Faith

The futurist Joel Barker was the first person to popularize the concept of paradigm shifts. Although he worked with businesses, his observations about changing worldviews apply to mind-body health as well. Barker noticed that individuals who choose to change to a new paradigm before it is culturally acceptable must do so as an act of faith, because there is never enough proof to validate the new paradigm in its early stages.

Practicing the mind-body approach to health requires two kinds of faith: a firm belief in something for which there is no proof and trust in a source of health that is outside our physical control. Although faith is often based on "blind trust," it can be more solidly built by accumulating evidence that supports the new view of reality. Therefore, the first requirement for faith in a new way of health is learning to think for yourself. By observing the world through a filter of constructive new beliefs and experimenting with new approaches to health, you accumulate personally meaningful data that verifies the new paradigm.

Questioning authority is also imperative for those who assume they are already thinking independently by using alternative health practices. You may believe you've turned your back on the limitations of conventional medicine by choosing to avoid the what you believe are the hazards of sugar, processed food, and toxic substances. You may think you can safeguard your health if you diligently take antioxidants and vitamins, or if you exercise or meditate faithfully. But most alternative health care is based on the same convictions that drive conventional medicine. In both cases, the belief is that the best way to stay healthy is to assume things will go wrong unless you work hard at health.

The mind-body approach takes the opposite position. It is based on the conviction that cultivating an optimistic faith in life and your body is the path to optimum health. Practicing mind-body health means learning to recognize that things usually go well. In a world habituated to bad news and fixated on problems, this can be challenging. It takes faith to keep swimming against the current of pessimism.

Despite its emphasis on a fear-based approach to health, conventional medicine has ample evidence that pessimism is not health promoting and that a positive outlook provides health benefits that surpass those offered by any conventional therapies, diet, or exercise. But until science understands the "mechanism" by which optimism works to benefit the body, no one who subscribes to the prevailing paradigm is endorsing its power to heal. It looks like you'll just have to take it on faith.

Practicing Faith

There is more to faith than just thinking differently. Faith requires action to make a difference in your life. Here are some ways to practice a healthy faith in optimism.

Why not "What's right?" instead of "What's wrong?"

The metaphysical teacher Seth gives a simple suggestion for changing to a more optimistic approach to health and life when he talks about how we distort our perceptions by approaching problems with the question, "What is wrong?"

Other events literally become invisible to you…. The question itself becomes a format through which experience is seen, and itself represents one of the main reasons for all limitations, physical, psychic or spiritual.

At one point or another the individual ceased concentrating upon what was right in certain personal areas, and began to focus upon and magnify specific "lacks." With all good intentions, then, various solutions are looked for, but all based upon the premise that something is wrong.

If such a practice is continued, the concentration upon negatives can gradually bleed out into other previously unblemished areas of experience."

Jane Roberts, The Nature of Personal Reality

Try focusing on "what's right"

The next time you have a problem, instead of trying to figure out what's wrong, look through a more optimistic lens by asking, "What's right?" Make a list of what is working fine despite the problem.

Don't just go through the motions: deliberately shift your attention from what's wrong to what's right and keep it there. Assume that you can solve the problem by adding more of what works, rather than fighting what isn't working. Even if all you can add is a more positive outlook, that is usually enough to change things for the better, especially for you.

Shift your attention away from your symptoms

If you are feeling unwell or in pain, turn your awareness inward and notice the areas of your body that are feeling fine. Allow your awareness to linger in the "good" areas and enjoy a break from your malaise. Then shift your awareness back and forth experimentally, going from "what's wrong" to "what's right," playing with the differences in feeling.

Move the good feeling into the area that feels bad. Mentally amplify the feeling of well being so it percolates through the unwell areas, dissolving the blocked energy. Then assure yourself you've unclogged the area and it is now on the mend, and turn your attention to something else.

Redefine your dis-ease

When you're sick, instead of worrying that you'll get worse, look upon your illness as a chance to take a break, to rest and indulge yourself. As you rest, distract yourself with enjoyable plans for the future.

Remember, research shows that paying attention to what's wrong increases symptoms. By choosing to focus on what's going right, you stop feeding "what's wrong" with your attention, plus you stop disturbing your body with worry. If you really get into the spirit of noticing what's right, your mood will lift, providing you with nature's best medicine.