I spent two days with my nearly-five-year-old grandson, Henry. A wonderful experience as meeting has been so difficult over the past couple of years.
We went on an adventure to discover aliens. Yes, that’s right, we were looking for aliens! Henry had seen one go past our kitchen window (we were in a holiday cabin) and informed me that he is “an expert on aliens so I was lucky to be with him”.
He was right. We found alien habitat, a landing strip, alien marks on trees and other very definite signs of alien visitation.
Does this have anything to do with Parkinson’s disease and wellness? Yes it does.
The imagination of a five-year-old is magical. There was no doubt in Henry’s mind that what we saw were true signs of aliens. He did not only believe it, but he knew it.
What if we, when working through our journey from Parkinson’s to wellness, spend some time every day imagining what it is like to be completely well? What if we really focus and KNOW that we are well for those few moments?
What effect will that have on our body?
This sort of imagination, or visualisation, reduces our production of stress chemicals (like cortisol and adrenaline) while INCREASING production of dopamine, serotonin and anandamide. That state of peacefulness and more balanced production of neurotransmitters can last for anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours after we move on with our day.
Visualisation/imagination has been a powerful tool for wellness for thousands of years, yet we neglect it in our modern age of fancy medications and intricate surgery.
Spending time every day imagining ourselves completely well can reduce our reliance on medication and supplements, improve our quality of life and speed our recovery.
Adopt the wisdom of a five-year-old and imagine your healthy self every day to create that reality over time. It’s fun, it works!
