Mindfulness

It is said that everyone participates in their health or illness at all times. We create our health and wellbeing through our beliefs, feelings and attitude towards life. This is how placebos are so effective, because of the recipient’s belief in the treatment. Ellen Langer has found through her studies and experiments that, when we pay attention - are mindful - we have better control over our health and wellbeing.

Ellen Langer completed a study to find out the effects of our thoughts on cancer survivors. Those who had surgery were asked if they thought of themselves as being in remission or cured. Those who believed that they were cured were healthier, more energetic, and much happier in themselves. Those who thought of themselves as being in remission had pains, were depressed, lethargic and expecting the disease to come back.

When we pay attention to what is happening around us, to what people are telling us, we can make up our own minds as to what we believe and how we will respond. By looking at our lives and our health in this way you can not only control your experience of any disease but also affect your recovery as has been shown by various research projects.

How you think of yourself is of paramount importance. If someone has a headache they take an aspirin and the headache goes away and they feel better; yet if someone is depressed they take anti-depressants and even if they feel better they still say they are depressed.

When we take in information without considering all the options, looking at the situation from different view points, we are being mindless and tend to make a commitment to that information, accepting it and acting as if it is true.

Through the use of hypnotherapy it's easier to become mindful and pay attention to what's important and look at those thoughts and beliefs in a different way...changing what needs to change to empower you to achieve your goals.

Our health is complex and a mindful approach is important to keep us on track. One story that brings a smile to my face is when a doctor's prescription to treat someones earache was misunderstood. The doctor at the hospital wrote "administer in R ear" and the nurse read this as "rear" and inserted the medication in the patient's bottom. Now that’s what I call being mindless.