Even though science cannot now measure most of the myriads of interactions entertained in the brain, we should not ignore compelling brain research that demonstrates that beliefs manifest themselves throughout our bodies.
Instead of trying to factor the placebo effect out of scientific studies, maybe it’s time we figure it out and factor it in, thereby learning to leverage its positive benefits. The power of the placebo as a healing agent is directly related to the power of our beliefs and perceptions. Since the “active ingredient” in the placebo effect is perception, renaming it the perception effect is a more accurate description of this powerful healing agent. This point is illustrated by the following true story:
One American family, who originated in an eastern bloc country and still has many family members living there, tells this true story. During the period of political and social unrest in Europe during the late 1980s, as the communist regimes were collapsing and reorganizing, communications with the eastern bloc countries became extremely difficult. The extended family in the United States received an urgent letter from their relatives requesting help in the form of supplies, anything that could make life a little easier. It had taken months for the letter to arrive in the United States.
Each of the family members gathered various items, and supplies were all sent together. After nearly six months, they received a letter from the grateful relatives thanking them for the supplies. But the relatives were most grateful for the medicine. It had helped so many in the family, especially some of the elderly members who had seen significant improvement in their health. They were running low on the medicine and were beginning to ration it until more could be sent. The family conferred. What medicine? No one could remember sending any medicine. They were frantic, wanting to help, so they reconstructed the package, as best they could, sending everything they remembered sending previously. They also included an urgent message: “What is the medicine that is helping so much? If it is not in the package, tell us so we can send more immediately.”
Again communications were delayed, and it was several months before they got a response. The relatives were so appreciative of the supplies sent in the second package, but the medicine had NOT been sent. “Please, please send more of the LifeSavers®. They made such a difference!”
If the power of perception could cause a popular candy to effect health changes in people as though it were medicine, what are the possibilities for using the “perception effect” in a deliberate way to support health in patients with a variety of physical or psychological problems, from colds to cancer, anxiety to depression?
By learning to directly access the subconscious mind, negative beliefs that sabotage behaviors and wellness can be changed into beliefs that support them. Even though the following statements represent only a small sample of the beliefs that may be affecting your health, they will provide a quick check to see whether these subconscious beliefs are supporting your health or sabotaging it.
Sample Beliefs:
My body heals itself, naturally and quickly.
I accept health as being a natural part of my life.
I am a good person and deserve to be healthy.
I love and accept my body as it is and as it changes.
I express my anger openly and honestly.
I treat my body like royalty.
I feel safe, secure, and confident in the world.
Grief and Loss
When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door
that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
–Helen Keller
Loss is inevitable … how you respond to it is optional. Whether you lose a loved one, a relationship, or a job, most people feel some degree of grief when such an event occurs. In the case of the loss of a loved one, especially a spouse, the feeling of loneliness and concern for the future can be emotionally devastating. Although grief is a normal and usually healthy response to loss, it can become unhealthy and counterproductive if allowed to persist for an inappropriate period of time. Many people believe that grief is not a feeling that can or should be changed and so must simply be endured for as long as it lasts, regardless of the detrimental effects on the life of the person grieving. Different cultures have different expectations and ways of dealing with grief. For example, the ancient Egyptians expected that when a prominent person died, his spouse and sometimes his servants would be buried with him. By contrast, in a typical New Orleans style funeral the procession to the grave site is a somber and mournful acknowledgment of death. However, the procession from the grave site is a energetic celebration of life. Countless examples describe people who turned tragedy into inspiration, ultimately making the world a better place.
Even grieving a significant loss can be dramatically affected by your perceptions and beliefs. Following are a few examples of beliefs that promote a healthy response to the grieving process.
Sample Beliefs:
I release all guilt, shame, and blame from my past thoughts and actions.
I forgive myself for love and affection I withheld, in anger, from myself and others.
I fill my mind with positive, nurturing, and healing thoughts.
I acknowledge my feelings as a necessary part of my healing process.
I know when it is time to let go, and I do.
Everything happens in Divine Order.
I have faith in my future and myself.
Personal Power
Worry comes from the belief you are powerless.
