The Problem Was the Solution

By SHIRAZ BABOO

I’ll never forget that day at the gym. I was 22 years old, studying medicine, and in the best shape of my life. I was a gym junkie; one day, I was doing a military press, and I felt pain in my right shoulder. I immediately realized this wasn’t muscle pain; this was something else.

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Initially, the pain wasn’t bad, I thought it would be a simple annoyance to get through. Within months, I had intense pain in every joint in my body. I would spend days lying in bed in agony. There were nights when I sipped dinner through a straw because my jaw was so swollen and painful.

Everything was planned out, and then bam! That plan was gone, and I was left scrambling and dealing with emotions of anger, frustration, despair, self-judgment, and self-pity.

I tried different things to relieve the pain: medication, supplements, diet, even acupuncture, and yoga. Everything worked . . . for a little while. But the pain returned in full force.

It wasn’t until almost twenty pain-filled years later that I met the man who would change my perspective on how reality worked.

I flew to India to meet him, I thought he would do a laying on of hands and say, “Heal Shiraz. Heal!” Instead, he talked to me daily for two weeks. He was like a psychiatrist, gathering information.

He told me, “Shiraz, here’s the problem. You believe you’re responsible for everyone in your life.”

“No, I don’t,” I replied.

“I know you don’t think that consciously, but from everything you’ve told me, you formed this belief beginning at the age of eight.”

“But I don’t think I’m responsible for everyone — and what’s this got to do with arthritis?”

“Ah, you don’t want to be responsible for everyone.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. Duh.”

“And when you’re lying in bed in pain, you don’t have to be responsible for anyone, and you don’t have to feel guilty about it; people see you struggling to get through the day, so they won’t ask you to take care of them. It’s the solution to a problem you don’t even realize you have.”

That knocked me off balance mentally. “That’s messed up,” I said.

“But that’s what most illnesses are,” he replied. “Solutions for problems people don’t realize they have.

I thought about it and then said, “Okay, if this is true, then all I have to do is say I’m not going to be responsible for anyone but me, and I won’t have arthritis anymore.”

He nodded. “Yes—IF you believe it deep down, then you won’t need the arthritis.”

I gathered my will, saying, “I’m not going to be responsible for anyone but me.”

And you know what happened at that moment? Nothing.

But when I woke up the next morning, I had no pain, no inflammation. I had more mobility, and I could even breathe better.

You don’t get rid of eighteen years of illness overnight. And yet I did. Now, the damage done to my body was still there. This is an important lesson: Sometimes you get miracles, and sometimes you get a journey. If you’re not willing to have the journey, you don’t typically get the miracles. You get more miracles when you’re willing to have both. Losing the arthritis was a miracle. The restoration of my body has been a journey—one I’m happy to be on.

Are you willing to go on a journey filled with miracles?

There was a track I walked every day, doing my “old-man shuffle” while others flew by. Even people in their sixties and seventies would pass me. Now, I was passing everybody. I was weaving in and out, and they were looking at me with expressions of “What the hell?

When I got home, everyone was amazed. And get this: NOBODY asked me to be responsible for them. Why would they? It was a belief created by an eight-year-old.

I discovered it wasn’t only about illness. It’s the reason you don’t have the money you would like. It’s why you don’t have satisfying relationships or the clients you desire.

Your mind prioritizes the avoidance of emotional distress over physical circumstances. The three biggest emotions your mind tries to avoid are guilt, shame, and heartbreak. Arthritis was preferable to the guilt (unfounded as it was) I believed I’d experience.

If you’re worried you might feel shame for living a life of abundance while others are suffering, then your mind will make sure to limit your income. Knowing you MIGHT feel it is enough to trigger a physical response of “make less money.”

Are you okay with people having expectations of you because you have wealth? If so,you are unconsciously limiting your income.

Physical problems can actually be the solution to an emotional problem you’re not seeing. And it’s a problem you don’t want to see. This is important because it means it will be impossible to solve this problem on your own. You need someone else to spell it out for you. That’s why every solution I had for my arthritis failed. The longer that solution (drugs, diet, etc.) worked, the more guilty I felt for being able to help some people and not everyone. When I let go of the guilt, I let go of the problem.

Today, I am living the life of my dreams: traveling and hanging out in exotic places with amazing people; healthier than I’ve been in years; and attracting bigger, better opportunities!

Furthermore, when I work with others, doing belief shifting similar to what my mentor did with me, I get results in as little as five minutes. I’ve helped clients increase their income by ten times, get out of illness, find the love of their life, and even fill their events. Imagine how different your life could be if you dropped your limiting beliefs! Your dream life isn’t far away. You just have to believe.