No More Migraines and Other Crap (After 30 Years)

“Mama, you’re the best mama in the world because you laugh all the time.” These are the words of my seven-year-old son. We are bobbing around in a pool playing a silly game when he says them. I smile and feel those words sink into my skin, like the drops of water we’ve splashed on each other. I could scream in revelry and sob in relief at the same time.

Six months prior, these are not words I would have ever anticipated hearing, nor would my son have said them. Six months prior, I likely would have been in bed with one of my hormonal migraines, hearing the sounds of my family, my beloved animals and the farm I live on echo in the distance. A distance I couldn’t span, a life it seems, I could barely touch, much less experience.

I could fill pages with a list of symptoms that once defined my life. But, if you are reading this, I imagine you have a list of your own and you are trying to free yourself from that list, so why would I ask you to compare yours to mine? At the heart of it, whether you have a list of symptoms or not, you probably want a better life for yourself and something is holding you back. So, I will just try to give you the big picture of my before and after Lightning Process:

At age 19, I started hormonal migraines that persisted for 30 years. Ten years into the migraines, I was bitten by a tick and another layer of debilitating symptoms poured over me. Symptoms that exacerbated the migraines and arrived in cycles like tidal waves—“flare-ups” -- that took me down and out, days and sometimes weeks at a time. Countless tests, one surgery and endless lost days resulted in financial stress, loss of faith in our medical system and profound self-doubt, perpetuated by doctors telling me I was a hypochondriac without ever considering the context of my whole self. Fast forward to 25 years after my first migraine: I am happily married, a mother of one beautiful child, farming my dream of specialty cut flowers and still, constantly trying to make up for lost time. A new layer of hormone crises settles in. My son plays in the living room by himself, every afternoon while I collapse on the couch, unable to keep my eyes open for him. I find myself inexplicably frustrated with my kind and loving family. I have anxiety attacks when I am delivering flowers. And then the migraines begin happening so continually that days and weeks fly by again while I am in bed, navigating pain and discomfort I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. And I am wondering why I am here. What’s the point? This isn’t a life. And it costs too much. My family deserves better. I deserve better.

You see, I am an optimist by nature and I love life so profoundly that there are days when I can feel my cells expanding with every ounce of living. I love all life, from the tiniest microorganism in the soil to the blue whales and elephants, the ancient trees and the stars long gone. Even with that love, I contemplated ending my own life, time and again, over the last three decades, because of these symptoms. If your own journey has brought you there, I am so very sorry. And I am writing this today for you because you deserve better. And YOU can give that to yourself.

I am not a superhero, although I think sometimes that I have superpowers. I am not exceptional, but I am remarkable, just like you. And if I can do this, you can too.

In December of 2022, my husband had put me on “disability”—which is a joke for us, because we run our own business. What it really meant was that he would shoulder the work of two (work and parenting), so I could focus on healing. In reality, he had already been doing that, but he made it official, in attempt to help me accept that I needed to prioritize my healing. He’s a tricky guy that way. In the meantime, a dear friend who had done Lightning Process promised my husband a “new wife” and fostered the process of me doing Lightning Process. My seminar wasn’t until February, so I spent the time doing a lot of prep work leading up to it (reading books on the list and doing things Amanda had suggested).

By the time the seminar came along, I had gone two months without a migraine. TWO months! And I hadn’t even learned how to fully use the tool yet. During the seminar, I received some devastating news about a dear friend. This, in previous months, would have sent me into the depths of a “flare up.” And while I grieved deeply, I still managed to stay fully present for the seminar and continue to apply the tools Amanda was teaching me. And I realized something more acutely: I know my friend never would have wanted me to suffer on account of him—even if he was suffering himself—but there is a difference between the logical mind saying, “Of course, you should love yourself. Of course, you deserve the best, ‘” and the whole person actually embracing and embodying that. Lightning Process really helped that sink in.

Since doing Lightning Process, I wake up each morning and I say, “I am amazing! And today is going to be rad!” Since doing Lightning Process, I race my son from the car to the grocery store door. Since doing Lightning Process, I can’t even access the symptoms that once pinned me down. Since doing Lightning Process, I have had the best farm season yet. Since doing Lightning Process, I have trained in and learned a healing practice that supports others to access their own healing potential. Since doing Lightning Process, my husband has asked for his old wife back. Because this new one is way too much. And of course, he is kidding.

Since doing Lightning Process, I love myself more than I ever have. And having just celebrated my 50th birthday, I believe I have already given myself the best gift there is: love, and consequently, vibrant health. It just keeps getting better. What can’t I do now?

Lightning Process is absolutely a gift of self-love. You must commit to yourself. You must BELIEVE you have influence over your life and want to change it for the better. Then, and only then, reach out to Amanda and ask her to teach you the Lightning Process. She is brilliant. She is delightful and she knows what you can do. If you are truly ready for this, Amanda will help you access your greatest potential, but remember: YOU are the one doing the work. You are the one giving yourself this gift. And what better gift are you to the world than an embodiment of your greatest potential?

Danielle
Montana