Fate. Kismet. Destiny. Perhaps these are not everyday words for everyday use. In fact, most would say these are extraordinary words that have power. And such is it that these are the words that I use to describe VIVA GLAM’s relationship with Michael-Blu and Seth Lewis of Blu Seth Farms.
Michael-Blu and Seth, owners of Blu Seth Farms, are known for high quality eye care products such as Rev-Eye-Visco and Citru-Arctic-Tea Rejuvenating Eye Mask. In what originally began as a business relationship several years ago has organically blossomed into something much more. And, as it is so much of the time, life’s greatest lessons, inspirations and miracles come from the positive people that are around you.
Powerful energy radiates off both Michael-Blu and Seth. And it is an energy you feel upon first meeting them. It is also important to note here that they are very real. Genuine people are hard to come by, Folks. And genuine means wearing their hearts on their sleeves and sometimes showing imperfections. I tend to respect people who allow others to see their flaws. Perfection equals not real, you see. And in my book, you score higher if you are not afraid to show this.
Little did I know upon meeting them how much we would all affect each other’s lives. And little did I understand in what subtle ways the Universe would use each of us to pass blessings back and forth.
At this point, you are probably asking, “What in the world are you talking about?” Well, let me start at the beginning. Actually, this journey really starts as far back as 1993, so let me start this story instead a few months ago.
Michael-Blu had invited us to celebrate his birthday in Hollywood. Good food, fun and festivities are always expected. I mean, we can have a great time together at a frozen yogurt stand! But little did I know that tonight we would be planting a seed in Michael-Blu’s mind that would have tremendous impact. And, much later, he would also be planting positive miracles in our lives as well.
He invited several people to come to the party. But, in the end, due to traffic, previous commitments, etc. we were the only ones there. Instead of it being a letdown, it was the Universe allowing us time and space for miracles to occur. By being a smaller crowd of five, we were able to connect on a level that we almost certainly would not have been able to if there were more people. Instead of superficial talk, we spoke and listened from the heart. I am reminded in this situation how “real” talk is always a blessing never to be underestimated.
We spoke about Michael-Blu’s difficulty with his family. How he was estranged from them. How disappointed his parents and brother were of him. And we heard the pain in the voice of someone who just wanted to be loved and accepted by his family and whose family was just unable to do so. It was painful to hear. After all, we have all had situations in our lives of rejection from those we love. We spoke about being able to change ourselves, but we are not responsible or capable of changing those around us. And how we must have the strength to remove ourselves from unhealthy situations. And, most importantly, we have to love ourselves as well as the ones who are hurting us.
As I said, this evening was life altering for Michael.
After that night, he began to think only of the positive times with his family. And he also removed himself from this situation with them. As we all know, that is a tremendously difficult step for anyone to take. And he started to love himself.
As his life began to change, Michael-Blu decided to share much of his life before we met him. And this is where the real story begins. It is a story of strength, courage, pain, and one of overcoming tremendous obstacles to obtain miracles. Now, I know people tend to use the word “miracle” lightly. They use it when describing the newest concealer or even mayonnaise. But here, we are referring to a miracle in the truest of forms.
I believe no miracle is attained without trial and tribulation. Perhaps, this is so we truly appreciate the gift we are given. After all, what man appreciates a nugget of gold when he is living in a golden house? So, it has been through baby steps in the right direction, a positive outlook on life and sheer determination in the face of negativity, that Michael-Blu’s life turned around for good.
There is no sugar coating here. None indeed. No one in this world is perfect. And either is Michael-Blu. But, through weakness we can see strength. And his story is one we will all identify with because it is a story of learning to truly love others and yourself without ego or expecting anything back in return. If you really think about it, to attain this is to learn one of life’s biggest lessons: Love thy neighbor as thyself and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Whatever your belief system, I believe The Golden Rule universally applies.
Eight years ago, Michael was diagnosed with a neuro muscular disease. It came on quickly over the span of 6 to 8 months and hit him hard. He told me, “It knocked me down. I was falling down and couldn’t walk on my own. In fact, I had to walk with a cane. I was having severe muscle spasms and convulsions in the middle of the night and was terrified to go to sleep because I was having swallowing problems and was afraid I was going to choke to death. It had become a very scary existence for me. I went to 10 or 15 doctors and no one knew immediately what was wrong with me. I had brain scans and went on different medicines and no one could figure it out. Finally, I was sent to Dr. W. King Engle, who was the head of the Neuromuscular Center at USC. He thought he knew what it was and ordered a bunch of tests, a spinal tap and a 3″ biopsy on my leg muscle. I also had nerve conduction tests on the same day. It was an excruciating ordeal but waiting for the results was worse. After about three weeks I was told I had a auto immune neuromuscular disease and I would have to begin blood infusion therapy twice a week. This treatment is called IVIG. IVIG infuses platelets that go directly to your immune system that attacks your nerves.”
