Friday, May 23, 2014

Mind over Prostate Cancer

The other day I was speaking with a new to me prostate specialist medical doctor about cancer. I shared my plan for overall treatment, some procedures not currently included, or officially approved, within our standard Western treatment protocols. He presented a disapproving look and said, “You know, there is no cure for prostate cancer, nor is there any supplement or food that will make a difference.” At that moment, I made the decision to never return to that doctor.

While I strongly advocate finding a physician you trust, it is equally important that each of us finds a doctor that truly supports our health. The doctor I had just spoken to was clearly not the right person for me. Wendell Berry said, “We are fed by the Food Industry, which pays no attention to Health; and are treated by the Health Industry, which pays no attention to Food”. The attitude many doctors hold that only their special protocol, or limited field or expertise, will stave off deaths’ door, is far too prevalent in the US. When did it become the norm to focus on specialized disease management rather than true healing?

In all fairness it is not the doctors fault. They are plied from inception with a system that supports massive medication distribution and expensive procedures. Then they are placed in an impossible situation, given only 20 to 30 minutes to see each patient. How can they be expected to help promote health when the doctor has mere minutes to glance at a chart, for a patient they can’t remember, who is just one of a multitude seen throughout their day. I visited a primary care doctor with a pain in my shoulders and neck. After doing a few blood tests that came out fine, he said he “had nothing for me, learn to live with it. You are just getting old”. He then suggested I start taking pain pills. I on the other hand was looking for the root cause, or some kernel of advice to point me in the right direction towards better health. Instead I received a backhanded band aide to cover up pain, using a process that might cause more serious long-term issues. In the United States today we spend more money on medications than the total spent throughout Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina… combined; yet as a country we are less healthy than much of the world. What’s wrong with this picture?

To me, the issue is much more insidious. It goes beyond just telling me there is no cure, or saying I was getting old. Because they lack the solution, they try to project their negative thoughts into my life without offering hope or options. The true issue is, these doctors don’t have a clue as to the power of their word. Nor do they realize the damage they are doing to patients by spreading such hopeless thoughts. They obviously have never heard of quantum theory, string theory, or entanglement. Studies have shown that our thoughts and expectations can change an experiment’s outcome, and/or change matter at a quantum level. It is also believed that subatomic particles demonstrate both properties of particle and wave (energy), and that these particles can jump from one spot to another without traveling through the space between. Also the frequency at which a particle vibrates appears to be the key to its properties and our thoughts may modify the frequency. Add to this that certain unconnected particles appear to move in a connected fashion which could coordinate biochemical reactions in different parts of a cell or between organs, and you have the basic scientific understanding as to how our thoughts affect our health and the world in which we interact.

This is powerful healing information. Ask yourself, what is the daily focus of your thoughts around prostate cancer? Do you dwell on a fearful outcome? Are you so terrified by cancer’s future prospects that you’ve forgotten the simple joys in life? Certainly cancer can be a frightening thing. Now consider what these negative, even paralyzing, thoughts are doing to your overall health. Believing that our thoughts create our reality, that our thoughts can change the very fiber of our being beginning at the subatomic level, then wouldn’t thoughts of health and happiness be a better investment for the future. But how do we hold onto positive thoughts in the space of a perceived negative reality?

My solution: I like to focus on a time in my life when all is right with the world. In relation to feelings, the mind doesn’t define the difference between past and present; and thoughts with strong feelings may be the strongest healing tool available. Any thought I choose to bring to the forefront of my consciousness has its own positive or negative emotions and feelings. Daily I choose to think of the time I had just finished climbing the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland. I place myself on the trail headed down the mountain near Schwarzsee and turn and look back to where I had been. At that moment I am joyously happy, vibrantly healthy, strong and successful. I had conquered the world and nothing was beyond my reach. I let these thoughts and feeling flow through my body, owning every joyous moment. Each time I do this, it fills my heart with joy and gratitude, and like the mustard seed fills my being with the knowledge that I am healthy.

This is my process, my moment in time. Yours may revolve around any moment in your life were you felt happy, healthy, strong and successful. The key is, to own your moment and make it part of your being. For more information about this process read “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” and “Evolve Your Brain” by Joe Dispenza. You may wish to also follow his guided meditation, “Blessing of the Energy Centers”. As for the two negative doctors I recently met, we shouldn’t be so hard on them. They’re just products of a dysfunctional system. Many quality doctors still exist. Your task is to search until you find the right one for you. Just don’t be afraid to say, ‘next’, when one doesn’t meet your standards, or support your health in the way you truly deserve.