Fwd: Power of Belief (Thoughts/emotions and health 1)

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I would like to post a series of articles showing the power of thought and

emotion to create our reality (including our health).

Love,

Ulla

We're currently listening to a series of taped talks by Bernie Siegel, MD

speaking about the wondrous powers of belief he's encountered with cancer

patients.

He tells a story of a man who had cancerous tumors the size of melons in his

body. The hospital was getting ready to test a new cancer drug. Even though the

drug was intended for people in the early stages of cancer, this patient

decided it was the drug for him, that it was going to cure him. One Friday, to

get him to stop pestering the doctors, the hospital decided to give him one

injection, thinking he would die over the weekend anyway and then they could

get on with their intended test group. On Monday he was still very much alive.

The doctors examined him and reported that his tumors had " melted like snow on

a hot stove " . They didn't know what happened but were delighted. Everything is

going along fine for the patient until a few weeks later he read a newspaper

story reporting that the drug he took doesn't show much promise for helping

cancer patients. The next day he's back in the doctor's office with tumors the

size of melons again.

Aware of the man's response to the first injection, his doctor thought he'd try

a different experiment. He told his patient that the newspaper story was

referring to an earlier form of the drug, and that he just happened to have a

" new, improved " version of the medicine that the papers didn't know about. The

doctor gave the patient an injection of pure water. The next day the patient's

tumors had disappeared again!

Everything was fine for a few months until the patient read another report in

the papers saying that the drug he thought he had been given was determined to

be of no use at all in fighting cancer. The man died that night.

While this is not " scientific proof " of anything, there is a strong suggestion

that the power of belief was at work.

Another point Dr. Siegel brings up is that the patients that recover haven't

simply decided they " don't want to die " . Rather, as we teach, they have decided

to go toward something. Testimony, after testimony spoke about remarkable

" cures " that happened when the patient just decided to make life worth living,

or to find out what was the meaning of their life before they died. They began

to move toward living, and wonderful things resulted.

Today's post is more an inspiration than a contemplation. We can all remember

to make life worth living. We can look to what is already good and wonderful in

our lives. For what is the alternative? We don't want to send signals to our

body that life is not worth living by dwelling on what's wrong with life... it

just might get the message.

We also remind you about one of our prior contemplations now published in the

book, " Freedom Through Contemplation " .

WHATEVER WORKS

Excerpt from a national newspaper:

" An image of Jesus Christ's face on the outside wall of a church in Guatemala

City caused huge excitement among the locals and it was claimed that the image

gave miraculous cures. The excitement lasted for two weeks before it was found

to be a whitewashed poster of country and western singer Willie . "

So what do you think caused the miraculous cures? Willie ? Jesus Christ?

People wanted to and DID believe. Some people " need a reason " to get well; they

just can't accept that they can do it themselves and so the poster was really

their " excuse " to get well.... some may have rationalized that they were

following the " wishes " of God. Recall what Jesus said when the afflicted woman

sneaked up and touched the hem of his robe... " Your faith has healed you. "

A few weeks ago we suggested that rituals may be helpful for some of you. There

is no reason for the " long, hard road " to happiness. If treatment itself works

for you, use it. If a ritual will help, use it, knowing that you're using it;

but allow yourself to fulfill the desire for a happy life the easiest and

simplest way you know how. There is no particular virtue in the long, hard

road.

One of our friends, a psychiatrist, told us that some people criticized him for

prescribing Prozac at the appropriate times for some of his patients. The

critics said, " it was the easy way out " . He replied, " Isn't there enough

suffering in the world? Why can't we make it easy for people? " We make the

point that he is a very wholistic healer and makes these decisions mindfully.

There is already enough suffering. Let's give ourselves a break and learn to

relax into our magnificence without bringing any more suffering into our lives

through the " required sacrifices " of " long, hard work " , or the " dark night of

the soul " .

Are you using everything you can for happiness in your life?

Please remember if you'd like to order these books, " Love, Medicine and

Miracles " by Bernie Siegel, MD or " Freedom Through Contemplation " by Helen and

, we request you use iGive.com and the bookstores within, so that

OneCenter, our non-profit, can receive a portion of the purchases. Just follow

this link " http://www.igive.com/onecenter " .

*

*

*

If you would like to receive our free " contemplations " regularly, send a blank

e-mail to " contemplations-subscribe " . Contemplations can be

passed on to friends or used for any non- commercial purpose free of charge if

author credit and information about how to subscribe to contemplations is

included. Also, we are always interested in your comments regarding our

contemplations.

and Helen

Founders of OneCenter

" www.onecenter.org "