"Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better."

I was listening to the Unstoppable Frankie Picasso show with her guest Madeleine Herrmann, a woman who wrote a novel as part of her healing journey about her husband who committed suicide. She attributes part of her healing to the teachings of Emile Coue who said, "Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better." I've used this phrase many times in my healing journey with post polio syndrome. This is the first time I heard who had said it.

Emile Coue was a pioneer in the field of autosuggestion and hypnotherapy applying these techniques to helping people heal from their medical afflictions. He asserted the placebo effect as he would dispense medications as a pharmacist, praising the efficacy of the medications he dispensed. He was the first to say that he did not heal patients but helped them to find their own paths to heal.

Healing is not the same as a cure and Emile Coue asserts that there are limitations to what the organic body can achieve. I believe that there is no limit to healing. Healing is a state of being. Healing is the belief that no matter what the challenge, it can be met with strength, grace and fortitude and transformed by the power of God's Love. I began to heal when I loved myself in a brace, using a wheelchair at times for mobility, needing a wrist splint; my body was terribly deconditioned and I had tremors of the head and hands. My body responded to my love song which I sang through the inspirational poetry I wrote after being diagnosed with post polio syndrome. I still have tremors; I experience fatigue and pain and sometimes I have a good old fashioned pity party that I ever contracted paralytic polio and now deal with the symptoms of post polio syndrome. I think about Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life and how Clarence the angel shows him what would have happened had he never been on earth. I reflect on all the people's lives I have touched because I have had the courage to share my story. It was no accident that Madeleine Herrmann was the guest on Frankie's show; it was an opportunity for me to revisit an old wound that needed healing; the wound of my father's suicide when I was only 17 years old.

And then, it is all magically transformed through the power of an attitude of gratitude, seeing what I have created which would never have been possible had I not had polio and post polio syndrome and feeling God's grace at work in my life. My eyes are open to signs of grace which abound and unfold in my life. My heart is open to the messages of Love God sends me as I write poetry. I meet the most beautiful people who have overcome challenges with grace, dignity and a fiery passion to transform the challenges into blessings for others. I meet spiritual teachers from whom I learn and I am a teacher to others. It is after all, a Wonderful Life and every day in every way I am getting better and better.

I am so excited about running the Charles River Run and the Harvard Pilgrim 10K road races. I've been training hard and getting myself in the best physical and psychological shape I can be in. It does not matter that others may whiz by me; I'm out there running my race.

I'll be an inspirational speaker at Boston GreenFest 2010 the weekend of August 19-21 talking about health and wellness strategies. I must make sure that I practice what I preach-smile. I will also have a table for New World Greeting Cards. If you're in the Boston area I do hope you'll come by.

Do you spend hours searching for a greeting card that only comes close to what you want to say? Let New World Greeting Cards create an original poem to celebrate and commemorate that special occasion.

"New World Greetings:Inspirational Poetry and Musings for a New World" and "Set Sail for a New World" my books of inspirational poetry chronicling my healing journey with polio and post polio syndrome are available for purchase through my website. Remember I Pay it Forward
by donating 20% of book proceeds to two charities near and dear to my heart.