by Peter Winslow
Recently I was asked by a reader to discuss the science of healing. It’s a pretty hefty request, so let’s boil it down to basics:
The first thing to note is that healing is not a scientific domain.
It may surprise you to know that the concept of “healing” is rarely discussed in medical schools. These schools focus on the physical sciences that govern matter and molecules, the tissues they can observe with the tools of technology. They discover ways to interact with those tissues, and they translate their findings into methods of treatment.
Healing, on the other hand, is what you do. The doctor doesn’t prescribe it and nobody can sell it to you. Although its effects can be observed, the power of healing is invisible and internal, occurring within the body.
Medical treatments are designed to help your body do what comes naturally. The proper treatment is administered, and then the healing wisdom of the body takes it from there.
For instance, if you break your arm, a medical professional can set the bone in a cast. The treatment is needed for the bone to heal properly. But it it’s not the cast that heals the broken bone; it’s the healing essence in the body that knits the bone cells back together again. The work is done by an internal force that science has never seen directly, and cannot fully explain.
When we speak of healing we’re talking about something that cannot be reliably quantified by scientific control groups and empirical data. Healing ultimately rests within the individual; one person may heal from a specific condition while for some reason, the next one does not.
Medical practitioners are at best only able to state the odds for healing and recovery. If you’re given good odds for success, it makes you feel better, more confident, with an expectation of a happy outcome. That expectation is a very powerful aspect of your own healing ability.
Not incidental to this discussion is the awareness of the energy which animates all living organisms, a force we call life. It sustains and heals the material body until the point at which it departs and leaves the lifeless matter behind.
This suggests that the healing essence in living tissue is a part of the life force within us. It has never been conclusively defined by medical science or agreed upon by world cultures, and it has never been seen under a microscope. Evidence-based mechanical medicine cannot yet focus on the energy that does the healing in our bodies, nor does it really need to.
Medical treatments originate externally; the power to heal your body, your mind, and your life occurs internally. This means you have more influence over it than you may even know.
It’s time you knew that.
Peter
by Peter Winslow
Recently, I was working with a client who has Ankylosing Spondylitis. The discussion came to a standstill as she experienced a life-altering epiphany, or what some call an “aha” moment.
We were discussing how ridding the body of stress can reduce chronic pain and muscle spasms. She understood the principle but hadn’t quite grasped the influence that stress had in her life.
She was describing a scenario when her symptoms were at their absolute worst. It was a time when she faced a very difficult set of challenges concerning her relationship with a close family member.
As she described that episode, she abruptly came to a screeching halt mid-sentence—and fully realized that stress was clearly exacerbating her illness and devastating her sense of well-being.
She was not one to connect stress or troubling thoughts with her disease, but now she knew stress was indeed a primary issue. It was almost always accompanied by painful flare-ups and other symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis, a chronic and degenerative autoimmune disorder.
She came to understand that suppressing her stressful issues of guilt, anger, resentment, and other negative emotions was wreaking havoc and keeping her sick. Aha!
In fact, stress relief is a primary key to healing. That’s why your doctor always recommends you get plenty of rest when recovering from illness or injury.
Stress relief is one of the primary strategies I used to recover from the symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis. The troubling and toxic emotions I lived with for many years took a huge toll on my body, but when I cleared those issues out, my body quickly responded with renewed health and healing.
Have you experienced a similar situation? Was there an “aha” event that made a powerful impact in your life? These moments of inspiration and clarity can really change things. Be on the lookout for them, and give them your full attention when they appear. Then be sure to share them with others who will benefit from the message.
Peter
by Peter Winslow
Have you heard that the quality of your thought equals the quality of your life? Well then, the time has come to understand exactly what it means for you and your future.
If you have Ankylosing Spondylitis, the quality of your life is probably not what it once was. And yet, there are people with AS who believe the best is yet to come. They expect the best for themselves from the world around them, and this mindset makes a colossal difference to the quality of their lives.
Are you one of them?
If you’re like most, the answer is a resounding “NO! How can I be upbeat and optimistic when I’m in constant pain?”
I know that a goodly lot of your life is spent searching for an escape from the pain and duress of AS. It all seems to boil down to a constant effort to escape from reality, which you know to be all but impossible.
So the question becomes “How can I change my reality?”
And the answer is, very simply: Start by changing your thoughts.
Now, if this sounds hokey or airy-fairy to you, fine; you can be an onion and continue on as you were.
But if you’re up for a spirited lesson, I challenge you to disprove this nugget of wisdom and try to render it incorrect.
It’s true because all change begins in thought. If a cure-all for AS was suddenly invented (and I know you’re waiting for one) then the process started this way: We need a cure for AS, so let’s invent one. That, in fact, is a powerful thought. It’s the impetus that gets the ball rolling.
If you wanted to get that cure-all, the process would begin with a thought: I damn well need to get that cure, no matter what it costs! Where can I get it?
In the absence of a single treatment to cure you, the most important thing for you to do is realize that your thoughts predetermine your reality.
