Phantom Limbs and Illusions of Relief – What does this have to do with the Law of Attraction?

I am always interested in stories that combine science and psychology.

The following appeared in the National Post on Saturday, August 28, 2010 in an article entitled Phantom limbs and illusions of relief;

“In piecing together its impression of the surrounding world, the human brain has a tendency to give priority to vision”, said Terry Borsook, PhD candidate in psychology at the University of Toronto. “What the brain sees, it will believe,” he said.

That preference opens the possibility of tricking the brain, or using illusions to relieve certain kinds of pain, from common arthritis to the rare pain in the “phantom limbs” of amputees.

Mr. Borsook describes “mirror therapy,” in which a patient with phantom limb pain lays their in-tact limb on a mirror and moves it around, while looking at the reflection and imagining it is the amputated one.

By bolstering the imagination’s ability to create its own internal reality with the mirror’s visual feedback, Mr. Borsook said this creates the “uncanny impression” that the severed limb is resurrected, and feels fine.

“That’s the magic.”

It does seem magical, and I can understand why the author would choose to use this word. Creating through the use of your imagination can be an incredibly joyous/magical experience.

In the creation of everything that exists, thought always comes first. Everything that you see around you was once a thought or an idea, that the Law of Attraction matched – a vibrational concept that matured into what we call physical reality. Phantom limb pain – if you bolster your imagination to create a different reality, a different thought, the pain goes away. Here is the best news – this concept of thought first, reality following, can work in any area of your life, your body and the way it looks and functions, your relationships, your career etc.

Borsook goes on to describe current experiments on arthritis patients, in which the key step is getting them to attribute their pain to a cause that can be manipulated. To that end, he uses an “augmented reality” system, which is similar to virtual reality except that it uses real-life as a backdrop. The arthritis patient watches a live video of himself, on which flames have been super-imposed on his painful joints. Once that association is made, the flames are virtually douses, and the patient feels relief. “We’re assisting the person’s imagination” he said.

What are you imagining? Why not assist it? Think about it.

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http://www.keystolawofattraction.com/services-offered/workshops-seminars/

First Day of School Blues - Who is the Teacher and who is the Student?

"Mom, your talking that funny spiritual stuff again", my 9 year old daughter replies rolling her eyes.

As a certified Law of Attraction trainer, I admit trying to infuse our conversations with the occasional words of wisdom hoping that some of it might sink in. "If only she could learn at an early age what I have come to understand as an adult, wouldn't that be wonderful", I think.

We talk about the importance of visualizing, focusing on what you want rather than on what you don't want, and that she is the creator of her world. I wonder how much she absorbs, whether it is making any sense to her, and then the first day of school hits.

She doesn't get the teacher she wanted, and more importantly, NONE of her friends are in her class. In tears she hugs her father and I pleading that we don't make her go and to take her back home with us. Our hearts are breaking as we tell her she must go, and send her off.

Shall I let her figure this out herself, or should I intervene? As parents, haven't we all asked ourselves this question?

I try to teach my daughter, what I myself continue to work on, that is that you can't control the environment around you. The only thing we have control over is the thoughts we think, and more importantly how we feel about what we think. But, the mother bear in me takes over, and I place a call to the school to see if any changes can be made.

To make a long story short, my daughter was given the option to move to the class with her friends, but when presented with this option replied, "when I first got to school I was focused on who wasn't in my class, now I am focused on who is in my class, and I like it here and I want to stay". At the end of day I picked up a happy, smiling girl.

She was able to take what appeared to be an awful situation and turn it into a good one, and she did this by looking for things that would make her happy, rather than things that would make her sad. What a proud mother I am.

Who is the teacher and who is the student?

My Inspiration

The learning started early for me

I was 9 years old, and the only child to be sent home from sleep away camp. I was so upset about being apart from my parents that I got physically ill. My throat was sore and my fever was soaring. I lasted one night and was sent home. Sleep over at my friends home - sick and sent home. Feeling out of sorts and lost as a teenager, I developed mononucleosis. I learned very early in life that negative emotions can bleed into physical symptoms.

The learning continued

I was in my early 30's jogging with a co-worker, and vividly describing the life I wanted to live. Not married at the time I described my ideal mate (down to the detail of his specific height and hair color), the fact that I wanted to have one child (a girl) and desired to spend my summers at a cottage, very much the way I had spent my summers as a child. I was working at a very busy corporate job at the time, and talked about wanting to have my own business that involved public speaking (a joy of mine) and more time flexibility. I was telling a different story about how I wanted my life to be, which was very different from the life I was currently living.

Can you relate to desiring an experience other than the one you are living?

I realize that I was unconsciously practicing what I now teach - I liked to describe myself as an unconscious competent! I was practicing the Law of Attraction, without really knowing that what I was doing had a name.

My life is now very close to how I had imagined it would be. I am fortunate enough to have a partner who I consider my soul mate, and he even has grey hair and of average height, just as I had intended. I have a beautiful daughter with whom I will spend the majority of the summer at our wonderful year round second home.

I learned at this stage in my life that my thoughts can manifest into reality.

Looking back on my life I can easily see how the various paths I have chosen have led me to teaching the Law of Attraction to others. Becoming a Registered Dietitian helped me to understand how the body works, and obtaining an MBA provided the business background to understand how to run a business. Working for years in the pharmaceutical industry has given me numerous opportunities to present to and teach others (which I discovered a love for), not to mention superb selling skills and a professionalism that one learns when working with a multi-national organization.

My recent years as a consultant have shown me that working for myself resonates well with both me and my family, and has further developed my time management and "self-starter" skills.

I had a keen interest in topics spiritual and relating to the mind/body. Having the opportunity to meet Bob Proctor and to study the Law of Attraction, I instantly recognized that I had found the topic that would allow me to combine the love of the body and mind, and to put to use the business skills I had honed.

I am now living my dream, and I look forward to showing you how you can live yours.