Heal Me

Looking for a solution to some health concerns? Lipton proposes that the placebo effect is actually a form of healing in itself. If indeed belief can create a change in the body chemistry, then the belief that a certain treatment will help a person recover from a malady actually creates the physiologic conditions that will lead to that person's recovery. Lipton believes that the placebo effect should be taught in medical school for its ability to bring about healing. Instead, it "is quickly glossed over ... so that students can get to the real tools of modern medicine like drugs and surgery ... because of their conviction that the body and its parts are essentially stupid and that we need outside intervention to maintain our health" (pp. 137-138). 

Resource: Bruce H. Lipton, The Biology of Belief

Miracles

Do you believe in miracles?  Dr. John Chirban, psychologist and theologian at Harvard Medical School present one school of thought about the psychology of miracles. He quotes a number of researchers who have scientifically documented miraculous healings that have taken place in a variety of faith traditions and settings.

Several authors document how the immune system and mind effect healing and health, related to belief and perception.

Advances in neuroscience reveal how healing changes occur and affect enhanced functioning in the brain through meditation, mindfulness and prayer. 

More and more scientific investigations confirm the significance of spirituality for our well being; deepening our awareness to our spiritual nature invites a deepening awareness to our life.

Hip Hop Psych

The psychology of hip hop presents another perspective of understanding life. Hip hop psychology utilizes music, lyrics, movement and positive imagery from hip hop culture to help those affected by mental stress from living in toxic environments.  People that identify with hip hop believe in peace, unity, love, community and fun as tools to restore the mind, family and neighborhood.                                              

A neuroscientist and psychologist have collaborated to create Hip Hop Psyche.  Hip hop music is rich with mental health reference related to addiction, psychosis, conduct disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and so on, as well as multiple environmental risk factors (e.g., urbanicity, poor nutrition, destructive parental influences resulting in childhood maltreatment  in the absence of positive role models) and predisposing genetic and epigenetic risk factors.  

Hip hop artists use their skills and talents not only to describe the world they see, but also as a means of breaking free.  There is often a message of hope in amongst the lyrics, describing the place where they want to be. 

Never Give Up

As we begin a new year consider adding resiliency to your toolbox.  Practice the following:  

Critical mindedness helps protect against experiences of discrimination and facilitates a critique of existing social conditions.                                                                                                                                 

Active engagement includes behavior in school, at home and with peers such that people proactively and positively impact their environment.                                                                                                 

Flexibility promotes adaptation to cognitive, emotional, social and physical situational demands and can include bicultural competence or fluency across multiple cultural contexts.

Communalism includes the  importance of social bonds and duties, reflects a fundamental sense of interdependence and primacy of collective well-being, and offers the drive for connection and promotion within and across diverse groups. 

Resource: American Psychology Association

Hectic Holiday Pause

During the busyness of the holiday, take a moment to pause and connect to your inner self.  We offer these words from the Native American tradition. Hear these words:

"O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I come before you, one of your children, I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught my people, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.  I seek strength not to be superior to my brothers but to be able to fight my greatest enemy. Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so that when life fades as a fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame." 

Everlasting Love

Research on what makes a marriage work shows that people in a good marriage have completed these psychological "tasks":

Separate emotionally from the family you grew up in; not to the point of estrangement, but enough so that your identity is separate from that of your parents and siblings.

·        Build togetherness based on a shared intimacy and identity, while at the same time set boundaries to protect each partner's autonomy.

·        Establish a rich and pleasurable sexual relationship and protect it from the intrusions of the workplace and family obligations.

·        For couples with children, embrace the daunting roles of parenthood and absorb the impact of a baby's entrance into the marriage. Learn to continue the work of protecting the privacy of you and your spouse as a couple.

·        Confront and master the inevitable crises of life.

·        Maintain the strength of the marital bond in the face of adversity. The marriage should be a safe haven in which partners are able to express their differences, anger and conflict.

·        Use humor and laughter to keep things in perspective and to avoid boredom and isolation.

·        Nurture and comfort each other, satisfying each partner's needs for dependency and offering continuing encouragement and support.

·        Keep alive the early romantic, idealized images of falling in love, while facing the sober realities of the changes wrought by time.                                                                                           Resource: Judith Wallerstein, "The Good Marriage"

Tell It!

We all have a story to tell about good times and not so good times, searches for answers, victory over heartache, and discovering bliss.

Telling your story
builds trust,
overcomes doubt,
prompts action,
converts,
transforms,
Inspires
and marks the way for those walking a similar path.

Tell your story today.