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http://breathe4tomorrow.chatango.com
We created this thought it would be a great way to interact between all of us!!! Let me know your feedback…
I have been so blessed with the people I have been blessed to know on this journey… Two of them are the Burton Brother from livingondubiously.com… They have one of the most amazing CF blogs out there… I first fell in love with their blog about Parenting a CF Warrior… I shared it with every parent I know and to this day, I am constantly asked about it… So I want to post it here on our blog spot… Though I want to give credit where credit is due, so please take a visit to their site and see for yourself… Please enjoy the articles…
PARENTING A WARRIOR WITH CF
By Evan Burton
The single most rewarding experience in many people’s lives will be the gift of raising children. That being said, the most fruitful things in our lives are often the most difficult. When my mom and dad decided to have kids, they never could have imagined the hardships and tribulations that would be placed before them. It was the amazing power of intention and positivity that made my parents so successful in crafting two of the strongest little warriors the world would ever see.
It was when my brother was two and my mom was pregnant with me, that little Spence started experiencing some strange symptoms. After taking him to several different doctors for his unexplained digestion problems, he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. When I was born it was their natural inclination to have me tested, which proved to be the same diagnosis. In being forced to deal with such a bleak outlook of our disease, and rejecting the current idea that Cystic Fibrosis was a death sentence, my parents developed a parenting style which they believed would give us the power to manifest our own outcome and write the pages to our own life.
The Amazing Power of the Mind
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
An emphasis on the infinite potential and power of each and every human being is of the utmost importance, if one intends on laying the groundwork for a life of success for their child. The importance of enforcing this outlook cannot be overlooked, for it will be the single most important tool in your arsenal if you wish for your child to overcome adversity and gain control over their health. When I was a child there was one thing that my mom would tell me that always stuck out in my mind. She would sit me down and tell me that I had the ability to do absolutely anything and everything that I wished to do in my life, as long as I believed I could do it. She went on to say that my disease was only there to teach me an important life lesson, just like everything else in this world, and that I could overcome it as long as I took the lesson that it was there to show me.
I can remember days where I would sit out on the lawn for hours and try to levitate, thinking that I could do anything that I wanted to as long as I believed it. When I told my mom about my failed attempts, she would say that of course I could fly if I tried hard enough, but that it would take a long time and that it might be a better idea to focus my concentration onto something more productive. I started dreaming big and becoming obsessed with the possibilities that lay before me. I knew that I would grow up to make a difference in the world. I thought about becoming the President of the United States or becoming a famous scientist or doctor that would cure diseases. I dreamt about becoming a famous musician or artist that would spread my love and vision throughout the world. I fully believed that I could do any of these things and that my disease would not dictate my place in this world. In fact, I didn’t even think about my disease too often. It was never made a big deal by my parents, so I didn’t see it as a big deal either. It was just a part of who I was, and something I was forced to overcome.
When I was around 15 years old my parents told me a story of great importance that would further strengthen my belief in the power of positive thought. The story was about some friends of theirs’ whom also had a child with Cystic Fibrosis. They were extremely religious people who, upon their child’s diagnoses, said to her that she was going to have some hard times with her disease. They said not to worry though, because if she died that she would go to heaven and be taken care of by god. It wasn’t until her late teens that she passed away and her parents’ prophecy fulfilled itself. My parents believed it was their friends’ negative outlooks that lead to their daughter’s eventual death, despite their best intentions. They were merely unaware of the amazing power of suggestion and the possibility of another way. It was when my brother and I were very young that she passed away so our parents decided to keep this story secret from us in order to uphold the outlook that they wanted us to have.
I can remember my mom pointing out famous people on T.V. and saying that they had Cystic Fibrosis, just like me. She would say that despite having this disease, they were still successful and healthy and they didn’t let it stop them from anything. To this very day I cannot find information on these people sharing my same disease, and I suspect that my mom made some of these things up in order to give me a belief in the longevity and success of my life. I would not have ever wanted my mom to change the way she did things because these were the things that gave me hope. These were the things that solidified my belief in my own infinite potential and my power to be anything I wanted to be.
The Importance of Love above All Else
There will be times in every child’s life when it seems like they are falling off of the right path and acting in a way that you don’t feel is right. It is important for you to never react in anger because this is not what your child is lacking. When you react in anger, your child is more likely to want to rebel against your wishes. The best way to light the path for your child is through unconditional love and being an upstanding example for them. If you feel as though you might know what’s best for your child in terms of their life path then you need to take a step back and look at the real picture. Forcing them to go to college or to pursue a specific life path can be very damaging to them and only delay the discovery of their true life path. The best way to help them grow into the amazing adult that you want them to be is by supporting them through thick and thin and letting them know that you believe in the fact that they will be successful in whatever they put their minds to.
