I wrote previously about the power of hope in the healing process. Faith also has a great deal to do with it. There’s no question about how the degree of faith you have in both the treatment and the one administering the treatment has upon your likelihood of improving. When I was in chiropractic college, I did a research paper on the “placebo effect”. This is NOT about fooling people with sugar pills, but rather about how one’s belief and attitude toward their treatment plays into the success of the treatment. I believe that in most instances, no matter what kind of treatment one is receiving, from drugs to surgery to energy work, that placebo effect will have a bearing on the outcome.
Before medications can be marketed to the public, they must go through a number of studies in order to be approved by the FDA. Surgeries don’t usually get the same kind of research. I heard of one study where they examined a particular knee surgery. The patients were divided into three groups. The first group got the surgery they were evaluating. The second group did not get the surgery. However, their skin was opened up and then stitched back up without making any internal changes. The third group was the control group that got no treatment. Which group do you think reported the most improvement? It was actually the second group. They were the ones that didn’t get the actual surgery but thought they had.
In my own life, I’ve looked for ways to cultivate my faith — faith in God, faith in my self and my abilities, etc. Lately, I’ve found that one of the most effective means of increasing faith is to have a heartfelt expression of gratitude. When you feel gratitude down deep, it’s hard to simultaneously feel doubt or worry. It can often be more helpful to think about the things you’re grateful for than to focus on what you need or want. Remember that you are most likely to attract more of whatever you focus on. If you focus too much on your aches and pains, you will get more of the same. That doesn’t mean ignore them, but you focus more on resolving your health issues than on how miserable you feel. Find any good aspect of your health (you can usually find many if you try if you’re not in acute pain) and focus on that. Feel gratitude for it.
The next step is where faith really comes into play. Be grateful for the improved health you’re going to have. If a trusted friend said that they have sent you a gift, would you withhold your gratitude until you actually received it? That wouldn’t make sense, and it certainly wouldn’t show any faith in your friend. If you expect something good in your life, be grateful as if it were already your’s, including improved health. There are no guarantees, but your chances of getting what you want will be greatly enhanced.
Be grateful for both your current and future blessings. Having an attitude of gratitude will increase your joy, which is the purpose of your existence, and you’ll attract a lot more good into your life. For more information on how we help people achieve better health, please visit my website.
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