This book is part of a £1 million fundraising journey for Help for Heroes. The £1 Million target is my way of saying 'thank you' to the Armed Forces for the opportunities and adventures that came from being connected with them. My father is ex-army (Royal Engineers) with postings to Malta, Germany (Berlin and Willich), the island of St Helena (South Atlantic Ocean), and Cyprus when I was a child.

For twenty-five to thirty years, I had anxiety, depression and panic attacks related to how I viewed my arms. In 2006, I went to Harley Street, London, for help with changing my thinking patterns to live a more peaceful and happier life. Now with a sense of peace and freedom from my past, I am fundraising for Help for Heroes.

If you wish to support me with this challenge my fundraising webpage is:

www.bmycha rity.com/successinmyhands

“When I first met Richard I was immediately struck by the positive energy he radiates. Rarely you meet people who are so sincere in their intentions that you can almost feel it. His desire to help others and use his own experiences and challenges to motivate others is a reflection of the way he lives his life. There’s no room for self pity in his approach, even when it may be justified, just pure and calm acceptance and a desire to be the best you can be. He is living proof of how what some
may see as a disadvantage can be turned into an asset. I can’t imagine anyone meeting Richard who wouldn’t be delighted to call him a friend.”
—Janet Thomson MSc, author, Tapping for Life

 

In 1970,I was born with “short arms”, similar to the old thalidomide type impairment. There was no known cause and I was 28 before I met another person with short arms. My father was in the Army and postings included Malta (where I was born) Germany, St Helena (a small island in the South Atlantic) and Cyprus. I grew up in a very physically abled bodied world, but felt a sense of difference to everyone else.

I did not understand the feelings I had and always wanted to hide myself away from life’s everyday challenges. My thoughts about my arms controlled me. I tried to escape from my thoughts by isolating myself from people by drinking and creating strategies that were self sabotaging my life. There were times when I experienced depression, anxiety and panic attacks, lasting almost 30 years!

In spite of all this, I never gave up hope that one day I would find a way to feel at peace and be free from the conditioned thinking that I had been accustomed to, and remove these self defeating patterns. I was always asking for help from friends and family and my GP to resolve the psychological challenges that I was experiencing, but I never thought (until now) about how I could help myself psychologically and emotionally.

The book tells my story; the patterns of thought that I followed that stopped me achieving the best for myself. My subconscious thoughts led me to a life of self sabotage in many areas of my life. I constantly attracted things into my life in a negative way, until I met a progressive therapist (Kevin Laye) who taught me many new techniques to ensure I stopped the self sabotaging behaviour – for good. Since my treatment in 2006 at a Harley Street clinic, I have attracted the things that I want in my life, simply from having a positive approach and changing my thoughts.

I know now, having learned how to change my thinking, that the negative thoughts I had created barriers to moving forward. Those barriers are gone now.

Positive thoughts I believe create ‘stepping stones’ to attracting the very things in life we all deserve, love, joy happiness and a feeling of abundance.

My book Success in my hands, A Journey to find my own peace and freedom will show you that I let my very core thoughts about my arms controlled my life.

Now, I have the techniques, I have changed my core thoughts to self belief, deservedness, happiness and wealth. I believe and hope my story will inspire other people who have their own unique obstacles in life, to take a first step to changing their own life.

‘I did simply because I knew I could.’ So can you!

Firstly why did I write ‘Success in my hands’? Simply to help me become happier, to start loving a part of me that I didn’t and to be free and at peace to be my self. I have had the overwhelming desire to be happy almost at any cost. I had I guess a sense of an underlying sadness related to my arms. The emotional feelings I wanted to change and be at peace and free from anxiety, depression and the panic attacks that lasted for nearly 30 years. This book is my opportunity to explain that the very words, feelings and actions have had a direct impact on my behaviour from an early age. Whilst writing the journey has been one of letting go of those negative thoughts and replacing them with happier ones so that I can ‘smile’ from the inside. I believed that my happiness was always to come from the ‘inside’. I knew why because my sadness was on the inside, all I had to do was reverse it. But I didn’t know ‘how’ I had to learn it and literally change my whole approach to life. Become enabled by changing the thoughts to happier ones. ☺