The Psychology Behind Wellness and Illness Why Do People Get Sick?: Exploring the Connections Between the Brain, Gut, and Heart
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The wisdom in this regard states that illness is a conspiracy cooked up in the unconscious mind and manifested in our bodies. It is no longer a question of staying healthy; it is a question of finding a sickness you like to serve an internal unconscious purpose, an “illness manual” if you will. You may choose one that attacks the body part you are most uncomfortable with, or don’t like, just to serve unconscious negative feelings.
Dr. Talib Kafaji
Dr. Talib Kafaji , an immigrant from the Middle East, completed his higher education at the University of Northern Colorado , where he obtained a doctorate degree in psychology. He has worked in several countries in the Middle East , as well as being a licensed practicing psychologist in the State of Michigan and adjunct professor at Wayne State University and Detroit University . Through his research , he has interviewed thousands of people to develop a clear perspective of human nature . Dr.Kafaji’s other books are Inward Journey , The Psychology of The Arab, The Triumph Over the Mediocre Self, Contemplative Thoughts in Human Nature: Observations on Human Destructive Tendencies, The Sly Mind: The Structure of the Mind and Its Refusal to Be Controlled, and the Pitfalls of Being Human: How to Free Ourselves From the Trap of Our Existence.
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The Triumph over the Mediocre Self: A Manual for the Art and Science of Living Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInward Journey: Personal Psychological Stories & Perspectives into Arab/Human Behavior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sly Mind: The Structure of Human Mind and Its Refusal to Be Controlled [The Mischievous Imp] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsContemplative Thoughts in Human Nature: Analytical Observations of Human Destructive Tendencies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Pitfalls of Being Human: How to Free Ourselves from the Trap of Our Existence—A Practical Guide for a Meaningful Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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The Psychology Behind Wellness and Illness Why Do People Get Sick? - Dr. Talib Kafaji
Copyright © 2020 by Dr. Talib Kafaji.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Nature of Wellness
Chapter 2 The Nature of illness
Chapter 3 Mental Health
Chapter 4 The Landscape of Illness and Wellness
Chapter 5 What are the Causes of Diseases?
Chapter 6 Modern Life and Diseases
Chapter 7 The New Approaches in Healthcare Delivery: Person-Centered Care and The Three Components of Effective Treatment — Compassion, Competency and Caring
Chapter 8 Emotion and Illness
Chapter 9 Personality and Illness
Chapter 10 The Heart and Emotion (The Broken Heart Syndrome-Takotsubo)
Chapter 11 The Roseto Mystery
Chapter 12 The Effect of Stress On Our Health and Well-being
Chapter 13 The Influence of Our Thoughts on the Body’s Cells
Chapter 14 The Psychodynamic of Illness
Chapter 15 The Psychology of Psychosomatic Disorders
Chapter 16 The Different Systems of Medicine
Chapter 17 The Holistic Approach to Illness and Healing
Chapter 18 Spontaneous Remission
Chapter 19 The Psychology Behind Addiction
Chapter 20 The Psychology of the Enteric-Gut Nervous System
Chapter 21 Obesity, Anorexia and the Psychology Behind Eating Disorders
Chapter 22 The Power of Beliefs and the Subconscious Mind In Healing Illness
Chapter 23 The Power of Our Mind Over the Body: Placebo and Nocebo Effects
Chapter 24 Epigenetics
Chapter 25 The Profound Psychological Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on People!
Chapter 26 The Seven Dimensions of Wellness
Chapter 27 The Basic Principles of Wellness and Healing
Conclusions
References
Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge Jeff Walthall, who has edited six books for me. His style of editing is not just checking for sentence structure, grammar and typos, but he provided very insightful feedback about the subject at hand. He really worked very hard on this book to finish it on time so we can submit it to the publisher. Many thanks and much appreciation for Jeff.
The second person that I would like to acknowledge is my wonderful wife, Wedad, who patiently put up with an inordinate amount of hours of me being away from home. I do not like to write at home, and normally write in the office so I do not have distractions. I’m also very appreciative of her superb intelligence when discussing any concepts in this book.
Introduction
Hippocrates said, a wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thoughts to derive benefits from illness
. Thus, the theme of this book is to explore the intricate and the complicated relationship between our thoughts, emotions, feelings, and our cardinal body. Undoubtedly, the unhealthy body cannot be the home of a happy mind, and vice-versa.
