This great article is written by Mike Barret.
During the 70′s more than 8,000 individuals participated in a study where they self-rated their health and were given a medical checkup. Three decades later the participants were reassessed. While taking in risk factors such as tobacco, chronic diseases, and high blood pressure, the scientists found that the individuals who responded positively were more likely to outlive those who replied in the negative. In other words, positive thinking promotes healing and quality health.
It is important to realize that your mind can sometimes be your own worst enemy, or it could be your savior. Increasingly, it is being recognized that a ‘mind over matter’ approach can actually produce noticeable results in your health.
Past research has found that savoring the moment and positive thinking can help to not only improve your current health, but also prevent future health complications. In particular, the findings found positive thoughts to be especially beneficial to those already suffering from diseases like coronary artery disease and high blood pressure.
One very ‘accepted’ example of how thoughts can produce self-healing is when patients demonstrate improved health benefits after being given placebos. It has been found that participants often respond positively to placebos due to the expectation that they are receiving a real medicinal solution. This leads to a mental response that stimulates healing through stress reduction and a number of other factors. This kind of self-treatment can be seen in one case where a woman’s own thoughts made her lose nearly 112 pounds.
Thoughts and thinking are very powerful tools in life. If you believe your illness is becoming worse, it will likely become worse. If you think it is becoming better, it will likely become better. Make every attempt to de-stress the brain, as it will be much easier to come to the realization that your own thoughts and beliefs really can cause self-healing. Search for the gold, and begin promoting your own wellbeing right away.
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Paul:
Thank you for writing this – I too have problems with science, specifically psychology and psychiatry. The very notion that someone;’s entire Being can be described scientifically is absurd. Actually, I thought I wanted to study psychology until I learned it is taught in college or university as a science. That totally turned me off, and is a big part of why I am attracted to philosophy.
I only read this once, but I still think there is a role for science in society – as you probably agree. However, science is merely descriptive, or a way of describing the natural world in numbers and figures. This, if not careful can lead one to believe that is all there is to the world, negating the power and value of the Self.
Just a thought, but is there not a place for both science and philosophy?
Me:
All the greatest scientists and innovators were acutely aware of the vital importance of soul and inspiration, yet Science as we know it today, reinforces invariably Reason in the detriment of other more subtle qualities, which can be termed as intuition, soul, divine inspiration.
It overlooks and rather disregards these great human resources.
If science hasn´t found it, it means that Soul doesn´t exist – that is what most people think. And the outcome of this existential outlook is our very lugubrious and absurd age which invariably denies – and deprives itself of – emotion. In plain words, indirectly – and alas even directly – science negates the power and value of Self. Look from what defective grounds medicine derives from…
Very few humans go against this erroneous approximation, and these are the ones who also realize something of consequence.
The greatest scientists before were also great philosophers versed in spirituality. As I said initially, Descartes, Newton and Darwin have modeled this scientific outlook which has divorced itself from “real life”.
If you want to study psychology, don´t let yourself be discouraged – there are other courses of action as well. In my opinion, judging from what you go through – your depression – by the time you will totally recover from it, having understood things from the inside, you can help others. You have talent, you can do a lot of things.
Take it step by step and trust your gut feeling – one thing does not exclude the other.
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