Love is the main lacking factor in a troubled child’s life. The more love that is offered, the stronger foundation and confidence your child will have on which to build their life of health, wealth, wisdom, and happiness. Part of being a warrior is learning to know what tools to use in order to effectively inspire others to their greatest potential. Although a small amount of tough love is sometimes necessary, the mostly negative aspects of anger, guilt, judgment, and manipulation can never be effective. We must always focus on the transformational tools of positive reinforcement, support, understanding, and above all else: Love.
An Example to Learn From
My life has been a direct reflection of the love and support that my parents laid before me. My confidence and success in life can be credited to the positive outlook that was given to me at an early age. There has never been a moment in my life that I doubted my ability to overcome my disease or find happiness and success in life.
Today I am 23 years old and I am experiencing great success in pursuing my dream of becoming a professional musician. My brother and I have toured the country with our band Indubious and began to spread our message to the world. Our first album is due for a 2008 release and you can check www.indubiousmusic.com for more info. I have supported myself by working part time in the real estate industry, which has given me the financial freedom to support the following of my dreams. My brother and I decided to created www.livingindubiously.com in order to inspire other people to overcome adversity in their life and realize their true potential.
Today my health is better than ever and I owe it all to my positive outlook and motivation that pushes me to take great care of my body. I go snowboarding, biking, running, hiking, play sports and work out. I have never let my disease hold me back from anything and I can keep up with whatever life throws at me. My outlook for the future is bright and I couldn’t be more content with my life. In order to raise a warrior you must first become one yourself.
After the success of my first warrior’s guide to parenting, I couldn’t help but feel like there was something missing; a hole in the story that was begging to be told. It wasn’t until I started to read the responses from people who were promising to go out and teach their warriors how to take control of their own lives that I realized what an important piece of the puzzle I had forgotten.
Although it was apparent that my parents had gone out of their way to tell me things that would empower me in my life, it was often the things that they didn’t say that had the most impact on me. It was when the motivational talks were over, and life was waiting for me, that their quiet confidence was a constant guide in my success and health.
The way that my parents treated me like a normal person, and never emphasized my disease is what kept my mind in the right place and allowed me to focus my energy into other aspects of my life. They provided me with the basic knowledge of my own infinite potential, and it was up to me to apply it to my own life situations.
If my parents were to have told me repeatedly about how I could overcome my disease if I practiced positive thinking and fought hard enough, then it would have felt forced and out of place to me. It’s when minds are young and observant that this kind of desperation is easily sensed by a child, and taken as a sign of their parents’ own weakness and fear.
If one wishes to have the best possible impact on their child’s life then they must act as an example and role model, constantly demonstrating through the application of these techniques in their own lives. The very act of being positive, and never wavering in your belief in the power of intention, will be more than enough to uphold the vibration that is conducive to an environment of positive manifestation for your young one.
Children are immensely more observant and intuitive than adults. Going out of our way to pound an idea into their heads is often unnecessary and can be counterproductive. Your own quiet confidence in their abilities is usually all they will need. When they are troubled about something in specific, then one must only refer back to the general rule of the universe by saying that we have the ability to craft any kind of outcome that we desire, as long as we believe we can.
If man has the power to change his life through the use of his own intent, then imagine the possibilities when two people can focus their intent towards the same goal. The simple act of believing and being confident in the abilities of your child will offer a foundation of strength and confidence that will empower them to achieve what they wish.
If what you wish is for your child to have the utmost confidence in his own abilities, then you must first build and maintain the confidence within yourself that will facilitate this kind of result.
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We are so excited about our support bracelets getting here… please contact us if you are interested in wearing your support wrist… Thank you all for your continued support, without you… we are nothing…
That makes me sound so OLD!!! Hehe… be assured… I am not… I found my self lost tonight reading all these BLOGS on CF… I have never noticed how AWESOME that is!!! I am going to get better about writing here, even if nothing really cool is happening… and I am not going to make it all about my CF either… I am going to make it about ME!!! Though my CF is part of that… it is far from most of it… Though right now, Breathe 4 Tomorrow is my number one priority, so it probably will be about that… ALOT!!!
