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Proverbs 23:7 “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
In that rather fascinating scripture that represents a philosophy as old as time, assume we have a concept called the placebo effect. A certain percentage of patients in trial studies are given “placebo” medicine. Theoretically, if the medicine has true efficacy, the medicine will do better than the placebo.
It is found that in any study, approximately 30% of the patients that are on the placebo improve. This phenomenon is defined as “people getting better because they believe they are getting medicine.”
The placebo effect demonstrates the power of believing in or thinking about something. When we do so, the desired result has a much greater chance of happening.
Our first two Habits of Highly Healthy people covered
- eating and diet and
- supplements.
The third Habit takes us into a new dimension, that of the thoughts that govern the health in our body.
Healthy people think healthy. They act healthy. They do healthy things. They understand and apply the power of their thoughts. They recognize that what they think about and focus on has the power to manifest in their lives. And their positive thoughts manifest in healthy bodies as well.
Sick thinking can be heard in such phrases as, “That makes me sick to my stomach.” “That guy’s a real pain (in the neck, rear, and so on).” It can be very self-instructive to listen carefully to what we are thinking and what we are saying. When emotions, judgments (even judging ourselves!) and discouragement are allowed to govern our thoughts, our bodies reflect the results.
Interestingly, it works both ways. When our thoughts extend to ourselves and others with love, compassion, prayer (and faith, hope, and charity), the results are measurably improved.
Consider these amazing case studies:
In 1988, there was a study conducted in a coronary care unit. A number of individuals representing various faiths and religious beliefs offered remote prayer in behalf of 400 coronary care patients for 10 months. The results of this study showed that the patients for whom prayers were offered had decreased overall complications, decreased pneumonia, decreased ventilator assistance, and decreased antibiotic use, compared to the other 400 patients in the same hospital with the same conditions for whom no remote prayers were offered.
In 1993, a group of people that practiced transcendental meditation meditated for peace in Washington , D.C. During that period of study, there was a decreased crime rate until the group left. During the same time period, the surrounding major cities had an increase in crime rate.
Morris Goodman, called “the Miracle Man,” is an author and international speaker. His story is a fascinating testimonial of the power of thought over health:
My story begins on March 10th, 1981. This day really changed my whole life. It was a day I will never forget. I crashed an airplane. I ended up in the hospital, completely paralyzed. My spinal cord was crushed. I broke the first and second cervical vertebrae. My swallowing reflex was destroyed. I couldn’t eat or drink. My diaphragm was destroyed. I couldn’t breathe. All I could do was blink my eyes.
The doctors, of course, said I’d be a vegetable the rest of my life. All I’d be able to do is blink my eyes. That’s the picture they saw of me. But it didn’t matter what they thought. The main thing was what I thought. I pictured myself being a normal person again, walking out of that hospital. The only thing I had to work with in the hospital was my mind, and once you have your mind, you can put things back together again.
I was hooked to a respirator and they said I’d never breathe on my own again because my diaphragm was destroyed. But the little voice kept saying to me “Breathe deeply, breathe deeply.” And finally I was weaned from it. They were at a loss for an explanation.
I could not afford to allow anything to come into my mind that would distract me from my goal, or from my vision. I had to set a goal to walk out of the hospital on Christmas and I did. I walked out of the hospital on my own two feet. They said it couldn’t be done. That’s the day I will never forget.
For people who are sitting out there right now and are hurting, if I wanted to sum up my life and sum up for people what they can do in life, I would sum it up in six words, “Man becomes what he thinks about.”
Mr. Goodman demonstrated that despite all medical evidence to the contrary, his body responded to his faith, his determination, and his thoughts. Scholars have said that we use about 2% to 5% of the capacity of our minds. We have a divine power within us that is rarely released, rarely utilized to its fullest extent.
In his book The Science of Being Well , Wallace D. Wattles maintains that we must have a clear image or vision of health. We must have faith that it can and will happen and we must sever all thoughts of disease. In my practice, I have found this philosophy to be true with my patients.
Cathy Goodman, the wife of Morris Goodman, “The Miracle Man,” faced a similar challenge that required intense focus and faith. She says,
I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I truly believed in my heart with my strong faith that I was already healed. Each day I would say, “Thank you for my healing.” On and on, and on I went: “Thank you for my healing.” I believed in my heart I was healed. I saw myself as if cancer was never in my body.
One of the things I did to heal myself was to watch very funny movies. That’s all we could do was just laugh, laugh, and laugh. We couldn’t afford to put any stress in my life, because we knew stress was one of the worst things you can do while you’re trying to heal yourself. From the time I was diagnosed, to the time I was healed was approximately three months. And that’s without any radiation or chemotherapy.
