We as human beings are much more powerful than we like to think. Our bodies are such perfect systems that have the ability to achieve so much, but we tend to underestimate their potentials and leave things in ‘Fate’s hands.’
Many are literally unaware of how much self-healing potential our body holds, and we usually give in to the negative thoughts when illness comes knocking at the door, thinking that if medicine can’t help, we are absolutely done for.
However, there have been miraculous cases where people have managed to cure themselves out of ‘incurable’ diseases, such as Stage IV cancers, HIV, and other conditions that many die from on a daily basis.
These people, as scientists have observed, managed to conquer the seemingly impossible where treatment was unavailable, and where the scientific community didn’t know what to do. So, how did they succeed? And how can we succeed in healing our bodies in that manner?
Our mind holds the greatest power over our body. The often-underestimated power of placebo holds the key to healing. People tend to laugh at the notion of ‘placebo,’ underestimating the effects it has had on over thousands of people.
Some would even say that the ‘placebo’ doesn’t really mean that the person is actually cured, which would be simply ridiculous when you see that the person is actually as healthy as one can be thanks to it.
However, when it comes to the ‘nocebo’, which is the opposite of placebo, not many are aware how damaging it can be to us. When you start thinking that you’re getting better, you actually get better. However, when you convince yourself that you are getting worse, the outcome is inevitable – you do get worse.
We often give in to the thought that the medical community is the only cure for our illnesses and that if there’s no cure available, then we are done for. However, as Lissa Rankin, MD, explains in a TED Talk, the doctors can very often be only catalysts in our self-healing process, especially when no cure is available.
There is an old Latin proverb that says “The doctor cares, nature heals” (Medicus curat, natura sanat), and we are inevitably Nature itself – our bodies are a manifestation of Nature’s potentials and mechanisms which allow us to heal ourselves, or destroy ourselves.
So, how does our mind affect our body? What makes our thoughts so powerful in our self-healing process? As Rankin explains, our brain communicates with every cell of our body via hormones and neurotransmitters.
Our thoughts are responsible for the production of these substances which, depending on our thoughts, can either heal or harm our body. It all comes down to the optimistic and positive outlook on life which provides us with the ability to unlock the self-healing potential of our bodies.
The actual thought that you can overcome your illness is more powerful than any drug you will ever come across.
In fact, Rankin explains that over 3500 studies have observed the phenomenon of placebo and how people grew hair by taking a placebo for hair growth, or lost it and vomited by thinking that they were taking chemotherapy, when, in fact, they were taking nothing else but placebo.
So, how can you unlock this innate power? As Rankin argues, in many cases, the doctors can serve as the placebo, their nurturing care gives us the courage to think that we are getting better and makes us feel more positive about our condition – thus overcoming it.
However, we are also able to boost our body’s potentials by introducing more positivity and optimism in our minds. By improving our outlook on life, we improve our health, we boost our longevity and our overall state of being.
Rankin has done research on this topic to see how we can harness this innate self-healing mechanism and has found that the way we treat our lives is the way our mind will treat our body.
She has compiled her discoveries in her book Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof You Can Heal Yourself and points out some of the most important aspects that contribute to a healthy life.
Listen to her Rankin’s brilliant TED Talk to learn more about how powerful our self-healing process can be and how you can trigger it by starting to treat yourself the way you should.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.