One of the secrets of a successful and fulfilling life is listening to the right voice. The right voice is supportive, kind, and compassionate. The right voice inspires hope, self-confidence, and feelings of safety. When we are listening to the right voice we feel strengthened and we want to move forward. The wrong voice has the opposite effect. When we listen to it and take in its message, we feel fearful, weakened, limited, and hopeless. The right voice opens doors and the wrong voice shuts them.
The characters from the Wizard of Oz are good examples of this. The Good Witch of the North, Glinda, greeted Dorothy with a welcoming smile and immediately won Dorothy’s trust. Glinda told Dorothy that the Ruby Red shoes would safely guide her on the Yellow Brick Road to the Wizard’s castle. Glinda leaned over and kissed Dorothy on the forehead and said, “No one will dare harm a person who has been kissed by the Good Witch of the North.”
How many of us had a parent or authority figure create this kind of safety for us when we were young? How many of us had someone in our life that made us feel inspired and self-confident just by the wisdom and comfort of their voice?
The Wicked Witch of the West repelled and terrified Dorothy with her threatening voice and manner. She was intent on taking her Ruby Red shoes away so she could become more powerful. People use their power in different ways. Some people use their power to intimidate others. Some people use their power to gain more power and thus more control. Some people use their power to help others in need and to extend a hand. Some people use their power to inspire others to achieve great things.
A woman, who was a registered nurse, volunteered at one of my workshops to work with me in front of the group. She was overwhelmed with the recent news that she would need to have dental surgery again. She was born with a genetic condition adversely affecting the bone structure in her jaw. As a result, she had over a dozen serious jaw and dental surgeries since the time she was a girl. The surgeries were always painful with lots of swelling and bleeding. Each dental procedure got worse and each recovery period got longer and more arduous. She wanted to believe that using her mind, imagination, and positive imagery would result in her having a pain-free and complication-free surgical experience. Her memories and accompanying voice were saying one thing and the part of her that was hopeful was saying something quite different.
I told her about research studies all over the world which confirmed that placebo pills had the same result as the real drugs and cited many studies that showed successful uses of imagery and self-hypnosis for managing both emotional and physical pain. There was absolutely no reason why she couldn’t be one of these success stories. Placebo medicine is not a lark but rather a viable alternative for managing emotional and physical pain.
She had the surgery 5 days later and this time it turned out exactly as her positive imagery envisioned it. She had no swelling and minimal discomfort and bleeding. There was no need for drugs. I saw her two days after the surgery and she looked totally normal!
As a result, in her capacity as a nurse, she is now helping others to use the power of imagery and self-hypnosis to manage pain.
In the USA alone, over 30,000,000 people take anxiety medication every day and another 30,000,000 take medication for managing pain. I read a recent article in the Vancouver Sun which stated that over 5,000,000 Canadians suffer from pain and this is in a country with only 30,000,000 people. The pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars yearly telling you that you need their drugs and in some cases you do. They are trying to help you manage the pain you are experiencing with their products and voice of authority.
Each one of you has the gifts of positive thinking, imagery and imagination that can, if used correctly, have a significant impact on managing pain. You have the ability to dramatically change the course of your life and to use your God-given powers to create health, wellness and healing.
John A. Tamiazzo, PhD is the author of Returning to the Land of Oz: Finding Hope, Love, and Courage on Your Yellow Brick Road available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and barnesandnoble.com. It is also available as a Kindle book at Amazon and as a Nook book at Barnes and Noble.
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