The link between mind and body
I've been watching a lot of interesting content around health and wellness lately. And there are some very interesting viewpoints out there indeed.
Dr Lissa Rankin has a TED talk around the notion that we can literally think ourselves sick. Jini Patel-Thompson gives a talk about how the body is literally the subconscious, and how we see subconscious issues manifesting as physical symptoms. Dr Bruce Lipton talks about the topic of Epi-Genetics, and how the environment in which our cells live is the most important factor in determining how they live and reproduce, rather than DNA in the nucleus.
In my previous post, I asked the question of how many people noticed a correlation between their BXO and a compromised emotional state. To date, nobody has answered it. I have since asked the question in some other parts of the Internet, as I'm really interested to explore this idea.
The point that all three speakers have raised is that our biological health is a direct consequence of our mental health. History has documented cases of people healing themselves from so-called terminal illnesses, and others dying of non-existent illnesses, all because they believed they were sick with something. Most medical studies compare treatments against a placebo. But the question few seem to ask is, why is a placebo better than nothing? Skeptics say it's because we convince ourselves we are getting better. And maybe we are. But that just proved our body possesses the ability to heal on its own.
As Dr Lissa Rankin says, we've been trying to outsmart the placebo effect for decades.
There's the placebo, and there's also the 'nocebo', which is where we experience symptoms of something we THINK we have, even though we don't have anything wrong with us at all, just because we get it into our heads that we have something. Maybe a doctor said "You know... I think we should run some tests just to rule out xyz" then subconsciously, you decided you had xyz. In that case, with the nocebo effect at work, you'd experience the symptoms of xyz even before the tests show it.
I've personally experienced both. I've also had two family members require medical intervention on multiple occasions, for diseases they did not have.
You see, to consider the hypothesis that BXO is something other than the genetic autoimmune disease that western medicine tells us it is, requires a new viewpoint.
Let me ask you this... How many times have you seen someone walking past you, and without them even opening their mouth, you can tell where their self-esteem is at? I'm not just talking body language, I'm talking about their whole demeanour. Their facial features, their body shape, their posture, the hesitation in their voice. It's something I've pondered at length. Which came first? The poor self-esteem, the ill health that person probably experiences, or the flat and all-over washed-out existence that they seem to convey?
People all start off as an embryo, and develop into what we know as a human. But we are constantly shaped by our upbringing. I literally mean 'shaped'. We grow into the result of our emotional health. If we are truly happy, we will radiate that. We will look happy and loving, and we will experience good health.
If we are not truly happy, then the reverse is true.
Genetics definitely play a part in determining how we look, but why do some people just seem to ooze the total package of a 'catastrophic life' while others don't?
According to the emotional-physical health concept, those who experience trauma at a young age will carry this trauma with them into adulthood, and can have a negative effect on their health. Effectively, what you end up with is someone who already has a challenging life, who also now has to contend with ill health. With such people, you can also bet a significant sum of money that they have at least dealt with depression in the past, if not currently.
I truly believe I was heading toward being one of these people, not that long ago either. But my diagnosis, first of BXO, then later, of IBD, has been a true blessing. Because it's forced me to take a step back and examine my overall quality of life, the way I deal with stress, how I let it affect me, and make some big changes.
I see these physical ailments as my body speaking for my subconscious, because my conscious wouldn't listen. My subconscious was not happy, so it was speaking through these 'illnesses' (which are just medical terms for sets of symptoms).
BXO came at a time in my life when my sex life was worse than non-existent. As much as I told myself I was fine with that, I wasn't. I know that now, but I didn't then. My subconscious was speaking to me through BXO.
I'd love to hear your own thoughts and experiences around this.
Dr Lissa Rankin has a TED talk around the notion that we can literally think ourselves sick. Jini Patel-Thompson gives a talk about how the body is literally the subconscious, and how we see subconscious issues manifesting as physical symptoms. Dr Bruce Lipton talks about the topic of Epi-Genetics, and how the environment in which our cells live is the most important factor in determining how they live and reproduce, rather than DNA in the nucleus.
In my previous post, I asked the question of how many people noticed a correlation between their BXO and a compromised emotional state. To date, nobody has answered it. I have since asked the question in some other parts of the Internet, as I'm really interested to explore this idea.
The point that all three speakers have raised is that our biological health is a direct consequence of our mental health. History has documented cases of people healing themselves from so-called terminal illnesses, and others dying of non-existent illnesses, all because they believed they were sick with something. Most medical studies compare treatments against a placebo. But the question few seem to ask is, why is a placebo better than nothing? Skeptics say it's because we convince ourselves we are getting better. And maybe we are. But that just proved our body possesses the ability to heal on its own.
As Dr Lissa Rankin says, we've been trying to outsmart the placebo effect for decades.
There's the placebo, and there's also the 'nocebo', which is where we experience symptoms of something we THINK we have, even though we don't have anything wrong with us at all, just because we get it into our heads that we have something. Maybe a doctor said "You know... I think we should run some tests just to rule out xyz" then subconsciously, you decided you had xyz. In that case, with the nocebo effect at work, you'd experience the symptoms of xyz even before the tests show it.
I've personally experienced both. I've also had two family members require medical intervention on multiple occasions, for diseases they did not have.
You see, to consider the hypothesis that BXO is something other than the genetic autoimmune disease that western medicine tells us it is, requires a new viewpoint.
Let me ask you this... How many times have you seen someone walking past you, and without them even opening their mouth, you can tell where their self-esteem is at? I'm not just talking body language, I'm talking about their whole demeanour. Their facial features, their body shape, their posture, the hesitation in their voice. It's something I've pondered at length. Which came first? The poor self-esteem, the ill health that person probably experiences, or the flat and all-over washed-out existence that they seem to convey?
People all start off as an embryo, and develop into what we know as a human. But we are constantly shaped by our upbringing. I literally mean 'shaped'. We grow into the result of our emotional health. If we are truly happy, we will radiate that. We will look happy and loving, and we will experience good health.
If we are not truly happy, then the reverse is true.
Genetics definitely play a part in determining how we look, but why do some people just seem to ooze the total package of a 'catastrophic life' while others don't?
According to the emotional-physical health concept, those who experience trauma at a young age will carry this trauma with them into adulthood, and can have a negative effect on their health. Effectively, what you end up with is someone who already has a challenging life, who also now has to contend with ill health. With such people, you can also bet a significant sum of money that they have at least dealt with depression in the past, if not currently.
I truly believe I was heading toward being one of these people, not that long ago either. But my diagnosis, first of BXO, then later, of IBD, has been a true blessing. Because it's forced me to take a step back and examine my overall quality of life, the way I deal with stress, how I let it affect me, and make some big changes.
I see these physical ailments as my body speaking for my subconscious, because my conscious wouldn't listen. My subconscious was not happy, so it was speaking through these 'illnesses' (which are just medical terms for sets of symptoms).
BXO came at a time in my life when my sex life was worse than non-existent. As much as I told myself I was fine with that, I wasn't. I know that now, but I didn't then. My subconscious was speaking to me through BXO.
I'd love to hear your own thoughts and experiences around this.
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