A Fortune 500 corporate executive contacted a minister and several-time Optimum Health Institute guest with a desperate request. He had just learned his PSA levels were off the charts, and his prostate cancer had returned with a vengeance and metastasized into his lungs. The best advice his physician could give him was to get his affairs in order.
The stricken man told the minister that he knew she’d survived a near-death experience from a brain aneurysm, and had also tended to her late husband during his 2-year battle with melanoma. He was angry with the doctors who had refused his requests for testing until it was too late; he was fearful he might be too ill to attend his older daughter’s October wedding, and he was grief-stricken he would never see his younger daughter marry, or his future grandchildren. He refused to talk to anyone else – he told her he knew she’d been through this type of emotional wringer, and he felt she was the only one who would understand.
The minister immediately agreed to work with the man, and cobbled together a kind of “spiritual boot-camp” to help him navigate his emotions. She didn’t shy away from discussing the very real possibility of his death – but she also insisted he shift his emotions from fearing the worst, to considering the possibility of the best. She had him make a list of things he had to be grateful for in his life – a loving family, steady income, a future son-in-law he loved and respected — and insisted he continue to add to it daily. She also encouraged him to write down his “legacy deeds” – things he had accomplished during his six decades on the planet.
At the end of the marathon session, the man had reached an emotional state of peace and grace. Three weeks later, he got the news his cancer was in complete remission.
Far from being something western medicine used to downplay or dismiss, neuroscientists have finally recognized our emotions as a positive, powerful force for helping us process information, communicate, and handle stress.
The signals in our brain that trigger emotions alert us to danger, and have aided our survival as a species. Our emotions let us make compassionate and ethical choices, help us connect with others and let us express moral judgment and empathy.
While positive emotions – love, joy, optimism – trigger the body’s production of endorphins, the brain’s “feel good” chemicals, negative emotions – fear, anger, grief – cause acidity in the body, upsetting the natural pH and preventing a healthy alkaline state.
For the executive struggling with a bleak prognosis, shifting his emotional state from negative into positive was exactly what his body needed to come back into a healthy balance, and vanquish the cancer cells.
Candace Pert, PhD, is a neuroimmunologist who, among her many other scientific achievements so far, has proven the existence of chakras. She theorizes that our emotions are the essential link between our physical and spiritual selves.
Her audio book, “Your Body is Your Subconscious Mind,” and several other works are available in the Optimum Health Stores at the OHI missions in both San Diego and Austin, TX.
Tap into the positive power of your emotions, and learn how they influence your body, mind and spirit with a stay at OHI. We can help you achieve your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual goals for optimal health in 2013. Call us at (800) 993-4325 to make your reservation.
