What are you concentrating on?
One of the main rules of mind-body health is, "You get what you concentrate on." It seems that what we're supposed to be concentrating on each October is breast cancer, since October is officially National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM).
Because breast cancer has been getting considerable attention for quite some time, our concentration on it seems to be having the results that those who practice mind-body health would expect: over the past 25 years, the incidence of breast cancer is up more than 40 percent.
Is this just coincidence? Genetic theory can't explain it. And it's doubtful that this is a nutrition issue, since we've been harping on eating well to avoid cancer for more than the past two decades. Are women being exposed to more toxic substances than ever before? Could that be the cause of the skyrocketing rate of breast cancer?
From a mind-body perspective, that is exactly the cause, except the toxins are not in the water, the food, or the air, but in the messages that put cancer, cancer, cancer at the forefront of fearful imaginings.
Like most supposedly health-related campaigns, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is not about concentrating on health; it's about concentrating on disease. The Board of Sponsors says NBCAM is: "dedicated to increasing awareness of breast cancer issues, especially the importance of early detection of breast cancer." And this goal is being achieved, as is shown by the climbing rate of breast cancer.
The Board of Sponsors for NBCAM tells us that their message is "communicated through a nationwide educational campaign to audiences including women in all age and ethnic groups, the general public, state and federal governments, women's health care professionals, and employers." In case they missed anyone, those pink reminder ribbons plastered everywhere keep your awareness on breast cancer, even when no one is saying a word about it.
This massive broadcasting of information about disease is worse than germ warfare because no one will try to stop it. "We're only trying to help you," they murmur soothingly as they dish up another poisonous serving of concentrated cancer awareness. How could you protest that?
To make sure the public feels unsafe in ways that will motivate them to keep looking for cancer, the message from the Board of Sponsors continues with a frightening statistic paired with suggested action: "During 2001 an estimated 192,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the United States. NBCAM encourages all women to recognize the importance of early breast cancer detection by participating in National Mammography Day."
Mammograms feed this campaign of fear. They can detect so much that isn't cancer that the chances are good that you'll get a chilling cancer "dress rehearsal" in the form of a really good scare, maybe even surgery, while you wait to find out exactly what that suspicious-looking lump is.
This is the usual modern medical approach to dealing with health -- a well meaning, but misguided recipe for causing more problems than it cures. Of course, the theory is that if you're scared, you'll take better care of yourself. But according to scientific studies, it's more likely that you may be concentrating on disease in a way that gets you what don't want.
Statistics indicate that you don't have much of a chance of winning the lottery, but the odds are excellent for getting breast cancer -- one in eight, they say. You know the slogan: You can't win if you don't play. Opt out of the breast cancer lottery by declaring October National "In the Pink of Health" Month and concentrate on increasing your awareness of how well you're doing.
Truly preventive medicine means keeping your attention off what you don't want and on what you do want. Notice that seven out of eight women don't get breast cancer. Remember that a cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence, but it can be put to good use as motivation for personal transformation. And when you see those pink ribbons, let them remind you that early detection and alteration of limiting beliefs and pessimistic attitudes can keep you in the pink of health.