–Dr. Robert Anthony
If you got more “You can’t” than “You can” messages as a child, you are probably having more “I can’t” than “I can” experiences as an adult. In other words, if you heard messages from parents and other authority figures telling you your opinion didn’t count and your actions didn’t matter, you are likely to have subconscious beliefs that mirror those ideas. The frequent result is people with debilitating insecurities about their ability to positively affect the course of their lives. Some people overcompensate for this feeling of powerlessness by making a career out of becoming powerful. Usually this sense of power is achieved by acquiring money, possessions, and social status. Unfortunately, these external signs of power seldom satisfy the gnawing feeling of insecurity and powerlessness within. People with authentic power can have an abundance of money, possessions, and social status, but their personal power does not come from the things they have, but rather from who they are. It is not power over others, but power over oneself that is the sign of authentic personal power.
Check the following subconscious beliefs to be sure your personal power comes from who you are, not just what you have.
Sample Beliefs:
I trust the decisions I make.
I trust the Divine guidance I am receiving.
I acknowledge my ability and responsibility to make a positive difference in the world.
I actively embrace the opportunities that come with change.
I am true to my personal vision.
I am willing to take the risks necessary to live my life openly and honestly.
I give myself permission to do what I love.
If you discovered beliefs that muscle test weak in any of these categories, it indicates your subconscious beliefs may be misaligned with your conscious goals and desires. The good news is that you can acquire positive subconscious beliefs through the PSYCH-K belief change process.
___________________
15 See John Horgan’s book, The Undiscovered Mind, New York: The Free Press, 1999, Pgs. 112-113.
16 Hafen et al, Mind/Body/Health, Needham MA: Allyn & Bacon 1996.
Chapter 10
The Myths About Change
“There is no use trying,” said Alice; “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as
many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
–Lewis Carroll
Truth Is Not Determined By a Show of Hands
Some commonly held myths about change deserve to be challenged. These myths are firmly ingrained in our culture. They’ve been unchallenged and accepted as facts by many people for many years, so I don’t expect you to let go of them just because I say they’re myths. However, I do urge you to test what I am saying and decide for yourself. The PSYCH-K process enables you to break through these myths and go beyond their innate limitations.
Myth Number 1.
If you’ve had a negative belief for a long time it will take a long time to change it.
Fact: Most of the time changing beliefs is like changing the software in a personal computer. It doesn’t take any longer to change a program that has been in your computer for 30 years than it does to change one that has been there for 30 minutes … when you know how to rewrite the software of the subconscious mind.
Myth Number 2.
Changing old behaviors and thought –patterns is difficult and often painful. It’s the “No pain, no gain” myth.
Fact: Patterns of thought and behavior are caused by perception. These perceptions/beliefs are represented by configurations of photons of light held in an electromagnetic field (mind). Remember, mind is energy, not little people running around in your head trying to make your life miserable! Quite frankly, the photons don’t care if you want to reorganize them. Properly redirected, they will most often easily and painlessly accommodate your wishes.
Myth Number 3.
You need to know what caused a problem in order to change it. Put another way, insight into the cause of a problem is necessary to change it.
Fact: Becoming consciously aware of the source of the problem is seldom necessary to change most beliefs or behaviors. In other words, consciously knowing how you got where you are isn’t usually necessary to get where you want to be.
In addition to these myths, other commonly accepted ideas make change more difficult. For example, our language patterns often characterize the mind in such a way as to suggest that some beliefs are difficult to "get to.” A popular way of describing a long-held belief is to say it is “deep-seated,” or “deeply ingrained.” The question is, just how “deeply” embedded can a belief be in a brain whose average size is 5” wide by 5” high by 6” long? The real issue is that most of our language reflects the limitations of the conscious mind. What is being implied is that it is difficult to consciously identify the beliefs that are the source of our problems. Until we shift our focus to the subconscious mind and accept the fact that we don’t typically need to consciously know what beliefs are causing the problem in order to change them, we will continue to have difficulty in making positive changes in our lives.
To use a computer metaphor, PSYCH-K provides a kind of “Find File” for your subconscious mind and performs most of its reprogramming functions outside of your conscious awareness. In fact, that is what subconscious means. The prefix sub means below. So the word subconscious implies activity taking place below the level of conscious awareness. It is important that your subconscious mind does know the source of the problem because it will be rewriting the necessary software to make the desired changes. Because your subconscious is the storehouse for past experiences, attitudes, values, and beliefs, it is capable of accomplishing this task. The good news with PSYCH-K is that like a computer, you don’t have to read a document before deleting it or putting it in a deactivated folder. In other words, PSYCH-K does not insist that you consciously revisit or relive past traumas in order to change their effect on your life in the present. By reperceiving the past, you are freed from it. You don’t need a new past, you need new eyes with which to see it.
