The Best Medicine May Sometimes Be Free

prescription drugsWhile modern medicine has provided the world with many miracles, it is not a failsafe treatment system nor even close to being so.

In fact, you may be at risk for unnecessary treatment, ineffective drugs, and even premature death when you see an allopathic medical doctor or spend time in a hospital:

Consider these eye-opening statistics:

  • “It’s estimated that 2.5 million unnecessary surgeries are performed each year, with hysterectomies, heart bypass grafts, lower back surgery, and angioplasty leading the list. Just two procedures alone, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) — known in the trade as cabbage — and balloon angioplasty cost $100 billion annually. With long waiting lists for CABG, you’d think it was vital for prolonging the lifespan of heart patients, but that’s a mistake. Current statistics suggest that about 3% of bypass surgeries extend life expectancy, with angioplasty scoring even lower at zero percent.” -  The Huffington Post
  • “The vast majority of drugs – more than 90 per cent – only work in 30 or 50 per cent of the people.  I wouldn’t say that most drugs don’t work. I would say that most drugs work in 30 to 50 per cent of people. Drugs out there on the market work, but they don’t work in everybody.” – Allan Roses, Senior Executive, GlaxoSmithKline Drug Company
  • “250,000 deaths per year are caused by medical errors, making this the third-largest cause of death in the U.S., following heart disease and cancer.” – Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association

Continue reading

9 Ways to Positively Influence Your Health and Happiness

Smiling releases "feel good" chemicals in the body.

Smiling releases "feel good" chemicals in the body.

The scientific evidence has been steadily accumulating:  negative emotions like anger, fear, and sadness as well as the repeated activation of the stress response can have a negative effect on the immune system and may also put you at higher risk for a range of diseases.

On the other hand, research tell us that optimism typically has a positive affect on the immune system and one’s health.  According to researcher Suzanne Sergerstrom,

“…a number of studies show that optimists are in general both psychologically and physiologically healthier.”

Traditional Chinese Medicine also suggests that laughter, pleasure, optimism, and boosting your spirits in other enjoyable ways can have a positive knock-on effect for your immune system and general well being.  The “radiant circuits” – the meridian systems interconnected with the immune system – are thought to be highly responsive to your thoughts, images, and beliefs.  Shifting your mind set can sometimes have an instantaneous effect.

Continue reading

Introverts: Quietly…Take Back Your Life!

Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts

Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts

Are you secretly – or even unknowingly – an introvert trying to adapt in an extrovert-favored world?

Studies show that one-third to one-half of Americans are introverted.

But given the overriding “culture of personality” – which does not value  introversion and all its positive qualities – you may be constantly trying to live up to the “extrovert ideal”.  In fact, you may not even fully realize or accept that you are an introvert at heart.

In the second grade, I receive an honorary certificate – gold stars and all – for having read 32 books.  That’s likely a sign of my true disposition.  But as an adult, I took on high stress, high profile jobs that were not necessarily a good fit for an introvert, who typically needs to retreat periodically from over-stimulation.

I just started reading Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World that Cannot Stop Talking by Susan Cain.  Just a few pages in, it became a life changing read for me.  Cain shares this aspiration as a core purpose of her book:

If there is only one insight you take away from this book, though, I hope it’s a new found sense of entitlement to be yourself.

In Quiet, Cain shares the cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology that underpins our current understanding of introversion, turning on one light bulb after the other as she proceeds.

Continue reading

Clarity with Joy

Would you like to release stuck energy or have more clarity in your life ?

Here’s an invitation to try something different.  It may be radical or new for you, but it could be exactly the release you need to move forward in your life.

My friend Joy Holland is offering a weekly complimentary Distance Energy Movement Session.

The sessions are held Thursday from 6:00 − 6:30 am (PST).   You will set an intention for the session and then simply relax in the comfort of your own space.

An energy session is “a refreshing, healing movement of your internal energy.  It is a wrapping of love and light.”

Joy Holland is an intuitive empath, meaning she can feel what you feel.  She specializes in clarity, helping you to see your Truth clearly.  Her distance work is done via the ethers, so to speak.

Continue reading

Be Prepared: Anything Can Happen!

I’ve been under the weather with a cold.  Feeling grumpy and miserable.

Then, Monday night, I started to see flashes of light (photopsia) from the periphery of my left eye.  I blew it off – not recommended – and went to sleep.

As I showered the next morning, I suddenly noticed what appeared to be a black spider over my shoulder. She multiplied into quite a few black, lacy images dancing vibrantly about in my visual field.

I called my doctor and was told to go immediately to the eye doctor.  He said, “Tell the staff you may be having a “retinal” emergency.”

Emergency?  Was I ready for a medical emergency?

Continue reading

Three Essential Messages from the Simple and the Complex Potato Chip

Essential Messages from Potato Chips

I confess to being addicted to potato chips.  It started at an early age.  The Lays brand popular slogan “betcha can’t eat just one” was inspired by me.

But of course, I would never be so politically incorrect to eat Lays Potato Chips nowadays.  I only go for the brands that make a “natural promise”.  Amazingly, they line almost an entire aisle at my health food store.

Lately though, I’ve been receiving messages from these potato chips.  I would like to pass them along (the messages, not the potato chips!) for your own well being and in consideration of the environment.  Yes, the chips are talking about the environment too.

The Simple Potato Chip

What can we learn from the simple, unadorned potato chip?  Unsalted with only natural vegetable oil and no trans-fats?  I’ll use Kettle Brand Potato Chips with their “bold flavor and hearty crunch” to illustrate the lesson.

The problem stems all around the idea of serving size.  I always assume the serving size is whatever size the bag is – 2.5 ounces or 5 oz.  In other words, eat as many as you like.

But lo and behold – if you read the ingredient label – the actual serving size is 1 oz. or 13 chips.  That’s 150 calories, about right for an actual snack.

The “snack size” 2.5 oz bag therefore contains 2 and 1/2 servings.  The 5 oz. bag contains 5 servings.

Fess up:  do you ever eat the whole “snack size” bag?  What about your kids?  Now we’re up to 375 calories, edging closer to the size of a full meal.

Continue reading

The Breath of Life

“The first tool for relaxing the body and removing the blockages in the life energy is the breath.  All we need at any moment is to exhale deeply and allow the new breath to enter our being naturally.  With every exhalation, we release piled-up stresses, physical tension, and FEAR.  Deep exhalation empties us so we can receive more fully the next inhalation and its life-giving energy.  Now the life energy can move more fluidly through out system.  We can be refreshed and enlivened by the breath – ‘the purified essence of life.’”

- Alice Burmeister, The Touch of Healing

Question for Reflection

When I read this selection, I was struck by how powerful the breath actually is.  It reminded me to tune into my breath.  I realized how little attention I give it.  How about you?

“How is your breathing?  Are you breathing consciously?  Do you tap into the power of the breath?

Image:  Public Domain

If you liked this article, please share the link with others.  Thank you! You can also connect with me on Google+ or the Always Well Within Facebook Page.  With love, Sandra