This book is a collection of my life stories and beliefs and how I healed myself using thought and the art of meditation. There was a time when I was so sick that I felt hopeless and fed up. I was not finding answers to any questions I had about my Crohn's Colitis. When I got the doctor's final recommendation that the only cure was removing part of my intestine and replacing it with something manmade (a colostomy bag), I realized I had to take a stand. I asked myself why my body was fighting me. I asked what in my brain was telling my body to attack itself. These are the questions that seemed to have no answer because I had no one to ask. I felt alone. Twenty years have gone by now and using meditation I have learned that the answers are within me. I am in the right time of my life and everything has come together to a point where I truly understand what I have done and can share it with you. Each one of these stories shows the power of thoughts of healing. Each story leaves you to ask the important questions of yourself so that you can find your own answers. This book is about healing from the inside-out. In this book I share my stories and a simple meditation technique that you can follow on your path to empower yourself. To learn more about me you can visit my websites: www.universalsourcehealing.com or www.ihealedmycrohnscolitis.com.

I Healed My Crohn's Colitis

Free The Mind, The Body Will FollowBy Robert A. Stickles

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2011 Robert A. Stickles
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-4268-3

Contents

Dedication..............................................................viiAcknowledgments.........................................................ixIntroduction............................................................xiPreface.................................................................xiii1. Just for the Record.................................................12. Symptom Free........................................................53. Some of My Beliefs and Crohn's Colitis..............................84. From Illness to Fearless............................................115. Carrying Your Water.................................................146. Fake It 'Til You Make It............................................177. How I Stumbled Onto My Cure for Crohn's Colitis.....................208. One in a Million parts 1-2..........................................239. There is a Depth to All Living Things...............................2810. Medicine: A Tool, Not a Cure........................................3111. Sickness Eats Your Life.............................................3512. Faith in Yourself and Your Thoughts That Heal.......................3813. Being Hard on Sickness..............................................4114. The Real Deal.......................................................4515. My Parents..........................................................4816. Researching Who You Are.............................................5517. My Cover Story......................................................5918. Relieving Cramps In Style...........................................6219. Failure is Not an Option............................................6420. Encouragement From People Who Cared.................................6621. Turning It Around...................................................6922. A Wife's Account of Healing: Viv's Story............................7123. Meditation: The Key to Healing......................................75Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1..........................................77Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1A.........................................80Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1B.........................................82Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1C.........................................85Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1D.........................................87Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1E.........................................89Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1F.........................................91Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1G.........................................93Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1H.........................................94Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1I.........................................97Meditation Made Easy: Lesson 1J.........................................99Post Script.............................................................101

Chapter One

Just for the Record

When I began writing and started with Just for the Record, I was beginning to reach out to people like you, who want to heal and believe they can change their thoughts and be healthy. I felt I needed to share my story with the readers I was trying to attract. I didn't fully know or understand why I was writing my blog, which has become this book, but something inside of me just kept pushing me to write.

About the same time my editor was encouraging me to share my story and I will say she is a big part of why this all happened. Being dyslexic, writing was my downfall. I could never express myself on paper. Even a simple note was tough to handle. I wasted so much energy trying to hide my disability that I just gave up on writing. In my 30s I built some confidence through meditation and taking private lessons with the Wilson Reading Program but my writing was still something that I was ashamed about.

Writing for my blog and now this book was a big undertaking but it's another way that I have changed my thoughts. With my editor's help writing, her success healing herself, and her wonderful encouragement, she helped me build up confidence that I had something to say that was important. I persevered and have been writing two posts a week on my blog ever since I began this project. With each post I have been getting better at writing and have even noticed I'm not ashamed of my gift called dyslexia.

Now back to Just for the Record. I believe in a shock and awe approach to writing. We all have the right to be healthy but we have to climb over the thoughts that are holding us back. So when I wrote Just for the Record I wanted to show you where I came from. I was one sick puppy. I wanted you to see how far I've come and that you too can heal yourself with your mind. I wrote this to challenge your thoughts and peak interest so readers would return to my blog, but more important, return to the thought that healing is possible.

You will see as you move through the chapters of this book that I'm headstrong and I have no problem moving my mind forward with a new thought. This is something you have to teach yourself and which this book will help you do. I had so many people (and information stacked up against me) telling me that my ideas were nuts. But I had nothing to lose by trying. In a way, as I think back, it was like I was rebelling. I was really sick of everyone telling me what to do. I was sick of being sick. So, it didn't scare me to try something new. I really felt like I was doomed anyway but it felt great telling people to shove it where the sun don't shine. So I said to myself, "Why not go for healing?" I had nothing to lose.

When I posted my first entry on my blog I didn't know where it was going to take me. I was hoping it was going to take me down a path where I could help people with their Crohn's Colitis. I was hoping it was going to change the way people look at their illness, their dis-ease. With this book I'm hoping it helps you bring healing into your life.

* * *

I was at a local restaurant with my wife, where the owner and some of the wait staff know us. They knew about my story with Crohn's Colitis. The owner asked me to tell my story to her waitress who has Colitis because the waitress had been very sick and had just been released from the hospital after a month's stay. So the waitress looked at me square in the eye and said to her manager, "Tell her there is no cure for Colitis."

I looked at her and said, "You're asking the wrong person."

Then in a polite manner she asked, "So you healed yourself?" and followed with "So you must not have been that sick."

My wife spoke up saying, "He has been symptom free for over 20 years and takes no medicines, but his intestines still have some ulcers."

The waitress waited for me to answer her question. As I looked at her I could see her eyes saying "Well I'm waiting."

I don't like to talk about my sickness much but I needed to explain to her how sick I was so she would understand where I had been and how far I've come. And that she can too.

To start out I am 6'3" and now weigh 245 lbs.

1. When I was sick I weighed 145 lbs.

2. I worked four days a week, 12 hours a day, doing manual labor.

3. I lived on TPN a couple of times to give my body a rest.

4. I was on an assortment of drugs: Azulfidine, Prednisone, Immuran, and Methotrexate.

5. I was hospitalized...