We need to closely examine the concept that mental health is the most important predictor of physical health. What do we mean by that? If we have a calming mind, without fear or anxiety swimming in our head, no compulsive behaviors like obsession or other habits, no intrusive thoughts or ruminations, as well as having sound emotion regulation, then we are blessed with an abundance of health and vitality.
What is an illness, or how do we define illness? It is a message from our inner being indicating an area of our lives is out of alignment. Illness is disharmony between the mind, body and spirit. The World Health Organization has defined health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
In illness, your body works against you. It is not happy with you. You are not paying attention to the imbalance in your body. The concept of balance is the most crucial one in the equation of health and illness.
For example the whole principle of Ayurveda medicine (Indian medicine) centers on when a person becomes ill, he is out of the balance, in the three areas of life: physical, emotional, and spiritual. The effective way of treatment from in Ayurveda medicine is restoring the balance to the body, to the organs that get sick. As is said, when the body comes to ease, then there is no disease
.
Hippocrates has equated good health to having a harmonious balance of mind, body and environment. By contrast, disease is the disharmony of these elements. For instance, recently we have a vulnerability toward cancer. Currently, one out of four people may develop cancer. Perhaps the progression of cancer in humans is the result of the accumulation of many errors in communication on the cellular-genetic level. This eventually leads to faulty regulation of the normal system of checks and balances of the messenger molecules that regulate the life process.
If we explore the concept of ancient healing, the ancients believed the body has everything needed to heal itself. Throughout many centuries the human body has stored ancient wisdom, and the mechanisms to fight all manner of disease. Unfortunately, we have crippled our immune system with all kinds of chemical drugs, junk food, polluted air and water, living with toxic people, and with disturbing thoughts swimming in our mind. The amount of stress that our bodies endure in daily life has made our bodies vulnerable to disease.
If we examine the human psyche, we find that we are prone to certain self-harm tendencies, either by actual physical harm or by allowing disturbing thoughts to ruminate inside our mind. To explain further, actual physical harm can occur when we indulge ourselves in numerous harmful activities, such as eating unhealthy food, or smoking, or drinking excessively, or not getting enough sleep, which plays havoc with our circadian rhythm, or any other activities that may hurt us physically.
How do we harm ourselves through our toxic/negative thoughts? We can do this by having an obsession, through rumination, over generalization, exaggerating our difficulties, or allowing our general tendency to expect the worst from life’s circumstances (catastrophic thinking). If we are suspicious of the world around us, or have bad faith about people, that too can cause harm. In such cases we need to implement our positive psychological state of mind, which can be a great help to sustain our wellness and overcome illness.
Thought is the language of the brain, while feeling is the language of the body. They are intimately connected when it comes to illness and healing. Modern medicine looks to the individual as a whole mind, body and spirit, and no longer as fragmented pieces.
If the mind is crammed with negative thoughts, then our organs are also clogged with toxins, and our body stiffens with neglect, and there is no space for anything else to grow. As Plato said, the part can never be well unless the whole is well.
Being healthy is a full-time job. This means you follow the principles of health, such as eating balanced food, exercise regularly, cherishing your sleeping time, surrounding yourself with loving, caring and uplifting friends and family, and guarding your mind from intrusive negative thoughts that keep visiting you often.
Everybody wants to be healthy, but they do not like to do the hard work. Just like the old wisdom says, everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die. We have to die so we can go to heaven, and we have to work earnestly and follow the principles of well-being, then we can be healthy.
Illness has many fascinating and intriguing aspects to it, but we should let go of these things, as they are trivial and unnecessary. Then we are left with the essence of ourselves and our mortality, as well cherishing the present. No longer do we take everything for granted, and life becomes very precious because it is fragile and impermanent. Illness may open our hearts and connect us with what is really important.
Illness can also provide us with special attention, love, care and nurturing from significant others. It can be an unconscious cry for help. Unfortunately, it is almost like something has to be wrong within us to feel important or even more lovable or likable. Why is illness seductive? It is collective childhood memories; when we used to be sick, we got attention and love from our parents or caregivers. Such attention and caring sticks in our mind and when we become adults, we tend to yearn for those childhood years.
