Your body is here to help you. Give it positive messages and it will fight for your life.” So said internationally acclaimed author and lecturer Dr Bernie Siegel He should know, he has survived a few life-threatening illnesses in his time.
Look back to the late 1800’s and discover the words of William James who, asked at the dusk of his life. “What is the greatest discovery in your life time?”, answered: “That human beings may alter their illnesses and their lives by altering their attitude of mind.”
Strong stuff. Over the past 100 years we have heard so little about “thinking” ourselves well. We have heard plenty about the latest pill for this or that disease, but to imagine another dimension within ourselves – not pestle-and-mortar produced – is still way beyond the comprehension and belief systems of most people.
Not surprising. Most of us have been brought up to believe mind and body are separate entities and that the only connection they have is that they were physically attached to each other at birth.
But today a great many eminent scientists and researchers worldwide are discovering really powerful facts about our mind-body connections.
I picked up a mind-blowing (if you’ll pardon the expression) book the other day called “The Healing Power of Illness”, by one of Germany’s best-known medical psychologists and researchers.
The first sentences give you a real piece of scene-setting: “This is an uncomfortable book. It deprives people of illness as an alibi for their unresolved problems I propose to show readers that the patient is not the innocent victim of some quirk of nature, but actually the author of his or her own sickness.”
He goes on to show us that in his researches, symptoms are the bodily expressions of unresolved psychological conflicts. Of rheumatic sufferers, he says: “They tend to inhibit their aggression on the motor level – they block their energy at the muscular stage. They just do not want to address personal problems, they are too rigid and immobile”.
Many medical commentators are increasingly coming forward with examples in which our emotions, attitudes, beliefs and upbringing are the contributing causes of so many of our modern diseases.
We see plenty of examples around us of unhappy people succumbing to untold illnesses. We are beginning to believe that laughter and a cheerful heart are good medicine and that there is truth in the fact that love heals. In effect, we really do have the power to heal ourselves, each and every one of us.
I’ve been wondering why, in recent years, there has been such an up surge in flower remedies. Flower remedies were discovered by Dr Edward Bach at the beginning of this century and they have, therefore, been called the “Bach Flower Remedies” .
Now Australia has launched flower remedies; so, too, has California and some amazing results have been reported These powerful little flowers provide extracts that help alleviate states of mind such as worry, anger, fear, stress and negativity, with no harmful side-effects.
Bach realized that continued stress resulting from emotions such as anger, fear or worry lowered a person’s resistance to disease. At the same time, he observed that emotional outlook influenced the course, severity and duration of diseases or symptoms.
For business and relationship problems, here is a sample of flower remedies that might strike a note or two:
• Clematis if there is an inability to concentrate.
• Elm for exhaustion from over-reaching for perfection.
• White chestnut for persistent worrying and mental arguments.
• Impatiens for mental tension due to irritability.
• Willow to clear resentment or bitterness.
Now, for mental help on the nutritional side, comes feedback that phenylalanine, one of the eight essential ammo acids (that means the body doesn’t make it, we have to ingest it by means of food or a supplement) is responsible for a significant increase in endorphine levels in both humans and in animals.
Endorphins are morphine-like substances produced by the adrenal gland in times of stress. Depression victims who have been given endorphin professionally have experienced sudden and dramatic relief. Foods supplying phenylalanine are soya, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cheddar cheese, tuna, almonds, cashews, eggs, beef, pecans and milk.
Co-factors that are needed in the body for assisting in the bio-availability of phenylalanine are magnesium, zinc, B1, B3, B6 and C.