The universe is full of magical things waiting for our wits to grow sharper. — Unknown
Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal. This is the definition given to us by Napoleon Hill. Many of us have success in a part of our lives but not in other parts. Some have great business success but have poor relationships. Others have a great marriage but experience poverty. I know people who have never been on a vacation or seen any of the amazing beauty in our world while others travel and engage with people in other cultures.
What is your life like today?
Are you living a full and happy life?
Is every part of your life working, or are there some parts that could be better?
Do you have fears, anxiety, depression, anger, frustration, resentment, jealousy, disappointment, or other unhealthy emotions?
What would your life be like if every part—relationships, finances, career, health, and recreation—all worked well together, and you were completely happy all the time?
Wow. Think about that for a moment. What would that look like; what would that sound like; what would that feel like?
My name is Bob Huttinga. My wife, Barb, and I operate The Healing Center in Lakeview, Michigan. I have spent my entire adult life searching for answers to a few simple but profound questions: “What is my purpose?” “What am I doing here on this Earth?” I know that I am not alone in this search. Every person who is reading this book is also a searcher, trying to make sense of things. We all want our lives to have some meaning.
I recall asking my parents many questions about the meaning of life. I do not recall hearing any satisfactory answers. Most of the time, their answers were based on our Christian faith. They would say, “God will provide, and you do not have to worry about it.” Even as a small child, I could not accept that kind of thought. I wanted to understand.
In my search, I have had several important milestones. Born into a very religious family, I was raised with a strong background in Christianity. My parents provided me with a base of good morals and a work ethic that I appreciate very much. We were never taught about goal-setting. When we wanted something, we were instructed to pray about it and add, “Not my will, but thine be done.” Then, we were to wait and watch, hoping or expecting to receive miraculous results.
Actually, this turned me into an opportunist. The prayer really was a form of goal-setting, although I did not realize that at the time. This lack of initial realization is why I will spend some time, later in this book, discussing goal setting and how you can recognize a great opportunity when it knocks.
The next milestone in my life was becoming a physician assistant. From age 12, after having had a minor injury, I wanted to be a doctor. However, the negative programming I received as a child caused me to doubt that I had the necessary financial and intellectual resources to get through medical school. In spite of average grades in college, I was accepted into the Physician Assistant (PA) program at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Although I doubted that I could become a doctor, the new profession of PA seemed believable. Due to a great willingness to learn, I graduated with honors from PA school in 1976.
Another big turning point for me was the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Someone gave this book to me when I was 28 years old. It was my first awakening. For the first time in my life, I understood that I did not have to pray and just wait for the opportunity to appear. I learned, instead, that I could pray, and then I could do something to make my prayers come true. I could create a life of my own choosing!
The next fork in the road was an introduction to The Silva Method of Mind Development and Stress Control. With this being another first for me, I realized that I could use my mind in a special way to reduce the effects of stress on my body and put my brain into a special state that would promote creativity, healing, and much, much more. It became clear that Jose Silva had created a teachable system for controlling stress and purposefully using the mind to help make life better.
I used this method to normalize high blood pressure and to heal an ulcer, which had developed as the result of a very stressful professional life. Later, I began to practice on other aspects of life. I learned how to find a different job with much better income. I used this method to find a great, reliable used car and to help my children relax while taking tests in school. I was able to achieve many remarkable outcomes that constantly reinforced my new belief that I could use my mind to create a better life, and I experienced a peace of mind that I have never had before.
This Silva Method was so profound and had such an impact on me that I became a Silva Method instructor and taught this method for eight years while working full time as a physician assistant. I used this method to make my life more successful and helped many others do the same. It worked very well for many years, yet I still felt that something was missing. Life was not exactly what I desired because I still did not really understand how creating a life worked. So I continued searching, studying many subjects, reading hundreds of books, listening to many audio programs, and attending lectures on a wide variety of topics.
Another awakening came a few years ago when a friend, Lee Carroll, author of Indigo Children and the Kryon Writings, provided me with more understanding. He said that people on Earth generally operate in one of three paradigms or according to one of three patterns or models: the Law of Karma, the Law of Grace, and the Law of Co-creation.
The Law of Karma relates to reincarnation, which is the belief of about 70 percent of Earth’s population. The concept is that we live many lifetimes. In each lifetime, the events in our lives are determined by happenings from previous lifetimes that we are here to correct during this current lifetime. Events that occur in this lifetime are lessons to be learned, scores to be settled, or debts to be paid. Under the Law of Karma, life is like a rudderless boat with no sail and no engine, just floundering, pushed about by every passing storm and current.
The Law of Grace is the concept best described by the Christian teaching, “Let go and let God.” This is a philosophy often promoted by Alcoholics Anonymous and is the belief system with which I was born and raised. The essential thought is: “Give your cares and problems to God then relax and wait for Him to create your life for you.” This is like being in a boat with sails and power, but God is at the helm, and you are sitting back, watching life unfold around you and, perhaps, wishing for a better outcome.
