A Callout to Super Heroes | Psst, You Might Be on This List

Posted by Ken on July 12, 2013 in Get Off the Sidelines, Ken's Blogs

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I was standing in the shower this morning and a random thought went through my mind that I should write a story that did a callout to superheroes. A few names started going through my mind as to who I would mention, so I let the thoughts flow and came up with a list of names. And here’s a spoiler alert – You, yes YOU, just might be on this list.

Wikipedia describes it this way:

“A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a type of stock character possessing “extraordinary or superhuman powers” and dedicated to protecting the public.”

Well I don’t really care too much about the “stock character” component of this definition, but I do know a lot of people that are bringing their powers to bear in the name of protecting the public. And, even at the risk of missing some of my very dear friends in this list, I’m going to start naming names. I honestly hope you’ll take the time to “meet” these superheroes, people who have really made a difference for me on my healing journey, and I honestly hope you’ll take a bit of time to reflect at the end. Here’s another spoiler alert – we ALL have super powers.

Lissa Rankin, MD – I’ve spoken of Lissa many times in my blogs. She is a doctor who became one because of a true passion for healing (look up her story about finding and nursing baby squirrels when she was seven years old). As she got frustrated with the fact that her “healthiest living” patients were still getting sick, she dedicated herself to learning more and promotes the power of the mind to create an environment for miracles, where the body can heal itself. Our minds and our outlook have a very significant impact on our health. Her book, “Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof that the Body Can Heal Itself” is a must-read, in my humble opinion.

William Davis, MD – I’ve never actually met William though I’m sure I will, he is the author of the book “Wheat Belly”. I picked up and read the book to see how it might have an impact on my health. Going against the grain (pun fully intended), William highlights the linkages between today’s genetically modified wheat (and other grains) and many of the dis-eases and conditions (arthritis, IBS, acid reflux, heart conditions, and many more) that are so prevalent in today’s society. The stories he shares of people’s health improving significantly after only a few months served as a further wake-up call for me.

Robyn O’Brien – I saw Robyn’s TEDx talk and immediately connected with her passion, and encouragement for others to make a difference. Making the connection between increasing allergies and dis-ease diagnosis in kids, she started to research more and more about the impacts of the genetic modification of foods on the human body. While this work is very important, her passion for encouraging everyone to step up just a wee bit is more compelling. Check out her talk on youTube and follow her on Facebook.

Andrea Beaman – I kinda met Andrea at a conference in Washington last year and her story inspired me to start asking a few more questions about my own particular health. Almost 20 years ago, she was diagnosed with an “incurable” disease. The doctor recommended destroying her thyroid with radiation. She listened with discernment and said, “No freaking way!” Instead, she focused on healing her body with natural, wholesome foods and improvements in her lifestyle and consciousness. She writes an awesome blog that challenges people to ask questions and not accept the status quo, and she’s a pretty darn good foodie too.

Monica Wilcox (and Andrea Silver) – A large part of my healing journey has been focused on learning to heal the entire body, the full mind-body-spirit connection. Monica and her FaceBook group (thanks Andrea for inviting me to the group) have provided a spiritual home for me, a place where I can go in either my happiest or saddest times, and share what is going on with me. I have been uplifted by this group so many times, and I like to think that I’ve been able to do the same for others at times.

I could go on and on, but I want to make a quick point about how these people got onto my superhero list. When I was first diagnosed with a dis-ease, I asked what caused it and the answer was “we don’t know”. Well, we may not know in all cases, but with the help of these and many other similar minded people, I have come to realize that we have a lot better idea of what is contributing to illness and dis-ease than we realize, and we have a lot of ways to identify and deal with potential root causes as well. Thank you to each of you!

There’s two more “people” I want to call out. Let me start with YOU. Who are you? You are every single person that has ever done a deed to help protect others. You are the person who has offered encouragement after a blog or Facebook post or a tweet, you are the person who has shared a post, you are the person who talked to a friend or family member about what you just saw. YOU have the same super powers as each of the people that I’ve mentioned above, and you also have the power to actually use them. Whether in a small or a big way, you have made a difference each time that you have helped someone out, and really, is there anything more awesome than that? I’m reminded of a Marianne Williamson quote that many of you may know part of, but may not know the whole thing:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

You have the powers, and it’s not a bad time to put them into good use. Will you?

And here’s the final callout. It’s ME!

Reader: Wait, did he just call himself a superhero? Is he full of ego? What’s wrong with him?

I don’t know if you had those thoughts or not, but doesn’t it seem like that’s how we’re trained to think. Even after I called out every single one of you as a superhero, there seems to be something weird, or wrong, about calling myself out as one. Seriously? If everybody else is one, then am I the only one that’s not? And what are the side effects of this type of thinking? We always minimize our own power.

Even as I type this, I feel myself thinking that I shouldn’t actually do the callout to myself. Yet that just might be hypocritical. How can I challenge you to go through an exercise RIGHT NOW to recognize your superpowers and set your intention to use them at every opportunity? Well, I can’t! So here goes. “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

Learning and understanding that there are many factors that contribute to a person’s health and both physical and emotional healing, Ken encourages people to stop giving their power away when it comes to their health and happiness. He encourages them to “shine a light” on their own magnificence and learn to trust and accept themselves for who they really are, not who they think others want them to be. He has a web site and blog that promote self-empowerment, authenticity, health and happiness, and he works with people and organizations to bring these ideas into their personal and corporate culture. He is a dynamic and inspirational speaker, and believes that the move to self-empower ourselves for our own health will have a dramatic impact on the diagnoses of many of today’s illnesses.

Phew! Honestly, that was a bit easier than I thought it would be. It may or may not describe me perfectly, but the descriptions I gave for all the people above may or may not describe them perfectly either. Does that really matter?

So here’s the challenge. Will you take the time to self-reflect? Will you make the effort to understand your own superpowers? Will you set the intention to use them? What is your superhero name?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comments section below.

Namaste, Ken

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Written by Ken

Ken Jaques describes himself as a Health Care Evolutionary, Community Builder, and Speaker. True healing begins when we treat root causes instead of just masking symptoms. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2008, Ken has experienced many facets of the health care system. As “the only patient who ever lost their hair on this low of a dosage of chemotherapy” – as spoken by his rheumatologist – Ken has been on an amazing journal of self-discovery, a journey of true healing. In his blog, Ken shares stories of how his beliefs have changed over the past few years, and how they are still changing. Is it possible that our bodies can heal themselves? Do we really have to live without hope after we receive a chronic illness diagnosis? These are the types of questions that Ken encourages people to ask themselves as they embark on their own physical or emotional healing journey.

Ken is creating a platform to connect People, Patients, Practitioners, Partners and Promoters, enabling a collaborative effort to help shift the focus on health from I-llness to We-llness. Check out the pilot at www.myHealthyCommunity.ca.

“When ‘I’ is replaced with ‘we’, even I-llness becomes WE-llness” ~ Malcolm X