Treat the Person, not the Disease

Often in the everyday stream of things, we enjoy comfortable assumptions which allow us to float on the river of life. Sometimes facing reefs of regret or butting against the banks of negativity, we nonetheless continue on our voyage. We see that we cannot travel backwards upstream since that path existed in the past, yet our future most certainly contains steady waters as well as rocky rapids. When challenges of the body appear, we face the depths of our humanity when we no longer separate the journey from who we are. Our conscious self listens intently to our tangled fears and charts a course for health based on the maps of other navigators before us. The spirit within us waits for us to realize we function as a whole being, capable of riding the wave of dis-ease and healing our body.

Treating the Patient
My wonderful physician once told me, no matter what my x-ray results showed, I am his patient, not the film. He reminded me he treats me and provides a means for my body to heal itself – his treatment and my participation merely clear the path for healing to occur. For many years, science and psychology searched for the body/mind connection. Just as the heredity/environment question, no concrete answers dominate the discussion. Speculation further poses the question of just where and how does healing occur?

Those charming sugar pills
The placebo-effect, long known in the medical world, illustrates the mysterious mind/body affiliation quite well. Believing the drug we ingest will provide an elixir for health, the benign placebo yields no medical miracles. The true healing occurs when our mind believes in healing and health. When we look further into examples of people heroically overcoming physical challenges, the common denominator is not a placebo, but a solid belief in health, rather than the battle of overcoming the imposition of disease.

Sowing the seeds of health
When we focus on health, rather than challenges, the Universe provides us with a healing which confounds modern medicine. The attitude shift from “fighting cancer” to visualizing and embracing abundant health, provides the spark of wellness offered by no miracle drug. As the movie “The Secret” expounds, whatever you give your attention to, increases in your life. When you pay attention to “fighting” a disease, the disease receives the energy of your intention, and actually grows. Shifting your focus to abundant health and well-being brings about a healing and wholeness only your spirit understands.

After twenty years of heart disease, my father faced a final challenge. His physician did some sort of heart x-ray diagnosis and told us the results. My father’s heart was almost completely blocked, despite a quadruple bypass 10 years earlier. But, instead of failing completely, his body “grew” tiny corpuscles to carry the blood flow around the heart to perform the necessary function. When the cardiologist pointed out the tiny threads of life, I asked, “How did that happen?” He responded, “Some people really want to live.”

My father’s case is a perfect example of allowing the body to take care of itself. He didn’t know the grave condition his heart suffered, therefore he gave no energy to the blockages. Instead, he concentrated on feeling better and continuing to live. Sadly, soon after the “terminal” news impacted him, my father gave up his unknowing, and began to concentrate on how little functionality he retained. Dreading the inevitable open-heart surgery, he told me, “I will not survive another operation.” He was right. He died in the elevator on the way to the operating room.

Modern Medicine
While advancements in modern medicine provide us with amazing prevention and recovery results, the true healing lies within. Ancient practices of acupuncture for instance, clear the obstacles that prevent the body from healing itself. As we grow more self-aware and in tune with ourselves and our power, we harness the energy to maintain perfect health – with or without the aid of the medical community.

Healing the body and working with others to heal themselves, is a high calling in life. Overcoming not only the mind/body conundrum, but the fear and doubt that we contain within us the power to heal, remains one of humankind’s greatest challenges.