for my SS class
for my missionary
for friends who share knowledge
for inspiration
for rain
So, I shared the short version of this story in SS Sunday because we were talking about Christ healing the blind man. I figured it was time to put it down before I forget about it.
In my coaching last year, I was learning about being present. Fully present in the moment. Sometimes I'm GREAT at it. Other times, not so much. So for that week, our assignment was to practice being fully present. Unbelievably, I had 3 or 4 listing appointments that week. And I decided to really be present. Fortunately, two of them were already friends. So, as I went to my appointments, I laid my papers aside and just visited with my friends. Eventually we got around to "business." But even with the person who was not a "friend" I did the same and felt wonderful about the things I learned about this new client that I would not have known if I did not take the time to really care in the moment.
As I was leaving one of the appointments, I felt SO GOOD. I felt so happy. As I was driving, I had the thought, "I'm so grateful for real estate." And then I heard the all too familiar, what I call cosmic giggle. And this..."you are not grateful for real estate." Side note. I have a bipolar relationship with real estate. Here comes the honesty. It's a TOUGH business. People think you write out some paperwork and make thousands of dollars. That's a ghastly over simplification. I'll cut to the chase by saying, I don't get paid as often as I do, for work you absolutely could not fathom. And yes, the cosmos was actually right. I have had some downright angry, resentful feelings toward real estate at times.
But my first thought was, "what do you mean I'm not grateful for real estate?" as the statement remained hanging in the air. "You aren't." "I'm not???" Then a silent inward gasp. "I'm not!" Oh no! You see, the year before it had become my personal challenge to be grateful in ALL things. Good or bad. Praise Him when I win. Praise Him when I lose. This was a pretty big oversight. I realized the truth of it and really felt repentant immediately. And then I declared, "but I am grateful for real estate! Real estate has helped keep food on the table, real estate has sent missionaries out the door, real estate has helped resolve crisis, real estate has taught me my strengths and talents and resolved personal weaknesses. I AM grateful for real estate!" (All this from being present, haha)
Here's where it gets interesting. In college I noticed some little dry, flaky patches on my arms and sometimes on my face. Someone told me it was eczema. It never really caused me any problems. Until I had the Arteest. When she was born, I had strep B. So, I had to be on antibiotics while I was in labor. I am convinced it was those antibiotics that triggered a horrible outbreak a few weeks later. My entire body broke out in an itchy rash. It cleared mostly except for on my lower back and my chest. And for years, every few weeks I would break out and have these horribly itchy patches that nearly drove me crazy. The Summer was torture.
I did a ton of EFT. I investigated every possible emotional link and tapped it to death. Finally, it moved to my right hand, where it has stayed for several years, still driving me to absolute distraction at times. (By the way goat milk soap is wonderfully soothing for eczema, ask me for a recipe) I never got more than four months of relief, but generally there would be about a six week cycle of intense itching that finally resolved over time, and then flared back up again. I was at the resolving point of one of these cycles when I had my real estate gratitude moment. Over the next week, there was a rapid resolution of that cycle.
I was looking with interest at my hand a week later because it was completely healed and I was wondering about it. I looked, I felt, some kind of inner scan went on, because I suddenly realized, the eczema was healed. How did I know this? I don't know how to tell you, but I can relate to the woman with the issue of blood in the New Testament. "and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." Something in me just KNEW. Immediately I wondered, how did this happen??? The answer that came to me instantly was the gratitude moment from the week before. I can't explain it. I just knew that in my moment of gratitude, I was given a gift of healing.
That was in September of 2014. It's been nine months since. I've never gone longer than about 5 months without an outbreak. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. My children can tell all the times we've been on vacation or even in our house, where I have gone searching like a mad woman for something to vigorously scratch my hand with. I often slept with a hairbrush by my bed so that when it woke me up at night, I could roll over, scratch, and go back to sleep. Such a relief to be rid of it!
I still wonder at it. I had no idea that gratitude could heal. But I'm grateful for the gift. And I continue to practice gratitude often. Still trying to perfect it in ALL THINGS. Give it a try. Life changing. What are you grateful for?
