Superhealing: Engaging Your Mind, Body, and Spirit to Create Optimal Health and Well-Being (ARC) by Elaine R. Ferguson
Authors: Elaine R. Ferguson
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cel s. The brain is, in fact, so exquisitely responsive to shifts in our thinking, feeling, emotions,
CHAPTER TWO: Superhealing Mind-Body Research Breakthrough 61
and behavior and to the external environment that we should take
this as encouragement to purposeful y continue to grow, learn, and develop new skil s and talents for our entire life spans. The brain is far more dynamic than most people realize. It is never too late to change. This process is actively involved in how we change our response to distress.
Neuroplasticity occurs on a variety of levels, from cel ular changes caused by learning to the large-scale changes of cortical remapping in response to injury. The role of neuroplasticity is widely recognized in healthy development, learning, memory, recovery from brain damage, and the successful management of stress.
Your brain’s plasticity is important because that determines how efficiently your brain works. The more connections your brain makes, the easier it is for you to process information and make decisions. During your lifetime, your brain’s capabilities will increase and decline depending on your lifestyle. Use them or lose them.
By seeking to determine the outer limits of the brain’s capacity,
scientists discovered that we can change the brain’s structure by altering our thought processes—our beliefs. Do you realize how pro-
found the implications of this are for your health and well-being?
We know now that the brain is a relay station of sorts. Our thoughts are not just words, impressions, and pictures floating through our heads, they are chemical and biological messengers that can and do affect the pathways they move through. The connection between our cognition
and our physical condition is so profound that if we learn to manage our thoughts, feelings, and emotions, we can harness them to treat physical and mental disorders and deepen our sense of spiritual connection.
We can use the power of the mind to enhance our capacity to
experience and express anything, including love, empathy, gratitude, and compassion.
62
PART ONE: Your Superhealing Mind
THE POWER OF YOUR BELIEFS
Your beliefs have the power to change your physiology and im-
prove your health. They also have the power to harm you. As dem-
onstrated by the perceptual and emotional stimulation of your stress response, your beliefs can unleash very powerful forces inside your body.
My most intense personal experience with the extraordinary
power of belief came when I was part of a team of doctors treating George (not his real name), who for several months had been experiencing unusual pain and other symptoms in his intestinal tract.
A soft-spoken man in his late sixties, he had been referred to our hospital because his local doctors could not diagnosis the cause of his symptoms.
Throughout his diagnostic tests, George was quiet, cooperative,
and extremely pleasant. After several days, an unfortunate diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer was made. I was in his room when
his physician gave him the news, surrounded by our entire medical
team. George looked as though a bomb had exploded in his mind.
Stunned and unable to respond, he sat before us in a stupor. He
didn’t ask any questions. His wife, who was at his side, seemed more engaged. An hour or so later, she stopped me in the hal way just outside her husband’s room. She grabbed my hand, looked directly into my eyes, and asked, “Is my husband going to die?”
Since her husband’s primary physician had already told them he
would die, I knew in my heart that she was searching for a ray of
hope that I couldn’t provide. Her sincerity pierced my heart. I wasn’t equipped to answer the question, so I stumbled through with a response that neither comforted nor soothed her. “We’re all going to die one day. I don’t think anyone knows exactly when that’s going
to happen.” I didn’t know what else to say. With that, I awkwardly
CHAPTER TWO:
CHAPTER TWO: Superhealing Mind-Body Research Breakthrough 61
and behavior and to the external environment that we should take
this as encouragement to purposeful y continue to grow, learn, and develop new skil s and talents for our entire life spans. The brain is far more dynamic than most people realize. It is never too late to change. This process is actively involved in how we change our response to distress.
Neuroplasticity occurs on a variety of levels, from cel ular changes caused by learning to the large-scale changes of cortical remapping in response to injury. The role of neuroplasticity is widely recognized in healthy development, learning, memory, recovery from brain damage, and the successful management of stress.
Your brain’s plasticity is important because that determines how efficiently your brain works. The more connections your brain makes, the easier it is for you to process information and make decisions. During your lifetime, your brain’s capabilities will increase and decline depending on your lifestyle. Use them or lose them.
By seeking to determine the outer limits of the brain’s capacity,
scientists discovered that we can change the brain’s structure by altering our thought processes—our beliefs. Do you realize how pro-
found the implications of this are for your health and well-being?
We know now that the brain is a relay station of sorts. Our thoughts are not just words, impressions, and pictures floating through our heads, they are chemical and biological messengers that can and do affect the pathways they move through. The connection between our cognition
and our physical condition is so profound that if we learn to manage our thoughts, feelings, and emotions, we can harness them to treat physical and mental disorders and deepen our sense of spiritual connection.
We can use the power of the mind to enhance our capacity to
experience and express anything, including love, empathy, gratitude, and compassion.
62
PART ONE: Your Superhealing Mind
THE POWER OF YOUR BELIEFS
Your beliefs have the power to change your physiology and im-
prove your health. They also have the power to harm you. As dem-
onstrated by the perceptual and emotional stimulation of your stress response, your beliefs can unleash very powerful forces inside your body.
My most intense personal experience with the extraordinary
power of belief came when I was part of a team of doctors treating George (not his real name), who for several months had been experiencing unusual pain and other symptoms in his intestinal tract.
A soft-spoken man in his late sixties, he had been referred to our hospital because his local doctors could not diagnosis the cause of his symptoms.
Throughout his diagnostic tests, George was quiet, cooperative,
and extremely pleasant. After several days, an unfortunate diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer was made. I was in his room when
his physician gave him the news, surrounded by our entire medical
team. George looked as though a bomb had exploded in his mind.
Stunned and unable to respond, he sat before us in a stupor. He
didn’t ask any questions. His wife, who was at his side, seemed more engaged. An hour or so later, she stopped me in the hal way just outside her husband’s room. She grabbed my hand, looked directly into my eyes, and asked, “Is my husband going to die?”
Since her husband’s primary physician had already told them he
would die, I knew in my heart that she was searching for a ray of
hope that I couldn’t provide. Her sincerity pierced my heart. I wasn’t equipped to answer the question, so I stumbled through with a response that neither comforted nor soothed her. “We’re all going to die one day. I don’t think anyone knows exactly when that’s going
to happen.” I didn’t know what else to say. With that, I awkwardly
CHAPTER TWO:
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