Category Archives: Health & Wellness

The Best Medicine May Sometimes Be Free

Reiki Treatment

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

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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.

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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.

Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World that Cannot Stop Talking by Susan Cain took my breath away  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.

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