After about a month of his IVIG treatments, Michael-Blu started to feel good again. But he realized it was going to be a lifelong situation. Yes, it did allow him to feel good, but he had to be dependent on IVIG. It was his life support. Without it, he couldn’t even wash or dry his hair. And his fingertips and feet felt numb all of the time.
His IVIG treatment is a 6 hour long process. A home nurse came to Michael-Blu’s house at midnight and administered his regimen. I was shocked at what I was hearing as I had never heard about Michael-Blu’s illness before. I marveled at what he had to struggle with each and everyday. And yet, he always had a smile and was in good spirits when I saw him.
He went on to tell me that a little over a year ago, he and Seth decided to change their diets and lead a healthy lifestyle with organic food and Super Smartbursts. “What is a Super Smartburst?” I asked. Michael-Blu and Seth refer to this journey of self-discovery and entire positive experience as “Super Smartburst”. It represents the raw fruits and vegetables followed by exercise and reading for knowledge. Michael said it was like they opened themselves up and got a huge burst of answers, smartness, knowledge, direction, guidance, and most importantly, enlightenment! Super Smartburst started them on a path to nature, to the earth and what God intended for them to be nourished with, both mentally and physically: a burst of enlightenment.
By listening to several physicians and by educating himself, Michael-Blu discovered that his disease attacks the sheath that wraps around the nerves in the body. This disease eats the wraps and then starts to attack the nerves. The result is a sense of false signals to the sensory and motor nerves and then to the brain.
Michael-Blu continued to do Super Smartbursts for a year and a half and miraculously started to get some of his reflexes back. He and Seth then decided to start working out with a trainer and dedicated themselves to undergo a body transformation and a lifestyle of health and wellness . In fact, one day Michael-Blu was watching an inspirational video by trainer Greg Plitt and he believes that was a life altering moment. Since then, he and Seth have been working out with personal trainer Will Hamilton 4 times a week for the past year and began to feel different, stronger and overall really great.
Mind you, this didn’t happen overnight. Rather, this has been a journey of baby steps. This has been a journey of eating healthy, working out, reading tons of books, positive thinking, living an authentic life and being truthful with oneself.
Michael-Blu believes his birthday night was a life changing moment. And it was a life altering moment that he was fully conscious of. He said, “The Universe got involved and the people that were supposed to be there that night were there. Things were said that night that changed the way I felt about myself. It is very strange and difficult to put into words, but I just felt it was important and I knew in my body that things were happening.
Regarding my family, I decided that night, I’m going to think about the things that I love about them. I think about the positive things, not the negative things. I also think about the times with them that I laughed and what I love about each one of them. The best thing I’ve learned out of this entire experience is that I keep growing as a human being and head in a positive direction. This whole journey has been so miraculous and I feel like so much information has been given to me.”
Michael-Blu continued with his story about his healing and said, “I was feeling so great and so strong, a voice kept telling me that I Didn’t need my treatment anymore. I really felt different. Seth and I took a road trip to Denver a few months ago and I started to know something was happening within me physically. I could literally feel a shift in me. It was very conscious. I told Seth that I was being healed because I could feel it in my nerves, I could literally feel my nerves and muscles healing themselves. I wasn’t even able to sleep and this lasted over two weeks. When we got home I made an appointment with my neurologist Dr. Shalini Mahajans who has since taken over as director of the Neuromuscular Center at USC to find out what was going on. At the appointment she asked to do a nerve conduction test. This test involves a needle going into your muscle that allows the doctor to see damage and how your nerves are responding to electrical current. I was actually excited about this because it was going to be proof that something was happening inside of me.
I made a decision then to taper off my treatments because I felt like I didn’t need them. I went down to once a week and felt okay. Then every other week. Then none. An inner voice also told me to call my psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Haraszti to get a blood test. You see, I’ve been on heavy medications for a long time, about 20 years.”
“What do you consider heavy?” I asked.
He went on to tell me he had been on as many as 8 different medications plus the IVIG treatments twice a week. “I had a lot of doctors and a lot of medications to keep me functioning. This was my life support. Well, my psychiatrist told me according to my blood work, I wasn’t even taking my medications! I told him I was. He said the medications aren’t even showing up in your blood work! My body was already cleaning itself. I decided to stop taking all medications. My doctor suggested tapering off of them for health reasons and I agreed.”