Chapter 11
The Magic of Believing
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
–Marcel Proust
Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain
In the classic motion picture The Wizard of Oz, the great Wizard turns out to be a clever illusionist. After he is exposed as the “man behind the curtain,” he tells Dorothy and the other seekers that they already possess the gifts they are seeking. The power and wisdom they desire is already within each of them. The Great Oz provides them with meaningful rituals, conferring to each of them the powers they seek. He awards the Scarecrow a diploma as an acknowledgment of his intelligence, pins a medal on the Lion as a symbol of his courage, and gives the Tin Man a watch in the shape of a heart to represent his feelings. The recipients are immediately transformed by their new belief in themselves. And finally, Glenda, the Good Witch of the North, reminds Dorothy that, “You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.” In that scene, the Scarecrow asks Glenda why she didn’t tell Dorothy about this ability sooner. The Good Witch answers by saying, “Because she wouldn’t have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.” When asked what she had learned from her experience, Dorothy says, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard, because if it isn’t there, I never lost it to begin with.” Dorothy’s belief was all she needed to achieve her heart’s desire. It’s the magic of believing in action!
Whether you want more brains (to think clearly and with more mental flexibility), more courage (to face life’s challenges), more heart (to love and be loved), or a way to get home (to find comfort and peace within), you have only to realize that the answers you seek are already within you. The greatest teachers and spiritual masters of all time have borne this message. PSYCH-K honors this timeless truth and provides you with effective tools for accessing your inner wisdom. You are the embodiment of the power you seek.
PSYCH-K is a process of personal awakening and spiritual discovery (or un-covery), a user-friendly way to get in touch with your Divinely inspired inner Wizard. This inner Wizard represents your innate and seemingly magical power to create a life that reflects the very best you. I know, for myself, I want to live in a world filled with people who are clear, creative, and functioning naturally-the BEST they can be. A world where a sense of the sacred is the rule, not the exception. A world where the interconnectedness of all life is no longer debated, but is a living truth as commonly accepted as the law of gravity. A world where the dreams we dare to dream really can come true.
One of the main obstacles to creating such a world lies in the distorted psychological “filters” through which we perceive ourselves and our reality. As Albert Einstein once said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a persistent one.” By changing these subconscious “filters,” we can reperceive ourselves, and the world in which we live. We can literally create a new reality. PSYCH-K teaches you ways to change self-defeating patterns of thought and behavior that are no longer worthy of who you are, or who you are becoming.
Each of us has a vital part to play in the creation of this new vision, because it is up to each of us to become the world we desire. In other words, we must embody the principles of the world we want to create. If this sounds like a call to action … it is! If it sounds rather impossible, it definitely is not! If you were feeling fine until now, but are beginning to feel a little uneasy because you realize it means you will have to get involved and actually put your actions where your desires are, then you are right again. As the Baal Shem Tov saying goes, “If not you, then who? If not here, then where? If not now, then when?” If you are still waiting for a Great Wizard to come and fix things in your life (or in the world), remember it’s up to you to activate the Divine Wizard within. It is the same power within all of us, no matter what name we give it. Equipped with the PSYCH-K transformational tools, the task of changing ourselves, and therefore our world, is achievable.
I AM Only One Person. How Can Changing Myself Change the World?
What you are, the world is.
And without your transformation,
there can be no
transformation of the world.
–J Krishnamurti
You are one person in a world of billions, on one planet in a universe of billions of planets. You may be tempted to think your transformation doesn’t matter, but it does. We are all connected. As you transform your life, you become an inspiration and an example to all around you to transform their lives. And, each transformation adds to the collective consciousness that is necessary to transform our world. You matter! Are you ready to transform yourself and the world?
The fact that we are all energetically connected is the key. The Newtonian view of the universe tells us that the boundaries of who we are stop at our skin. The more contemporary quantum physical view says we are energy fields in constant "contact" with each other, even at a distance. In effect, our separateness is a kind of “optical delusion,” as Einstein called it.
In his book entitled Dark Night, Early Dawn, Christopher M. Bache, professor of Religious Studies at Youngstown State University, says,
Research has demonstrated that persons meditating together tend to move into collective patterns of synchronized brainwave functioning. If this synchronized brainwave pattern were sufficiently stable, it might begin to resemble a condition known in chaos theory as “phase lock.” Phase locking occurs in nature when individual oscillating systems shift from a state of collective chaos to integrated resonance. For example, if individual cells from a chicken embryo heart are separated from each other, they beat erratically. If they are recombined one by one, when a certain number of cells are present, they spontaneously phase lock and begin to beat in unison.17
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