How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body

BY DAVID R. HAMILTON

In one line: A fresh and insightful perspective on the ‘placebo effect’; if you’re looking for some new ideas for healing or shifting your mindset from being stuck, there are some great alternative takes in here.

Chapter 1 – The power of positive thinking:

“A pessimist ses the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

Chapter 2 – The Power of Believing:

“The outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to reflect their inner beliefs.” – James Allen

Chapter 3 – Drugs work better if we believe in them:

“‘Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” – Ben Franklin

Chapter 4:

“To think is to practice brain chemistry.” – Deepak Chopra

⁃ Our brains are like a 3D map with neural connections representing the roads between towns / cities (brain cells); neuroplasticity is the changing of our brain cells as we think, learn, and live

⁃ MEDITATION PRACTICE TO EXPLORE: Metta Bhavana = Loving-Kindness Meditation

Chapter 5 – The Mind Can Heal The Body:

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller

⁃ Our bloodstream is like a river and neuropeptides (endorphins), like oxytocin are like a colored dye and as we think differently, we change the color of the dye in our bloodstream; downstream rocks (think like large spongy rocks) are like cells, colored by our different thoughts, these cells adapt to the change in the color of the dye by increasing or decreasing the receptors for whatever were thinking, changing the composition of the cells in our body

Chapter 6 – The Power of Imagination & Observation:

“Visualization is day dreaming with a purpose.” – Bo Bennett

⁃ Its not just all in the mind. Energy flows where attention goes.

Chapter 7 – Visualization for Rehab & Sports:

“Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A word of optimism and hope. A “you can do it” when things get tough.” – Richard Devos

⁃ Action observations = repetitive observation of physical movement, activating mirror neurons

Chapter 8 – Visualization to Enhance the Immune System:

“Broadly, the immune system and our nervous system are in constant dialogue, each affecting the other.” – Daniel Davis

Chapter 9 – Visualization for Cancer and Other Conditions:

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – A.A. Milne

⁃ Cytotoxicity – ability of killer cells to destroy cancer cells

Chapter 11 – To Stress or Not to Stress:

‘Do not dwell on the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.’ – Buddha

⁃ A problem shared is a problem halved; it gives people the opportunity to help, itching our species’ need to be needed

⁃ Stress levels biggest impact is on our immune system. But others suppress how they feel and don’t tell anyone because they’re afraid that people will think they’re not good enough or might judge them

⁃ The growth of suppressed negative emotion is like a balloon inflating in our psyche

⁃ Writing about your traumatic experiences can improve your health, mental state and lower stress

⁃ It’s not necessarily the events in life that cause stress but our perception of those events — and we get to choose the perception we want to have

Chapter 12 – How to Visualize:

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” – Albert Einstein

⁃ Seven kinds of visualization:

1. Active change
2. Clean and polish
3. Intervene in a process
4. Speak to your cells
5. Symbolic change
6. Change in color
7. Immune boost

Chapter 13 – Power of Affirmations:

‘One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently often, whether the statement be true or false.’ – Robert Collier

In Closing – The Power of Love:

‘If you were alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with whom to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning…We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth. – Aikido and the Harmony of Nature, Mitsugi Saotome

‘Love is like a campfire: it may be sparked quickly, and at first the kindling throws out a lot of heat, but it burns out quickly. For long-lasting, steady warmth (with delightful bursts of intense heat from time to time), you must carefully tend the fire.’ – Colleen Matsumura, Sweet Reason

‘Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.’ – Denis Waitley

‘Love cures people — both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.’ – Karl Menninger

‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.’ – Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

‘If you think something is missing in your life, it’s probably you.’ – Dr. Robert Holden

‘Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us.’ – Dalai Lama

‘You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation….and that is called loving. Well, then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing else.’ – Hermann Hesse, 1946 Nobel Prize Winner