The commentary after that mentions that Cathy was inspired to include laughter as part of her healing after hearing about the story of Norman Cousins. Norman had been diagnosed with an incurable disease. The doctor told him he had just a few months to live. Norman decided to heal himself. For three months all he did was watch funny movies and laugh, laugh, laugh. The disease left his body in those three months, and the doctors proclaimed his recovery a miracle. As he laughed, Norman released all negativity and he released the disease. Laughter really is the best medicine.
Dr. Bernie Siegel, a surgeon, has written a magnificent series of books, one of which is entitled Love, Medicine, and Miracles . He shares his philosophy that part of the mind’s effect on health is direct and conscious. The extent to which we love ourselves determines whether we eat right, get enough sleep, smoke, overindulge, wear seatbelts, exercise, and so on. Each of these choices is a statement of how much we care about living. These decisions control about 90% of the factors that determine our state of health.
The difficulty for many people afflicted with disease is that most people’s motivation to attend to these basics is deflected by attitudes hidden from everyday awareness. For example, many of my chronically ill patients have a tough time separating the diseases from their perceived benefits.
“I hate being so dependant upon my family for my long term care, but it has definitely brought us closer as a family.” Hidden within that ill person may be a perception that if he/she becomes well again, the family dynamics will deteriorate and they will not be as close as before. As a result, many of them have mixed intentions. Conflict with intentions cannot bring about desired healing.
Healing requires self love. Paradoxically, self love has come to mean only vanity and narcissism. Yet, self love is a commandment – one of the very most basic and foremost commandments. We cannot love our neighbors fully until we love ourselves. Self love embodies caring for our own needs, making sure our bodies receive the nutrients and care they need to function properly. Self love makes living a joy instead of a chore.
Hans Selye, perhaps one of the magnificent scientists of all time, was the scientific pioneer who developed the entire concept of stress and its effect on the body. Dr. Selye got cancer when he was 65 years of age. He discusses his reaction in this way:
I was sure I was going to die. So I said to myself, all right. Now this is about the very worst thing that could happen to you, but there are two ways you can handle this. Either you can go around feeling like a miserable candidate on death row and whimper away a year, or else you can try to squeeze as much from life now as you can. I chose the latter because I’m a fighter, and cancer provided me with the biggest fight of my life. I took it as a natural experiment that pushed me to the ultimate test whether I was right or wrong.
Then a strange thing happened. A year went by. Then two, then three, and look what happened. It turned out that I was that fortunate exception. Afterward, I made a particular effort to cut down my stress level.
I have to be very careful what I say here, because I am a scientist and no statistics now exist to say whether stress is related to cancer. Apart from the genetic and environmental causes of cancer, I can only say that the relationship between stress and cancer is rather complicated. In the same way that electricity can both cause and prevent heat depending on how things are balanced, stress can both initiate and prevent illness.
The person interviewing Dr. Selye asked, “Some people have described cancer as a disease that is somewhat like the body’s way of rejecting itself. Now, to carry that premise one step further, could it be that when people drastically reject their basic needs, they are possibly more apt to develop cancer? In other words, if a person rejects his own needs, can his body rebel and reject itself?”
Selye answered, “I don’t say yes and I don’t say no. I’m a scientist, not a philosopher. All I can say as a scientist is that the great majority of physical illnesses have, in part, some psychosomatic origin.”
Every cell in our body, healthy or not, is pre-programmed to die, and new cells will take their place. Each cell has been pre-programmed to die, which we call apoptosis. And new cells will take their place. For instance, the lining of the gut will completely turn over 10,000 times in a lifetime. Bone and fascial tissue will turn over 10 to 15 times in a lifetime. And enzymes are replaced every few seconds. This understanding that the body does indeed renew itself several times during our lifetime gives us hope that the body can repair itself, even after serious injury or illness.
Because the cause of disease is multifactorial, a person may have difficulty determining what triggered his or her illness. The negativity of environmental toxins, food allergies or incompatibilities, insults such as trauma – all of these can affect us when our emotions or other factors make us more vulnerable, thus resulting in disease.
At times, it may seem impossible to get better. We may feel there is no way we can ever become well again. However, I encourage you to hold onto the most positive of thoughts, centered in gratitude. Rejoice in each gift that comes your way. Ponder upon the gifts you have been given. Go into great detail with your gratitude, being grateful for the way your cells are uniting to recreate the body and health you desire. You will feel better.
My hope for each of you is that you develop the third Habit of Highly Healthy Humans within your own body. Take the step right now to decide that you will think healthy, loving, healing thoughts. Take responsibility for your emotions, your health, and your faith.
Please take the time to let me know how you are doing. I care. You can reach me at www.stangardnermd.com.
This does not constitute an unconditional promise of healing. There are so many factors involved in illness about which we do not know. But we do know that people have repeatedly faced impossible situations and become better.
We have the power, within each of us, to bring about miracles. This may be the hardest work we will ever do: to think in a healthy way when it appears we are surrounded by the opposite. It is worth it. As I quoted at the beginning of this article, the profound wisdom of all time is still true today: Proverbs 23:7, “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