Unfortunately there is a harsh and unromantic perspective about human nature, that people in general do not like to be healthy, either consciously or unconsciously. They eat whenever and whatever they like to eat, they sleep whenever they like to sleep, because being healthy is an arduous job. Often people are too lazy to have a healthy lifestyle. On the other hand illness can be very appealing to us emotionally, because we get sympathy and attention. If we are healthy, no one pays attention to us. Thus, illness can be seductive to us. On the other side of it, illness may allow us to discover our purpose in life.
Our environment and surroundings are not helping us to be healthy, because most of us now are living in a sea of electromagnetic pollution, coupled with a plethora of chemical pollution which was completely alien to man 50 years ago. Add to this the denatured food, the fast-tracked lifestyle, and our lives dictated by technology, and we have a heady mix of health problems waiting to happen. In short, most people have too much of what they should not have in their bodies, and not enough of what they should have.
The more serious the illness, the more important it is to fight back and mobilize all your resources — spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical (Norman Cousins). To avoid illness, eat less, worry less, calm your mind, focus on the present, let go of the past, have positive friends, have an uplifting partner, walk daily for an hour, and have spiritual fulfillment.
Often people blame their illness on bad genes they inherited from their parents. The good news is bad genes can effect less than 5% of the population, while 95% of people are born with good genes. Try to triumph over the bad genes by adhering to the principle of a healthy lifestyle.
Modern medicine has serious shortcomings and defects. For instance, I have a friend who was a mechanical engineer for many years. But he always had a desire to be a medical doctor. So he studied medicine and became a doctor. One day I met with him, and he expressed a lot of disenchantment with medical practice. He told me when he was an engineer, they bring him a broken machine to fix. If he fixed it correctly, they paid him, and if he did, he did not get paid.
He continued telling me, in the practice of medicine the approach is really funny and very disturbing. It is odd and sad. When I treat a patient, whether he gets well or stays sick, or even if he gets worse, I still get paid anyway.
It is a laughing matter, and ludicrous. He said, In the engineering field the machine has to be fixed correctly and work, otherwise I will never get paid.
How is such a practice in medicine allowed?
In China, the practice of medicine used the engineering system’s philosophy of payment. The healthcare providers get paid when the patient gets well, but if the patient stays sick the doctor does not get paid. Imagine if we applied such system of healthcare in the West! We could definitely eliminate a lot of diseases. As Hippocrates said, do not make money in a sick room.
Unfortunately modern medicine tends to focus on managing the symptoms of diseases, and not looking to the causes. Furthermore it does not pay serious attention to prevention. Therefore, as result of such a practice we are seeing the rate of certain diseases on the rise, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac trouble, and obesity, as well as psychological troubles like depression, anxiety and obsessions.
People are more depressed than a few decades ago. Perhaps our brain is unable to cope with the inordinate amounts of stimuli we face in every single day. Also, our brain neurons are designed for the times when man went hunting and gathering, not for sophisticated or advanced technology. People feel uneasy in their skin, because life is moving fast and the demands of daily living are astronomical. Therefore people in general are living under constant stress, and we all know that stress is a great contributor to major illness and disease.
Another contributor to the increase of disease today is food alteration. Food industries have adulterated our food by introducing chemical additives which have caused serious damage to our body structures and even to our cells. For example, the rise of diabetes and obesity in most societies is becoming epidemic, surely as a result of such food alterations.
The solution to our health predicament is to focus on the principle of prevention, which is the key before illness takes place. As the old wisdom says, carry your body for the first 40 years and your body will carry you for the next 40. One of the simplest and more effective principles of prevention is to eat the food that grows locally so we can prevent allergies. Another preventive measure that you can do is believe in your inner healing capacity, as well as having compassion toward yourself and toward your surroundings.
We conclude this introduction with the wisdom of Shloka when he said, "O Lord, I do not wish any heaven nor any divine food, nor any kingdom to rule, but all I wish is that every organism of this world becomes free of any disease or grief, and may everyone live healthy and happy.
Dr. Talib Kafaji
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
July 15, 2020
48332.pngCHAPTER ONE
The Nature of Wellness
The great wealth is the health — Virgil
A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic
too busy to take care of his tools — Spanish Proverb
The only way to keep your health is to eat what
you do not want, drink what you do not like, and
do what you would rather not — Mark Twain
The basic concept of health and wellness. The science of medicine has achieved enormous advancements, while we are experiencing the largest epidemic of chronic diseases in human history. The World Health Organization defines health as not the absence of disease, but rather it is the comprehensive well-being of the individual; physically, psychologically, socially as well as spiritually
. Investment in health is the most important investment one can have. Being healthy is a full time job; otherwise you will suffer from a lot of illness. It is a personal choice either to be healthy or to be sick. As Adelle Davis said, As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself
.
