We’ve all seen examples of turning points in our lives or those of friends and family. They can happen spontaneously, or they may be created intentionally. It’s entirely possible that we’ve experienced both kinds without recognizing what we were seeing. So how do we know when one appears?
A familiar example of a turning point would be when a friend or family member undergoes successful surgery to correct a dangerous condition in his or her body. Whether it’s the removal of a life-threatening tumor or the repair of a vital organ, when such things happen, it’s commonly said that the surgery has given our loved one a “second chance.” In other words, rather than continuing the course of deterioration that was leading to the tipping point of no return—the failure of his or her body—it’s the turning point of the procedure that offers the new lease on life.
I witnessed an example of just such a turning point in my family when my mother chose to undergo surgery for a cancerous tumor in one of her lungs in 2000. Apparently she had unknowingly contracted tuberculosis when she was a young girl. It was never diagnosed at the time, and her body had healed itself with no medical intervention. The doctors said that the scar created by a TB wound can become cancerous if a person lives long enough for the tissue to calcify. Evidently this is what had happened with my mom.
While she and I have had many conversations about our bodies’ awesome ability to heal, and Mom has certainly been to enough of my seminars to see the evidence of spontaneous healings, she was very clear about how she wanted to deal with her own condition. In a late-night conversation on the phone, Mom simply said, “I know those healings are possible, but they’re not for me. I just want this thing out of me!”
I heard her loud and clear. I supported my mother’s choice and helped her find the best facilities and doctors possible to honor it. As we made the rounds to evaluate hospitals and university research centers, Mom had the opportunity to personally interview each potential surgeon. She asked her questions to get to know each doctor, and I listened with another set of ears to what the best voices in the field of lung surgery were telling her. At the end of each conversation, I would ask one additional question. After all of Mom’s concerns were addressed, I’d shake hands with the doctor, look him or her in the eye, and ask, “What role do you believe that God or a higher power plays in your work?” With only one exception, my question became the cue to end the handshake, as one by one, each doctor would turn and walk out of the room.
It was at the very last interview with the very last doctor on our list at a university teaching hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that one surgeon didn’t leave. Instead, when he heard my question, he gripped my hand even firmer and let out a big belly laugh that surprised me. With a gleam in his eyes, he looked directly into mine, and with a thick European accent that I couldn’t quite identify, he answered my question by asking one of his own. “Who do you think works through these hands to perform the miracles in the operating room?” he said as he raised his arms for us to see. He let out another laugh, hugged my mom, turned, and walked out of the office. I looked at Mom and said, “I think you’ve just found your doctor!”
Mom’s surgery was a complete and total success. She has been cancer-free ever since, and has also made changes in her life that help her to stay that way. I’m sharing the story here as another example of how a choice in life can become the turning point that leads to good things. For my mother, knowing with absolute certainty that her body was free of the tissue that threatened her life was the turning point that gave her the freedom to change her routines of diet, exercise, and the way she’d been taught to think and live. It was the choice to do something that matched her belief system, however—having surgery—that was the key that made these other types of changes possible. Our personal turning points must fit into our own worldview of possibilities.
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Excerpted from Resilience from the Heart: the Power to Thrive in Life’s Extremes by Gregg Braden. Copyright © 2015 (Hay House).
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6 responses to “A Turning Point Of Hope”
Search for Gregg Braden on Google to borrow one of his phrases that evaded my memory– “Choice Points” (comes from his Fractal Time, if I remember correctly)– to describe what has presented itself as yet another call from Life for me to revisit my reason for being here, led me to this blog and I will be hard pressed to avoid spending a lot of time revisiting it. The value to me lies in Gregg’s ability to relate the wisdom he presents to actual life stories… no philosophies,,, no wasted words–clear pictures of the way our actions and thoughts create the outcomes we experience! All the more plausible because he grounds it in the scientific evolution of our universe.
I love this story! How beautifully it demonstrates that listening to our own truth and acting upon it is the true power to our healing. <3
Gregg Braden, Have you read Dying to be Me by Anita Moorjani? It seems she’s teaching that we need not believe in anything in particular. How does this make sense, from your perspective, given everything you write about with the power of belief, prayer, etc? Can you shed any light on this? What role does belief play in healing of chronic illness? She healed when she “died” to it all.
Quote page 136: “I want to clarify that my healing wasn’t so much born from a shift in my state of mind or beliefs as it was from finally allowing my true spirit to shine through. Many have asked me if something like positive thinking caused my recovery, and the answer is no. The state I was in during my NDE was was beyond the mind, and I was healed because my damaging thoughts were simply out of the way completely. I was not in a state of thinking, but in a state of being. IT was pure consciousness-what I call magnificence! This state of Oneness transcends duality. I was able to get in touch with who I truly am, the part of me that’s eternal, infinite, and encompasses the Whole. This definitely wasn’t a case of mind over matter.
I don’t advocate that if we “believe” a certain way, we’ll eliminate disease or create an ideal life. That can sometimes be too simplistic. Instead, I’m focused on self-awareness, which is different. Becoming entrenched in beliefs that no longer serve us can keep us locked in a state of duality and put us in a constant state of judgement. What we endorse is considered “good” or “positive” and what we don’t believe in is not.
This also puts us in the position of needing to defend out briefs when others don’t agree. And when we invest too much of our energy in defense, we become reluctant to let go, even when ideas no longer serve us. That’s when our beliefs start to own us instead of the other way around.
It wasn’t my beliefs that caused me to heal. My NDE was a state of pure awareness, which is a state of complete suspension of all previously held doctrine or dogma. This allowed my body to “reset” itself. In other words, an absence of belief was required for my healing”
Thank you for sharing this story filled with compassion.
Thank you for sharing this story filled with compassion.
HI, My name is Aaron and I’m 25 yrs old.
I was diagnosed with Bowel cancer in September last year 2014, since then nothing has been the same. I’m trying to do everything people tell me to do and keep beliving, but it’s getting hard. The cancer has just reached my lymph nodes, the doctor is highly recommending chemotherapy but I refuse to give in to the treatment. I recently met a man that wrote your name on a paper bag and I’ve been following them closely.
Now I understand there is no chance on God’s green earth that you are able to help me personally. I was hoping though, could you tell me where to go from here you attempt such healing with thought and feeling?
I know it’s alot to request as I know this is just a website but a rapid reply would be much appreciated. Also if anyone can pass this msg on, share it or knows any information that can help me please email me.
aaron.grasberger@gmail.com
I would be eternally greatful for your help and consideration. God bless..