“A growing body of research suggests that maintaining an attitude of gratitude can improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being” writes Melinda Beck in a November 23, 2010 HealthJournal article in the Wall Street Journal.
If someone makes you mad, if they say or do something that makes you angry, how would you feel if they then came to you, told you they had a serious illness, and asked if you would pray for them?
Lemmings courtesy of Flickr user quikelopez
Did you know that the reputation lemmings have for committing mass suicide, mindlessly jumping off a cliff, is actually a misconception? I didn’t know that. More about this in a minute.
There’s been a lot in the news lately about destructive flash mob type activity: rioting and looting in England and more recently a flash mob robbery in Maryland in the U.S. This activity appears to be orchestrated through the use of social media.
Is the public finding better health by turning more to prayer? According to the Pew Forum’s Religious Landscape Survey, 56% of those surveyed in Michigan pray at least once a day and that goes up to 76% who pray at least once a week. Here is a thoughtful post entitled, “The Positive Health Effects of
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Don’t worry, be happy”. It’s a catchy tune sung by Bob Marley. Being healthy makes us happy. But did you know that being happy can help keep us healthy?
“Happy people live longer, probably because happiness protects physical health.”
This was the conclusion of a research paper by Dutch sociologist Ruut Veenhoven
in The Journal of Happiness Studies in 2008 that looked at 30 follow-up studies on happiness and its effect on health and longevity.
“To control negative physical and verbal actions, it is necessary to get at their root, the mind, and tame it.” The Dalai Lama recently tweeted this. In a talk last year he spoke of how a healthy mind is needed for a healthy body. This tweet of his got me to thinking – what are some phrases
Declaration of Independence courtesy of Flickr user kyteacher
Unalienable: not subject to being taken away and incapable of being given away.
Our Creator – God – gives us certain things – including life and liberty, happiness and health. And not only are these things not subject to being taken away, but they are actually incapable of being taken away, and even incapable of being given away! They’re ours.
We have the God-given right to be free from disease, free from sadness, free from anything and everything that would restrict our ability to live a happy and fulfilling life.
Our Forefathers declared their freedom. They wrote a declaration of independence. In it they declared that “…these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free…” They declared that they ARE free, and that they should therefore BE free. They gave their consent to this fact in their thought first and declared it and then it was brought to pass.
(courtesy of Flickr user nyoin)
Two groups of children receiving different levels of hygiene and nutrition and different levels of loving care. The ones being loved fared much better.
Anne Harrington is a Harvard College Professor and Professor for the History of Science, specializing in the history of psychiatry, neuroscience, and the other mind and behavioral sciences. In her book, “The Cure Within – A History of Mind-Body Medicine”, she shares a 1945 study (on page 191) by psychoanalytic psychiatrist Rene Spitz in which one group of babies was cared for with good hygiene and excellent physical care but received little if any individual love or attention. This group became physically and emotionally stunted. Most could not walk or talk even at the age of four. “Within two years 37 percent … had died from infection.”
In contrast, a second group of babies was cared for in a prison nursery that was “far dirtier” but received loving affection from their mothers each day. “Not a single one of the second group of children succumbed to infection during the five-year period of Spitz’s study.”
Placebos by Akacio S. ( /photographyk )
The placebo effect is usually considered to be the curative effective resulting from patients equipping a sugar pill with their belief in its ability to help. But it turns out that the placebo effect can result from the thought of the caregiver as well.
“Belief in or expectation of a good outcome can have formidable restorative power, whether the positive expectations are on the part of the patient, the doctor or caregiver, or both…” says Herbert Benson, M.D. writing (with Marg Stark) about what he calls “remembered wellness” in his book “Timeless Healing – The Power and Biology of Belief”.
Ghost from Elizabeth Thomsen
I was about 11 years old. I froze in my tracks and listened.
My folks were having a new house built just around the corner from where we lived and that night I was the one who went over to make sure it was all locked up for the night. While inside checking windows and doors I heard footsteps. The interior walls weren’t done yet and those footsteps echoed loudly throughout the darkened house.
As I listened – more footsteps! I got out of there and ran home as fast as I could.
