Is Your Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full?
 |
| Chiropractic Can Help Support a Positive Mental Attitude |
|
It is very difficult to focus on the positive when you are in
pain, especially if that pain is chronic. Headaches, back pain, and neck
pain can often take the joy out of what potentially could have been a
wonderful day. Even when we know, for example, how to center ourselves
and focus on our breathing, physical pain can relentlessly monopolize
our attention. Chiropractic care can help to both alleviate the cycle of pain and restore normal function. By helping spinal joints work more effectively, chiropractic treatment eliminates many sources of chronic physical pain. A more normally functioning spinal column results in a more effectively functioning nerve system. All body systems improve and overall health and well-being increases. Chiropractic care is invaluable in helping us focus and regain our positive mental attitude, which is imperative for optimal health and well-being. |
What is your overall view of the world you live in? Do you lean
toward optimism or pessimism most of the time? Do you tend to expect
everything to work out in your favor or are you just waiting for the
next crisis? Our mental attitude determines how we interact with people
and the events and circumstances of our lives. Our mental attitude also
profoundly affects our health and well-being.
Plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz wrote the groundbreaking book
Psycho-Cybernetics more than 50 years ago, ushering in the self-help
book genre and popularizing the idea that the subconscious mind is a
goal-seeking mechanism that will do whatever it is programmed to do.
According to Maltz, it is imperative that you visualize the successful
completion of whatever goal you would like to achieve. As long as the
instructions to your subconscious mind are clear, it will go to work
manifesting that goal in your life.
Maltz was a scientist who supported this theory with decades of
interactions with his patients. Over the years there have been a
plethora of self-help gurus who have been preaching the same concepts
for creating the life you want.
With regard to a person's health, having a positive attitude is critically important.1,2
For example, what is your internal response when a nearby co-worker
spends the day sneezing and coughing? Do you automatically assume that
you too will get sick, and then in fact do? Other people, when exposed
to the exact same environment, do not. Perhaps the people that do not
succumb to the cold or flu that is "going around" did not internalize
the belief that they were being exposed to contagion. This may not
always be the case, but it is possible. There has been mounting evidence
that our thoughts influence our reality.
In the fascinating book The Holographic Universe,
the late Michael Talbot wrote quite a bit about the healing effect that
the mind can have on the body, including the amazing case of a patient
whose brain tumor "melted like a snowball on a hot stove".
The patient, named Wright, had advanced cancer of the lymph nodes. He
had exhausted all standard treatments and was not expected to live more
than a few more days. Wright read about a new drug that he believed
might offer him a cure, and though his doctors thought is was hopeless,
they gave it to him anyway. Within days his tumor had "melted" to half
its original size and Wright was pronounced cancer free ten days later.
Wright remained cancer free for two months until this scientific minded
patient began to read that his miracle drug was proven to have no
effect on the type of cancer he had. As a result, Wright became
depressed, suffered a relapse and was readmitted to the hospital. This
time his physician decided upon an elaborate ruse, injecting Wright with
plain water while convincing him that it was in fact a much more potent
version of the drug that had cured him the first time. The effect of
the placebo was once again very dramatic as his tumor melted away for
the second time and his symptoms disappeared. His restored health
lasted two months until the AMA published the results of a study
reporting definitively that the drug Wright thought he had been given
was worthless against cancer. Sadly, this shattered Wright's belief in
his placebo - his cancer returned and he died two days later.3
So how can we cultivate an unwavering belief in our body's ability
to be healthy? Is it as simple as just thinking happy thoughts all day
long? Probably not. But it is important to remember that maintaining a
positive attitude is very important. If we have a tendency to look at
the glass as half-full rather than half-empty, we will probably have a
more successful, productive and satisfying day. If we tend to think of
ourselves as vibrantly healthy and invulnerable to the colds and flu
that other people participate in, we will probably be more likely to
remain immune. And, even better, our subconscious mind will build on
those successes, helping to create even more health, happiness, success,
personal growth and well-being.
1Matsunaga M, et al: Association between perceived
happiness levels and peripheral circulating pro-inflammatory cytokine
levels in middle-aged adults in Japan. Neuro Endocrinol Lett August 5,
2011 (Epub ahead of print)
2Layous K, et al: Delivering happiness: translating
positive psychology intervention research for treating major and minor
depressive disorders. J Altern Complement Med 17(8):675-683, 2011
3Talbot, Michael. The Holographic Universe. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1991. Print.
