Dear friends,
A few weeks ago, I admitted myself to the emergency room because I couldn’t breathe. My epiglottis was swollen, and I wasn’t getting enough air.
The ER team treated me with prednisone to reduce the swelling and antibiotics in case of infection. Then they referred me to a local ear, nose, and throat specialist.
He examined me with a scope, leaned forward, and looked at me gravely:
“You almost died. You need to get in your car right now and drive to San Francisco to the emergency room at the medical school.”
I was stunned. Drive to San Francisco—four hours away—in Memorial Day traffic—while I was in a life-threatening condition?
That didn’t sit right with me.
So instead, I returned to the ER with my wife and asked Dr. Wilkie, the physician who first treated me:
“Can you take care of me if I stay within 10 minutes of this emergency room?”
He answered without hesitation: “Definitely, yes.”
And here I am, three days later, alive and writing to you.
The lesson is simple: always get a second opinion.
Even in urgent moments. Especially in urgent moments.
Doctors are human. They see the world through their own training, their own fears, their own assumptions. That doesn’t make them bad doctors—it makes them human. And that’s why your instincts, your loved ones, and sometimes another doctor’s perspective can make all the difference.
And here’s something else: in that moment, I stayed calm. I didn’t panic. I slowed my breath, listened carefully, and made a rational decision from a place of steadiness. That calmness gave me the clarity to make wise choices.
This is exactly what I teach in my new book, Master Your Mind: Practical Tools to Calm Anxiety, Silence Your Inner Critic, and Stop Overthinking.
It’s about building the inner habits that keep you steady—even when life throws emergencies your way.
Golden light,
Dr. Richard Louis Miller
1-minute mind control (my new book)
Traditional mindfulness and meditation techniques often require a huge investment of your most precious resource (time) without guarantees of results.
My own version of mindfulness—what I sometimes refer to as “mind control”—can be mastered in much less time if you commit to regular 60-90 second practice throughout the day.
Breathing. Witnessing. Changing the channel on negative thoughts.
I’ve honed these techniques over a lifetime of personal and professional practice, and now I’m sharing them with the world.
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