We need to understand the concept of disease before we can move to health. Despite hearing a lot of jargon, I can make it simple. There is only one disease: the malfunction of the cells. If you really take care of each cell you will never be sick. There are 75 trillion cells in the human body; they are the building blocks of the human body. There are two causes of cells to malfunction, and they are both deficiencies: insufficient nutrients, and toxicity (excessive toxins).
This book asks you specifically to think outside the box of the traditional concept of health and illness. For example, we easily accept that stress can make us sick, but we have difficulty embracing the idea that love, laughter and a balanced life can make us well. We are willing to ingest chemicals in the form of prescription drugs that are alien to our body, but we are skeptical that natural substances, primarily the right foods, can heal (Raymond Francis, 2002). Once we know that our body has an amazing capacity to heal, that can be enormously empowering, because illness can be defined as imbalanced living in three levels: physically, psychologically and spiritually.
Physically, we often take food that not suitable to our body, and the old wisdom clearly stated you are what you eat
. Some food may cause havoc in our body, and make the immune system spin out of control.
Poor health is not a matter of luck, but a matter of choice. We do not get sick; we make ourselves sick by making bad choices. Conversely, we get healthy and stay healthy by making good choices (Raymond Francis, 2002). Disease never comes without a cause. If a person is sick and ailing, it is because he has been doing something wrong, and he needs an education in how to live a healthy life (Jay Hoffman).
There are a few pathways adopted from Raymond Francis, the author of Never Be Sick Again, which can shed some light on our health and wellness.
1) Nutrition. One of the leading causes of disease is malnutrition of cells; we are well fed but malnourished. However the apple that you eat now is different than the apple that your grandfather ate, because the earth has been depleted of most of the minerals and necessary nutrients that it used to hold. Moreover, today we store the food for a long time and we do not eat it fresh, and that makes the food lose a lot of its nutrients. Thus we have to have supplements to make up for the lost nutrients in food.
2) Toxins. There are an inordinate amount of toxins in the air, food and the environment around us. These have polluted most of our lives, and taxed the immune system, making us vulnerable for many diseases.
3) Psychological factors. This part in our health can be the most important one, and I will explore them in detail in other chapters in the book. Our thoughts and emotions may trigger a cascade of biochemical reactions that either enhance or damage our cellular system. Our positive or negative thoughts play a significant role in our illness and health.
The story of Norman Cousins in his book, The Anatomy of An Illness. is a very clear indication how man can take charge of his health and use positive thoughts to heal his illness. He miraculously recovered from ankylosing spondylitis, a connective tissue diseases that deteriorates collagen.
There are many societies around the world who live in amazing levels of health and longevity. For example, the Hunzas in Ecuador eat a nutritious diet, have a toxin-free environment, exercise, sleep well, and have sunshine, fresh air,and a low-stress lifestyle. They have an optimal diet and lifestyle. Choosing to be healthy is not an easy task, because there are many factors which determine our health, such as biological, behavioral, and the interrelationship between the two. It is like the web of life.
Psychologically speaking, the simple truth in life is that happy people generally do not get sick, and one’s attitude toward oneself is the single most important factor in healing or staying well. Those who are at peace within themselves and their immediate surroundings have far fewer serious illnesses than those who are not (Bernie Siegel, Love Medicine and Miracles).
Illness also can serve a deep psychological function, which we learned while we were children. The only time we get attention from our family is when we are sick. Parents stay with us and give us some psychological comfort, while other times we mostly are ignored, or they may relate to us superficially. Thus, we have learned subconsciousl, that if we want an attention, then we have to be sick. Our behavior has been programmed for that way, and often when we are faced with a life difficulty and unable to bear it, we resort to illness. Thus, illness has certain rewards; sometimes being sick can supersede the desire to stay well. Often the psychological reason of being sick can stay beneath our conscious awareness. Thus, if we want to be healthy and well, we have to reprogram our mind to take charge over our life and health, because being miserable and ill has its own comforting place inside our psyche, and has a deep psychological reward.