Next, I went back to the neurologist for my test results. She said, “I’m going to tell you something, if I spoke to any expert here and showed them your results, they would never believe you had a neuromuscular disease. In fact, you surpassed every test and you have no nerve or muscle damage left. I don’t even know what to say and this is every doctor’s dream for this to happen. ” I told her, .≤I wish you could feel what I feel right now.’ I knew already that this was true. I knew what was happening. Now I had proof From two doctors that something miraculous was happening to me. I was being healed. I have to add and make it really clear that I’m in no way against Doctors or medicine, I believe that both saved my life and allowed me to go through this process. I’m a true testament to the brilliance and humanity of my Doctors. They encouraged me to get well and created a space for a miracle to manifest.
Through this journey that I have been on, information and healing has been coming to me in my dreams, while I have been consciously awake and I also believe things have been spoken to me on purpose. I believe what healed me was mentally and physically being in a total truthful state, a positive outlook on life, positive thinking on the whole and manifesting. I now strongly believe that we can not be whole and completely healthy if we are living untrue and against nature. We must begin to live in a state of complete honesty to be in top form, mentally and physically.
I would find myself on the elliptical machine running and would be so grateful for my clean bill of health. In fact, all of my prayers for my entire life over the past year have turned into gratitude. I really only have gratitude. I feel so filled with so many amazing people and things I have to be grateful for. And this in turn has filled me with so much love for others. I know the human heart and I know how it works and feels. I know what it is to be rejected and to be in despair, I also know what it is to be loved and to love. And I now know how important it is to tell people how you feel about them and how empowering this simple gesture is. You can change a person’s life by the simplest thing. In fact, you have to be careful about what you say to people. Because words are powerful and what you say can be life-altering in a good or bad way.”
I agreed with Michael-Blu and something in what he had just said made me think to ask how he knew that words held such power. He said, “Let’s go back 17 years. I was living in NYC and pursuing a career in acting and singing. I had just finished recording an album and had a super manager. I can look back and I know exactly what was going on during this time. I’m talking about positive thinking and manifesting miracles in your life. Believe me, this is real and I know we are all manifesting our lives from the day we are born to the day we die. You have the power to manifest crap or great things! Once you realize this and have control over it, you can put positive things in your life. I can look back on this time in my life and at this time I believed in myself so much and had so many positive people around me that wanted only the best for me. I know from this time too how powerful words are. The spoken word is so powerful in both a negative and positive way. Sometimes I think that people are not conscious of how powerful words are. I am reminded of a phrase by the poet Maya Angelou:
.≤You might not remember what someone said to you, but you will never forget the way they made you feel.’
I was on top of the world and one person said something so horrible and devastating to me that it crushed my spirit completely and I let it infect my life and it ruined my self-confidence. It affected me so deeply that it was like they stuck a knife into me and killed me. Remember, I was on a positive path and I believed in myself. I felt it was ripped from me and I actually ended up in a hospital with a nervous breakdown for 2 months!
Of course, this breakdown didn’t happen overnight. It occurred over the course of a few months as I let that infections ruin my self confidence. My manger saw it happening. I was suicidal and almost killed myself. I told my manager I needed help.”
I was surprised by this revelation, but urged him to go on. Michael, said, “My manager Tony Coelho who became my best friend, helped me. He was able to get me into Silver Hill in New Canaan, CT. I stayed at Silver Hill for 2 months. I got put on heavy medications while there. I lost my spirit and succumbed to defeats and losing myself. I took the medication they gave me. None of my family came to be there with me. Maybe this is because some people have such a hard time handling the truth. Tony, however, was there and came twice a week to see me. He sent me stuff in the mail to cheer me up. He was there for me then and he saved my life. He has been there ever since. His words and actions changed my life forever.”
Michael-Blu said he got out of Silver Hill 2 months later. Reflecting on his experience there, he said, “I got out of the hospital and looking back on everything, I believe when you are not living an authentic, true life for yourself, it is detrimental to your health. I feel like it was what made me sick. Because all of the time I was trying to be what everyone wanted me to be. I wasn’t being truthful to myself about who I was. Regarding what happened with my parents, I now feel set me free as a human being. Sometimes as painful as it is you just have to separate yourself from negativity. I’m accepting myself and living a truthful life. And because of this, my life has changed in miraculous ways.
