The Power of Possibility

 

Every so often I work with someone who powerfully reaffirms my belief in the power of possibility. Jason Butler is one of those people.

I met Jason (his name and information used with his permission) around six months ago when I was giving a free talk on using mind/body tools to control chronic pain.

He was a young man, in his early thirties, in a wheelchair. He was sitting kind of twisted up, wearing dark glasses, a stocking cap, one hand cupping his right ear, in obvious pain. He was there with his wife and his mother, who were both really interested in the subject of my talk. Afterwards they asked if maybe I could help Jason with his debilitating headaches. I said, “maybe” and invited him to come in for a consultation.

A few weeks later I got a call and set up the consultation. When I met and talked with Jason I learned that six years previous he’d had a neurological auto-immune response that left him in a coma. When he emerged he had horrible headaches, virtually no feeling in his legs and feet and other health problems.

Here’s the important part: he was assured by many medical professionals that; 1) he would have to take powerful medications to try to control his headaches for the rest of his life; 2) he would never be able to stand unassisted; 3) he would never be able to walk unassisted and, 4) he could never have anything approaching an active life because exertion triggered headaches.

He told me he’d tried everything: drugs, therapy, biofeedback, acupuncture, hypnosis, spiritual healing and much more. Nothing worked and he had basically lost hope.

BUT, I believe in the power of possibility and the magic of “what if?”

What that means is, instead of focusing on what a person can’t do, focus on what a person might be able to do, and harness that wonderful power of the mind/body connection to see how far you can go.

The results after working with Jason for six months, speak for themselves.

The headaches no longer control Jason’s life. He uses the mind/body tools I taught him to stop the headaches before they start, stop them after they start or diminish their intensity. He is able to do this the vast majority of the time.

He can stand, unassisted, for short periods of time. He can walk, unassisted, for short distances. He can walk with a walker for 40 minutes with no ill effects. He can take his young daughter to the municipal swimming pool and play with her. He just went on a family camping trip, walking down 21 steps to the beach, down the beach to the water and back again without a headache developing.

He looks and acts completely different from the pain-wracked young man I had initially met. As he told me recently, “I feel like I’ve gotten my life back.”

What’s crucial to understand is that this wasn’t a miracle cure, it was accomplished via a systematic approach (using a variety of mind/body tools), to troubleshoot problems, develop solutions, test results and then create plans for staying on track. What I used was what everyone has inside of them, I just helped Jason bring it out.

Anyone can do this, you just have to believe in the power of possibility.

About David Kenward