Is Poor Health a Disconnect from Your God Given Talent?
The mind/body continuum is very sophisticated. It is our gift from God. Find out why I call it the "mind/body continuum" and how this different understanding can transform your health.
Shouldn't health care give you less fear and more empowerment? You have the gift from God. Recognize it. Embrace it. Live with intention using the talents God gave you.
I am a cantor at funeral masses. It is a special time of gathering for family and friends to pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased. Most of the time I am not familiar with the departed, but I soon learn quite a bit about him or her during the homily and public remarks made at the end of the mass.
The families are usually large because the deceased was married and had at least 3-6 children. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren are often in attendance. There are a lot of memories to recall. Family members who speak provide a brief history with notable memories. It is rare that I don't get teary eyed and hope I am not so choked up that my throat won't warble during the last hymns.
When it comes down to it, the multiple relationships formed have impacted generations of people. There's more good to share that outweighs the bad. If someone had suffered tragedies, they pressed on with support from the family or became the support for the family. The lessons learned made them stronger.
I hope this is a representation of most families. Despite the hardships and challenges we all face, I want to believe each of us possess close, meaningful connections with loved ones so unexpected experiences do not leave a negative impact.
I say this because I see a lot of people who suffer a lot of pain, living with demoralizing limitations. I notice a certain population that has an exponential increase in pain, depression, and their lives are lived in a very small bubble. Their social supports are lacking, some have little enjoyment in life having given up on their hobbies.
When I speak to them, they also have a limited outlook on their health conditions. Whatever information they have gathered, they feel their lives will continue to be lonely, isolating and dreading the future.
A John Hopkins study followed people with family history of heart conditions for a number of years and noted that a those with positive outlook had a 1/3rd less chance of a heart event. Also, those who had a family history and already had a number of other risk factors, were 13% less likely to have a heart event.
Please allow me to add here that I don't follow the family heredity belief. Carrying a mind-set over a lifetime puts stress on the nervous system. This already puts a somber fear in people's brains, so I'm hopeful that the 1/3rd in the above study may not actually attend to the idea that a family history marks you.
The study information is listed below. Data from 1987 to 2007 was investigated. Medical measurements and questionnaires were used.
Published online 2013 Jun 28. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2013.05.055
Effect of Positive Well-Being on Incidence of Symptomatic Coronary Artery Disease
If you chose to ignore the family history "dogma," you're probably living your life, looking forward to the future.
The ability to maintain a positive outlook can come from a mental technique call cognitive reframing. Different thought exercises help people to downgrade the negativity of a situation, especially when an emotional response has created a hypersensitive memory of an event. These are psychological practices, however some researchers have measured brain activity with EEG and MRI studies to demonstrate that the brain can shift to a calmer, more resilient state.
While the benefits of having a positive outlook seem obvious, some people want to see measurable evidence. So, it is exciting to know these studies demonstrate how you have the ability to impact your health in ways that require no money, just time and repetition.
Let's get back to the funerals. These families are united by their faith in life after death. It comforts them and they carry on with their faith life as taught by their parents.
Jesus said in Luke 8:52 “Do not weep any longer, for she is not dead, but sleeping.”
Also in John 14: 2-3 he said:
Our family connections are vital. They give us solace and support so we can be our best. And if we did not grow up with the best family connections, Jesus offers us his family.
Ephesians 1: 3-5
Life isn't always positive, but we don't have to face it alone. Togetherness is an important survival tactic that our brains are heavily in tune with.
When I listen to people talk about their frustrations over health challenges that don't change, I hear them jump from treatment to treatment.
This doesn't work so I tried something else. And that didn't work. The next thing only helped a little.....They keep trying anything.
I'm all for trying something new, but when it comes to health it's not that simple. The mind/body continuum is very sophisticated. It is our gift from God.
For some people, if they weren't taught about this gift from God or fully understand it because it is so profound, they will feel disconnected from their mind/body.
I witness this disconnect when talking to people who feel befuddled and demoralized by their poor state of health. My goal is to be a teacher by sharing this view.
Health care leaders want monitoring and treatment to be very "cut and dried." It is assumed one size should fit all and medicine can be evidence based. But science will never be exact. This is why people fall through the cracks. There is a lot of dissatisfaction in health care.
I approach it differently. If you are interested in a different approach you are invited to follow my story. My experiences that shaped my current beliefs may be relatable. If they resonate with you, it can change your life as it has given me tremendous relief.
I consider myself to have always had a positive outlook, but I am now more positive.
My approach is to fill in the cracks, so there is no reason to fall through the cracks.
Less fear. More empowerment. You have the gift from God. Recognize it. Embrace it. Live with intention using the talents God gave you.
If health care doesn't reduce your fear and give you more empowerment, you need to change your health care.
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