The Law of Co-creation applies to how we use the power of God, Spirit, or the Universe to create an outcome that we have in mind. In this model, God is not some great entity outside of ourselves; rather, God is the awareness of being that resides within each of us. When we say the words, “I am,” we become aware of our inner awareness of being. This awareness of being is actually the spiritual being that is housed within and around our physical body. Understand that the size of this spiritual being may be very large, perhaps even infinite. It is the vital force that powers up our system. This paradigm is like a boat with sails and an engine with you and God at the helm, working together to direct the unfoldment of your life in the way you desire it to be.
We can think of the Law of Co-creation with this metaphor: let’s imagine you are hiking in the mountains, and you pick up a rock and take it home. That rock is no longer part of the mountain, yet not one atom of its substance has changed. Changing the rock’s location has changed how we view it—as a rock rather than part of a mountain—but the true nature of the rock is still the same. In this paradigm, we are the rock and God is the mountain. We are not the God of the universe; we are the god of our own universe.
“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” — Dr. Robert Anthony
Many books have been written on the concept of grace, so I will not deal with that here. Karma also is a topic for other venues. My focus is on co-creation and, frankly, that leaves no time for esoteric discussion of either grace or karma because co-creation supersedes both and literally makes them void. The meat of this book will be how to use the power of God and your mind together to create an amazing life that will, at times, leave you breathless with wonder at the things that you and God have created.
At The Healing Center, we have a slogan “Put Your Health in Your Own Hands—Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit.” As a searcher, I have trained myself in all these areas. With reference to the body, I am trained in traditional medicine as a certified physician assistant (PA-C) with a focus on prescription medications and surgery. In addition to that, I have 20 years of experience in natural medicine, homeopathy, herbs, essential oils, and supplements, and am a certified natural health practitioner (CNHP).
After learning to use the Silva Method, I continued mind/mental training and became a certified hypnotist. I studied Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and energy medicine, becoming a level three Reiki master.
For my spiritual training, I have explored the foundations of all major religions with extensive emphasis on the works of Hamid Bey, who was trained in the temples of Egypt. There, he learned the teachings of Christ, which came to Egypt directly from Israel without the contaminating influences of the Greeks and Romans. Bey learned to master his own body. He could put himself into suspended animation and, to prove this ability, was buried alive over 5,000 times, re-emerging from each internment unharmed.
Thanks to these various studies, my focus has been honed to the holistic balance of body, mind, and spirit and learning to use all three in my life and my daily work as a Physician Assistant.
One of my mentors, Dr. Bruce Bennett, said, “Some doctors are healers, and some are technicians. You must learn to be both.” I have learned to be both. However, today, for this book, I am a teacher.
In my first book, Put Your Health in Your Own Hands, I share the story of a 103-year-old man who came to the Urgent Care where I was working. This man was very healthy. He was on no medications. He had cut his finger working in his workshop and had driven himself to the clinic to get some stitches.
As I repaired the laceration, we talked and I asked him, “What is the secret to your long and healthy life?”
“I stayed away from you dang doctors,” was his reply.
We laughed loudly, but there is some truth to this. I did try to explain to him that I was not a doctor but a physician assistant. He did not care as long as I knew how to repair his finger.
Today, I find many people who express the same feeling of dissatisfaction with traditional medicine. This is why I have written these two books: to give you tools to get through your life without being unnecessarily dependent upon others all the time. We often need help and advice, but we must learn to be more independent and responsible for ourselves.
The idea for this book came from another patient who came in for a general physical examination. As I was taking her history, she stated, “I have an amazing, magical life!”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Well,” she said, “I love my work. I have perfect health. I have many great relationships. I am happy all the time. I feel good all the time. And I have accomplished every goal that I have ever set.”
Now, that does sound like an amazing life. It sounds almost too good to be true. And because of past programming from our early family and religious life, most of us will think, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true.” So, people tend to be cautiously optimistic about the idea of co-creating an amazing life.
The great philosopher Socrates once said, “It is the nature of an entity that determines what it can do and what it will do.” For example, it is the nature of a wheel to roll easily; however, it is not the nature of a block to roll easily. This concept means that if one human being can do something, any other human being can learn to do it also. It is in our human nature to be able to do those things that can help us get ahead quickly and create an amazing life.
If my patient could create an amazing life, anyone and everyone can have an amazing life. If Hamid Bey could control his body, slow down his heart and breathing to be buried alive for many hours, sometimes days, it should be easy for us to learn to be healthy, to lower our blood pressure, control our blood sugars and weight, and heal our ulcers.
The key to all of this is based on how we think. The great Earl Nightingale, co-founder of Nightingale Conant Corporation that produces many motivational tapes and CDs, once said that the greatest secret in the world is, “We become what we think about most of the time.”
“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs...one step at a time.” — Joe Girard
Several people have told me that there is no shortcut to success. They say that you have to learn from your mistakes and failures until you gain enough wisdom to gradually piece together your dominating thoughts into the things that you desire. This is true; however, is it not also true that if we had learned some secrets earlier in our lives we could have and probably would have gone around some of those obstacles and avoided a lot of pain and loss?
In the next chapter, I will begin the process of teaching you the steps to think correctly so you, too, can create an amazing life easier, sooner, and with joy.