Perhaps a person may say, I would like to stay healthy, but I inherited the illness from my parents, such as diabetes or other illness. I do not want to have diabetes, but I inherited it from my parents. Here the answer is very clear. Dr. Pamela Peeks came up with the concept of the loaded gun theory: Genetics may load the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger. Yes, perhaps you are inclined to be diabetic, but the life-style that you have will pull the trigger of the predisposing factors. Scientific research shows those genetic effects are less than 5 percent of the population who developed some illness. Hereditary diseases may triumph when we are unable to control our environmental factors, when the body loses the balances.
People are unaware that health is a full-time job; and when you say you have to exercise or eat the right food, they may say I do not have time. If you do not have time for health, then you will have time for illness. If you do not take care of your body and then you will be sick and you will a lot of time being sick in bed.
Sadly, with our hideous state of health, the numbers of diseases are on the rise, because the focus of the treatment is on symptom relief, not in the cure and not in restoring balance back to the body, and not knowing the real causes of illness. Since we focus on symptom relief, then the ill person maybe pushed into taking pills for the rest of his life. So the pharmaceutical companies make huge profits from the misery of patients. Unfortunately, this is the true state of health around the world.
Here are some questions you can ask, while encountering some illnesses:
What is the nature of my illness?
Are there any imbalances within me; psychologically, physically or spiritually?
How can I get well with minimum toxicity in my body in the form of pills?
Are there any natural means to heal myself, or alternative means to take steps toward health and healing?
How can I have an abundance of health?
48332.pngCHAPTER TWO
The Nature of illness
The part can never be well unless the whole is well. — Plato
The more serious the illness, the more important for you to
fight it back. Mobilize all your resources: spiritual, emotional,
intellectual and physical. — Norman Cousins
A wise man should consider that health is the greatest
of human blessings, and learn how by his thought to
derive benefits from his illness. — Hippocrates
The patient should be made to understand that he/she must
take charge of his own life. Do not take your body to the doctor,
as if he were a repair shop. — Quentin Regenstein
The best doctors are seven: sunshine, water, rest, fresh air,
exercise, healthy food and fabulous sex. — Wayne Fields
Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more
numerous than those of the body. — Cicero
A good laugh and long sleep are the best cures
for most illness. — Irish Proverb
Illness may allow us to discover our
purpose in life. — Anonymous
The basic concept of illness: We are experiencing the largest epidemic of chronic disease in human history, but disease does not happen randomly. It occurs for specific reasons, and we have to know the real problem, which can be half of the battle. It’s like an iceberg. For virtually every health problem, the number of known causes of disease are outweighed by those that remain unknown or misunderstood, much as the unseen part of an iceberg is much larger than the part that is visible above the water.
These days we are experiencing unnecessary illnesses from depression, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, clogged arteries, indigestion, headache, heartburn, low energy, low libido, back pain, addiction, cold, flu, kidney stones, and eczema. All these diseases result from the imbalanced life we often live, and they can simply be resolved by healthy diets and detoxification. Thus, we may define illness as a message from our inner being indicating an area of our life is out of alignment. Disease is the derangement of man’s state of health. There is a dynamic force in our body which we call the spirit, and this is the invisible interior of man that can have serious roles in illness and health.
The hidden purpose of illness. Illness may give us a chance to let go of things that are trivial and unnecessary. Then we are left with the essentials of ourselves and our mortality. We are no longer taking everything for granted; life may become very precious, because it is fragile and impermanent. Illness also may open our heart and connect us with what is really important and meaningful in our lives. We do not focus on poor me, even though illness may result in getting special attention, love, care, and nurture from significant others. Perhaps it is a cry for help. It is almost like something has to be wrong for us to feel important or even more likable or lovable.
Theories explaining illness. Hippocrates came up with the humoral theory, that the human body contains blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile, and health primarily constitutes these substances being in correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity, and well-balanced. Human diseases arise from bile and phlegm, when one of them becomes too moist, too dry, too hot, or too cold. For example too much bile produces fever, too much phlegm causes epilepsy. Such imbalances arise from natural causes, either heredity, food regimen, or climate. The treatment addresses the causes of humoral imbalance by changing diets, environment, or ridding the body from excess bile or phlegm by inducing vomiting or evacuation of the bowels, or opening veins to let blood out (emetics and purgative treatments).
