“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I called Upjohn nursing service last Tuesday, noting that starting next Monday we’ll want a nurse at the house only three times a week instead of five. I’ll do the dressing-changes required for Jane’s decubiti the other days. The nurse, Peggy Jowett, has already been informed of the change in routine. Our idea is to soon cut down the visits to two a week, then one....

(One thing that led to our decision to cut down the visits was that I felt that often Jane seemed worse after the nurses left than she was before they arrived, although her being stirred up for a couple of hours may have contributed to my feeling. But it does seem like a mixed blessing at best. We’re always on the watch for negative suggestions, and some of the nurses dispense these very freely. One of them, Eleanor, visited Jane the last two Mondays and Tuesdays. She is now on vacation, and we trust that the reduced schedule will do away with Eleanor’s visits. She is a nice person who means well, but who also broadcasts negative suggestions like a radio beacon, quite unwittingly. It’s easy to see that she has built her life around such feelings, and is quite pleased with it. [She told Jane she’s had five operations herself.] Jane got so that when Eleanor was here she was constantly saying “no, no, no” to herself as the nurse talked, in order to protect herself from that steady barrage.

They are an attempt to throw a spotlight in the physical area. Ruburt’s skin is remarkably healthy, particularly given the situation. (Pause.) It is not given “to breaking down.” He has been doing his own kind of energy exercises, involving the particular “sore” (the ulcer on her coccyx; it’s slowly closing), but I suggest that he does one of those exercises faithfully every day, and that both of you simply see the area healed. You don’t even have to say “It will be healed,” but simply see it mentally in that condition. Do the exercise as effortlessly as possible, and then forget it.

(Jane answered by telling me how she felt this morning—“discombobulated” —meaning that various parts of her body seem to move, or want to move, out of rhythm or sync with other parts—but that overall she recognizes that those are all healthy signs of the body trying to heal itself. She then said that more and more it was going to be up to us to pull ourselves out of our difficulties, since it seemed we’d get little help from others. She wants us to be as optimistic as we can. These ideas are a great improvement over her earlier attitudes, of course, and we’ll see what we can do. They also probably answer some of my questions about the role her sinful self may be playing these days.

(9:10.) Give us a moment.... There is no doubt that Ruburt was deeply shocked by some of the doctors’ pronouncements involving his walking—but already there are signs of loosening in the knees, and in the leg muscles as well. Do not force therapeutic motions. The box idea (propping up her legs while she’s prone on the bed) is an excellent one, but should be tried very gradually and easily at first, and then gradually expanded in time.

(9:30.) His situation itself will be different as he gains more energy and strength. And your own energy can also be revitalized. (Long pause.) I do not mean to appear unconcerned, either, Joseph, about your own inconvenience at such times, or the breaking of the sleep pattern. I am saying that the situation contains excellent creative opportunities that outweigh the lack of sleep or whatever thus far experienced.