Have a Positive Focus – Living With MS

Inspired by Del

Rick Simon — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 00:07:46 +0000

I made less progress than I would have liked to this week because Judy and I took a well-deserved vacation.

I thought that the vacation would mean that I didn’t have anything to post this week, but it turned out I was wrong.

We spent our vacation with my sister and her husband , Del. After spending a few days with them I was inspired by the way Del manages in spite of having had a stroke.

MS is like a stroke in some ways. Symptoms of MS depend on what part of the brain the Multiple Sclerosis damages. Symptoms of a stroke depend on what part of the brain the stroke damages. So MS and strokes are similar.

I noticed Del did what he could despite his stroke. He has limitations. He has difficulty walking, poor balance and ignores much of what happens on one side of his body.

He doesn’t choose to ignore this. He says he can see what’s happening there, but for some reason his brain doesn’t pay attention to what he sees. He was happy to be riding a three wheeled bike, which he could do despite his poor balance. He told me that he has to concentrate to make sure he doesn’t ignore things he shouldn’t, like traffic.

He also gets tired easily.

Despite his challenges, he pitches in to help out where he can. When we were planning a foil wrap veggie mix for supper, he volunteered to cut up the veggies. He cooked some of most meals on the barbecue. In general, he seemed to help out wherever he could.

It occurred to me that he was showing characteristics like the ones I commend in my book. He is fiercely independent, in that he will do what he can, and he has a positive focus.

He inspired me to do more for myself despite my MS. Watching Del made me think about more things I can do for myself; More ways I can pitch in around the house.

Del inspired me so I thought that I would share this story in hopes that it inspires you, as well.

Thanksgiving Message

Rick Simon — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 03:48:13 +0000

An interesting thing happened last week that is related to the Have A Positive Focus strategy I described previously.

If you are interested in more information about Rick’s “9 Strategies to Break Through Obstacles and Live Your Dreams” fill in your email address on the right side of this page, and he will send you a free report!

I live in Canada, and in Winter we get some snow. Someone posted a picture of their back yard covered in snow on Facebook. One headlight of her car was showing. The Message said “My car is out there somewhere…Richard Simon? Please, please write something positive…I have to shovel this$@&)(!@&$”. In a later comment she said she wasn’t going to shovel till tomorrow.

My reply “Positive thinking on demand! You can be grateful that: 1. You can shovel snow. Many aren’t healthy enough. 2. You can wait till tomorrow to shovel it. 3. You have a warm place to wait till tomorrow. 4. You have food so you won’t go hungry while you wait. 5. You have entertainment while you wait aka the internet and Facebook. And finally, you have a car to be covered in snow. Those are the first positive thoughts that come to mind… “

She replied with “Did all that…still shoveling tho…but thanks for all that. As my boots fill with snow tomorrow…I’ll think of you!”

And someone else responded “Another positive…you have boots!!”

I found positive things to think about while acknowledging the negative – that the snow had to be shoveled. I was especially happy to be of service given that I didn’t have to shovel the snow…

The names have been excluded to protect the guilty.

Have a Positive Focus

Rick Simon — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 02:31:30 +0000

Do you have any negative thinkers in your life? Do you know anyone who, no matter what you are planning, always has all the reasons why it won’t work? Do you know someone who is always complaining about something? They seem to drag you down, don’t they?

Have you ever been guilty of behaving this way? I have, but my fiance said something that helped turn things around for me. You see, I found out that I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS) two days after my (now) wife agreed to marry me. When I found out I went to her to ‘let her off the hook’, but she said something like “I will marry you in spite of your MS if you will agree to do everything you can do for yourself.”

How did this help to keep me positively focused? Well, first of all, I took it seriously. I mean I really liked this girl! I wanted her to stay around. I believed she was serious about what she had said, so I took it seriously. I started thinking about the things I could do so as to keep my part of the agreement. By thinking about, focusing on, and seeking out the things that I could do, I wasn’t paying attention to the things I couldn’t do. As a result:

I found lots of things I could do, so, in my mind, things weren’t so bad after all.
Doing the things I could do led me to succeed in various areas of my life.
Thinking about what I could do, made me happier with my life and therefore more likely to succeed. After all, happiness is all in your head, isn’t it?
Not spending so much time focusing on what I couldn’t do, helped me stay away from depression.

Don’t get me wrong, over the years there were lots of things that I couldn’t do anymore, and when they happened it was depressing. Giving up dancing was probably the hardest, closely followed by camping and skiing. Those were hard times, but knowing that there were all these things that I was able to do, helped me recover from these ‘setbacks’ more quickly, and get on with living my life in spite of my MS.

I guess that is why I am talking about positive focus, as opposed to positive thinking. When I tried positive thinking in the past it always felt like a lie. Positive focus, however, as T. Harv Eker, an author, businessman and motivational speaker known for his theories on wealth and motivation and the author of the book “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” teaches it, acknowledges that not everything is positive in life, but that it makes sense to focus on the positive, because it works!

Do you feel better when you are focusing on something positive in your life?
If you feel better, are you more likely to do more to improve your situation?
If you do more, are you more likely to be successful, to improve your situation and to make that affirmation come true?

So if it works, improves your life, and doesn’t hurt anyone, why wouldn’t you do it? But like Eker, I’m not going to ask you to take my word for it. I just ask that you give it a try. It works for me, so it might work for you! If it does, keep doing it. If it doesn’t, stop!