Let me give you a thought… a very, very powerful message that can change your life. Here it is…
Ankylosing Spondylitis can be healed.
This I know. How? Because there are many people, including me, who have healed from AS. Nothing anyone can say or do can change that reality.
If there is one thought you could choose to absolutely change your life, this is it: I really can get better.
Let go of your doubts and focus on that.
If there’s one thought for you to meditate on every day, it’s this: I can heal.
Don’t let anybody or anything ever take that away from you. The quality of your life depends on it.
Peter
by Peter Winslow
We’ve all heard the old saw: Actions speak louder than words.
So why is it that positive action is something so many people have trouble taking?
As I go about my purpose educating, training and leading my tribe, I find the actions some of them would benefit from have for too long been “missing in action.”
Enter my associate and colleague Dr. Dragos Bratasanu, a modern media star who hails from Romania. He recently told a tale relevant to this topic of something he picked up on his travels:
“A while ago I journeyed to Nepal to trek the Himalayas, and to learn a bit more about myself and about the world from Buddhist spiritual teachers. I walked through the gates of a modern Buddhist monastery, and soon met the leader, or abbot, of this sacred space.
“The abbot was a wonderful man in his fifties, with a most obvious trait: he was always laughing and smiling. He told me that when he was 5 years old, he ran away from his home in Tibet to escape the Chinese oppression. He had to leave his family behind and fled across the mountains with a group of strangers. He took refuge in a Buddhist monastery in Kathmandu and became a monk.
“In spite of all the hardships he’d lived through, he was now very happy and peaceful. We sat down in a classroom and he shared a bit from the Buddhist tradition and their spiritual teachings. Every sentence he spoke was filled with big smiles.
“What’s the secret to your happiness? I finally asked. “How do you stay so peaceful and joyful all the time?
“He realized that I was hoping for some sort of ancient spiritual wisdom, which made him laugh even louder. Then he answered bluntly with a delicious laughter: ‘I meditate.’
“‘Look’ he continued a bit more seriously, ‘In the modern world, you’ve got everything you need to have a happy life. You are free. You have access to an abundance of information online, you have bookstores and libraries to learn anything you want, and you can afford to buy everything you need. I had some visitors here who showed me that you even have apps for meditation. I don’t know what those are. I just sit down and meditate.’”
As Dr. Dragos continued, I realized that what he offered next carried a life-changing message for people in the self-help community:
“The abbot said, ‘You know what the problem really is? You fill your head with so much information but you hardly put it into practice. You rarely act on it. You study meditation, you learn the techniques, you take the courses, you read the books, you go to classes… but you don’t do it. It’s that simple.’
“‘You read great works about happiness and about how important truthful relationships are in your life. You nod seriously in agreement with your head trapped between the pages—yet you are surprised by the simplicity of these teachings. Then you walk outside and do the exact opposite.’
“‘You tell your friends to follow their dreams but you don’t really do it yourself. You discuss philosophy about what you read, but you never really live the wisdom. This contradiction between what you know and what you do is driving you nuts.’
“This time we both laughed loudly. ‘Now DO it’ he said, ‘and BE happy.’”
I trust you recognize this message as a huge wake-up call. It reminds me of something one of my early teachers, a very dashing, rich and famous motivational speaker named Marshall Silver once told me: “It’s time to put away your studies, and do what you have been studying.”
Indeed. In every life there comes a time when truer words cannot be spoken.
Peter
by Peter Winslow
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller.
Every day I grapple with the knowledge that you are out there, doing what you can to cope, and persevering in the face of adversity. If I could deliver you to freedom from AS, the world would be a better place.
A better life, a better world, a new awakening… that is the fervent desire of us all. In order to prevail, we must employ the most powerful mental ally we have – unshakable vision backed up with absolute faith.
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King Jr
Vision is an unstoppable force that moves mountains and changes lives. History is replete with examples of people from every walk of life – people like you and me – who have accomplished the unimaginable through the power of their irrepressible vision.
When my own symptoms were intolerable, I found relief in remaining convinced that a brighter day was sure to come. My daily focus reflected it, and my mantra became:
This too shall pass…
…which gave me the strength and the inner resolve I needed to rise up and meet the challenges of life with chronic pain.
Repeat these words of wisdom often, believe in them, and never give in: This too shall pass.
There is unlimited potential for scientific breakthroughs and personal miracles, all that we could ever ask and intend for, which may appear at any moment. Who are we to deny it?
Since time immemorial, wiser men than I have encouraged us to take heart and never stop believing in ourselves. Choose to believe that you will one day awaken to a better world and a better life, and have faith in your vision.
There is a powerful message in this quote by Rachel Naomi Remen:
“Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.”
When you recognize this, heed it and take meaningful action, everything in your life will improve. New opportunities and experiences appear, and what you really intend then comes into view. It all begins with you, and most importantly, what it is you are focused on.
Trust your most powerful ally, and as always, keep the faith.
Peter
