A few years ago my mother visited me from Europe. I saw her for the first time in 10 years. It was very stressful. As soon as she left, I came down with extreme fatigue. I tried to rest, I tried to pop vitamins, I tested “every kind of elixir known to man” I felt. I didn’t feel better.
Every day I felt worse.
I went and saw an MD, had tests done… nothing. I got to the point that I needed help to get up and go to the bathroom.
On a sunny Wednesday my MD told me that from that point I was on my own… he could not help me.
I went home. I had hired a personal trainer to help me get strong enough to walk. In addition, he had an MS in nutrition.
When I got home from the MD, weeping, the trainer was waiting for me. I told him what the doctor said… and he said: I can help you. Are you interested?
I had nothing to lose. I said yes. He asked for a piece of paper and wrote down something, told me to have one of my assistants go the the health food store, and that I should follow the diet that he prescribed to me.
It was a weird diet, but I promised.
On Saturday, when I woke up in the morning, I walked to the bathroom… and then I realized; Oh my God, I am walking.
I recovered from my incurable disease in about 2-3 months. At the end I felt better than I had felt in years.
Why am I telling you this story, you ask?
This is what I learned from this story, myself.
When something doesn’t work, your health, your relationship, your business, there is something that you don’t know.
In my case I didn’t know that the Ibuprofen I took 3 times a day made my guts leaky, and I was self poisoning.
The diet the guy put me on was eating 2 meals a day that consisted of a simple protein drink made of whey protein, and a red potato in the afternoon.
And here is the “distinction”:
When something is not working, there is something that you don’t know. And in addition to you not knowing something: you don’t know that you don’t know that. And ALL POWER COMES FROM FINDING OUT WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW.
If you knew you did know it, you would ask questions, and you would find out.
Instead: you think you know. You base your actions on the things you know, and what you know is incorrect, or incomplete.
I was sure that I was eating right. I was sure that taking Ibuprofen to my fibromyalgia was a good thing for me. I was sure that taking more vitamins was going to make me better. I was sure that the tests would show the doctor what was wrong with me. I had no doubt on my mind that what I knew was so.
Only when, out of desperation, I allowed someone else’s knowing to guide me, that I got better.
I have many examples of this distinction that I can share with you in later posts.
For now… consider that if things are not working there is something that you don’t know. And you don’t know that you don’t know it…
I write about this “what you don’t know you don’t know on another blog of mine