so stressed out regardless but it certainly is a key feature for me. I definitely found some benefits from Ashok’s and other program but I never had a moment like that…there’s still hope though…Maybe it will just take me longer. :).. Congratulations…