Don’t let your mind run amok. Use this Jedi Mind trick on yourself.

Having anxious thoughts?  Here’s a remedy.

During the weeks before the procedure, an image would leap into my mind of the surgeon sawing away at my leg. It was horrific. And during the first four or five weeks after the surgery, I would occasionally feel a pressure at the front of one hip and the image leapt to mind of the new titanium femur head poking through the sutures. Each time, I just had to reach down to touch the scar, half expecting to feel something protruding. Yup, just busting through. Ugh. Of course that was just my imagination, running amok.

But in both cases I remembered a technique from Peggy Huddleston (you DO have her book & CD, don’t you…?).  Here’s how it works. When something unhelpful (can we agree that these images/visions are unhelpful?) arises in the mind, just change the channel to something pre-selected.  Specifically, a vision of you doing something you love that this operation will enable you to do.  Maybe it’s walking a trail with friends, bicycling down a scenic road, or in my case, dancing at the Unitarian Church in Berkeley, decorated with strings of xmas lights and friendly folks.

Our mind is not under our control, but that doesn’t mean that we need be at its mercy. Just change the channel. Not convinced it will work?  Practice your mind training with the Huddleston CD or Hemi-Sync and work on visualizing details, not just thinking ABOUT the activity in general. If you’re walking a trail, do you feel the sun on your face? Do you have a bag of trail mix in your pocket? Are you using walking poles? Are you humming to yourself or chatting with your friend? Make it real.