The Power of Thought

The arrhythmias began the final day of my junior year in high school. Without any provocation, my heart would go from a normal 60 beats per minute (bpm) to an astounding 300 bpm. As soon as my heart rate jumped so high, my heart stayed at the fast rate. As you can imagine, at 300 bpm my energy level would quickly decrease. To bring my heart rate back to normal, I would go to the hospital where they would shock my heart and bring my rate back to normal.

That day, the last day of school my junior year, was just the beginning of the struggles I would have with arrhythmias. Over the next few years I would go in and out of arrhythmias, always ending in a hospital trip to get shocked. More than anything, getting shocked was inconvenient. Every time I went to the hospital, I knew that I would be there for at least five hours. I came to dread arrhythmias because I didn’t want to take time out of my schedule to go to the hospital.

This dread lead to hyper observance. I would monitor my rate rate several times every hour to make sure that my heart rate was where it should be. But as the weeks went on I began to go into more and more arrhythmias. Eventually, it became clear that the increased frequency of arrhythmias was my fault! My hyper observance was inadvertently causing me to go into arrhythmias. My preoccupation of arrhythmias stressed me to the point of arrhythmias.

With practice, I learned how to control my thoughts so that I my attention was not focused on my heart rate. The frequency of my arrhythmias drastically decreased and my quality of life increased, all because I changed the focus of my thoughts.

Focus on Slushies

This boy accomplished many things that day. He came out of surgery well, taught me a valuable life lesson, and of course, got his slushies. What I learned was that the most important action we can take in the face of adversity is where we choose to put our focus. In life, there are so many things that are out of our control. What we can do is deliberately choose to focus on the positive aspects of life, and by so doing, we can have the confidence to move forward just like that little boy did.

I remember a little boy who was going in for a minor operation. In contrast to the procedures he had in the past, this operation was, to him, “a piece of cake.” The operation was simple, but to most healthy people would have been concerning. This boy however, was not scared one bit. The only thing that was on his mind was the unlimited slushies he would get after the surgery. He was not ignorant as to the nature of the operation, nor was he unaware of the risks associated with surgery, rather, he knew that focusing on the stresses outside of his control would be pointless and so instead focused on the outcome that was pleasant for him.

When you are in the hospital, you can find a lot of things to be frustrated with. The medical experience for any patient seems to move excruciatingly slow. The majority of the time you spend in a hospital is spent waiting. What’s worse, because medical workers are people, mistakes happen, and that can be frustrating. People who are not accustomed to the medical realm seems to be amazed at how long or inconvenient hospital visits can be. But as I grew up in an out of a children’s hospital, I saw the power of focusing on the good.