Finding what’s at the heart of the matter.
Isn’t it time we looked compassionately at the whole person: their mind, body and spirit, if we wish to find the ‘cure’. With research into psychoneuroimmunology and psychobiology of gene expression both pointing to the importance of listening to and nourishing our hearts, surely the billions spent by drug companies into a ‘cure’ is at worst fruitless, and at best fleeting unless we unite both the conventional and holistic approaches to medicine?
Neuroscience shows us that it’s your thoughts and emotions that determine much of the quality of your life, not your DNA. “You don’t have to be stuck how you are,” says Dr. Harvey Zarren, a renowned retired cardiologist, “you can change your body biology by changing your thinking.” I was extremely fortunate to hook up with Harvey on a google ‘hangout’ a short time back. Harvey, now a consultant at ‘The Connected Healing Institute’ in Massachusetts, helps people to change their biology by changing their gene expression, to heal on occasions from a seemingly ‘incurable’ diagnosis.
In the hangout Harvey explains that you have 21,000 genes, made up from only 2% of your DNA. The remaining 98% of your DNA acts as switches and dimmers, changing how your genes express themselves. By listening deeply and extensively to a person’s history, “you can tease out what are the most powerful things for that person. Once you do that and begin to treat a person in a loving compassionate way and teaching them some tools, like hypnosis, they can change their switches and healing happens,” explains Harvey. “Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social distinctions are not real inside of us, we made those up so we can talk about them. You have a biology, anything affecting inside any part of you, is affecting all of that biology, all of the time.” The biggest ideology of people Harvey sees with physical complaints is that “their precious loving heart has never been acknowledged by themselves or other people.”
So how can you begin to help yourself?
Take time out for yourself, time to listen to your own guidance system, your own precious loving heart – to help you make those all-important decisions on life. When struggling to make a decision, ask yourself how it makes you feel. Often a negative feeling can be a great sign-post to redirect you. To help you change direction or question your thinking. As children, we’re incredibly intuitive, guided by our heart energy. As we grow up, we listen to and look towards others for advice; parents, teachers, doctors, the church or even social media and bit by bit we leave our intuition behind. We learn to suppress our emotions and feelings, until finally our subconscious mind uses our body’s biology to get our attention, that something needs attention.
In Dr Caroline Leaf’s book “Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health” she writes, “Your heart is in constant communication with your brain, checking the accuracy and integrity of your thought life…. When you listen to your heart, it secretes ANF (atrial natriurectic factor) – a hormone produced by the heart that regulates blood pressure and can give you a feeling of peace.” Isn’t about time we listened – we might save ourselves a whole lot of stress.