What I wanted to share with you tonight is how amazing our CF community is and how there are SO MANY OUT THERE!!! I feel like I know alot from Myspace (www.myspace.com/breathe4tomorrow) and Facebook ( I have NO idea), but tonight I realized how many I don’t know… and how I have a passion to know more… I think that is what I love about life… Being able to meet and love new people and if even one person’s life I make easier… I have succeeded… I will end sharing a stoy with you… Today I was wearing my shirt that says “Save the World” and people laughed at reminded me numerous times that no one can “save the World” and to them I have a story (that by the way I am TOTALLY doing from memory)
One night, no, I mean day… a woman was walking down the bech picking up sand dollars and throwing them back into the water (because the tide had gone out and left 1000s of sand dollars to bask and die in the sun… )As she picked them up a man walked up to her and asked… “What are you doing? You know you are just wasting time throwing those back in you can’t possibly think you are going to save all of those sand dollars.” As they looked down the beach at where the tide had been and 1000s of sand dollars lay. The man continued, “throwing them back one at a time isn’t going to make a difference.” the woman leaned down and picked up a sand dollar, “I disagree, you see…” as she threw it into the bay… “Just made a difference to that one”.
I love the moral of that story… One family, one person, one child at a time… We will make a difference…
Much Love~ Sarah
I posted a bulletin last night about myfrustration with the CFF, but I don’t want random strangers taking that blog the wrong way and not supporting the CFF… While I don’t agree with how much the President is making, I am still very thankful for all the CFF has done for us. I would hate for even one person to read that blog and not donate. I just want someone to hold them accountable. I don’t think Dr. Beall should make even close to A MILLION dollars a year, but then again, I don’t think Alex Rodrigez should make the type of money he makes either. I guess I am just a middle class American who is watching the middle class diminish before our eyes and that scares me.
Anyways, I love you all so much and appreciate all your support. Please understand why I removed that blog. But please, call the CFF, ask questions… hold them accountable… and the only way to do that is to let them know we are paying attention…
xoxo~ Sarah
We are still patiently waiting!!! Not so much patient at this point… The attorney we were using droppped the ball and that is why it has taken so long… So his boss called us and told me HE is taking over and going to get us our designation… so YAY!!! I just wanted to let you all know we are still here and we are going to kick it back into high gear… We have had the priviledge of helping a couple families this year and we are looking forward to helping so many more… The need is so huge at this point, and unfortunately supply and demand doesn’t apply here… In fact it is the opposite… When the demand (I prefer to call it “need”) is high the supply is low and when the supply is high and available, the need isn’t as high… SO I am turning to our CF community… please pass this along to your friends and family and have them go visit our memsaic wall…. It is so cool… You have the ability to purchase a brick and with that, you can post a picture and write a little memo in support of CF!!!
http://www.memsaic.com/app/launch.cfm?sid=08DEC7B2AEEBD1
OK, so I just wanted to update all of you out there that visit our blog… It has been a while, but I am back and ready to discuss some of the issues bothering me right now… but I am going to so that later, for now I just wanted to post an update and a “poem” that a friend of mine wrote about CF:
We have infections that cause inflammation and we have inflammation that causes infection. We use antibiotics to kill the infection just to have the antibiotics kill our livers.
We awake each morning to live another life, yet we complain as to how CF intrudes on our life. We complain about the three weeks of IV’s but people in this world do IV’s year round.
We choose to rehabilitate our lungs just so they can be trashed and replaced. We have implants to save our lives when others have implants just to make themselves prettier.
We never thought we would live this long, yet we did everything the doctors told us to. They say mapping our Genes will lead to a cure, yet genetic manipulated fruit is bad for us.
The world is 2/3 water and mostly salt…all I need is salt to make my cells well. We know things about life that people never figure out, yet everyone feels sorry for the life we live.
They say this is a disease that affects the digestive system and the lungs, but in reality it affects my friends, my family, my car, my house and myself. There are days of endless coughing and pills, but each day I choose to live for another one.
Most people go through life not konwing what their purpose is.
I know my purpose, do you?
You are all in my heart and I thank you so much for your continued kind words and inspiration and your support….
Sarah Jean
WOW!! What an experience this has been… Things are going well, we are still just patiently waiting for our 501(c)3… We have our first walk-a-thon planned for June 8th!! I can’t believe how excited we are!! It’s just hard because we have ask for donations that are not tax deductible yet and that is going to be really hard to do… So everyone say a little prayer for us… We have a band playing and a 5mile walk… around beautiful Capitol Lake… We will hopefully have fliers out soon… but of course we would like to have our sponsors set up first… and getting sponsors with no 501(c)3 is going to be hard to do… so ahhhhh…. if anyone knows any companies that would be interested in sponsorships, please contact me at 360-556-5180…
Thank you all so much for your continued support
Breathe 4 Tomorrow 