Today, I am even a better, stronger person than I was before. Seth and I run our business and we make strong decisions about life. We are there for each other in an amazing way and there is a bionic strength and super force in our partnership. We’re together!”
I was completely awe-struck at the end of Michael-Blu’s story. I also had the blessing of reading some of his journal entries during his miraculous journey:
To my awesome Facebook family, I’ve been on…and I’m still on the most fantastic physical and spiritual journey of my life… growing, learning and receiving unbelievable blessings. It’s just astounding when you think of how uniquely God created each one of us, each of us miracles…so perfect with such a purpose and a calling…all of us so powerful. And then think of this massive, unending universe that we’re all divinely a part of…God created all of us and all of this to work together in an extremely powerful way…we are all born with the power to manifest miracles, gigantic and limitless miracles. This journey I’m on, at this very moment, is producing life altering miracles and blessing that are almost impossible to comprehend. I’m completely overwhelmed and overflowing with gratitude…for so many things, and people, and friendships and love…and life. I’ve come to the realization that I need to pause where I am so I can process the magnitude of the events taking place…I don’t want to miss anything…I want to take it all in and understand it the best I can. So,
on Saturday night
June 20th I’m going off line for a month so that I can really focus on myself and process the miracles that are taking place…when I comeback on July 20th…I have a monumental story to tell all of you…I can’t wait!!! Peace & Love…and remember, you are a miracle and within you is the power to create miracles!
Believe in your dream with all your love, all your life and all your soul…because, guess what? If it’s your dream and you believe in it, then God gave you that dream, it didn’t just fall out of the sky, God gave you that dream…it’s yours…all you have to do is GO GET IT! It won’t be easy…nothing that really means anything is, it’s lots of hard work. Believe in yourself, believe in your dream and open yourself to receive all that you’ve asked for, all of Gods blessings. Most importantly give! Always have a giving heart…and remember, the more you ask for, the more that’s expected of you…elevate yourself…rise to the occasion…be more than you ever dreamed you could be….always remember…the dream is yours and the sky’s the limit!
And Michael-Blu also made a list of his desires for 2015. This is something he encourages everyone to do:
Love intensely
Forgive often
Make new friends
Enjoy old friends
Learn new things
Never look back with regret
Travel to a far away land
Sing from my soul
Meditate with deeper understanding
Wish upon a star
Build something
Walk with God
Laugh till I cry
Cry at the sight of beauty
Write a new book
Pray for peace
Realize a dream
Kiss with passion
Let go of fear
Give from the heart
Receive without question
Have faith in the unseen
Take a spiritual journey
Honor my parents
Respect myself
Have compassion for others
Be judgment free
Sparkle
Shine
Be in the moment
But most of all…I want to LIVE!
Like many of us, others have been inspired by Michael-Blu’s writings on social networking about his miraculous life journey. One reader wrote:
Dear Michael-Blu you have Radiant Energy!
You have Radiant Energy! You are filled with wise words, which never lack positivism. You truly are a ray of sunshine and consistently allow yourself to feed off of the wonderful people in your life and them doing so in return. In order to receive warmth, you not only understand but believe that you must give it out as well. However, your insight and depth perception do not go unnoticed. Being in your presence and discussing the more consequential aspects of life travel through ears as well as minds, leaving a lasting impression on the way everyone should see the world with hopeful hearts and big eyes. Your energy provides an essential balance to the world, and don’t you forget it! FACEBOOK Friend
And finally, Michael-Blu offers some words of wisdom from a piece that he deeply identifies with by Charlie Chaplin that is meant to be shared and will hopefully leave you with encouragement, wisdom, blessings, power to face life’s challenges and to give hope in the face of adversity:
As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.
Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody. As I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this
person was me. Today I call it “RESPECT”.
As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.
Today I call it “MATURITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment. So I could be calm.
Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE”.
As I began to love myself I quit stealing my own time,
and I stopped designing huge projects for the future.
Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm. Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.
As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health .¨ food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF”.
As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is “MODESTY”.
As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING is happening. Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.
As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But As I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this connection “WISDOM OF THE HEART”.
We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born. Today I know THAT IS “LIFE”!
If I could sum up what I learned from Michael-Blu during his miraculous journey, I think it would be:
Remember, everybody has the ability to affect someone in the world. Words have power, both for positivity and negativity. And forgive everyone, even those who you have difficulties with, from the heart. Live truthfully and live honestly with yourself above all. And most importantly, love, love, love.And Michael-Blu, we love you. J