Another theory is the contagious theory by Fracastro, in which viruses and bacteria attack us when our immune system is weak. Harvard medical school advocates the holistic concept of illness and the bio-psycho-social model of medicine (Tosteson, Adelstein and Carver, 1994). This is called the multifactor theory. For example, cancer results from the complex interaction of genes, environment and immunological factors.
There is also the deficiency of nutrients in our food, which causes malfunction in the cells, and that may produce disease. There is also the toxins theory, that our environment is loaded with toxicity, which can lead to the malfunction of the cell and also to illness or even death. Then there’s the trauma and mishap theory, in which there are accidents or unfortunate things which happen to us, like fire or broken bones. The psychological theory sees that our stress and negative thoughts can also contribute to our illness.
The alcoholism theory. When the drinking song starts playing in the mind of the alcoholic, he is powerless, and unable to stop the song. The only way to stop it is to take another drink. Thus, alcoholism has been recognized for many years as a primary chronic, progressive, and sometimes fatal disease. It can be described as a mental obsession that causes a physical compulsion to drink. It is a progressive disease in early stages, in which taking one or two drinks may be all it takes to get the song to stop, but later on maybe six or seven drinks do not stop the song until the drinker passes out. Sooner or later the progress of the disease takes over the life of alcoholic and becomes unmanageable. Denial is an almost universal symptom of the disease. Needless to say, alcohol has contributed to numerous diseases in our fragile body.
The dynamic of illness. There is an intrinsic nature of illness. For example, with IBS, back pain, or headache, perhaps the body is asking us for help. Often we reach for medication to mask the pain, but we have to listen to our body when it reveals its story, to facilitate its journey back to good balance and health. Illness is an aberration from that which is normal; thus, health is viewed as harmonious equilibrium and disease as a disturbance. Illness can be described as undesirable and ominous, while health as desirable and good. When we are ill our wisdom departs our body, and our body sends illness as a messenger, an exclamation of the importance of paying attention. Illness introduces us to our emptiness, our raw innocence and our vulnerability.
Often, we ignore our illness and keep suffering, and we become passive about our health. Unfortunately, we resort to taking pills mindlessly, or we abdicate all our responsibility by saying it is genetic. We completely lose track of the goodness of our inner resources. Our body is designed to enjoy our state of health, and this is considered normal; it does not seem normal to be miserable. Illness puts us on the spot; all our plans, desires, and fantasies fall away, as we are gradually or suddenly incapacitated, and whatever Band-Aid we were putting on our wounds is no longer effective. We become like a wounded deer, and we drag ourselves away from the cozy momentum of our lives, to a quiet place where we ache and bleed. Hence, illness can provide us with the alarming sound we need to change.
Our thoughts have an influence on our health. In the book Ancient Cures for Modern Life, our mind is crammed with thoughts, our organs are clogged with toxins, and our bodies stiffen with neglect, so there is just no space for anything else. The mind may misinterpret signals and can generate an inappropriate response, and our body becomes out of sync with the environment. Thoughts can undermine an entire system, and often can be lethal. For example, in the case of an anorexic person, the family and friends clearly perceive skin and bone, and that the individual is near death, while the anorexic looks in a mirror and sees a fat person.
The nature of our perception is greatly influenced by the fate of our lives. Most of us are aware of the healing influence of the placebo effect, as well as the nocebo effect. Just as surely as positive thoughts can heal, negative ones may make us susceptible to illness. Positive perception enhances health, and negative perception precipitates disease. Psychologists estimate that 70% of our thoughts are negative and redundant. Thus, belief and perception permeate every cell of our body, and as they say, once you believe it then you will see it. The biological conclusion is that accurate perceptions encourage success, and misperception threaten survival. Almost all of us have unknowingly (unconsciously) acquired limiting self-sabotaging misperceptions, which undermine our strength, our health and our desire to be happy.
What causes diseases. Some disease is genetic inheritance, but under the loaded gun theory, genetics loaded the gun, but undoubtedly the environment pulls the trigger and can shape a person’s state of health and illness. Another cause of diseases is aging and wear and tear on the body, like back pain, osteoarthritis, or exposure to chemicals or toxins, like cirrhosis of liver, or malnutrition like scurvy.
We know the body renews itself by shedding old cells and creating new ones. Thus, we have to supply the body continually with good nutrients and energy. Another possible cause of disease is trauma. If you twist or misalign your spine, that would physically impede the transmission of nervous system signals, and that can cause serious illness. Toxicity and poisons represent inappropriate chemistry